Moral Panics

NYC's Peel Dream Magazine dazzled listeners with their recent release "Agitprop Alterna," a smart album that draws from a wide set of post-punk, shoegaze and indiepop influences but still has an assured, unique sound. Now they're following up with "Moral Panics," a companion EP that features unreleased songs from the "Agitprop Alterna" sessions. Far from being outtakes, these are all songs that stand strong on their own, and gathered together function as a useful corollary to the album. The EP's title comes from Stanley Cohen's "Folk Devils and Moral Panics," a pivotal study of the media treatment of the mod movement and the poltical, societal and cultural faultlines that the media panic embodied -- it's a reference that's quite revealing about some of the ideas behind Peel Dream. Songs like "New Culture," "Verfremdungseffekt" and "Life At The Movies" continue PDM's investigations into those frought areas where art, culture and commerce meet, and the EP as a whole comprises a crucial piece of the Peel Dream discography.