Okay, so I'm not jealous. I'm just looking at the definitions now, ya know. Seems like we use the words "jealousy" and "envy" and "covetousness" interchangeably sometimes, but they are all distinct words, and I'm trying to figure out which is the best emotion that I'm feeling when I listen to Panic Shack. It's not jealousy, because jealousy involves already having something and being afraid that you're going to lose it due to some challenger threatening that thing. E.g. when you're in a monogamous relationship and your boyfriend is flirting with his coworker, that's jealousy. I don't have that feeling at all, in any context, let alone with a fun little pop punk album like this. It's either covetousness or envy. The former means that you want something that someone else has. The latter means that you want something that someone else has and you hate that person for having it. Panic Shack, the band, has something that I want, but I don't hate them for it. So I guess its covetousness. My affliction is covetousness. Breaking one of the Ten Commandments while listening to good music.
I'm talking thematically. Panic Shack make it clear, over and over, who they are and what they want out of life and how they operate in their day-to-day (and night-to-night) and what kind of people they are and what they value. They are young, and fun, and funny, and wild, and they live life to the fullest, and they go out with their friends and act like idiots and laugh about it later, and they love, and they love to talk shit, and they laugh about that later too, and they get together with friends and one day one of 'em is like "yo we should start a band," and they do, they start a band, and while they don't necessarily reach "commercial success," comparatively, they also made a good enough album and seem to be having fun doing it and are at the very, very least well-known just enough that a bunch of jabronis across the sea listen to their album as part of a weekly music club. I remember what it was like, to be that age, to feel the way they feel, to feel free and uninhibited and to have the space to make mistakes and take the opportunity to make those mistakes and learn from them, and laugh about them all the while. I want it again. I cannot have it. Too old. No hard feelings though. No envy. Just covetousness. Not a big deal.
So what they are presenting is the thing that makes me covet. The way that they present it involves a whole different line of thinking. Bringing up previous Record Club artists is probably not helpful for 99.9% of the possible audience of this album review, but this is how my mind works now so just bear with me.
The first artist I'm thinking about is Cheekface. I have grown to despise this band over the years, and the reason I hate them is sort of the opposite of the reason I like Panic Shack. Panic Shack has pretty decent music and themes that are presented plainly and boldly. Cheekface, on the other hand, makes tight and catchy music but the way they present their themes through their lyrics is wildly annoying. I don't need to rehash this whole thing (since Cheekface release like one album a year and I'm forced to write about each new album because I'm a self-masochist). You can basically sum up their whole thing with this word: "memes." Their whole shtick consists of arch irony using the most basic cliché internetspeak of the terminally online. I hate it.
Panic Shack doesn't do this. There's no attempts at irony. The humor and poignancy comes from their observations and witticisms about the real life that they're living. The girls are going out, and remembering to pack their vape phone keys lipgloss. They're dealing with some shitty guy. They get too drunk and they're trying to stay thin. I'm not saying there isn't figurative language, that there isn't hyperbole. I'm saying that the language feels real and true, feels pointed, lacks winking of any kind. I'm saying that this is a good thing. (To be honest, this makes me feel like the members of Panic Shack are too busy being in a kick-ass rock 'n' roll band to spend much time online, to their benefit.)
So what they are presenting is the thing that makes me covet. The way that they present it involves a whole different line of thinking. Bringing up previous Record Club artists is probably not helpful for 99.9% of the possible audience of this album review, but this is how my mind works now so just bear with me.
The first artist I'm thinking about is Cheekface. I have grown to despise this band over the years, and the reason I hate them is sort of the opposite of the reason I like Panic Shack. Panic Shack has pretty decent music and themes that are presented plainly and boldly. Cheekface, on the other hand, makes tight and catchy music but the way they present their themes through their lyrics is wildly annoying. I don't need to rehash this whole thing (since Cheekface release like one album a year and I'm forced to write about each new album because I'm a self-masochist). You can basically sum up their whole thing with this word: "memes." Their whole shtick consists of arch irony using the most basic cliché internetspeak of the terminally online. I hate it.
