Death Sentence: Panda! is Paul Costuros, Chris Dixon and Kim West - a trio of San Franciscan noise deliquents, featuring members of Crack: We Are Rock, T.I.T.S, Murder Murder and Total Shutdown.

They add a cartoonish sense of drama to the trad Bay Area post-punk sound, using nothing more than a flute, a pitchshifted clarinet, a drum kit and a whole lotta hollering. Their music draws heavily on traditional Chinese and Korean folk music, ragtime, New Orleans-style marching bands and good ol' hardcore punk.

'Festival Of Ghosts' / 'R'out 4,002' is the brand new follow-up record to 2005's well-received "Puppy, Kitty Or Both" debut. An album of two halves, the first half 'Festival of Ghosts' is just that - songs for and about ghosts, except for "Mr. Chip" - a song about a triumphant rabbit.

Oozing with hypnotic percussive clanging, howling sax and scrambled experimentation, the opener "Here Come The Ghosts" is a haunted call to arms summoning all spirits in earshot to march in union with Nature's heartbeat. It marks a move towards looser song structures and instrumentation for the group - bells, trombone and even shoes all feature, as songs run in unpredictable directions and echo with dub delay, making for a supernatural listening experience.

The second half of the record, 'R'out 4,002', consists of tracks taken from the band's 2004 tour-only CDR, remastered by Orthlorng Musork's Joshua Kit Clayton. 'R'out 4,002' is the sound of hardcore with its fangs beared - songs creep and sprint, shock and enliven with their savage cacophony.

"Slumber Party" and "Tribal Boyfriend" are both brutally bratty, whilst "Yao Yao Tou" is a kinetic barrage of pitchshifted clarinet blurts and clattering pans, punctuated by the recital of a Mandarin nursery rhyme. The song races at breakneck pace before dissolving into a plaintive flute trance. The reprise couldn't be more different, all foreboding gong grumble, squalls of noise, footfalls and hushed creatures.

Limited to just 1000 copies, the 12" features a heavyweight disc packaged within a 3 colour, hand-screened, recycled cardstock sleeve.

'Puppy, Kitty or Both' is the band's debut release and features 8 feral blasts of unhinged pop and skip'n'stomp dance action! Produced by acclaimed, punk legend Weasel Walter, the songs are nothing short of party anthems for the punk kids.

Yet behind the music lies a clear political message of respect and responsibility - the band take their name from the punishment awarded in China for the slaughter of the endangered bear and approach song subject matter from an environmental, activist angle.