tiny grooves: the men - open your heart + tour dates

Sunday, February 19, 2012

the men - open your heart + tour dates

The important bands never follow the structures or restrictions of narrowly defined subgenres, in fact they may even make their own future subgenres -- once other bands start to copy their sound......

bands that stick out because they're difficult to describe and equally enthralling are few and far between. i like to think that most of the bands on TINY GROOVES fit into that awesome category of unique sonic adventurers.....so you need to hear THE MEN if you haven't already....

THE MEN are one of those unique noisy rock n roll bands you just gotta hear to believe.....last year's LEAVE HOME lp was released to rave reviews from pretty much everyone, but their new album, OPEN YOUR HEART, surely will surpass even that....

THE MEN have strayed even so slightly away from their sludgey post punk noise metal thrashing mayhem and have headed more squarely into fugazi / sonic youth post-everything rock territory.... angular, loud songs that rock like any fiercely independent band has from any decade you wanna conjure up in a review..... television, dinosaur jr, jesus lizard, the oh sees, maybe...you could honestly compare them to quite a few bands, but THE MEN sound unlike any easy description...

i can't rave about THE MEN enough...... and i need to get my hands on OPEN YOUR HEART, which our friends at SACRED BONES, are going to unleash upon the world this spring....... read what they have to say about THE MEN below.....

Ironically referred to by Timeout NY as “Thurston Moore & the E Street Band,” The Men have never been a band to play by categorical punk subgenre rules. Instead, over the last three years, this band has dabbled in everything from hardcore punk to psych to shoegaze to black metal; and they have done all of it effortlessly, and for the most part, flawlessly. Totally removed from the current climate of ADD-youtube-blog-hyped generation of musicians under 21, The Men stand out from the pack as both scene elders and actual record collectors. What makes this band so unique is their ability to synthesize their influences rather than just regurgitate them.
On Open Your Heart, the band’s 3rd full length, the NY quartet explore twangy country music, guitar solos, surf-ish riffs, psych, and just about everything in between. Erring on the side of literal as opposed to ironic, the song titles here (“Oscillation,” “Country Song,” “Ex-Dreams,” etc.) blatantly celebrate the band’s “you get what you pay for” DIY aesthetic. Beyond their genre-defying writing experiments, some of the band’s finest singles to date are on this record; “Open Your Heart,” “Please Don’t Go Away,” and “Candy” all demonstrate a new pop sensibility that previous albums only hinted at. Additionally, having four songwriters in the band lends itself to a truly unpredictable and thrilling live experience. With Open Your Heart, The Men embrace what is truly their calling, and flower into the fully diversified punk band their fans have always championed them for being.