Description:	12" on Various
	Format:	12" (vinyl)
	Genre(s):	Hip-Hop/Rap
	Label:	Various Production
	Price:	£5.79
	Availability:	Sold out / currently unavailable. Sorry!

5
...according to our Business Lady on 16 July 2009.

Gold Panda!!! What a name!! It's like Panda Bear but better because it's all GOLDEN and shit! Gold Panda is the first signing from Various who are now releasing individual artist alongside their usual Various Productions output. It's sounds like a wise move 'cause Gold Panda's got some sweet moves yo!! A-side 'Back Home' is a pretty interesting mix of electro and hip-hop that comes of sounding like early Anticon/later Hood stuff with it's bemusing choice of samples and cuts. It's a nice mellow little groove with a persistent beat but it's when you flip this baby over that shit gets real interesting. B-side 'Mayuri' is an overt take on the traditions of Techno with some mashing of elements to create something refreshingly strange and contemporary. 'Long vacation' is almost proper techno in the vein of Aphex Twin and it's the best and most mental of the tracks. Apparently it makes use of some SNES samples and tones but i don't hear it. Still though, all good.

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What their label says...

Various has expanded its remit to become a “proper” label, now releasing the work of other artists in addition to Various Production themselves, and this process begins with a great EP from a new artist called Gold Panda, from whome big things are expected. This is his first full solo release, although he’s recently completed remixes for Bloc Party, Little Boots and Simian Mobile Disco, as well as being noted as one of the top ten most exciting electronic artists of 2009 in Nylon Guys Magazine. He intuitively mixes lop-sided, chopped up hip hop style beats with a gorgeous refined melodic techno sensibility creating a fresh cross-genre sound that’s distinct and accomplished. The music on this EP is influenced by a year spent living in Japan, as well as B movies on VHS video, minimal techno and hip hop, and all these influences bleed into his sound. The three tracks here were mostly made after returning back to his hometown Chelmsford after living in Japan, as the title and bittersweet mood of first song ‘Back Home’ suggests. ‘Mayuri’ is named after Gold Panda’s techno DJ friend who he lived with in Japan - it’s the most outright ‘techno’ of the three tracks and was started in Japan while Mayuri was DJing in the background and later finished in the UK. ‘Long Vacation’ is a dubstep tempo track that was made using some sound fx from a SNES game, mixed with big MPC stabs, recalling time spent in Japanese arcades trying to beat the pros at ‘Street Fighter’.