Last week we were lucky enough to catch UK garage legend Gold Panda’s first LA show in over a year. The event took place in the downstairs Echoplex portion of The Echo, and showcased a short-but-sweet three hours of music. With support from Brian Allen Simon’s Anenon project, and from Geotic (aka one-half of Baths), the night was billed with far more than your run-of-the-mill dance music acts.
The performances began with Anenon, featuring Simon on decks and saxophone with accompaniment from a live drummer. It was probably one of the coolest opening acts that we have ever witnessed. Describing the two musicians as “talented” would be an understatement. If you are unfamiliar with Brian Allen Simon’s involvement in the industry, you better go read up. The dude is kind of a rock star.
Next up was Geotic, otherwise known as Will Wiesenfeld – the founding member of chillwave duo Baths. In contrast to his work as Baths, Geotic explores the more ambient aspects of Weisenfeld’s musical interests. And while this distinction between his projects was not quite indicative of the set he played, he surely did get the room moving with his groovy beats. By the end of his performance, Geotic had the room ready and eager to receive what was coming next.
After a brief intermission, Gold Panda took the stage. We never had the opportunity to see Gold Panda in such an intimate setting before, so seeing his live performance work up close was pretty awesome. His loop triggering and glitchy stutter effects puts just enough spin on his tracks to keep his audiences guessing at what will come next. His set continually flowed as he rinsed out predominantly new tunes. We were really grooving when he played out Time Eater – the first single he released this year. Check out this footage from a live performance of his in April to get a taste of our a/v experience: [vimeo 165845188 w=500&h=281]
As Gold Panda wrapped things up, the night came to an inevitable close. And though he won’t be returning to LA until FYF at the end of August, he will be touring all over the world this summer in support of his recent album Good Luck And Do Your Best.
Good Luck And Do Your Best
The record draws its inspirations from Gold Panda’s many trips to Japan – a land that has had a profound impact on the British artist as an individual. Good Luck And Do Your best was spawned from field recordings Gold Panda captured throughout his journeys in Japan last year with the help of prolific photographer Laura Lewis. Footage of Gold Panda's Japanese adventures can be seen in his two most recent music videos – Chiba Nights and Pink & Green.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9VCM4RUac?&showinfo=0&rel=0&w=600&h=400