The Men, Tomorrow's Hits, 2014

Album Review

I finally got around to watching Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me a few nights ago. It's kind of sad. Chris Bell had this vision for Big Star; and when, he felt, what little credit or notice the band got for #1 Record went disproportionately to Alex Chilton, he left the band. Bell died in a solo car crash at the age of 27 and never really made the mark in music he should have until after his death. Alex Chilton kind of distanced himself from Big Star for a time after Third / Sister Lovers, even expressing in interviews his disbelief that bands like R.E.M. and The Replacements held the Big Star discography in such high regard.

On their latest record, Tomorrow's Hits, Brooklyn's The Men reach back into some of the power pop sounds pioneered by Big Star and later translated by R.E.M., The Replacements, Wilco, and so many others. Being a harder rocking band than Big Star ever were, The Men apply some of their own edge and grit to the sound and come up with one of the best pure rock records of this young year. Tomorrow's Hits continues the band's evolution from experimental punks to straight-ahead rockers and illustrates a philosophy, expressed by guitarist and founding member Mark Perro in a Washington Post interview, “When you start saying you’re this type of band, then people start getting all upset when you put out a record that doesn’t sound like your last record. So I’ve always thought of us in a much more general sense. It’s a band of dudes playing music — nothing too crazy about it.”

"My mom gave me this guitar. / 19 and 74 / It's true. / Now there's nothing I'd rather do," sings Perro in an almost Dylan-esque delivery over a chugging guitar riff on "Dark Waltz." That riff motors along for most of the song's 5-plus minutes, embellished by guitar solos and keyboards along the way. "Get What You Give," "Sleepless," and "Settle Me Down" are the sparkling, slick type of power pop -- complete, in a few places, with some pedal steel work from Kevin Faulkner -- that can be heard on Big Star's classic sophomore effort, Radio City, released in 19 and 74.

The slick production continues on "Another Night," which again uses the approach of repeating the opening theme for the duration of the song to great effect. This time, though, we get a soulful, Jersey Shore Sound version of 70s rock. The edges are rougher on the high-speed blues jam "Pearly Gates" and on album-closer "Going Down," its closing guitar solo showing that The Men can still bring the noise.

I'm not saying that Mark Perro wasn't telling the truth in that interview, but I think there's more going on here than just "a band of dudes playing music." With its cover image of a neon sign that alludes to the cover of Big Star's #1 Record and even its title indicating that music can take some time to find its audience, Tomorrow's Hits almost feels like an homage.

"The Ballad of El Goodo," "In the Street," "Thirteen," "September Gurls." There were distribution problems. Maybe the world wasn't ready for the sound. Whatever the reasons, those songs didn't make much noise upon their release. People eventually found them, though. They found inspiration from those records, and they went out and formed bands. They formed bands like The Men.

Tomorrow's Hits comes out on March 4th on Sacred Bones Records.

The Men Are Full of Surprises

The Men at The Saint in October 2013

"Another Night"

Brooklyn's The Men release new material at a relentless clip. Their two 2013 releases -- LP New Moon and EP Campfire Songs -- found them mining the sounds of classic rock as they moved further and further away from their beginnings as a noisy, shoegaze-y, punk band. Next month, the band will be releasing Tomorrow's Hits, their sixth collection in the last five years.

Second single "Another Night" indicates that The Men will continue to take their sound into different directions. Piano, some soulful horns. It almost sounds like the band's brief but wonderful stop in Asbury Park back in October had a bit of an influence on the new record.

Tomorrow's Hits comes out via Sacred Bones on March 4th; and, as they did for the release of New Moon last year, The Men will celebrate with a release show at New York's Bowery Ballroom on March 5th.

The Men Played The Saint with Purling Hiss, Pampers, and Ruby The Hatchet, 10/23/13

Wishes Can Come True

Two bands from Brooklyn and two bands from Philly converged on Asbury Park last night, bringing a wild evening of Wednesday rock and roll to The Saint. Speak Into My Good Eye, along with The Saint, put together another one of those shows that seemed designed to tick off a few boxes on my own personal wish list. Last night's installment featured Brooklyn's The Men, Philadelphia's Purling Hiss, Philadelphia's Ruby The Hatchet, and Brooklyn's Pampers.

