Artist: Gold Panda
Album: Good Luck And Do Your Best
Label: City Slang
Release date: 27/05/2016
Environment is a word that's regularly thrown into the Q & A mix with countless producers and DJs to get a handle on their inspiration sources. The distant and nearby soils that artists have traversed do of course commonly factor into what we put between our ears, with some environmental based stimuli being metamorphosed into a record so distinctly, that you finish the tracks with your own visualisation of where they once stood.
Gold Panda is one such introspective artist whose traveling experiences have fed into outputs that are deeply personal. The Orient, particularly Japan where he once lived and studied, has permeated his previous productions and with Good Luck And Do Your Best, he's back in familiar Far Eastern terrain. The original purpose of one of his two return visits to Japan in 2014 with photographer, Laura Lewis, was to gather visuals and audio field recordings for “a sight and sound documentary”, but the excursion ended up being the catalyst for a new record after a taxi driver's parting words gave him a title for an album and a starting basis for new music.
Bouncing between homes, from Gold Panda's own home studio in Chelmsford to that of fellow musician and producer, Luke Abbot, for a final nip and tuck through his “magic smelter”, the final result, according to him, has “a homely feel” and is “quite motivational, quite positive.” Positivity is a sentiment that's exuded from the first track, 'Metal Bird', with its softly spoken warmth taking a twirl through micro samples, and encountered in the second track, 'In My Car', with its unmistakable Japanese influence in the luxuriant koto strings that glisten from the latter half of its production. Upbeat progressions continue to characterise the 11-track collection, particularly in 'Chiba Nights', which stands as a more dance floor beat-laden highlight in its hyper percussion. He takes a balancing dip into ambient dreamlike quarters with drifting chimes floating above gentle piano strokes in 'Pink and Green', and through the slow wind in 'I Am A Real Punk'.
Previous works have often felt claustrophobic and cluttered in their overlapping samples, which are often heard wrestling fruitlessly for the limelight, but throughout Good Luck And Do Your Best, his broad sampling selections interact cohesively with the result being a more complete sound. “Happy-sad” is how he's previously described his sonic ventures, this rings as a vivid, celebratory exploration of a country where he continuously to find creative inspiration.
Where does he go from here? Considering that he's a producer who refuses to be burdened with the pressure of having an extensive discography and would happily retreat back under the radar should he find himself demoted from top dog status, it leaves a question mark hovering above album number five. If it should come into existence and if his motive to produce is through travel, it will be interesting to see in which location his sound is locked.
Tracklist:
1. Metal Bird
2. In My Car
3. Chiba Nights
4. Pink and Green
5. Song for a Dead Friend
6. I Am Real Punk
7. Autumn Fall
8. Halyards
9. Time Eater
10. Unthank
11. Your Good Times Are Just Beginning
