Album Review: Electric Laser – Giant Panda

Giant Panda is a dope alternative hip hop group out of California consisting of artists Newman, Maanumental, and Chikaramanga. Electric Laser is the second full length studio album by Giant Panda and follows the amazing 2005 debut Fly School Reunion.

Electric Laser, as the name implies, has very electronic based production with ample use of techno synths and 80’s dance beats. A cool and advanced sound stays consistent throughout the album while there is the occasional complex or faster beat like in “Same Old Shit”. Drums and Jazz samples give the album contrast to balance the electronic beats.

The lyrics in this album are interesting and fun if you are willing enough to really listen. What really confused me at first was the occasional Japanese lyrics in songs like “Precise Calculator”. There are only a few so the language barrier shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

The lyrical sound of this album is very raw and clear which sometimes is favorable because not everyone likes the auto-tune effect, but sometimes with a raw lyrics and nice beats the artists can be overpowered by the production which happens in a couple songs on this album.

Talent in wordplay and flow is apparent especially in the song “AIM” where over a cool beat Giant Panda drops an intelligent alliterate verse based on the letter “T”. And also lyrics easy to sing along to like in the track “Speakers Pop”.

The group overall reminds me of a current “hipster” version of A Tribe Called Quest and the album is a one of the better underground works of this year.

TrackList:

1. “Laser Beam (Scotty’s Theme)”
2. “Justin Case”
3. “Ready to Fly”
4. “Speakers Pop”
5. “AIM”
6. “Laser Ray”
7. “Precise Calculator”
8. “Same Old $#!+”
9. “CinemaX”
10. “Pops”
11. “Let it Go”
12. “Do the Robot in Cyberspace”
13. “Speakers Funk”

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T Dub