My OCD always has me arriving at shows earlier than I should, and last night was no different. It gave me a chance, though, to enjoy a beverage at the bar and to speak with The Men's Ben Greenberg a bit about the evolution of the band's sound over the course of their last few records. They've gone from noise punk to incorporating a good deal of classic, and even country, rock into their sound; and I was interested to see what the band would do live.

Pampers started things off and impressed with a set of devastatingly loud, left-of-center punk. For most of the set, Pampers' two guitarists only had 11 strings between them; but that didn't seem to slow the band down at all. The crowd was still pretty sparse at this point, but I'm sure the band moved a few LP's as a result of their performance.

Ruby The Hatchet were up next. They're a Philly band that plays our area often. They had quite a few fans in the crowd, but last night was my first chance to see them live. They play a style of blues rock heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath that had me thinking about my recent outing to see California's Deap Vally.

Next up were Purling Hiss. Following the band's performance as an opener for DEATH at (le) poisson rouge in July, I briefly said hello to frontman / guitarist Mike Polizze and told him that we had to get his band to Asbury Park. The universe (and Speak Into My Good Eye) must have been listening, and I could not have been happier that Purling Hiss were on this bill.

The band did a set heavy on tracks from this year's excellent Water On Mars. Purling Hiss do something similar to bands like Dinosaur Jr. or Screaming Females -- and now even The Men -- bringing some of the hallmarks of classic rock, like the extended guitar solo, to a noisier, more punk-influenced sound. I, obviously, love this and ate it up.

The Men are another one of those bands that I've said I'd love to see play our area. When they took the stage, I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The band have released everything from near-hardcore, gut punch assaults to their recent, all-acoustic Campfire Songs. Last night, they went with a good deal of their harder stuff, saving the acoustic numbers for another day. The crowd seemed happy with the choice.

They ran through a relentless, non-stop set, devoid of any real stage banter, that featured songs from their last two LPs like Open Your Heart's "Turn It Around" and "Open Your Heart" and New Moon's "Electric" and "I Saw Her Face." Following the band's template of not really having a single frontman, bassist Ben Greenberg and guitarists Mike Perro and Nick Chierricozzi each took a turn singing lead. The current version of The Men also features Kevin Faulkner on that most traditional of punk instruments, the lap steel.

In all, it was a great way to spend a chilly, rainy Wednesday evening. Thanks to Speak Into My Good Eye, The Saint, and the universe for granting my wish.

Here are some pictures from last night.

The Men / Purling Hiss at The Saint TOMORROW

Wednesday Night Rawk

I've been waiting for this one for a while. Our friends at Speak Into My Good Eye are bringing yet another show that seems like it was put together just for little, me to Asbury Park. Tomorrow night, Brooklyn's The Men and Philly's Purling Hiss will be taking over The Saint with help from Ruby The Hatchet and Pampers; and I will be there front and center.

I've talked quite a bit about The Men here, but Purling Hiss are not to be underestimated. Anyone who's spent any time around this blog can tell immediately what I like about their sound.

So get a good night's sleep tonight, and come find me at The Saint tomorrow. I'll buy you a beverage.

Latest EP from The Men Streaming via Pitchfork Advance

Photo: wearethemen.blogspot.com

Campfire Songs

The Men have been one of my obsessions over the last year or two. I've enjoyed watching their evolution from droning, noise punk to something more classic and garage-y. The band continue changing things up with their fifth release in the last four years, Campfire Songs.

The Men recorded the all-acoustic EP around a campfire in Upstate New York. This all happened during the time they spent up there recording New Moon. We get acoustic versions of New Moon album tracks "I Saw Her Face" and "The Seeds." Totally new tracks "Patience" and "Turn Your Color" serve to showcase the beautiful noise this band can make with a whole bunch of acoustic guitars.

Speak Into My Good Eye are bringing The Men (along with Purling Hiss in a show that seems almost tailor made for me) to the very cozy space at The Saint on October 23rd. Given the diversity of the band's catalog over the last few years, it promises to be an evening potentially full of interesting twists and turns.

Head over to Pitchfork to check out Campfire Songs, and I'll see you at The Saint.

