Cow-punk lives

Reviewed May 2008

A minimalist roots band from the Midwest with a Left Coast art-rock attitude, The Panderers sound a bit like the Fabulous Thunderbirds meet Cake. Their debut EP, "Hotshot's Boy," has five songs – "Shane" is the most interesting of the bunch. A plaintive lead vocal dripping '90s grunge and alt-rock angst plays atop a quietly comping organ and country/blues shuffle by the rhythm section. The CD opens more conventionally with a cow-punk song, "Come On," followed by the dirge-like "Dig." It's on "Shane," though, that their disparate influences are most completely combined.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).