Musings

Last time Gold Panda played in Sheffield, in September last year, supporting Simian Mobile Disco, he slept on a sofa in my living room after a night out with my housemates and me at the Harley. Seven months later, fresh from a nomination in the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll, alongside the likes of Ellie Goulding, Gold Panda returns to the Harley, this time as the headline act.

Adorned with a panda hat and a long white cardigan resembling a scientist’s lab coat, Panda kicks off with the throbbing and claustrophobic opener.

Gold Panda’s gentle melodies, blended with sounds of crackling vinyl, chopped up fractured vocal samples and minimal beats draw similarities to contemporary Kerian Hebden, better known as Four Tet.

Panda’s set drew towards a close with acclaimed track Quitter’s Raga, which featured in Pitchfork’s Top 100 tracks of 2009. The oriental-tinged two minute track powered by a frayed vocal track in an indecipherable tongue; moulds and blends into a cacophony of noise and drones before evolving into a dance floor head banger

Support on the evening was provided by noisemakers Dam Mantle and Seams, who both appear on Gold Panda’s soon-to-be released EP, ‘You’, each providing a remix of the titular track. Seams and Dam Mantle each provide a similar brand of glitchy, bass heavy, ambient electro, Dam Mantle providing more of a dubstep influence to their composition. Both artists kept their heads down throughout their set, pulsing to the beat of their own bass.

To supplement the evening, three artists of, live art troupe Rabbit Portal were dotted around the venue. One piece began life looking like a black and white version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, before taking shape as rows of people blowing bubbles into the sky; another looked like a variety of flavours of ice cream with horns, claws and beards, peering from behind a tree. The final piece, easier to decipher, was a panda in a space suit.

Musicians on stage twiddling with sample pads, synthesizers, and laptops may not provide a great deal of visual excitement, but you can’t argue with the music they create.