Giant Panda

Electric Laser

Tres Records

Rating: 2.5/4

Giant Panda first popped its head out of the jungles of Seattle and Los Angeles in 2005. Now, the endangered beast, composed of Maan, New and Chikara, has returned with Electric Laser.  GP’s fur still has that throwback, true-school feel but it’s the inner panda that has shape-shifted.  Laser-related zip-zaps (“Laser Ray”) fill the majority of instrumentals on the album, including space station noise loops on “Percise Calculator.” Yet, the instrumental swing movements on the swift “AIM” succeed where the T-word tongue twister’s raps stretch.   Metaphors like, “I can make you say ‘ah’ like an orthodontist,” from “CinemaX,” appeal to the middle-school crowd, while Chikara’s Japanese verses aren’t understandable (aside from the ‘domo arigato’ moment on “Do The Robot In Cyberspace”) but are a nice gearshift.  The caboose track, “Speakers Funk,” contains some of their more serious critiques of hip-hop, “So tired of the pseudo-intellectuals/who can’t rap so they gotta get political.” For the most part though, the rapping is formulaic and uninteresting, leaving merely controlled noise.  It might be better for potential Giant Panda listeners to do what koalas do best and sleep on this one.