A Collection of EPs and singles that were released before his amazing LP, Last Years Lucky Shiner.I admit I’m cheating a bit on this review, I’ve had the majority of this compilation on their respective EPs Before, Miyamae, etc. for some time as he’s one of my favorite new artists. But now that it’s combined into one solid package, I have to express its greatness. It displays that Gold Panda had made great techno right from the start. There is a wide range of electronic styles Gold panda dabbled in before settling on his characteristic form of hazy glitch-hop and house. tracks like Quitter’s raga shows he can dice and warp a sample like a mad scientist. Back Home – a pulsing four tet-esque track that almost beats him as his own game, The Before EP shows off calm, contemplative, side – bustling with hip hop drum breaks and tranquil grooves.
The only issue I have with Companion is not the songs, but the track order. It’s like the guy at the record label just dragged and dropped all the EPs from iTunes and just pressed “burn”. The Singles front load this album, with the b sides of these often being a much calmer, ambient sound following after. If this were an LP, Going back and forth from glitch to calm every track would make for a perplexing listen. My humble suggestion would be to reorder it with Before first and the singles After. that way all the singles are still in order and it has a more balanced flow to the listening experience. But hey, what do I know? I’m no Mastering Engineer. Taking this album for what it is, which is a very convenient collection of Great Singles from Electronic music’s Rising Greats – There is nothing to complain about.
84/100
Quitter’s Raga “Experimental” Video. I like this more than the “Official” which was the cliché slice of life video of people enjoying themselves. yawn… I love this guy’s music but one thing he does NOT have is exciting/ interesting videos.
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Balafonic 