{"id":4772,"date":"2012-07-24T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T15:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4772"},"modified":"2012-07-24T09:33:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-24T15:33:00","slug":"hot-panda-go-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/07\/24\/hot-panda-go-outside\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Panda \u2013 Go Outside"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\nIf you\u2019ve ever wanted Dan Bejar to drop the literary references and make a straight-up rock record, this is for you. It\u2019s actually remarkable to think that Chris Connelly isn\u2019t consciously trying to emulate the enigmatic Vancouver songwriter. This is mostly in his pronunciation, as in opening track \u201cOne in the Head, One in the Chest,\u201d where he pronounces \u201cinterest\u201d in chopped syllables, becoming \u201cin-ter-est.\u201d
\nGo Outside<\/em> is successful as a rock record, with catchy guitar-driven songs throughout. In this sense, the pacing is great. Many albums would cram all the most single-worthy songs into the first three tracks of the album. Hot Panda have the audacity to cram one of these songs in at the end of the album, unlisted <\/em>on the tracklist.
\nThere\u2019s darkness to the album, though you wouldn\u2019t know it by the music. Judged by the music alone, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking this was a cheery summer album. \u201cMaybe Now?\u201d<\/a> features bouncy keyboard pokes that seem overly playful. The elastic bass line on the title track gives a similar feeling. \u201cGo Outside\u201d is one of the hallmarks of this balance between dark and light, as we hear the speaker balance his feelings with being optimistic (here, read as going outside, as if going outside were a good thing, anyway). This is really the focus of the album \u2013 seeing light through the dark, and trying to make your way through it as best as you can. In a way, this is the cheery Canadian response to Cloud Nothing\u2019s excellent Attack on Memory<\/em>, released earlier this year. This is encapsulated in the album art of a naked man diving into a pool in the darkness. All in, no reservations, in spite of the darkness. (Mint Records,mintrecs.com<\/a>) Devin King<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever wanted Dan Bejar to drop the literary references and make a straight-up rock record, this is for you. It\u2019s actually remarkable to think that Chris Connelly isn\u2019t consciously trying to emulate the enigmatic Vancouver songwriter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[453,797,1060],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-indie","tag-reviews","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}