Campfire Songs is out next week on Sacred Bones Records.

The Men Release New Single

"Turn Your Color"

Brooklyn's The Men have a habit of issuing new releases in quick succession. On October 15th, the band will be following up March's New Moon with a new EP, Campfire Songs. Consisting of five tracks, all recorded around a campfire, Campfire Songs includes re-imaginings of New Moon tracks "I Saw Her Face" and "The Seeds" along with some new songs.

"Turn Your Color" is the first of those new tracks. It opens with the sounds of crackling flames and proceeds through a mostly instrumental, eerie, appropriate for October six minutes.

And, lucky us, Campfire Songs comes out a bit more than a week before we get to see The Men, along with Purling Hiss, live in the friendly confines of The Saint on October 23rd.

Campfire Songs will be out on October 15th via Sacred Bones.

Here Comes Asbury Park Edition

No More Skipping Us Friday

Our friends over at Speak Into My Good Eye have been on a roll lately, announcing some really great shows that they've managed to bring to everybody's favorite urban music mecca by the sea.

Their latest announcement is that Brooklyn's The Men will be playing The Saint on October 23rd (CoolUncle's birthday, BTW) with Philly's Purling Hiss. I love these bands. This is cool.

New Jersey is just days away from losing its most prized music venue. While Asbury Park doesn't offer the same proximity to New York City as Hoboken; maybe if we all pack out these shows by Screaming Females / Waxahatchee, The So So Glos / Diarrhea Planet, and The Men / Purling Hiss, some of these bands that drive right by us on their way between New York and Philly may think about making a stop.

And just think of all the great local bands that will be tapped as openers for these shows.

So start finding some babysitters if you have to and...

Rock on.

5 Albums from the Last 6 Months to Rock Your Summer

Rock Is Dead... Long Live Rock!

CoolDaughter #2 just got on the bus for what will be her last day of school. CoolDaughter #1 finishes up next Friday. Summer is upon us.

I thought about doing a mid-year list similar to the one I did last year, just listing my favorite records of the year so far. Instead, I thought I'd focus on something I've been noticing lately: It's been a good year for rock and roll.

It's easy to miss. If, like me, you spend much of your day listening to Sirius XMU, you may not have even noticed it. The National, Vampire Weekend, Ducktails, and Waxahatchee, to name a few, have all produced records this year that I love. None of them are really a rock record, though. The So So Glos and The Bronx definitely gave us some high energy, high octane sounds, but I'm calling those punk. mbv may be my favorite album of the year. Shoegaze.

What I'm talking about here is almost the sound of classic rock: guitar solos with lots of string bends, the hint of some country twang or maybe some 70s glam, heavy on pop sensibility. Sure, most of these records display some punk influence here, some grunge there. But each of them, I think, has roots in what we all used to hear on 102.7 WNEW or 92.3 KROCK back when I was a teenager biking to the beach.

So, in chronological order of release, here are 5 albums to keep you rocking all summer long.

California X, California X. The self-titled debut from this Amherst, MA band draws heavily on the sounds of the 1990s: Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. All of those bands, though, employed some tricks from Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix. Those earlier influences may come through most clearly on opener "Sucker," but you can hear them all through the record if you dig past the grunge. Almost every song here hides a radio-ready pop gem beneath all of the noise.



Wolf's Law, The Joy Formidable. Every great rock single needs a memorable guitar riff, and "Cholla" has, probably, the most memorable riff of the year so far. It's clear that this Welsh trio has arena aspirations, and don't be surprised if their proggy style, led by Ritzy Bryan's guitar, carries them all the way to that 20,000 seat arena show, broadcast live on the Internet by American Express.



New Moon, The Men. Sludgy, shoegazy, noise punk. That describes the sound of the early records from The Men. With New Moon, the band take what they started on Open Your Heart and expand upon it. "I Saw Her Face" is a twangy masterpiece reminiscent of Neil Young and The Rolling Stones. You'll get your Brooklyn punk here, but you'll also feel the space of the rural setting where the band recorded on many of the songs.



