Artist: The Men
Album: Immaculada
Release: 2010
Label: Self-Released
Tracklist:
1. Stranger Song
2. Problems/Burning Up
3. Grave Desecration
4. Madonna; The Star Of The Sea
5. Lazerus
6. Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
7. Oh Yoko
8. Immaculada
When I first reviewed Brooklyn and Long Island's the Men (very poorly, I might add. I'm very embarrassed about that one...,) I had gotten them all wrong. From hearing just their debut 12", We Are The Men, and not seeing them live, I didn't really understand what the Men were going for. The 12", which still has two songs I listen to frequently ("Ailment" and "The Man",) was too short to fully represent the band and left me to stumble awkwardly through an uninformed write-up, not that I'm blaming the band for that or anything.
Album: Immaculada
Release: 2010
Label: Self-Released
Tracklist:
1. Stranger Song
2. Problems/Burning Up
3. Grave Desecration
4. Madonna; The Star Of The Sea
5. Lazerus
6. Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
7. Oh Yoko
8. Immaculada
When I first reviewed Brooklyn and Long Island's the Men (very poorly, I might add. I'm very embarrassed about that one...,) I had gotten them all wrong. From hearing just their debut 12", We Are The Men, and not seeing them live, I didn't really understand what the Men were going for. The 12", which still has two songs I listen to frequently ("Ailment" and "The Man",) was too short to fully represent the band and left me to stumble awkwardly through an uninformed write-up, not that I'm blaming the band for that or anything.
Through their consistently excellent live shows, to their split tape with Nomos, and now to their second LP, Immaculada, it's been made clear to me that the Men possess three talented songwriters who want to make songs in any vein they choose and refuse to be constrained by punk standards. On this new album, there's only one song "Problems/Burning Up" that resembles their older material, with the band branching out into territories of drone, shoegaze, post-punk, and even country-tinged rock.
This experimentation pays off in big ways, with many of these songs being excellent: the aforementioned punk rager is absolutely mean thanks to its "In My Eyes"-esque parts and imposing vocalist, Chris. "Lazarus" is another favorite of mine and the song comes off sounding like a My Bloody Valentine b-side. The main drummer, Mark, sings on "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition," which is excellent, twangy pop, and, for the second release of theirs, Mark may have chalked up my favorite song. The repetitious title track ebbs and flows with guitar lines that sound kinda like Stereolab and other, general guitar freakouts (a staple of their live show) courtesy of Nick. Lastly, for some weird reason, I was convinced "Madonna; The Star Of The Sea" would sound like a Zwan song due to the title, but this instrumental stands as the most beautiful moment on the album.
However, there are always drawbacks to diversifying one's sound to this extent. On the black metal "Grave Desecration," the band has spread itself too thin and can't quite capture the feeling of the genre. Still, if we are looking at this through a Brooklyn-lens, at least it's not Liturgy! Band sucks. Still, having seven of the eight songs on your LP be really great is something not many bands can claim to have accomplished.
With three prolific and consistently excellent songwriters, the Men are not to be contained. They've already recorded their third LP and there's no evidence that this band will slow things down anytime soon. Be sure to pick this up from the band, who self-released it, ASAP, as the copies are flying out the door and probably won't be around for much longer.
16 comments:
Thanks big time for uploading this!
This is a lot worse than I thought it would be. Nomos split was a rager, this is boring as fuck
i didnt like what i couldnt understand!
thnks fr upld
"i didnt like what i couldnt understand!"
pretty much spot-on.
-Adam
thanks! i'm into it
Hahaha, that's just a way to rationalize the fact that people have different opinions and to legitimize your view as substantially and objectively correct. Good job kid.
i like this. thnx. adam, do you have a last.fm page?
i do. user: jesuspop
This is fucking great. Like it a lot more than the last EP or whatever. "Lazarus" is the fucking jam.
oh yoko is really awesome. definitely like this more than the stuff on the split with nomos.
i was driving home a minute ago at 4 in the morning and this soooooooper hawt black milf pulled up next to me at the light in a really expensive looking lexus and then asked me if i was listening to rockabilly. i was listening to this. it was awesome!!!
this album didn't grab me the first time i listened to it when i got it in the mail. i put it away and went back to their first 12". i think it was because i was expecting a repeat of the kind of material they did before.
it wasn't until a few weeks later when i decided to give it another spin that i really started to take it in for what it was, which was a step in 6 different directions!
once you can get over the fact that these guys have way to much talent and originality to be just playing punk songs, you start to get a handle on what they're going for.
that being said: this album fucking rules.
listening to this now. album is dope so far, thanks for the download!
sounds like a china town pissed jeans but more watered down
Holly shit.. this is just great ! And the artwork is ace. Jean-Marie (Lyon / France)
I didn't really dig this too much the first time though, but it's grown on me. Reminds me at times of early My Bloody Valentine and the Cows with a big dose of "Daydream Nation" Sonic Youth style of song-writing (and is that a touch of ultra-reverb vocals that sound like early My Morning Jacket in there?!?). Sloppy, intense, a bit disaffected, a little lo-fi thrown in, but with solid artistic sensibilities. Not a classic, but a really good album.
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