Live: Vagina Panther @ Trash Bar 10.17.12

Vagina Panther have become quite the rock juggernaut in the last year or so, playing well-received gigs from here to Columbus behind their recent Aqualamb EP Judge. The foursome returned to Trash Bar for their CMJ debut, romping through way too short of a set to a full house. I expect their Tinderbox set next month at Webster will be a tad more expansive.Vagina Panther is loud rock made in small rooms to be played on big ones like Webster Hall.

Seems like JS-NYC isn't the only one to think so. Check the interview with Vice here.

R

Live: Vagina Panther @ Grand Victory 4.20.12

Aqualamb artists Vagina Panther have dropped a pretty aces new EP called Judge in recent times and followed it up with a surge of live activity. This show was on everyone's favorite stoner holiday at a curiously familiar address that turned out to be the old Bruar Falls. I rolled up to a pretty full room of VP-ophiles, some I recognized from previous shows, but with a pretty fair amount of new faces, as well.

Vagina Panther were up in short order, blazing in charmingly hirsute form through a gang of rockers old and new. Visually, the contrast between the Mountain Man half of the band and the Mod half make watching Vagina Panther live a pretty fun proposition. The new EP seems to be getting a lot of shine, as well. I suspect that it won't be very long before we have to work a lot harder to see Vagina Panther play much bigger rooms.

Keep track of the Vagina Panther ascension and grab a copy of the new Aqualamb release Judge here.

R

Descender - And So We Marched

Imagine a tasty cold brewed beverage in a sweaty glass bottle.

Isn't that refreshing?

Now imagine if someone took that bottle and smacked you in the mouth with it. That feels like And So We Marched sounds. Shouting and pummeling their way through four tasty tracks, Descender sound a lot like a 21st Century compliant post-hardcore band that was raised on metal and got dosed with a tab of AmRep before it showed up at the Aqualamb Christmas party.

And So We Marched is pretty crushing. I'm not especially crazy about the vocals, but the songs more than hold their own and the bellowing seems sincere in an adult, rather than latch-key stepkid with a PRS and daddy issues, sort of way. I bet there are a high percentage of sleeve tattoos in Descender, but they got them over decades, not months. I'd pick it up. If you like Planes Mistaken For Stars or Git Some as much as you do Quicksand, And So We Marched could be your aural trip to a brand new set of front teeth.

R

Vagina Panther - Judge

I've had the pleasure of spending time around the lady and men of Vagina Panther over the last year or so. They are a pretty aces rock franchise and a pleasure to tip a fermented beverage or hand-rolled cigarillo to/with. Their newest release is the Judge EP. Sadly (probably to no one but myself), the record is not a collection of covers from everyone's favorite New York Crew, rather a quintet of dome-splitting modern rock from a quartet of forward-rocking Gothamites.

Let's not be hasty with the MR description: we are talking rock music here that is modern, not whatever dungheap of an ad hoc ensemble some management company is foisting onto our suffering ears currently. Vagina Panther combine big fucking guitars and a pummeling hirsute rhythm section with female vocals to serve up a heady brew of quality rock you'll want to beer bong straight into your earhole(s). And eyes too: Vagina Panther are part of the Aqualamb roster, a Gotham collective that releases music in digital and vinyl formats, along with exceedingly snazzy commemorative short-run printed books ala the Judge cover art above.

VP aren't just a pretty face (see: their rhythm section). The fearsome foursome purvey candy of the aural as well as eye variety. Judge is hands-down the biggest, best sounding record I've heard in a very long time. The five songs here sound a lot like Lush covering Blondie, with maybe a little Velocity Girl for good measure, recorded to crisp 21st Century tolerances by James Brown (not that one) of Foo Fighters/Jane's Addiction fader-rocking fame. I can't underestimate how great the production values are here. You can thank the big sound Judge sports for delaying my Falling Down-esque jihad against Williamsburg douchesters sporting full-on studio cans plugged into their iPhones, as this EP is tailor-made for headphone facilitated head-fuckery. Jeff's Song captures that aesthetic the best, but there really ain't a bad song here.

Get Judge here immediately from the Vagina Panther bandcamp presence and stop by the Aqualamb virtual HQ for all your tangible rock enjoyment needs. VP tourdates and news updates is here.

R

Aqualamb

As I put more and more decades behind me, it appears that the bad sign I was born under has manifested itself in the albatross that is having to have a million bearded drummers among my favorite people. One of that questionable lot is my dear Ruttypants, who currently brutalizes the skins for Brooklyn's own Vagina Panther.

The force is strong with Vagina Panther, but in this new millennium, rocking hard is only part of the equation. VP are a sharper bunch than the average bunch of outer-borough rockers. Having realized that no one really buys cds any more and possessing formidable multi-media savvy, Vagina Panther has decided to release their stuff in book, vinyl and digital formats through Aqualamb. It's a shrewd move: music nerds get their fix, vinyl collectors have something to hold in their other hand and artistic multi-taskers can marvel simultaneously at good design work while they enjoy their rock.

