The Blue Indian Recommends: Gold Panda

Electronica and dance music isn’t something The Blue Indian covers much. So when we do recommend an electronic artist you can bet that it is going to be the best of the best.

Gold Panda began by leaking remixes to various labels, blogs, and tastemakers, all of whom instantly took notice. More remixes—for the likes of Little Boots, Telepathe, Bloc Party, Noah and the Whale, HEALTH, and The Field—followed. Soon, he began releasing own tracks as singles and EPs and now he has released his debut LP Lucky Shiner.

Opener and lead single “You” slinks along with a stuttering vocal sample and teary-eyed chord changes in tow; “Snow & Taxis” sounds like prime dancefloor fodder, but its cloudy string samples and chiming bells situate its melancholy closer to M83 than anything else; and the deconstructed hip-hop of “After We Talked” employs a minimal, lo-fi drum machine and an array of ever-so-gently bitcrushed synths.

Oh, and curious as to how he came up with the moniker Gold Panda? “I just picked my favourite colour and animal. And came up with ‘Pink Worm’, and while I thought that would be good name for an industrial band or free-noise outfit I‘m making wimpy electronica so I opted for my 2nd favourite colour and animal.”

You can hear more of Gold Panda’s original tracks and remixes on his SoundCloud page and you can buy Lucky Shiner from his label Ghostly International.