Panthers, Are You Down? (Troubleman) 9
Are You Down? is the debut by the Panthers on Troubleman Unlimited, a label that's made a name for itself in no wave style post-punk. The Panthers are a different sort of animal. Made up of members of Pitchblende, Doldrums, Unrest, Orchid and Red Scare, Panthers is a side project turned serious -- fuck the pigs, kick out the jams kind of serious. The sleeve notes are riddled with slogans cribbed from The Black Panthers, The White Panthers, and various art movements like the Situationists, Praxis and Dada ("The Revolution will be plagiarized! …We aren't a band, we are vandalists/outlaws/undesireables"). Playful titles like "Panthers! Pow! Pow!" and "A Panther Is A Motherfucker" add a sense of humor to their politics, unlike, say, The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Most of the songs are about how badass and unruly they think they are, although there are some scraps of thought-provoking lines about sexual politics and the re-appropriation of art. "Lies Are the New Truth" extols the virtue of collage and plagiarism, liberating their sources from history and giving them new meaning -- "You didn't drink together when you were alive/Now you're dead and I say you're lovers." More than anything, the Panthers are a good, loud, fast garage rock band. More than the MC5 and The Stooges, I hear Rites Of Spring, Fugazi, Lungfish, Rocket From the Crypt and At the Drive-In. It's difficult to differentiate the songs. The multiple guitars blur into white noise as the shouted vocals rarely vary, until they're like a neighbor's dog, yapping incessantly. They would do well to learn from The Stooges and Fugazi about varying dynamics and pacing. Nevertheless, just about every song manages to spastically jump to attention with agile guitar riffery without being wanky. For the moment, the sound of the Panthers is indeed the fucking noise.
