• Gold Panda – Good Luck and Do Your Best

    2010 was a bizarre time to be a producer of electronic music. At the advent of the bedroom producer and a period when Youtube channels like Majestic Casual were oversaturating our ears with sugary “chill” electronica – or whatever the heck it was called – it was a time in which one track could come to define an artist far too early into their musical career, long before they were in a position to be defined at all. Luckily, a number of artists managed to break free from the labelling and pigeonholing that coincided with having a Youtube “hit” around…

  • Body & Soul Announce Second Wave of Acts

    With the likes of Floating Points, Mercury Rev and Sun Kil Moon already announced, the second wave of acts have been revealed for this year’s Body & Soul Festival. Set to return to Ballinlough Castle in Co. Westmeath during the Summer Solstice Weekend of June 17-19, The Gloaming, Hudson Mohawke, Neon Indian (pictured above), Optimo, Gold Panda, Bleeding Heart Pigeons, David August, Brian Deady and Holly Macve are the latest acts to join the bill. Check out the current line-up below and go here to buy tickets.

  • Life Festival

    Now in its tenth year, the Life Festival takes place at Mullingar’s Belvedere House & Gardens on the weekend of May 29-31. Headlining is hip-hop icon NAS, performing his out-and-out masterpiece, Illmatic. Also on the bill are the likes of: Squarepusher, Siriusmodeselektor, Eats Everything, The Underachievers, a live set from Gold Panda, Ben Klock, Jurassic 5’s Nu-Mark, Optimo, Sunil Sharpe, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Pantha Du Prince, Skream, Ten Walls, Ratking, Derrick Carter, The Magician, Maceo Plex, Kölsch, Robert Hood, Alle Farben, Oneman, Luke Vibert, Jasper James, High Contrast, Ben UFO, Ame, and many more. Tickets, priced at €145, are available from the Life Festival.

  • Gold Panda – Half Of Where You Live

    Derwin Schlecker, formerly of Peckham and Chelmsford but now Berlin-based, has metamorphosized into his alter ego Gold Panda and returns to bring the listening public the follow-up to the highly acclaimed and 2011 Mercury Prize-nominated Lucky Shiner.  A little bit of cursory internet research provides hints as to the influences, references and source material that provide the layers and strata for Gold Panda’s world. Time spent in Japan and study at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London has certainly left a lasting impression on Schlecker, as this release is held together at the seams…