Panic Shack doesn't do this. There's no attempts at irony. The humor and poignancy comes from their observations and witticisms about the real life that they're living. The girls are going out, and remembering to pack their vape phone keys lipgloss. They're dealing with some shitty guy. They get too drunk and they're trying to stay thin. I'm not saying there isn't figurative language, that there isn't hyperbole. I'm saying that the language feels real and true, feels pointed, lacks winking of any kind. I'm saying that this is a good thing. (To be honest, this makes me feel like the members of Panic Shack are too busy being in a kick-ass rock 'n' roll band to spend much time online, to their benefit.)
The second artist I'm thinking about is Olivia Rodrigo. I have grown to love this artist over the years, to the point that she's probably my favorite pop star (well, okay, tied with Charli XCX, but that comparison does not belong in a Panic Shack review). The contrast here has to do with a thing I've traditionally called "found drama," defined as "artists who exaggerate their own flaws for the sake of pop music and empathy." Maybe a more efficient way to say it is: weaponized self-deprecation. I actually think the whole phenomenon is pretty cool, how it manages to upend expectations. Like, this isn't a Betty Boop thing, where the female artist is presenting themselves as incompetent so a big strong man can help them and fall in love or whatever. It's more like the artist is taking ownership of their flaws and finding empowerment through that. Olivia Rodrigo and her friendly rival Sabrina Carpenter are some of the best to ever do it.
Panic Shack doesn't do this either. Not too much, anyway. They go with the classic version of empowerment, i.e. "I am powerful because I'm cool as fuck." They're the coolest people at the party, their friendship is rock-solid, and when they are decimating some fucking guy they give no quarter. Plus, great tits (their words, not mine, I didn't even look because I quiver and shrink when it the presence of cool powerful women). There's no wrong answer here, I'm just pointing out the difference. I think that maybe Olivia Rodrigo is pushing boundaries with the way she's presenting her self-characterization and what that means for womanhood, whereas Panic Shack are more content to fall back on the classic braggadocio that was already perfected by their riot grrrl forebearers and basically any hip hop artists worth their salt.
All this to say that I like what Panic Shack is doing. This was an incredibly listenable album, one that clearly achieved everything that the band wanted to achieve with it. We get a clear sense of who these women are, and what they want. We get catchy songs that don't fuck around, that are right up there in your face, presenting how it is for the band writing those songs. There is nothing new to be found here, just an immensely fun reiteration of everything that has ever worked in my favorite music and everything that has ever worked in the smart presentation of gender politics in punk music.
I'm glad that Panic Shack found themselves in a position to document life as they see it now. I don't begrudge them for one second for presenting life as an easy, carefree, never-ending party. Even though I don't have that kind of life anymore, and can't actually relate to any of it. I covet this kind of thing. But there's no going back, of course. And I'm happy to hear that people are still experiencing such joys in those particular ways, and even happier that some talented musicians were able to sing about it. Count me in, despite my covetous ways.
All this to say that I like what Panic Shack is doing. This was an incredibly listenable album, one that clearly achieved everything that the band wanted to achieve with it. We get a clear sense of who these women are, and what they want. We get catchy songs that don't fuck around, that are right up there in your face, presenting how it is for the band writing those songs. There is nothing new to be found here, just an immensely fun reiteration of everything that has ever worked in my favorite music and everything that has ever worked in the smart presentation of gender politics in punk music.
I'm glad that Panic Shack found themselves in a position to document life as they see it now. I don't begrudge them for one second for presenting life as an easy, carefree, never-ending party. Even though I don't have that kind of life anymore, and can't actually relate to any of it. I covet this kind of thing. But there's no going back, of course. And I'm happy to hear that people are still experiencing such joys in those particular ways, and even happier that some talented musicians were able to sing about it. Count me in, despite my covetous ways.
GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5
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