Cruise Your Illusion, Milk Music. Like California X, this band from Olympia, WA draws heavily from the same pool of influences that ended up producing much 1990s alternative rock. There are definitely similarities here to the sounds of many of Milk Music's Northwest forebears. You have to go back about 20 additional years, though, to find the Seattle artist who most heavily influences up-and-coming indie guitar hero Alex Coxen. Something about Coxen's tone gets fleeting images of Jimi Hendrix running through the mind for most of the record.



...Like Clockwork, Queens of the Stone Age. The band reached number 1 on the Billboard charts for the first time with ...Like Clockwork, their first record in six years. Leader Josh Homme combines all of his influences -- 1970s AOR like Bad Company, Bowie-style glam, Elton John (who appears on the record) -- with his distinctive personality to produce potential rock classics in songs like "If I Had a Tail" and "My God Is the Sun."



Sure, I enjoy my share of bleeps and bloops or jangle pop or surf pop or twee or punk. Sometimes, though, you just want to sit back in your chair, sunglasses on, watching the waves pound the shore with some rock and roll pumping in your headphones.

Have a safe, productive and rockin' summer.

New Stuff This Week: The Men, DIIV, Waxahatchee, Screaming Females

New Music / New Videos Mega Post

Lots of new stuff from bands that I love over the last day or so.

The Men gave us, "I Saw Her Face," the latest single off of their upcoming New Moon.  It's got the Stones-y, classic rock twang of much of the material on 2012's Open Your Heart.



DIIV released the NSFW video for  "Wait" off of their excellent Oshin.



And New Jersey's tireless Don Giovanni Records gave us two new things:  "Coast to Coast," another song off of what sounds like it will be Waxahatchee's great, full-band follow up to American Weekend, and the awesome video for Screaming Females' Chalk Tape track, "Poison Arrow."





Enjoy.

The Men, "Electric"

55 Minutes into My 2-Hour Conference Call

Just as I was losing the will to live, I noticed via Pitchfork that The Men have announced a new album called New Moon (Sacred Bones) due on March 5th and a Bowery Ballroom date for March 7th.  As a little taste of what's to come, the band have also made available the first New Moon single, "Electric."

Open Your Heart is one of my favorite albums of 2012, and I'm ecstatic at the prospect of getting new stuff from The Men so soon.

Tickets for the Bowery show go on sale on Friday, and the "Electric" 7" will be available on January 22nd.

Finally Friday

Trying to Knock Off Early Today

CoolDaughter #2 is home sick, and I've had way too many conference calls this week.

When on my calls, though, I like to hit the mute button and play this track by Brooklyn-based Sleepies (produced by Ben Greenberg of The Men).  It pretty effectively sums up my whole attitude in under three minutes.

The full length, Weird Wild World, comes out on August 21st via Godmode/16oh, and I can't wait to hear it.

Enjoy your Friday.  And rock on.  Seriously.

Mid-Year List Time

My Favorites of the Year So Far

The halfway point of the year:  It provides a nice opportunity for a lazy blog post about my favorite music so far.  If you run a particularly evil and annoying site, it also provides a nice opportunity to post one of those "slide show" list-type articles in which you force readers to click forty or fifty times in order to read the whole list.  I'm restricting my list to five albums, and I'm placing them all on the same page.  For anyone who comes here regularly (Thank you!), this list shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  Apparently, I really like guitars, pop/rock, and New Jersey.

5.  Tramp, Sharon Van Etten
Van Etten's haunting vocals and confessional songwriting leave an impression that's hard to shake.

4.  Ugly, Screaming Females
More than any of the other albums by this New Brunswick, NJ band, Ugly captures some of the scorching energy of the band's -- and guitar hero Marissa Paternoster's -- live performances.

3.  Open Your Heart, The Men
They're a Brooklyn punk band, but this album makes it clear that they know their Stones, Mats, and Velvets.

2.  Hospitality, Hospitality
If I based this on sheer number of listens, Hospitality would have been #1 by a wide margin.  This is an excellent debut album from a band that also puts on a pretty good live show.

1.  Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger, River City Extension
Home-field advantage maybe?  Who knows?  But anyone who knows me understands that comparing any album to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or The Monitor is not something I would do lightly.  This Toms River, NJ eight-piece has made nothing short of a fantastic album.

