PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER
If the music on Panama sounds vaguely retro, it's only because people have stupidly stopped making music that sounds like this. Hearkening back to the hyperspeed jangle of Nothing Painted Blue (or the swoony strum characteristics of New Zealand's Fying Nun label), this Philadelphia quartet is smart but not dorky, pop but not precious. Scene-watchers will note the searing guitar leads of Caterpillar's Mike Lenert and the machine-gun drumming of Moped/Sonny Sixkiller's Kara Lafty, but the name to know here is that of Gram Richmond, who's been gigging some of these songs around town for the better part of six years, also under the name Meringue. His sweet, unassuming voice turns KYW News Radio's "All news, all the time" slogan from a promise to a threat in "1060," and laments a doomed love in "Platelets." Who cares if jangle pop is dead? To borrow Richmond's description of Philadelphia itself: "It's great 'cause everybody hates it."
-Sam Adams
In the rush to be trendy and cool, far too few bands remember to make music this good. Philadelphia natives Panama have the right idea -- New Zealand-ish punk-pop tunefulness, jangly melodies, assorted vocalists... a simple equation, but executed extremely well. In this particular case, there's a healthy dose of REM-style Americana built into the creative formula as well -- or rather, Philadelphiana, as Panama never passes up an opportunity to name-check or otherwise refer to their home town. But you won't notice this beyond the song-title level; you be too busy pogoing to implausibly catchy tunes like "Swimming" and enjoying the simple life.
Alternative Choice
This week, two local pop bands debut new albums at the Khyber (56 S. 2nd St., 215-238-5888) and when people talk about local music, everybody seems to forget about the pop guys. At 10 p.m. Saturday, it's Panama, led by Gram Richmond and rotating band members who have included Caterpillar's Mike Lenert and Sonny Sixkiller's Kara Lafty (whose own combo is also on the bill, along with Swisher). Both Lenert and Lafty are on Panama's self-titled Two Street disc, which hints at Philadelphia with songs about growing up listening to KYW and living in a city that everybody loves because everybody hates it, but feels more like '80s New Zealand. -Sara Sherr
PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
Singer/songwriter Gram Richmond's Philadelphia is the one we last knew best before the Rendell administration: pre-Old City, pre-Manayunk, a town still buzzed on its own fatalism and cavalier lack of worldliness, where every band knew every other band. And where there was still no scene outside of West Philly, where college and post-college life utterly demanded it. The rest of the city... who knows? Strangely, the debut CD by Richmond's band, Panama, echos these feelings musically as well as lyrically: It harkens back to a time when every band in town sounded - or at least had one song that sounded - like R.E.M. Panama have a bunch of them, and that's a good thing. Their R.E.M., like their Philadelphia, revels in the wonderment of the small-time: train stations, obscure baseball trivia and the joys of listening to KYW 1060's school closings. Nowhere is Gram's melancholy reverie more apparent than on "Athletics," a jangley, lazy, loping snapshot of "Philadelphia-P-A, still the capitol in a way..." You can almost hear the El as it maxes out your Walkman headphones - just like Murmer back in '86. –Joey Sweeney
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
All Philadelphia, all the time. It's not only rappers who are representin' Illadelphia these days. On their self-titled debut disc on the Two Street label, top-notch rockers Panama - made up of former of Moped, Merengue and Caterpillar members - proudly sing of the city they adore and despise. With "1060," singer Gram Richmond has penned perhaps the world's first ode to an all-news radio station. "Athletics" mourns our town's long-lost American League baseball franchise. And on "Philadelphia," the singer revels in the negative pleasures of living in the City of Brotherly Love: "It's great, 'cause everybody hates it," he sings repeatedly. -Dan DeLuca
INKBLOT MAGAZINE
Ever since I left my hometown several years ago, I've been curious to find out what's been happening with indie rock in Philadelphia. I'm so out of the loop, that I didn't even know that local heroes Caterpillar and Moped have gone the way of the dodo bird. So I was quite pleased to find out that some of the members have picked up the torch with a band called Panama.
What's their forté, you ask? Catchy, upbeat, pop songs. Fresh, tuneful, jangly guitar rock. It's just not fair what they do on the opening song, "1060." They take a Philly AM radio jingle and turn it into an addicting hook which sticks in your head like Crazy Glue. Other standouts include the dynamic "Automatic," the sing along "Athletics," the bouncy "In-Transit," and "Glacier Girl," with its triumphant finale. Panama also manage to imbue the record with a hefty sense of humour without turning the whole thing into a meaningless farce. The Philadelphia Tri-State area is the central theme, to the extent that Panama come off as musical purveyors of local history. So if Philly's your thing, check this out - you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a record with more direct references to the city. "It's great 'cause everybody hates it," Gram sings. He's right about everyone hating it. And if you're not from Philly, but just looking for a good new pop record, pick it up. It's not a consistent 100% kick in the ass, but almost every one of the fifteen songs is a winner. Even for the A's.
-Lars Rosenblum-Sorgenfre