There’s simply no way to avoid wonky music at the moment. Chillwave is a big thing right now and it’s a welcome refresher for sweaty summer nights. Compared to Lucky Shiner; the new album Half Of Where You Live by electronic wunderkind Gold Panda has a lesser pop approach, but is way more chilly and dreamy and stimulates every single muscle to dance your pants off. The key track Brazil delivers the best example of the quirkiness and hypnotic effect this album has to offer. It’s highly addictive, to say the least.
If you’re into offbeats, Community might be the best thing to expect. As already mentioned, Gold Panda knows how to apply a gripping ambience into his tunes and it might be too crazy to claim this, but I somehow feel the urge to call this music as psychedelic dance music. The main reason for this thesis are the cleverly inserted elements of Asian music that make the listener feel like he’s in India or Thailand, without plunging too much into world music kitsch.
This album really has the potential to become one of my favourites for this year and I recommend to every single one of you to see this bloke on stage, if you can. You won’t be disappointed and it will be the cheapest and fastest trip to Asia you’ll ever experience!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL26UcEwrBQ]