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THE MEN are walking a very fine line in the world of underground musics. They are punk in a sub-Nirvana-ish late 80s sludge rock kind of way. I’ve always read that these guys are post-punk(and I mean who can argue that? it’s 2011), so I guess this is post-punk now. Fine by me. Beyond their punkness/post-punkness/whatever, these guys also lean heavily into the realm of psych with their at times majorly fried guitar solos. And even beyond that these Brooklyn dudes exhibit some unlikely pop smarts on some of their tunes. THE MEN are a serious beast of a band, coming at us the listener from multiple angles. So yeah, they have a new record out called LEAVE HOME. It’s out on SACRED BONES. This is a badass record.”L.A.D.O.C.H.” is a piece of primal start/stop sudge wallop. The singer here rivals prime Rollins with a disgusting, tortured spewing of bile standing in for a vocal delivery. Unexpectedly the band veers into shoegaze wall of sound territory on “Bataille” which appears to be the record’s “single. “()” and “Night Landing” scream along until eventually becoming unhinged as guitar freakouts take over on each track. Lastly, “Shittin’ With The Shah” brings us face to face with some indie/post-rock sort of vibes that may or may not hae been hiding within THE MEN’s sound all along. This is a stupid good record. This is their third LP. They also have a tape and two 7″s out, and they slaughter live.
