Their New Release Impending, Man Man Gets Love

As regular readers of MP3some are aware, the bulk of the material about which I post is old - usually pre-1975. This has nothing to do with a lack of good modern music (there is quite a bit of it) and everything to do with my desire to know as much as possible about the golden era of pop. I do, in fact, listen to contemporary artists. For some reason, I'm just usually more excited about discovering old records than I am new ones. It's rare that news of a band's upcoming release gets me really excited - I think the last one I was really looking forward to was Tio Bitar, Dungen's 2007 follow-up to the stellar Ta Det Lugnt. It was a good record, but did not live up to my expectations. Perhaps I set the bar a little too high. Lately, however, I find myself eagerly awaiting a new album. Man Man is releasing Rabbit Habits, their follow-up to Six Demon Bag (2006), on April 8, and I am excited.

Man Man's defining characteristic is their ability to embrace both absurdity and emotional poignancy at once - a trick that precious few artists have mastered. As a devoted fan of Zappa and Beefheart, I deeply enjoy ridiculousness in music - but I will also readily acknowledge that the efforts of musical absurdists are typically affairs of the head, not the heart. No man is walking his daughter down the aisle to the disjointed melodies of Captain Beefheart. No heartbroken individual is throwing on Weasels Ripped My Flesh when he defeatedly sinks into his chair at the end of the day and pours himself a glass of bourbon. Man Man is a notable exception to the rule, however, and Six Demon Bag is testament to this. One minute, the record confronts you with delicate melodies and gut-wrenching lyrics over a slow piano waltz. The next, it serves you chants of "Mustache! Mustache! Mustache!" between Rhodes piano arpeggios and bursts of squawking horns. It's a thing of beauty - a record I'm comfortable giving to freak-rock enthusiasts and middle-of-the-road pop fans alike. I am hoping that Rabbit Habits will continue to walk the same fine line.

Today's upload is "Van Helsing Boombox," a track from Six Demon Bag. In addition to the album cut, I have also posted a video of Man Man performing the song live on Dutch television.

Rhodes piano = the way to Kid Gloves' heart.

Van Helsing Boombox