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Lesser Panda

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Location: London, United Kingdom

Websites:

• http://myspace.com/lesserpandamusic
• http://lesserpanda.co.uk/

Bio: Boasting insanely catchy riffs, Lesser Panda’s latest offering, the double A side ‘Ghostdance’ & ‘Carousel’ are two haunting tracks guaranteed to appeal to the most ... (more) discerning of ears. Coining the phrase, gothic disco house, the 5 piece delivered the infectious single on last year on Superdark Music.

They’ve hooked up with Moscow, who’s delivered a version laced with foot tapping beats (he’s also remixed The Foals) and Heartbreak for off-the-hook italo disco remix duties on ‘Ghostdance’. Meanwhile, Drums of Death who just finished an album with Peaches has remixed ‘Carousel’. With 5 complete versions, you’d be hard pressed to dislike this single. For the video, they teamed up with The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack and U2’s lighting specialists UVA. MTV Europe and MTV Australia have been playing it since its release.

Lesser Panda are charismatic singer Mariano Robles (vox), Chris Howarth (guitars/drums/synths), Ben Chatwin (guitars/synths), George McLeod (drums/synths) and Chris Fenner (bass/vox).

With a colourful CV to date, they have worked with Hot Chip who produced their earlier demos and have performed live at an array of vibrant gigs in addition to their own Pandaphilia warehouse parties in East London. In August, the guys performed at the Standon Calling festival alongside Mystery Jets, Super Furry Animals and The Maccabees. In September they were invited to play in Manchester for the premiere of the Joy Division documentary in front of family and friends of the band.

An earlier single ‘Happy Birthday’ was featured on the ‘Superdark EP’ which was released in February 2008. The EP went down a storm, selling out within a week of release and securing loads of column inches to great critical acclaim. “…one of the capital's best-kept secrets” hailed Music Week whilst, The Fly simply warned: “James Murphy, watch your back."

Previous supporters of the band include Xfm’s John Kennedy who was all over ‘Happy Birthday’. They were tipped in the music industry weekly Music Week as one to check out by the then Deputy Editor of Vice magazine. MTV2 spot played the video which was produced by the same creative’s who have worked with the Klaxons. DFA’s Mixmaster Tim Sweeney is also a fan.

At the moment the band are in the studio recording their first album. (less)