I first came across Christian Filardo’s music, otherwise known as Panda steps in chocolate, when I decided to type in the word ‘chocolate’ on Last.fm tag radio. Low-and-behold, what came into my ears next was “Panda meets a girl”. Being an instrumental artist myself, I was intrigued by this song, a pleasant electronic tune interspersed with muffled, fuzzy vocals. He’s recently given me the heads-up to check out his Just Pretend You Are a Pegasus album, so without further ado…here’s my review:

There are many things sorely lacking in modern music today, but these are the two that I believe to be in the most critical condition: 1) an artist that actually sounds like he’s having fun making an album, 2) bits in songs that you didn’t notice before, but they are there when you listen again. Despite this relative lack otherwise…you will, in fact, hear them on this album!

It begins with what sounds like a squeak-toy noise on track #1, “To Build a Hot-Air Balloon”, continuing with overlapped vocal pieces, circular instrumentation, and what sounds like rain in the background. This song is a good indicator of what is to come, as consistently through the album, the songs are rather evocative of their title, even if bizarre (i.e. “Dinos come from the deep!”), and there will be splashes of colorful sound textures appearing unexpectedly. Filardo clearly has a quirky sense of humor, with song titles like “PANDA IS VIKINGS!”, “If You Are Mighty And Triumphant You Like Carls Jr.”, and “Clap on! Clap off! (omg)”. In “CHK CHKA SCARED PRIEST” he sings, “You can’t spell slaughter with out laughter”, and in “BRAINATHON”: “We would have a baby boy, we’d name him Maurice / He’d be unlike other kids, he’d be part zombie”.

On the other hand, music appearing cute and toy-like on the surface at times reveals a heartfelt sadness inside; in between the good-naturedness, there is also a sort of melancholy lurking about the corners of Panda steps in chocolate, most apparent on “Don’t Look Over the Edge Or You Might Fall”, as well as the shoegaze-reminescent “My pool nice jacket Aaron” and bittersweet “Rebecca”. To be able to express somber feelings, yet not lose the sense of fun and silliness heard from the beginning of the album comes as a rare thing indeed.

While still partial to “Panda meets a girl”, my favourite pick of the lot is the trippy, plodding “shift your weight hit a double”. Hearing a track like this makes evident his varied favourite bands as influences, including Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Magnetic Fields, Arcade Fire, and even Ween. Filardo is effectively able to present a varied range of emotions and tones, and there are many places still left for him to go vocals-wise and in further developing his unique instrumental style. Best of luck, Panda!

Download Just Pretend You Are a Pegasus
Panda steps in chocolate on MySpace Music