Have you ever seen the schlock masterpiece that is Big Trouble In Little China with its crazy martial arts story about an immortal Chinese Ghost sorcerer searching for green eyed girls and a muscle bound Kurt Russell trying to save his green eyed girl from that crazy Lo Pan (portrayed by the estimable James Hong who also played the role of Chew in Blade Runner for all you movie nerds out there)? If you have not, then there is something seriously wrong with you (though I know people who have not seen any Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or Jaws movies), and you should remedy that immediately. Go ahead… we can wait.
(99 or so minutes later) OK, so now that you have seen this “masterpiece”, you are in the right mind set to hear this latest offering from Big China & Little Trouble, which are running with the tongue in cheek take on the movie title as their name and upping the ante with a themed album regarding the infamous Lo Pan; but before you get ahead of yourself here (no, there are no cheesy lyrics about green eyed girls here, though that would have been hilarious), this droning, ambient experiment in speaker panning (get it Lo Pan, panning, Lo-Panning) is hypnotic and completely disorienting depending on your listening circumstances. A single LP with a part on each side, Lo-Panning is an excellent exercise in sonic, visual, and in-joke aestheticism; the album’s guitar and distorted white noise soundscapes function on multiple levels providing different listening experiences for the adventurous types out there that do not take themselves completely serious. The cover art (six color silk screened jacket execution and all) is an awesome image of the semi eponymous Lo Pan dishing out some wicked looking death breath (almost serving as a warning for the straights and stiffs to steer clear of this great slab of work) works well with the glow in the dark vinyl (yes, seriously) in presenting quite an overall release for this album.
OK, enough with the ironic gushing on my part, check this record out because it will be one of “those” releases that the few whack job noise nerds and novelty searchers will grab even though they are partially unaware of the great piece of work that they will be semi-neglecting in a few years, while the few who dig Lo-Panning for its temporary insanity clutch their cherished copies close to their bosoms in fear of it leaving their sight.
