Tulip Frenzy

The Dalai Lama was chosen, it is said, because as a pup, he correctly identified the right glasses owned by a recently deceased lama.  Is the rumor true — okay, we started it — that The Men correctly chose Brendan Canty’s drum stick, Bob Mould’s ear plugs, and Thurston Moore’s plectrum when, mere boys they were then, the punk rock lama’s tested whether they were true incarnations of these cosmic punks?

All we know is that when we heard Open Your Heart, which was released last month, a shiver of recognition went up our spines.  Back down again, too.  The ghosts of Fugazi, Sonic Youth, and Husker Du were present in the room, even as the speakers vibrating made books fall from shelves, and the whole house shook like the ending of an Indiana Jones movie.  And there’s something else going on here, too — a little bit of Warlocks-style modern SF psyche. A Philly cheesesteak smear of Asteroid #4. And then there is this strange harmony guitar thing that makes us think of Cream and Hendrix.  Did we mention that, like White Denim, they are perfectly at home throwing in the odd cowpunk song, too?

The Men opened for Ty Segall and White Fence at Webster Hall two weeks ago, and now fresh after having released Open Your Heart, apparently have hightailed it to fresher climes to record the next one.  They may be mere boys, but these guys are mensches.  By the time The Men hit DC9, we will celebrate the 5th of July as the real American holiday.  Let’s give it up for The Men.

This entry was posted on May 25, 2012 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Music with tags "Open Your Heart", DC9, Fugazi, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, The Men. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.