April 28, 2009

Album review: Japanther

Tut Tut, Now Shake Ya Butt

6 / 10 Coming over like a long-lost mixtape made by a somewhat unstable punk rocker for his riot grrrl crush, ‘Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt’ is a bizarre mess of DIY clattering laced with emotion, spoken-word strangeness and out-and-out stoopid fun times. Averaging about two minutes per tune, aside from the two out-there 10-minute poems delivered by Crass’ Penny Rimbaud (‘Africa Seems So Far Away’ and ‘I Thee Indigene’), Japanther’s chaotic bedroom-pop is less anti-folk and more anti-funk. On ‘Bumpin Rap Tapes’ and ‘Before The Sun Goes Down’ the Brooklyn band even offer a nod towards the very first incarnation of Beastie Boys before they stepped up their ill-advised dancing girls in cages initiative. One for the oddball in your life.

Leonie Cooper

More on this artist:
Japanther NME Artist Page
Japanther MySpace