Mash-up duo White Panda slated for Fall Concert

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Author: David Weightman|David Weightman

Acclaimed mash-up duo The White Panda
will headline Occidental’s annual Fall Concert on November 3 at the Thorne Hall Patio, Programming Board’s Redd Barua-Norton (senior) confirmed.

“We’re really excited,” Barua-Norton said. “I think they [the other Oxy students] are going to be happy with the choice.” A student DJ selected by online vote will open the concert.

The White Panda’s selection is similar to last year’s choice
of A-Trak. Both artists carved out niches for themselves in the world of
electronic music with small but passionate fan bases. Although neither
commands the star power of performers like Avicii or Armin van Buren, The
White Panda and A-Trak earned reputations for their raucous,
well-executed live shows.

Hailing from Chicago, childhood friends Procrast (Tom Evans)
and DJ Griffi (Dan Griffith) mash up hits from electronic and popular
music to create energetic, catchy dance music. Most of their work
incorporates the vocals from popular songs over the hook and
beat of electronic songs.

Unlike well-known mash-up artist Girl Talk,
The White Panda add their own instrumental flair to each track. They throw in
flying, hip-hop-inspired synths that ramp up the exuberant mood of a
song, or they might add their own drum kit to complement a hook or
chorus. Every song aims to mix the catchy choruses that made the pop
song a hit with the danceability of the electronic track. Their best known
songs include a mash-up of Waka Flocka Flame’s “No Hands” with dance hit
“Stereo Love,” Kanye West’s “Good Life” with M83’s “Midnight City,” and
Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” with Avicii’s “Levels.” The “No Hands”
and “Stereo Love” mash-up has over one million views on YouTube.

Although the White Panda released several albums and dozens of tracks
online, they bring an unpredictability to their shows, refusing to stick
to only their released material. They operate from laptops and DJ
boards and mix new songs live. The duo cut their teeth on the
college circuit. They have performed at schools all over the US and Canada and
earned enthusiastic reviews from nearly every stop.

Several
Occidental students emerged as strong candidates to open the concert. Kirk Follette (junior) is backed by a vocal Facebook campaign. Follette spent hours over the summer mixing, and developing his own unique style. “I tapped into everything. I mixed hip-hop to house to mash-ups with Top 40 lyrics. I play all over the spectrum,” Follette said. If selected, Follette plans to bring a live emcee and a beatboxer on stage with him. “I’m planning a real show. I’m not just gonna go up there and play a couple tracks,” Follette said.

Stephen Ratkovich (senior), another student competing, deejayed at Winter
Formal last year and the recent GLOW dance. “I didn’t really have a specialization. I played a lot
of house and progressive, a lot of hip-hop and Top 40,” Ratkovich
said. He favors a straightforward approach to mixing. “I focus
on song choice and transitions. I’m not a performer, so it’s about the
audience,” Ratkovich said. Since he started deejaying two years ago,
Ratkovich has played at numerous parties and Greek events around
Occidental. “I’m going to play whatever people are dancing to,”
Ratkovich said.

Jackson Foley (junior) opened
for A-Trak last Halloween. Foley has composed electronic music for two
years, and he uses some of those techniques in his mixing.  “I try to do technical stuff in my mixes while being tasteful at
the same time. It’s easy to go overboard and try to do too much stuff,”
Foley said. Aside from his show at Halloween, Foley has performed
several other live
sets, including at a concert in his native North Carolina.  “Right now
when I’m making mixes, I’ve been trying to capture a specific sound. I
want to have a common theme throughout the mix, to take the listener on a
journey rather than just have a bunch of crazy songs that I play in a
row,” Foley said.

The other DJs competing include Aya Peters (sophomore), Dylan Leong (senior), Griff Carterdoyle (sophomore), Jack Butcher (junior), Kelly Wourms (sophomore), McLean Macionis (junior), Michael Stevenson (first-year), Nathaniel Heller (first-year), and Connor Moss (senior).

After the success of A-Trak last year, the choice of The White Panda makes sense. Electronic concerts require less equipment and stage set-up than the big rap concerts held in the spring. Fall Fest also offers the rare opportunity for students to perform in front of a large audience of their peers.

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