The Agenda!

Start the Panic (Kindercore)
by Scott Hefflon

From the “everyone comes in together, rockin’ like there’s no tomorrow” of “Crash! Crash!,” you know you’ve really got something here. And once you pick yourself up off the floor (really, it’s like walking into a party in full swing, it takes you a second to adjust and throw yourself into the swirling mayhem, getting caught up and swept along by the sheer energy), the rest of Start the Panic follows suit, though perhaps a little less in-your-face. Full-on Mod-rockin’ good times – garagey guitars jerking about, organ wailing, vocals howling with a bit of distortion (yeah, like The Hives) – The Agenda! has one serious advantage over T(I)NC, Division of Laura Lee, and iKara Kolt, and that whole scene of Mod/garage rock, and that’s their lack of “I’m too indie and cool to break a sweat” restraint, which, to me, undermines any sense of rockin’ energy going on. No, The Agenda! howls and wails unashamed of workin’ up a sweat and maybe missing some notes along the way. Really, when you yelp “Ow-ow-ow-Oooooow!” (repeatedly) and your voice cracks, you either bring the listener along for the ride or you’re left standing there looking stupid. And The Agenda! pulls it off cuz they “go there,” ya know? With 11 songs in 26 minutes, it’s great to get the pulse racing, and there’s plenty here to scream along with. If more Mod were this wild and energetic, I wouldn’t hate the lazy genre so much (though I’d surely have a few more speeding tickets).
(PO Box 461 Athens, GA 30603)