Nothing has changed much except the address – Gold Panda lives in Berlin now and has traveled a lot these last years. Gold Panda says that he »stole« a little something from every place he’s been to in order to put it on his new record. Hence, the listener accompanies him through Sao Paolo or Japan, for which the British-born musician seems to have a soft spot. Berlin becomes audible, too, when the synthesizers shoot from low to high frequencies and when the bass sets in. »Half Of Where We Live« is warm beat-making, organically grown, including record loops and everything. Airy and light. Gold Panda throws out jingling, grinding and ringing sounds into the clear night sky, waves hi-hats somewhere in between and adds a gurgling kick-drum so that the song doesn’t scatter in all directions. Some of the tracks don’t leave any actual impressions behind, which could also be due to all the traveling. Just think about a Hostel: The song comes in without saying hello, hangs for a while, maybe smokes a spliff, says something that you’ve heard before somewhere and then leaves without saying good bye. Then the next track enters. Of course, »Half Of Where We Life« is darker and more urban, housier in places, and the vocal-samples are arranged in a different manner than before. Not many are capable of sampling as versed and true to the last detail as Gold Panda. However: it’s his first record in three years and somehow it’s hard to shake of the feeling that an EP would have done just fine again.
Sun
I Can See Our House From Here
Alien Transistor