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Album Reviews
Album Review: Japanther – Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt (Southern)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 4 May 2009
Not one of Brooklyn’s current crop of New Big Things, this New York duo have been flummoxing audiences, whilst building on their strong cult following since the start of the century. Ian Vanek and Matt Reilly have sought to keep control of their work within their musical coupling as much as possible, and through self-releasing and self-producing as they happily did the rounds of the international underground. ‘Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt’ is unlikely to see the masses nudge them out of their comfortable den of obscurity, which I can safely guess is absolutely fine with them, having rather eccentrically chosen shows involving synchronised swimmers and giant puppets over punishing touring schedules in the past. Japanther is equal parts art project and band, and this album follows this formula to the letter, juggling spoken word contributions in the shape of two ambitious poems by celebrated Crass poet and drummer, Penny Rimbaud, with their own lo-fi punk punches in the stomach. Though their signature fuzz-bass throbs mercilessly through the veins of their satisfying two-minute, two-fingers-to-love numbers, I can’t help but feel that the musical component of this album has suffered for ‘the art’. I guess that this unusual weighting is in keeping with the pair’s punk ethos, however. In a musical climate that is danger of increasing uniformity, such stalwart protests against convention should be celebrated. MB
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