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- Matt K in Just a small complaint… Agreed whole-heartedly. Nice observation.
- Eric in SonicBids & CMJ 2007: Anatomy of a Scam? …Meh. Thank you all for this information. I was not aware of this pay-to-play scam. My band is just starting out playing gigs and getting...
Really, there are two Man Mans. There’s live Man Man, which is holy-shit-what-just-happened-let’s-do-that-again-fuck-yeah! awesome. Live Man Man, fronted by Honus Honus, wears tennis clothes and war paint. Live Man Man is fucking crazy. And then there’s studio Man Man. Studio Man Man is led by Ryan Kattner, Air Force brat, and presumably wears normal clothes. In the past, studio Man Man hasn’t been anywhere close to live Man Man’s fuck-yeah! awesomeness.
Enter Rabbit Habits, Man Man’s upcoming third album. The experience of listening to Rabbit Habits isn’t as good as seeing Man Man live, but it’s as close as they’ve gotten so far. The album is infinitely more accessible than their previous efforts, drawing more from a song like “Van Helsing Boombox” than “Engrish Bwudd.” Whereas lots of older Man Man songs seem to try to pack as many instruments and sounds in as possible, the songs on Rabbit Habits seem more contained. That is not to say that this is a standard pop album. Quite the contrary. On “Easy Eats or Dirty Doctor Galapagos,” Man Man channels the antics of Gogol Bordello, but “Hurly / Burly” sounds a little like Primus, a little like a radio-friendly rock song, and a lot like a kazoo. In “Hurly / Burly,” Kattner/Honus sings “This ain’t a love song,” but closer “Whalebones” is certainly a love song, banjo and all. Amazingly, it doesn’t feel out of place.
The standout track is “Top Drawer,” which has been all over the place for a while now. It’s crazy but catchy, with pretty memorable lyrics. If “Engrish Bwudd” is the staple of Man Man’s career up to Rabbit Habits, “Top Drawer” might replace it, and some fans may not like that. Fortunately, those fans have “Harpoon Fever (Queequeg’s Playhouse),” a pure throwback, along with “Hurly / Burly.” On the other end of the spectrum, “El Azteca,” a spazzy electronic track, is just awkward, and the title track needs to be faster.
Rabbit Habits is very good, but not quite great. There are great tracks though. The most stunning accomplishment, however, is the cohesion of the album. With the exception of “El Azteca,” none of the songs really feel out of place, and by the time the last two epic tracks are over, you get the sense that good or bad, Man Man tried to accomplish something. Good or bad, they succeeded. And best of all, there are even more songs to hear from live Man Man.
Rating: 7/10
Release date: April 8, 2008.
Label: Anti-
I’m not at SXSW again this year. I’m actually at my computer… completely sober with no one from the recording industry anywhere in my immediate proximity.
Check back tomorrow for more exciting updates.
breaking insider info, dear readers:
This year’s Pitchfork Music Festival will take place on Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20, 2008. The location remains the same — Union Park, Chicago, IL — and the tickets will go on sale this Wednesday, March 12 at noon CDT.
Friday
Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow’s Parties Present: “Don’t Look Back” - featuring Public Enemy performing “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”
Saturday
Animal Collective, !!!, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal, No Age, Atlas Sound, Fleet Foxes
Sunday
Spiritualized, M. Ward, Boris, Extra Golden, El Guincho
well meh. public enemy’s a pretty cool score, of course. and i love me some spiritualized, but that’s really all i am excited about so far. and yes, that includes animal collective. go ahead and sue me for being a bad indie hipster.
I mentioned to someone yesterday that I was really excited about a show later, and they said to me, “You’re going to see those Omaha tap-dancing cuties, aren’t you?”
He knew about this because his friend’s girlfriend was “making him” go to the show. Pshhh. How does that not sound like a good time?
“Tilly and The Wall! You bet.”
They’re touring with Team Love label-mates Capgun Coup and were joined with local A Weather (also on Team Love) last night at Portland’s Doug Fir Lounge.
A Weather was pleasant and absolutely lovely.
