Panda Eyes

Panda Eyes
Panda Eyes performing live in Calgary, Canada
Background information
Birth name	Oskar Steinbeck
Born	May 28, 1996
Origin	Zürich, Switzerland
Genres	Dubstep, Glitch Hop, Drumstep, Chillstep, Trap, Future Bass
Labels	Disciple Records
Associated acts	Teminite, Virtual Riot, Anna Yvette, Azuria Sky, EH-DE

Oskar Steinbeck, known by his stage name Panda Eyes (born May 28, 1996), is a Swiss composer, record producer and DJ from Zurich, Switzerland.^[1]

Career

Steinbeck started in 2014 bringing together elements of chiptune, dubstep and other genres of bass music to form his own style of glitch-hop.^[2] Recording multiple singles, he gained recognition by releasing them on YouTube & Soundcloud.

In early 2015 he released the song "Superheroes" with German producer Virtual Riot . Later that year he worked with Brighton-based producer Teminite on their collaboration "Highscore". The song was released in the same year by Panda Eyes and Teminite, surpassing 20 million on streams on YouTube alone.^[3][4][5] Ultimately he released a selection of his best recordings on iTunes and Spotify without a label in October 2015 ^[6]

In 2016, Steinbeck gave his first interview to UKF.com naming Nero, Rusko and Knife Party as triggers that switched him to Dubstep and the French-Duo Justice as his main inspiration to go for electronic music. Announcing the release of "Nostalgia 64" he said "...it’s the first tune when I’ve had an idea when I’m out with friends having a beer and I’ve actually recorded it down on my phone. It’s the first tune I’ve made from a memo. I felt stupid doing it but I thought ‘fuck it’ and sang it in my phone."^[6]

In 2017, he released a remix of the 2012 Seven Lions song "Days To Come" with approval from Skrillex founded OWSLA to release the tune for free, saying, "You know when you have these melodies in your head and you know you know it, and you know you once knew what the name of it was but you’ve forgotten it? Well I had that with this. I woke up from a dream and had it in my head. I was like shit! I know this! What is it? After 10 minutes of intensely interrogating my brain I remembered it was Seven Lions." ^[7] In April he posted a video on Facebook, announcing that he was working on a new album ^[8]. Oskar was diagnosed with autoimmune disease while producing his album Continue^[9].

On May 28 of 2018, his 22nd birthday, Panda Eyes officially stepped up to Disciple Records.^[10] "Disciple was definitely my first choice for a label since they seemed to care a lot about values of being a family and supporting each other and having fun while doing that." he said. "I’m very happy about the situation since a lot of the artists on Disciple are people I look up to and I adore them so it’s such a pleasure to work with them." To celebrate his arrival, he has also released his EP "Isolation." Steinbeck describes his EP as the story for his trip to Los Angeles. He wrote the first two songs to be more introspective, which set the overall message for the EP. Steinbeck says he's here and alive, and that he will never stop pursuing his dreams and inspirations. "The second two tracks are more uplifting melodically and particularly the collaboration with Virtual Riot and Barely Alive felt like the first step in pursuing a new journey and getting out of Isolation in Switzerland."^[11]

Discography

References