you can take the man out of the basement, but you can't take the grandma-knitted beanie off the man
Statistically there are a lot of people living in their parent’s basement, very few of whom are famous. With the ridiculously stacked Decibel Festival careening around the corner and into the collective Seattle cochlea (not dirty) next week, Seattleites have a chance to witness that rare exception. The sublimely named Derwin Panda – who DJs as Gold Panda – will be doing his do at Decibel, which will be the culmination of a strange journey from basement sampler to unlikely celebrity.
Derwin (love that) was a melancholy Englishman who threw a couple remixes on Myspace one day that somehow caught the eye of Wichita records which commissioned some remixes of their own. Without any promotion on his own part to speak of, that fiery mistress we sometimes call the internet grabbed hold and the stage was set. By the time he dropped the brilliant single Quitters Raga, Gold Panda was on the tip of every music blog-dweller’s tongue (most of whom were probably also in basements). He’s now touring the world and has a real old CD coming out in October.
Gold Panda is by no means the only example of modern musicians avoiding the label system altogether in favor of online stardom – we’ve seen it with the likes of chart-topping acts like Calvin Harris and Daniel Bedingfield to name just a few – but he is one of the best. And playing in Seattle. Next Wednesday. See you there!
Hella Bus 