For something with a bit more diversity, here's the Spotify playlist I've been maintaining of my favorite tracks of the year (that are available on Spotify).

Running

I Went Running 

When CoolMom and I lived in Seattle, she spent one summer working in DC at the World Bank while I stayed home, played Wiffle Ball, and didn’t work on my dissertation.  I also ran quite a bit.  I’d run from our apartment up a hill to Volunteer Park where I’d do a few loops and then come back, or I’d run along this nice, paved jogging path near the university.  Dropped quite a bit of weight that summer.

I stopped running with any degree of regularity for several years after that, and then picked it up again right after the birth of CoolDaughter #1.  It was kind of my excuse for getting out of the house, since CoolMom never argued when I said I was doing something for my health.

Just this week, a friend of mine called my attention, via Facebook, to this article on whether or not music helps you run faster.  A short string of comments followed in which people discussed not so much the speed benefits of music while running, but whether they ran with music at all.  I waffled a bit, saying I didn’t need it outdoors, but that it was required on the treadmill.  I’m revising that here.  I run with music about 99% of the time.

I’ve never gotten to the point where running is a joy for me.  I don’t get any kind of a runner’s high.  I pretty much follow the same two or three routes, so the scenery is old hat for me now.  It takes me a good hour between telling myself I’m going for a run and actually getting up and going.  Today, for example, I got dressed for a run, and then ate lunch.

What running is for me, though, is a chance to listen to music for a solid thirty minutes to an hour without the phone ringing or emails beeping at me or someone yelling at me to turn it down.  I almost always listen to an album while I run, and choosing just the right one can take a while.  During my lunch today, I scrolled through the albums on my iPhone for a good ten minutes before coming up with just the right thing.  After a not-that-enjoyable work week, it was a decision among Fucked Up, Screaming Females, and The Men.  The Men won this round, and they did help knock out the cobwebs.  I'm sure they also sped me along at points.

That's all a long-winded way of saying that I had a bit of writer's block today, so I went for a run, listened to Open Your Heart; and it felt good.

Here's "Candy" from Open Your Heart.

And, since it's Friday Night,

Rock on...

The Men, Open Your Heart, 2012

Sunday Run Album Review

I had a pretty happy childhood.  Got along well with my parents.  Still get along well with my parents.  I wasn’t one of the popular kids in school, but I wasn’t one of the outcasts either.  Just average.   My teen years went by relatively uneventfully, save for the normal, teenage stupidity that I like to believe afflicts everyone.  My grades were good.  I always had a job, and I even played football until my junior year of high school.  In other words, I never felt the need to rebel against anything.

It wasn’t until I got married, bought a house, had kids, and had a corporate job that I started to feel the need to really let off a little steam.  Yeah, The Clash, The Replacements, The Pogues, The Ramones were always there.  I went through a pretty heavy Mats phase, as a matter of fact, but that was all post Pleased to Meet Me really.  Something about today’s punk and lo-fi – music made by twenty-somethings – speaks to me on a level that I don’t think it’s really supposed to as a cooldad.

Today I went for a run with Brooklyn’s The Men.  Their latest is Open Your Heart, and I’ve officially placed it into heavy rotation.  They’re a big part of the recent punk revival that’s captured much of my attention as I seek out stuff, like running, to get my blood pumping.

On album opener “Turn It Around” and on “Animal,” an almost Stones-y twang complements the power chords.  “Oscillation,” “Please Don’t Go Away,” and “Ex-Dreams” make me think of shoegaze, especially the style of Yo La Tengo; though, I don’t picture The Men doing much shoegazing.  There is plenty of hard-driving punk rock to be found here, but this album is about much more than that.  Probably unsurprisingly for a cooldad, the Richards/Jagger (and Westerberg?)-inspired “Candy” may be my favorite track on the record.

Open Your Heart has a huge guitar sound.  The hardcore elements are all there, but The Men are obviously students of rock music from The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground up through My Bloody Valentine and Yo La Tengo to Fucked  Up.  It’s going to be fun going through their back catalog to see their evolution to this point.

I’ve got several multi-hour conference calls scheduled this week.  As each ends, I’ll be putting my headphones on to slog through the neighborhood as The Men help me work out my issues.