Kingdom

Album review

Closely following the sunny, positive-minded full-length Good Luck and Do Your Best, British producer Gold Panda went in a much darker direction with his surprise release, the EP Kingdom. The recording was partially inspired by the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (commonly referred to as "Brexit"), as well as an incident that happened to the artist's Afghan neighbor. He ordered a phone off of Amazon, but it was stolen by the delivery man. Such occurrences, as well as the political climate, lend to feelings of uneasiness and unwelcome, and these five tracks reflect that. Instead of chopping up samples and using dusty breakbeats, as he does on his more hip-hop-inspired releases, Gold Panda goes in more of an ambient techno direction here. The first track is a beatless piece titled "A Welcome," and the next three cuts feature crackling beats and cold, detached synths. Most desolate of all is the aptly titled "Blown (Out)," which places a distorted beat over an unrelentingly bleak backdrop. It's the closest Gold Panda has come to recording something resembling the "outsider house" sound of labels like L.I.E.S. and Opal Tapes, and it's astounding. The disc ends with a morose ten-minute drone titled "Eurotunnel." A far cry from the rest of the Gold Panda catalog, Kingdom is nevertheless one of the producer's best releases.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo