Luckily, Mommy and Daddy aren’t about thinking. On Fighting Style Killer Panda, a new six-track EP that’s also the first record they’ve released in the States, Vivian Sarratt and Edmond Hallas strip dance-punk down to its brutal sex-rock essentials, like the Kills with more of an intentional sense of humor: “Run It Off” is a three-note bass riff laid over an excruciatingly simple drum beat; “Question Marks Followed by Exclamation Marks” is the same thing, but a little slower and with an off-key chorus; “Confection” manages to swing a little; “Street Cleaner Demeanor” has a synth bleep that sounds like your alarm clock. Hallas and Sarratt’s big trick isn’t divorcing style from substance; it’s offering style instead of substance. Their sound is a reflection of the new New York cool, and since you can headbang to it and dance to it at the same time, it makes for somewhat killer filler.
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2005.