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Autodrone is a quartet that has been kicking around New York since 2002, fronted by eye candy Rachel Lauria on vocals and Angel Lorelei (no, I don't believe her parents named her that, either) on bass and keyboards. PANIC, their latest EP, mines the punk vein somewhere between L7 and Luscious Jackson in places, between Hilary Duff and Patti Smith in others. The band strives for a wall of sound effect, and mostly succeeds, though a bit of a sense of dynamics in spots would be most welcome.

Guitarist Jeremy Alisauskas and drummer Dennis Lehrer keep things propelling right along throughout PANIC; Alisauskas, in particular has enough aural tricks to keep the different tracks on PANIC distinguished (always a potential danger in a project like this). I get the feeling after listening to PANIC a few times, however, that Autodrone’s main strength may lie in their live performances, and that the essence of their sound may be yet to be captured on disc. Still and all, PANIC ain’t bad and if it gets you into a club to see the band live, all to the good.