Album Review: Gold Panda - Half Of Where You Live

If I'd had the same careers advisor as Gold Panda at school, I might not be stuck here now. While you could argue I fundamentally lack the talent, I can't think of a better lifestyle than the one this handsomely bearded, Berlin-residing, UK-born beat producer is currently pursuing; pottering around countless exotic locales while sampling and doodling away on his laptop. It might all be bearable (no pun intended) were it not that the results on this, Panda's third album, sound so carefree, so shimmeringly tranquil, so unassailably upbeat. It's enough to make you sick. 

A good example of Panda's East meets West approach occurs on We Work Nights, where oriental strings collide with chopped and shuffled drums. As with most of the material here, the sometimes epileptic beats are too scattershot and lively to work as pure chill out music. That said, the overall vibe is too meditative for most raves. It could be ideal for horizontal dancing, if I knew exactly what that meant. Watching anyone try to throw shapes to Brazil however should be interesting. With its occasionally fibrillating ping pong percussion, it's the album's wildest moment, and alongside We Work Nights and Panda's elegantly refined version of house music An English House, is an obvious standout track. Were the rest of the album this adventurous, we'd be sitting on a crate of dynamite. He's nearly cracked it, but a little more work, and perhaps just a few more holidays, could be enough to earn this panda gold card status.