Gold Panda with Dam Mantle, Graintable
Live Music Review: Gold Panda with Dam Mantle and Graintable, Portland: Thursday, March 24, 2011
Dudes with laptops never had it so good. Not since the last time you went to a Counter-Strike LAN party, at least. Laptop performance is a now ubiquitous trend with entire line-ups "pumping up the jams" using little more than Macbooks and launchpads.
This was the case with Gold Panda, Dam Mantle and Graintable at Rotture, and it always raises the question of how skinny, sweaty white bros are going to make keypunching a compelling experience. It generally seems to come down to (1) the quality of the music, (2) how many twenty-somethings you can pack into a room, and (3) if you can keep the beat going. On counts 1 and 2, Gold Panda succeeded marvelously; on count 3, not so much.
[caption id="attachment_2566" align="alignright" width="166"] Dam Mantle[/caption]
Omnipresent Portland-staple Graintable ably took on the responsibility of warming things up with his thoroughly conventional yet thoroughly danceable blend of hip-hop beats, glitchy breaks and melodic dubstep. People gradually accumulated around the stage and much head-nodding was had by all.
The night took a minimal, freaky turn with Dam Mantle. The gaunt, lanky Glasgow-ite took the sound leftfield for a set of sparse drums overlaid with stuttering melodic samples and his own vocals. Sometimes gothic, sometimes uplifting and perpetually unpredictable, Dam Mantle was an anomaly, bewildering expectations while simultaneously building momentum.
Essex-based headliner Gold Panda took some risky maneuvers, some of which were more successful than others. Transitions often involved submerging songs in sustained ambient washes, bending tempos all over the place and making for a choppy dancing experience. Fortunately, these gambits rode on the strength of exceptionally captivating material from Gold Panda's debut LP, Lucky Shiner. A few missteps did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of a packed room of twenty-somethings, all dancing, cheering and sweating to some truly inventive music.
Catch Gold Panda as he finishes up his tour in France, followed by a few dates in the UK:
20 Apr | Laval - Le 6 Par 4, France
21 Apr | Lille - Le Grand Mix, France
22 Apr | Nancy - L'Autre Canal, France
23 Apr | Paris - Point Ephémère, France
08 Jun | Belfast, Auntie Annies, Ireland
09 Jun | Galway, Roisin Dubh, Ireland
10 Jun | Cork, The Pavilion, Ireland
11 Jun | Dublin, The Workman's Club, Ireland
06 Oct | London KOKO + SPECIAL GUESTS
Marriage from Gold Panda on Vimeo.