Beyond the Pantera de la Vagina, Aqualamb maintains three other bands on the roster currently, namely Descender, Human Highlight Reel and Black, Black, Black. Look forward to coverage of the Aqualamb roster in the coming days and wonder how JS-NYC will connive its way into the third bass spot in Human Highlight Reel.

While you're waiting, peep the Aqualamb web presence here.

R

Live: Vagina Panther @ The Delancey 11.3.11 late

The evening had turned into quite an evening for bearded drummers. Having taken in my first amazing Boy King Island set down the block earlier in the evening, it was a pleasure to inch ever closer to JS-NYC HQ with my rock gourmandizing.
I'd seen Vagina Panther a couple times previous and thought they were ok, but Rut on the drum kit seems to have kicked things up a couple notches. They sound a lot better, and the bass player sure seems to have a ball playing with the stick splitting caveman that comprises the other half of the VP rhythm section. Mario was on the scene to keep the drummer quotient high while June and Co. rocked the hell out of the lower level of The Delancey. They've got a good thing going and a new self-titled record you can get here at the Vagina Panther web presence.

R

New Vagina Panther

There comes an odd time in a man's life when you get a phone call from a trusted friend to go see some mutual friends play in their new band. This happened a year or so ago when a dear friend (as well as 50% of JS-NYC readership and formidable beard farmer) Rut called and said I had to see Vagina Panther. I'll be the first to remind you that I'm kind of a douchebag, but the trifecta of Brooklyn, Trash Bar and the name Vagina Panther is not liable to take me out of my usual homebound schedule of MP3 pliferage and herbal-induced bile spewing. That said, Rut has better than average tastes, so on the bike I went and had my ass rocked in a pronounced fashion.

If you are a prude, the lady and men of Vagina Panther are probably not going to getting a lot of spins. Start with the name, add a cover with a post-modern lactating breast and have a logo featuring a priapic unicorn and you might think VP are the second coming of The Mentors with a Williamsburg spin. Blessedly to these ears, you would be very wrong. Vagina Panther is a great fucking record, both literally and figuratively, full of a sexy swagger that is hard to ignore. The good ship Vagina Panther is helmed by the diminutive dynamo that is Dead June. To look at her, you might doubt social morays revolving around necrophilia and surmise that some Haitian Vodun has been harnessed, as she tears up the record from the opening number to note last. The band is tight as hell, providing quite the foundation for June's Chrissie Hynde meets Poly Styrene vocalizing and no doubt setting many an ass to shaking. I'm pretty impressed all around. The songs and band are great, but huge kudos and boxes of donuts should go to producer Mario McNulty for his work on Vagina Panther. This record is definitely one of the best sounding records I've heard all year. It's not rocket surgery: good songs and good production equal great records. If there is any justice in this world, Vagina Panther will depose boring dreck like Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and get this fearsome fivesome a lot of notice. They debuted at 156 on the CMJ 200 and evidently have a video coming down the pike soon. Safe money is on it not being watchable at work. While you're waiting, pop on over the VP lair and keep track of all things Vagina Panther here.

Vagina Panther: Live @ Trash Bar 8.22.8

Christian was after me to come out to this show. In addition to being a good buddy, he plays with Bowery Boy Blue and is known to have a pretty good ear. His boy Trent, who used to play with Xtian in Canadian powerhouse Jonestown Punch back in the 80s, was behind the kit for Vagina Panther and I hadn't seen either of them in forever, so out to Brooklyn on a Friday night I went.  I had been to Trash a couple times, but it is not high on my list of places to be on a Friday night, but I think we all know my ambivalence with the lands across the East River.

Luckily (for whom, I'm not sure) I didn't get lost or too irritated on the ride out. I ran into Christian in short order and set to catching up with him and getting the low-down on Vagina Panther. VP are a five piece, with female lead vocals. Melding the guitars of The Stooges to the vocals of Lush, they put out quite a pleasant wall of sound. It really wasn't what I expected, but it was far from bad. They rock, but Vagina Panther could use a little more of a stage show. I'm not sure whether they should push the vagina or the panther end of the equation, but they seem like obvious places to start.

Now don't get me wrong, Dead June holds her own as the frontwoman for Vagina Panther. It's fortunate, as the rest of the boys spent most of the set with their back to the audience. Initially, I thought it was a Swiz homage, but finally have reconciled it to the fact that Trent must look really good with his shirt off. Trent's formidable sexual aura aside, they tore through seven or eight tracks in short order and got a pretty good response from the room. I'd like to see them again.

VP are currently recording for a full-length with Grammy Award winning producer Mario McNulty. No word about a label, but I'm figuring on a self-release, at least initially. There are four recordings up on the MySpace to pique your interest in the meantime. Check the webpage and MySpace for more live dates and a time frame for the release of the recordings. 

R

Vagina Panther web portal

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