Come celebrate the first weekend of spring quarter at the Sprung Music Festival with headliner The White Panda. The annual music festival, put on by the Stanford Concert Network, will also feature a number of student groups in a Battle of the Bands to decide who will play at the Frost Music and Arts Festival in May.
What can you expect from The White Panda? Lots of mashups. The DJ duo launched in 2009 and have since released six full-length albums (much of their material can be found on Bandcamp for free). 27 of their singles have made it to #1 on HypeMachine, a popular music blog aggregator great for discovering new music; most of these are mashups from earlier albums. They work with songs all across the board, from Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.”
Earlier albums feature mixes with snippets from roughly 10 songs in each track, a slightly less hectic version of DJ Earworm’s annual “United States of Pop.” The mashups themselves are pretty standard, layering one song’s vocals over another’s background — but hey, that’s what we’ve come to know and expect.
The White Panda has kept things interesting, however, changing their style to keep up with new trends. Newer releases are the same length as the duo’s old projects but instead focus on only two songs per mashup, letting listeners really appreciate the pairings and get into each track. The White Panda has also really capitalized on the growing EDM trend; of the 15 mashups on their newest album, “The Pawprint,” 10 have a distinctly electronic vibe, including hits from well-known EDM artists like Kygo, Odesza and Galantis.
Some things don’t change — among them, the computerized intros that characterize most of The White Panda’s albums, often playing off recent song lyrics: “Why have you called me on my desk phone? / You used to call me on my cell phone / late night when you need my love.”
As with any mashup artist, you’ll find the full range of quality pairings and not-so-quality pairings. Think layering pop hits “Anna Sun” by Walk the Moon and “Steal My Girl” by One Direction for a cohesive track of upbeat rhythms, versus Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money” on top of KONGOS’ “Come with Me Now” in a strangely metronomic version of her single. Regardless of my personal preference, the beauty of the White Panda’s extensive mixes is that there’s something for everyone, whether you’re looking for hip hop, trap, classics like “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas or any other genre. Come hear for yourself this Saturday!
Contact Serena Wong at serenaw ‘at’ stanford.edu