Temple of a Thousand Lights is the debut album release from 31 year old UK producer Jamie Robson aka Magic Panda. An entire year in the making, Temple is the full length follow up to the well-received "Days are Numbered" and "Tokyo" EPs, with the titular tracks of both EPs making their way onto the LP. Having spent several years establishing his sound, down to his acute and obsessive attention to detail, Magic Panda arrived late on the electronic music scene in 2011 with his debut EP, The Glass Mountain but in this short time has attracted support from and been playlisted by the likes of Laurent Garnier, Hernan Cattaneo and Max Cooper (whose remix of Distant Places featured on the Tokyo EP and skyrocketed to the top of the Beatport electronica charts). In addition to a handful of EPs and remixes, he has developed a club orientated live set and played alongside Luke Abbott, Ricardo Tobar, Mount Kimbie, Portico Quartet and DMX Krew both in the UK and across Europe. Temple of a Thousand Lights is an album of contrasts, from the propulsive and energetic opener Tokyo, and Zwolf, to the delicate and expansive Luna Rosa and Mothlight, it is an exploration of light and dark spaces (Chiaroscuro), euphoria and melancholia (Days are Numbered, A Perfect Circle). Despite these contrasts the tracks are unified by their powerful intensity, creative song form and by the thread of wistful melodies that runs throughout. Temple's melodies allude to far away spaces,...
MP3 $9.90
06/24/2013
Magic Panda creates ethereal and energetic electronic compositions, peppered with broken percussion and wistful melodies which swirl around a warm techno pulse and Tokyo is the perfect embodiment of this aesthetic. Tokyo is a bold statement of intent showcasing the future direction Magic Panda is heading in. It is a beautiful, shimmering and propulsive merging of Border Community inspired techno and understated Lo-Fi-but-not-lazy shoegaze energy. It is the first single from his forthcoming full length Tigerbeat6 Album "Temple of a thousand lights" and includes a stellar collection of remixes from Max Cooper, Kid606, Groj, Lanny May, Defled, and Mary Yalex. 2011-12 has seen Magic Panda developing his studio sound and live set up and he has enjoyed high profile concerts in the UK and across Europe, playing alongside the likes of Luke Abbott, Ricardo Tobar, The Portico Quartet, Mount Kimbie and DMX Krew. First up on remix duties is none other than Max Cooper (Traum / Herzblut.) Max puts to work his unique blend of glitch-fused techno on 'Distant Places' , taking listeners on a melancholic journey through light and dark spaces. Kid606 steps things up with a 110 bpm high energy rework of Tokyo that strips the original of it's four on the floor pulse in lieu of a more laid-back 808 hip-hop groove. Canadian artist Groj (Traum, Manual Music, Proton Music, and Zaubernuss) slows things down with his psychedelia-tinged interpretation of Tokyo, sparse percussion and swirly analog synths abound in this haunting sonic adventure. Berlin-based Lanny May...
MP3 $6.93
10/22/2012
Like a nice warm pot roast, Magic Panda is a dish that took time to cook. In fact, the music represents seven years of studio noodling from 30-year-old Jamie Robson, laboring to get everything just where it needed to be in setup and in results. You might expect such results to sound scattershot and overdone, but the Days Are Numbered EP goes down like a warm, gentle reminder of just how much emotion and wonder can be wrung out of a few sounds (again, think pot roast). Days Are Numbered merges detailed electronic production with delicate melodies, similar to the “plinkerpop” stylings of Morr Music’s classic output. These are tracks that tell stories through shimmering synths (the title track), flanged faux-80s goth guitar (“The Mid- Levels”), and pattering, digitally distorted percussion (“Akasha”). Chorusing and unison effects are everywhere here, achingly constructed in a way that suggests a more cosmically aware and less existentially immature M83. Days Are Numbered is the beginning of an instrumental autobiography from a burning talent with observations to share.
MP3 $3.96
09/12/2011