"This is severely fun LA bubblegum punk. A really strong album and I would highly recommend it to people who dig Ty Segall, Wavves, Nobunny, or Mean Jeans. " - Vice
This local band is kicking butt and playing all over LA. Their debut record is causing a ruckus among the locals and is a must have for everyone looking for a new band to dig your teeth into! They construct their songs in interesting ways, with elements of punk rock, doo-wop, and freak folk. Their record is only available at The Smell now so pick one up! - KXLU
"And loudly. And radly. Their dirty lo-fi garage punk careened from the back of the warehouse through the front. The volume knob was beyond 11 and happily out of control. The crowd, which appeared to be all ages (meaning young) was tearing into each other. complete with fervor, dirty clothes and undaunting smiles. The only people having a better time appeared to be Pangea as they careened through their set without pause and played encores after being begged by the unruly mass." indierockreviews.com
L.A. punks Pangea had a limited but totally ravaged cassette out on Burger Records this year and for most (RSTB included) this meant that it came and went without being able to snag a copy. Thankfully Burger, in conjunction with OlFactory Records, have taken pity on the suckers and reissued this raucous chunk of fun on vinyl. Threatening to tear itself apart at every corner, Living Dummy is short on fidelity but heavy on scrappy, catchy garage punk that befits their upcomming opening dates for the likes of Mikal Cronin whose sense of kitchen sink stylistic approach the band seems well versed in. Underneath the layer of fuzz and sweat the boys fold in acoustic strums, backwards tapes, giddy background vocals and girl-group drum pops. Each spin 'round renders it more endearing and necessitates a volume bump for dancin's sake. Don't be left in the dust a second time around, pick it up! - Raven Sings The Blues
If Pangea don't go somewhere in 2012, I'll eat my other foot and install prosthetic feet with roller skates attached to them. - Nu Rave Brain Wave
Living Dummy is Southern California punk the way it should be: crude without being obnoxious, funny without being crass, aggressively punk yet not totally insensitive, and, most importantly, FUN. Pangea burst straight out of the gate with the driving "No Feeling" and never lose that initial blast of energy as they tear through fourteen tracks of thoroughly infectious pop-inflected punk. Living Dummy is packed with enough catchy choruses, guitar solos, "la-la-la's", and naughty lyrics to delight my inner juvenile delinquent, but it's the music that keeps me coming back for more. Pangea construct their songs in interesting ways, folding elements of doo-wop, girl groups, power pop, and even folk-rock into their sound, thereby sidestepping the homogeneity that plagues many a punk record. It gets pretty epic at times, but Pangea stay steady on course by keeping the focus where it belongs: on good songs, well played, with heart. Really, the only thing more fun than Living Dummy is Pangea's live show. - GET BENT!
On record you can clearly hear the shiny tones of California pop bands past playing out in Pangea's tunes, but we're calling this music pub rock on a philosophical level. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Pangea aren't burying their music in shit tons of reverb and dosing it with orange sunshine. Nothing heady, just loud guitars and crashing drums and songs about being being pissed off and pissed up or hungover or all three at once. It's juvenilia you can sing along with. It's a solid album, but doesn't capture the manic, youthful energy we witnessed at their live show; pub rock always did lose something in the translation from pub to studio.- Positive Destruction
Sleazy but friendly, poppy but rocky tunes that have finally crawled their way out off the most homogenous shadows of suburbia and gotten some long overdue recognition. While a couple tracks conjure visions of hipsters absent-mindedly bouncing their youth away, there are songs on here that puncture your soul with harpoon-esque procession and pull you onboard. - Razorcake
damn - where do I begin. Just know this, if you go see them prepare to mosh your ass off or at least dance, pogo, flail, spazz your ass off. There music inhabits a Happy Days world gone askew were Richy Cunningham is a bad ass and Mrs. C is the town slut, (or maybe that's just my fantasy). Their songs do have that 60's beach blanket bingo jangly guitar thing happening soaked in a punk vibe. I dunno it was like The Black Lips, Dick Dale and the Deltones, Violent Femmes, and ??? were all mashed up into one sweaty fun time. - American Pancake
Pangea is from Newhall, CA, and they have that upbeat surf-y sound that goes wonderfully with The Lovely Bad Things and Tijuana Panthers. You can tell a lot about their attitude and sound from the names of their songs. They started it up with "To Drunk To Come" (the appropriate spelling written on my note card courtesy of William, the lead singer and guitarist), a very fast paced mosh-worthy song at first that slows down into a 1960s reminiscent beat. They then played "Get Away Free," a fun song that made us all break a sweat in the ill ventilated sardine can that Burger Records became. Next was "Hold My Hand," which forced me to take my Cosby sweater off and dance like I was an American Bandstand girl (except Pangea wasn't lip syncing). William said "Thanks for clapping you guys," as they then played "Shitty," which has that old surf sound with a new age twist, because obviously The Routers wouldn't title a song "Shitty." William said "This is our last song. Thanks for putting up with us. We appreciate it." He then began their last and favorite one, "No Feelin'," which made the crowd go wild. The stop-and-start drum beat and the loudly defined bass definitely didn't stop anyone from dancing, and neither did the heat of the record shop. - LA Record
