Gold Panda is a 28-year-old London fellow named Derwin. ("I just call myself Derwin Panda for the moment," he says.) He caught our attention recently with the striking "Quitter's Raga". If there's anything wrong with the track, it's the brief, two-minute run time-- "so short it breaks your heart," wrote Music Critic Mark Richardson. Quitter's Raga" also came on the Pitchfork "The Top 100 Tracks of 2009" list as number 75.
Gold Panda’s journey has been a long and intermittently strange one. Initially, the Essex, UK artist spent his day-job time behind the counters of various houses of ill repute—adult bookstores, record shops—finding that the two were equally seedy. He spent the rest of his waking hours building up a library of original, dizzyingly eclectic electronic music incorporating a disparate mix of influences and source material. The results were gleaming instrumental hip-hop tracks saturated with bright colors and sublimely chopped-up vocal samples. Thus, Gold Panda was born.
Having built up a sufficient volume of music, Gold Panda began leaking remixes to various labels, blogs, and tastemakers, all of whom instantly took notice. More remixes—for the likes of Little Boots, Telepathe, Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco, HEALTH, and The Field—followed. Soon, he began releasing own tracks, including the “Miyamae” 12” on Various, the acclaimed “Quitters Raga” 7” on Make Mine, and the “Before” digital single on Puregroove. In 2010, Gold Panda will release the You EP—featuring remixes from Osborne, Seams, Dam Mantle, and Minotaur Shock—on Ghostly International.