After a couple of line-up changes leading to 2010’s live-off-the-floor LP How Come I’m Dead?, the third album from Vancouver’s (or Edmonton’s, depending on who you ask) Hot Panda invests its energy into a more thoughtful mode of creation. While tackling crippling social disorders like cynicism, depression and closed-mindedness in their lyrics, Go Outside retains the energy, humor and sub-genre diversity of their earlier releases and renowned live performances—what principal songwriter Chris Connelly describes as “artful pop music, but played with a punk rock spirit.” Connelly tackles some intense subject matter on this record, addressing visceral socio-political topics like “with us or against us” extremism on opener “One in the Head, One in the Chest,” and the sad state of the market-based global economy on the brooding “Future Markets.” Elsewhere, tracks like “Littered Coins” and “Boats” provoke quieter moments of reflection. Yet this is not a transition from Hot Panda’s freewheeling, light-hearted roots to soul-baring egotism and moralizing—Go Outside is not about reveling in negative thought patterns, but the struggle and value in overcoming them. Overall, Connelly’s lyrics are more worldly, while his voice itself, processed but not pitch-corrected, sounds more grounded. Continuing their legacy of eclectic lo-fi indie pop albums for Mint Records, Go Outside presents a snapshot of a band reaching a new plateau, solidifying Hot Panda as a one of the brightest stars on the Mint roster. Once again recorded by the famed JC / DC team of David Carswell and John Collins (The New Pornographers, Tegan...
LP $17.50
07/17/2012
CD $13.00
07/17/2012
MP3 $9.90
07/17/2012
***Edmonton’s HOT PANDA recorded their sophomore album, How Come I'm Dead? in less than a week during the midst of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic chaos, mostly live off the floor with few takes and overdubs at JC/DC Studios. The band wanted it to sound alive, spontaneous, lo-fi, and playful, in line with the vibrant quirkiness of similar records by Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Talking Heads, and The Flaming Lips. There are also lots of different 'slapped together' tidbits and half-songs, so it should not sound overproduced or over-rehearsed. You can tell the band just had fun writing these tunes, and that's the most honest thing about it. On How Come I'm Dead?, you'll find dreamy noise, circus freak dance numbers, heartbreaking country ballads with screeching metal guitar solos, lovely pop harmonies, psychadelic drones, and straight up pop/rock numbers. There is even a grindy techno song and a hip-hop track, which includes a bass scratch solo and enough f-bombs to earn them an adult content warning sticker. The album title came from an obscure book found in a thrift store while touring. With Chris Connelly reflecting on the isolation of long distance relationships and life on the road, the album expresses the loss of the sense of having a home, made extra-weird with things like Facebook that constantly remind you of all the things you're missing in all the places you're not. It feels a bit like being a ghost, being able to see and hear people you love carrying on...
LP $17.50
09/20/2011
CD $13.00
09/20/2011
MP3 $9.90
09/20/2011
