Carbon County “Panic!”

“Panic!” extends the excitement and abrasion of “Get Up and Die,” the song that established the duo as an irresistible force in the New York rock underground. Their appearance, too, is part of the provocation. As if to protect themselves from the powerful vibes that their music radiates, the two members of Carbon County perform in gas masks and hazmat suits — one jet black and one bone white. They appear in the “Panic!” video like a pair of rocking apparitions, manifesting in the middle of a laundromat at the peak of an electrical storm. Voltage is theirs to command: exclamations and designs in neon-bright color fill the air around them. Everything is dangerously bright, crackling with energy, ready to combust. It’s a lot like the atmosphere at one of the band’s concerts.

The “Panic!” video looks fantastic – and there’s a reason for that. It was directed by Alejandro Montoya Marin — the same man behind the camera for Millennium Bugs. He returned the group’s favor with a clip that amplifies the Carbon County mythology. He’s also brought along a famous friend: the veteran comic actor Tommy Chong, who plays the gruff manager of the Desi’s Coin Laundry on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. He leaves the store to a couple of entertaining reprobates who know how to make the most of a blackout. The power may go out in Southern California, but Carbon County has their own inexhaustible supply of juice.