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Tracklist |
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01 - Ya Ya
02 - Judgment Day
03 - Hi-Fi
04 - Take Me Your Paradise
05 - Just In Time |
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Review |
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I wish Doping Panda would only release mini-albums. So far I've found their two albums to be mostly uninteresting but they manage to include at least a few frustrating standouts on each release. Last year's We In Music had some great songs like "Start Me Up" and "Turn Of The Silence," but was dominated by thick filler material between the moments of clarity. High Fidelity provides the Midol to fix We In Music's bloating and cramping. All of the songs on the new EP are at the very least good and at best fantastic, but I still get the feeling that even if there were more good songs than the five here, they would all suffer from the length.
"Ya Ya" offers up a quick DP classic with all of the traditional trademarks of the band. There are percussion shifts and angled guitars galore, plenty of hooks, and Furukawa's poorly spoken but well written English lyrics. The song isn't quite as distinctive or wild as the next two tracks but it is at least quick-moving and genuinely good opening track. "Judgment Day" follows with one of the catchiest choruses the band has ever written, an astounding feat considering that the chorus is typically where Doping Panda shines brightest.
"Hi Fi" is the best individual effort on the EP (somewhat unsurprising considering how very eponymous it is); it offers up a dance/disco element that's mostly new and fully exciting. We have seen flashes of experimentation and electronic frills before from Doping Panda, but there hasn't been much quite like this and it was never this exciting. The chorus to this song alone forced me to recognize that Doping Panda is actually pretty excellent, despite how boring I found We In Music and Performation. ‘Dance the night away' indeed, good sir! "Take Me Your Paradise" comes next with a slightly slower pace that works wonders coming after a song like "Hi Fi." There isn't all that much exciting about the song on its own but it does feature some interesting percussion and the charm of Furukawa's voice. Finishing off the EP is the decent but unremarkable "Just In Time." The difference here is that it's the only track that even drifts slightly into filler range while the rest of the songs rest comfortably as standouts.
I'd have to say that High Fidelity is probably Doping Panda's finest work yet. There is a nigh-perfect balance between experimentation and fun with only a few moments of boredom throughout the entire affair. The mini-album thrives and even the few lows can't stop the pure extract of goodness in "Hi Fi" and "Judgment Day." Let's just hope they keep releasing lean EP's instead of LP's that can't support their own power pop weight. |
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