Press

“Look, I am going to be honest with you. I think that Japanther is the best band ever, straight up. There is no other band that matches the intensity and emotion of their live show, and each record that they put out further proves that this two-man hit factory can’t stop/won’t stop. For the past few albums they have be…en sneaking around the 60s girl-group dormitories late at night. Their new record, Rock ‘n’ Roll Ice Cream, makes you want to quit your job and cruise” TOKION

“works just fine for our dance party” NYLON

“noisy punk-rock duo Japanther… is more accessible than other bands of its genre, as it always sneaks in a satisfying pop hook.” THE NEW YORKER

“Picks for the first day of SXSW Music” THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Simultaneously frenzied and delicious.” NEW YORK MAGAZINE

“adds a new layer of demented girl group harmony to the band’s usual fuzz n’ buzz melodic tricks.” THE VILLAGE VOICE

“the band’s knack for whipping a roomful of young hipsters into a frenzy is awesome to behold. This is punk as performance art, and no one in town does it better.” TIME OUT NEW YORK

‘Their band could be your life—and the way Japanther plays, you kinda want it to be.’ TIME OUT CHICAGO

“Japanther’s always good, skuzzy punk fun” THE STRANGER

gives Dan the Automator or Danger Mouse a run for their money” EU JACKSONVILLE

“must have… chock full o’ the cool songs that your pals will include on their next mix” THE OMAHA READER

“Just attend the Japanther gig in the general spirit of rebellion, anyway. Don’t trust anyone over 30 and don’t think about it too hard. Oh, and be sure to buy Japanther’s brand new album, Rock ‘n’ Roll Ice Cream.” TORONTOIST

“sure to play soundtrack to many a Brooklyn loft dance party” NBC NEW YORK

“The guys in Japanther believe that art punk needs girl group harmonies, and they’re so right.” WNYC

“impressive” THE ONION A.V. CLUB

“enters into legendary territory, naturally combining catchy hooks, heart pounding beats and frenetic energy” FLAVORPILL

“There’s a lot going on for Brooklyn-based Japanther.” SPINNER

“A heavy Ramones influence is always apparent in their work, but added layers of poetry, hip hop influence and personality set them apart” CMU (UK)

“Now thanks to ‘Surfin’ Coffin’ by Japanther I walk down the street all the time sing-song-ing those words in the rhythm of some
bubblegum-Misfits drumbeat, and it’s like summertime in wintertime, like surfing all day on the sunniest Saturday and then hitting up Coldstone for a bucket of Birthday Cake Remix and afterward you go drink tall boys of Tecate on the beach with your bros and everything’s cool, everything’s epic.” NO GOOD FOR ME

“Japanther was putting on the show of their lives! I was loving the music, the atmosphere and the vibes in the room… an awesome band.” WE STOLE THE SHOW

“This is one of those rare albums you always sort of assumed existed ever since sometime in 1981, but it wasn’t until you actually heard it that you realized it didn’t, until now.” INDICHIK

“Japanther have been recording since they formed in 2001, and the basic formula hasn’t changed — only electrified. ‘Alone in the Basement’ (and its counterpart ‘She’s the One’ is a splendid artifact of punk-as-art, it’s early-eighties, Ramones-meets-Mekons sound boasting the kind of hook-tacular, irony-free engineering that would make Stephen Merritt proud.” SCALLYWAG & VAGABOND

“Lo-fi punk darlings [have] another new album to add to their already impressive discography.” AUSTIN TOWN HALL

“lo-fi aesthetic, eclectic samples and legendary high energy live shows… one of my favorite bands.” LARGEHEARTED BOY

“New Japanther March 2nd: Rock ‘n’ Roll Ice Cream. This is the best news of 2010. Honest.” THIS IS WHAT WE DO

“Few bands stir up feelings of drunken teenage nights and subtle rebellion like Japanther… I can barely think of words to describe how excited I was to hear they had a new album coming out” BLUEGRASSISH

“has my inner riot grrrl jumping around pretty giddy” THE TINY ACCORDION

“super poppy (read ‘lovely’) and the girl doo-wop bits grows on you like cute bacteria” TRENDWHORE

“This is FUN punk! … the entire LP is infectious.” FAR FROM NOISE

“simple, catchy and highly contagious…Rock N ‘Roll Ice Cream is an album of summer and light that appears at the end of winter.” PUNK ME UP (translated)

“A New York-based band whose music conveys what I would call springing life.”- Art Forum

“…We’ve had fireworks going off indoors…stage diving where people get wicked hurt…You leave your house and then you know there’s really not insurance in the World… & I’m ready to die. I’m ready to die.” - Ian Vanek on NPR’s Souncheck

“Japanther is one of the hardest fucking bands in Brooklyn right now. They sound like Iron Maiden, Throbbing Gristle, and Lightning Bolt gave birth to a squealing little baby with flaming guitars for arms. Their shows are chaotic and danger-charged lovefests and they are frighteningly dedicated to keeping it underground.” – VICE

“Japanther remains one the New York City’s most under rated acts…” – Pitchfork Media

“Performance Galaxy” – Vanity Fair

“The Perfect Act” – PLAYGIRL

“They are untouchable. Highly, highly recommended.” – Razor Cake

“The ever-divisive” – The Fader

“Super hard, incredibly fast, and overall inspiring” – Thrasher

“spazz gods… a mother fucker of an album… Japanther is a lean slam boogie machine with no time for boredom.” – Thurston Moore For Arthur Magazine

“It’s not like they haven’t the feigned art-world legitimacy of the ‘experimental’ tag—they once composed a live puppet opera that later ended up as the basis of a video piece in last year’s Whitney Biennial—but they also have a sense of humor. As in: their fist-pumping singalong, “River Phoenix.” As in: they once bashed out this Young Indy ode while synchronized swimmers calling themselves Aquadoom splash-kicked in time with the beat.” – Village Voice

“Japanther’s ultra-low-fi, gritty, and raw approach somehow ends up eminently danceable. And how could you not take a shine to a band that named an album Dump The Body In Rikki Lake?” – KQED

“Lo-Fi soul, High-Fi bite…Ian Vanek and Matt Reilly just call themselves Japanther and they have come to destroy… The sound manufactured en masse by drum sticks, a guitar, and MPC2000 sampler is flat-out gifted. Oh yeah and then there are two musical rock puppet shows: Don’t trust anyone under Thirty featuring a collaboration with ’60s American installation artist Dan Graham, and Dump the Body in Rikki Lake, with human size puppetry fusing the album’s tunes… Essentially Japanther makes the kind of music that dares you to stay still.” – Soma

“Punk rock meets water ballet at NYU”- Time Out

“They’ve restored my faith in live shows with their loopy beats and tweaked-out art school guitar. And the phone mikes are a nice touch.” – Jane

“Japanther is summoning all the lo-fi heroes to their aid in bringing this anti-pop music to life once again.” – Dusted

“Asian Wildcat. Pretty good name for a band, but Japanther? Totally killer. And if the name reflects the sound (which it does) the you know you’re into something good. It really is about time two people got together and had fun using an old trap kit, some recorded samples and dubbed tape and a bass guitar with only three strings. Oh and did I mention telephones for microphones?” – Slap

“But what I love about Japanther is their mix of influences: early punk, new wave and industrial. If the Minutemen and Joy Division fucked one night after drinks, the offspring would be the instrumental track “Supertap.” - Prefix Mag

“The virile and powerful Poseidon is no match for the pairing of energetic Brooklyn band Japanther.” – Brooklyn Vegan

“Skuffed Up My Huffy and it’s mad LOLz. And good! Perhaps their best yet?” – Missing Toof