Comprised of Mike Del Rio and Crista Ru, the Los Angeles and NYC-based electro pop duo Powers caught the attention of the blogosphere with the release of “Beat of My Drum” earlier this year. And if you heard the song, you’ll know why, as the song is a slickly produced bit of electro pop with twinkling keyboards, stuttering percussion, swirling and soaring synths, soaring, earnest vocals and an anthemic hook. Lyrically, the song is about release — sexual release; the feeling of blissful release when you hear “your song” at the club; the sensation of release, once you’ve left a bad situation, whether romantically, professionally or personally.
Chicago-based electronic production and artist duo The White Panda, an act that has dominated the electronic music blogosphere since their formation back in 2009. The mysterious duo, which is comprised of two childhood friends, who discovered that they had independently embarked on electronic music careers while in college, proudly boast of releasing five critically applauded full-length albums, including being dubbed “the mash-up kings” by Vibe Magazine, and “a veritable party-mashup machine” by Entertainment Weekly. They’ve had 35 #1 singles on Hype Machine, over 60 million SoundCloud streams and 25 million YouTube plays. (At one point, The White Panda was one of SoundCloud’s top five most played artists — ever.)
Adding to an already immense and growing national profile, the duo has headlined several US tours, have played some of the country’s largest festivals including Lollapalooza, Firefly, Electric Zoo, and Bamboozle, and have opened for the likes of Flo Rida, Wale, Nelly, Twenty One Pilots, Dispatch, Steve Aoki, Tiesto, Mac Miller, Mike Posner, Benny Benassi, MGMT and others.
Recently, the Chicago-based duo have started to work on their own original production and have started to release a number of remixes, including their most recent remix, a gigantic, festival rocking reworking of Powers “Beat of My Drum.” The White Panda’s remix retains the vocals but adds twinkling keyboards, woofer and tweeter rocking beats, swirling electronics, stuttering synths, and they turn an already infectious and anthemic hook into a massive, arena rocking one, essentially turning a pop sound into a raucous, house music party.
Called “a veritable party-mashup machine” by Entertainment Weekly and also featured in Billboard, The White Panda is known for their signature, high-energy live show complete with C02 effects, projection design, and of course, digitally mastered panda masks. The team has headlined several U.S. tours, as well as played festivals like Lollapalooza, Firefly, Electric Zoo, and Bamboozle. The duo has shared also the stage with some of the biggest names in music, such as Flo Rida, Wale, Nelly, Twenty One Pilots, Dispatch, Steve Aoki, Tiesto, Mac Miller, Mike Posner, Benny Benassi, MGMT and more.
