Gold Panda first caught my ears a few years back, around the time Charli XCX released her “True Romance” album. The track “You (Ha Ha)” on their heavily sampled Gold Panda’s “You”, I checked out his debut album “Lucky Shiner” and I’ve been a casual fan ever since. His persona has actually been really interesting, as he’s gone back and forth between a more airy, playful electronic sound, to a much darker sound on his later album “Half of Where You Live”. I’m always interested to see in which direction Gold Panda goes, so here’s his latest album “Good Luck and Do Your Best”
(Some older Gold Panda work)
This album starts off with “Metal Bird”, a glitchy electronic number with a very cool vocal snippet sample that gives the track a light airy feeling. In the past few years since his last release, Panda’s sound has actually gotten a whole lot more spacious, almost earthy and natural sounding, and most certainly a little more ambient (The light guitar strumming that eventually shows up adds to this as well). Now I know some electronic music is really hard to get into, and I know that some people right off the bat are going to write off “Metal Bird” as repetitive. The beat even leaves us for a moment and Gold Panda gives us a small ambient break, but when that beat comes back it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s not as bouncy as his material on “Lucky Shiner” or as club oriented as his stuff on “Half of Where You Live”, but it’s very spacious and free sounding. Not to mention the strings sampled at the end are absolutely beautiful, “Metal Bird” is a really fantastic intro. “In My Car” is up next, and it’s just as airy but this ones a little bouncier. This one features even more string sampling, it actually works fantastic. When the beat comes in, it’s actually super classy and very polished. “In My Car” though takes it a step further by bringing in some vocal sampling as well, and honestly makes this one absolutely hypnotizing. Now, the “music box” sounding keyboards that pop in a little over a minute in don’t really do anything. If anything, I feel like that sound has just been so played out over the years and I’m just sick of it, you might just love it though. Those keyboards don’t last long though, and the remainder of the track is actually really relaxing and beautiful, very classy so far Gold Panda. So many of the instrumentals here are just so fascinating. Gold Panda takes a lot of instruments and instrumental styles that you don’t hear too often and brings them into his bouncy brand of electronica for a really intriguing listen. Take for example “Song For A Dead Friend”, which starts off with this really odd vocal sample and bongo drums. The intro to this one is actually really intense and it comes out of nowhere, especially after how relaxing and laid back the earlier tracks where here. This one isn’t exactly too upbeat, and certainly isn’t heavy, but it’s still a hard left turn from everything earlier on the album. Not to mention, “Song For A Dead Friend” has such a unique sense of mystery to it that I just love. Gold Panda on this track is just completely letting loose with instrumentals, to the point where you really don’t know what you’re going to hear next. Some of the drum work here is legitimately intense, but the keyboards remain fairly playful, it’s definitely one of the more interesting tracks here. Up next we have another mysterious number, “I Am Real Punk”. This one starts off with these guitar notes that just sound other worldly to be honest. He’s really just taking all these instruments that were use to hearing, and giving them a little twist to make them sound so unique. The two layers of guitars here compliment one another so well. Now this one here is one of the slowest tracks on the album. But honestly, I don’t mind it one bit, it’s hypnotizing, and by this point in the album I have literally no idea what I’m going to hear from Panda next. Gold Panda’s sound in the last few years has gotten even more massive, and when those keyboards come in here it just sounds monumental. It’s spacey at times, it’s more ambient at other times, but more than anything it’s a real experience.
Now for the most part, I think this is an absolutely solid electronic album, especially since Gold Panda hasn’t released anything in 3 years. But there are a few tracks here that are a little awkward or boring or both. When I first heard “Chiba Night” I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was definitely interesting to hear Panda try his hand at more of a dance oriented song and it absolutely makes you move. However at a few times he does this really awkward pause in the song, only to make it sound like he “recovers”. To be honest, it just sounds bizarre and out of place to me. “Chiba Night” is far from a bad song, it’s actually super catchy. But it’s far from as spacious sounding as other tracks here, which is why I enjoy those tracks as much as I do. That being said however, it is interesting to hear Gold Panda mix things up a bit. “Pink and Green” is up next. Now one good thing I have to say about this one is that Gold Panda is just so good at making light, airy beats. However, “Pink and Green” is just a bit too airy and light for my liking. Like, the beat is solid, and the bells were a really nice addition. But outside of that things here just sound so on top of one another. It has pretty moments, but by the end of this I feel like everything just floated by and I took absolutely nothing from it. Later on in the album, Gold Panda does a little “old meets new” with “Autumn Fall”. This track starts off with some vintage sounding crackling before a much glossier beat comes in behind it. While it’s definitely cute and interesting, I feel like the piano’s that come in are a little too distracting. When the piano fades away and I’m left with the crackling noises and the beat, honestly I’m much happier. Also, the much more lavish keyboards that come in later on are actually really nice. “Autumn Fall” isn’t the worst track here, but it absolutely has it’s flaws as well. “Halyards” on the other hand sounds so much more hip than other tracks here. The beat that drives most of this song honestly though isn’t very exciting or interesting, it’s the atmosphere around it that really makes this song. But “Halyards” main problem comes with just everything going on. Yes, it’s pretty in parts, but for the most part everything just sounds so mushed together that I can’t really focus on anything. It’s still an interesting track, and it still kept my attention, I’ll give it that.
The only other real issue I have here is “Unthank”. It’s the shortest track here, and to be perfectly honest it’s pretty unnecessary. While it’s just as spacious and ambient as earlier tracks, besides that it goes absolutely nowhere. Honestly, “Unthank” sounds more like an afterthought than anything, and while I don’t have a problem with interludes, I couldn’t wait for this one to be over. On the other hand, I have nothing but amazing things to say about “Time Eater”. That instrument at the intro, I’m not even sure what the hell it is, but it’s one of the coolest sounding tones I’ve heard all year. It honestly sounds like something that would have shown up on Tim Hecker’s “Virgins”. Not to mention this track comes out of nowhere completely. All of the other tracks here practically are so airy and relaxing. Meanwhile “Time Eater” is sinister and genuinely filled with tension. The beat isn’t too outrageous, but everything works together here absolutely wonderfully, and continues to get more and more tense until the track ends. And then we have the album’s finale “Your Good Times Are Just Beginning”. The beat here is honestly one of Gold Panda’s best he’s supplied us with so far. Gold Panda on this one has honestly saved his most epic track for last. Here, the pianos are absolutely gigantic sounding, the keyboards are playful (but not annoying), and man oh man that jazzy trumpet is absolutely to die for (and I could have used a lot more of that throughout the album honestly). Panda here really brought his A Game, and made the finale one of the most memorable moments here, I couldn’t have asked for more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPNeNedUlpA
Rating: 7.6/10
Give A Listen To: "Your Good Times are Just Beginning", "Metal Bird", "In My Car", "Time Eater"
Overall Thoughts: For a guy who hasn't made a record in 3 years, Gold Panda sounds pretty together. After the slightly darker sound on his last record though, I honestly think it's refreshing to here him go for a more breezy, ambient sound here. Not to mention, he just brings to the table all of these sounds that are just so unique, even from instruments I know like the back of my hand. It's a solid, intriguing electronica album.
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