It could have been because I was nearly face-to-face with the monitors, but sound ruined what I thought should have been an awesome show from Capgun Coup. The guitar levels were too high and I spent most of the show with a finger in one ear and a grimace on my face. They’re a cool band nonetheless and I recommend them. But moving on to the tap-dancing cuties…
I wish I had pictures of their tap shoes, which I spent a lot of time looking at. Jamie is their main tap-dancer - though no longer their main percussionist, as they have added a drummer to the mix - so she was in the back on a large box. Singers Neely and Kianna use their feet more like tambourine than a drum kit so they were on smaller boxes and were wearing customized blingin’ and flowery taps, respectively.
They played about half new songs, including Urgency and Chandelier Lake, both of which can be downloaded from Daytrotter. They also played their new single, Beat Control, which is not your standard Tilly and maybe is not even a very good song (or video) but live it kept the party going. The newer stuff has the same energy as the old stuff. It wasn’t the kind of show where people get really excited about the songs they know and kind of pout or are bored or whatever during those they don’t. The songs I didn’t know just gave me a break from shouting while I continued to stomp and clap along. (My left ring finger is injured from clapping so emphatically against the ring on my right hand all night. Kick ass.)
The show was pretty satisfying by itself…but then they came back. I would’ve paid my 14.50 just to see the encore. Crowd favorite Lost Girls, followed by Reckless and Nights of the Living Dead from Wild Like Children. A crescendo of “I wanna fuck it up…I wanna fuck it up…and I feel so alive and I feel so alive and I feel…” and it’s over.
Tilly and the Wall are more than their shtick. If you get a chance, go see them and be ready to let the beat control you…and take off your rings.
Sat 03.08.08 Omaha, NE Waiting Room w/ Family Radio
Sun 03.16.08 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn w/ Capgun Coup
Mon 03.17.08 Carrboro, NC Local 506 w/ Capgun Coup, Midtown Dickens
Tue 03.18.08 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel w/ Capgun Coup, Pash
Wed 03.19.08 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church w/ Capgun Coup
Fri 03.21.08 New York, NY Knitting Factory w/ Capgun Coup, Jason Anderson
Sat 03.22.08 Boston, MA Middle East (downstairs) w/ Capgun Coup, Jason Anderson
Mon 03.24.08 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop w/ Capgun Coup
Tue 03.25.08 Chicago, IL Subterranean w/ Capgun Coup, Skybox
Sun 06.08.08 Lawrence, KS Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival
I had a unibrow in 9th grade. I also wore my brothers’ hand-me-downs and had metal-mouth coupled with a minor drooling problem (if you can have a minor drooling problem). The only thing that made me feel slightly sexy was when I put on my headphones and swaggered through the hallways listening to ‘Giving him something he can feel,’ by En Vogue. Strutting my imaginary catwalk, for those brief moments, I would catch a glimpse into what I imagined life was like for the beautiful people.
Fast forward to present day and I’ve discovered the blessings of hot wax, girl clothes, and straight teeth. Aside from those advancements, I still find solace in my music-induced moments of elevation from the mundane. Of course, the songs have changed – when I need to remember that life is bigger than a monitor, I play some of these songs to get that old high like in high school:
* Positive Tension – Bloc Party
* The Moneymaker – Rilo Kiley
* North American Scum and Someone Great – LCD Soundsystem
* And I Was a Boy from School – Hot Chip
* Golden Skans – Klaxons
* Whoo! Alright - Yeah… Uh Huh – The Rapture
* Yeah Yeah Remix – Flosstradamus
* Star Witness – Neko Case
* Roll On – Dntel
* No One’s Gonna Love You – Band of Horses
If you know me and you see me walking like I think I’m a badass, please don’t call me out. I understand I’m still a dork, but let me have my moment of cool even if it is only in my head. And yes, I realize I’ve got drool on my chin.
Xfm.co.uk and The Charlatans have teamed up to make the new Charlatans album, “You Cross My Path”, available for free download. The entire album. Click here to get your virtual hands on it.
A hard format version of the album will also include bonus live and studio tracks and a poster for your bedroom wall. You can pre-order that here.
While you’re waiting for your download to complete, check out the video for the latest single, “Oh, Vanity!”
