Man Man


(Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
Man in a Blue Turban with a Face (2004), 7.5/10
Six Demon Bag (2006), 7/10
Rabbit Habits (2008), 6/10
Life Fantastic (2011), 6/10
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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

Philadelphia's Man Man, fronted by vocalist and keyboardist Ryan "Honus Honus" Kattner, staged an exuberant, eclectic and satirical music-hall augmented with a tribal element and the leader's Tom Waits-ian sloppy baritone. The reckless romps of Man in a Blue Turban with a Face (Ace Fu, 2004), featuring synthesizers, horns, strings, Tom "Tiberius Lyn" Keville's chaotic percussions and even a choir but hardly any guitar, were descendants of the freak tradition of the Fugs the Holy Modal Rounders and Frank Zappa, with a penchant for revisiting the atmosphere of the night-clubs of earlier centuries. The goliardic garage rave-up Against The Peruvian Monster and the pure pub-singalong folly of The Fog Or China display the band's punkish side, while the fanfare for marching band 10 lb. Moustache begins their journey through the ages, which ends up mimicking the skits of the old-fashioned cabaret (Zebra), the most ridiculous Broadway musicals (I Manface), the doo-wop ballad (Werewolf (On The Hood Of Yer Heartbreak)), and the even more nostalgic folk dances of Eastern Europe (Magic Blood). Dada and Alfred Jarry preside over the entire operation, culminating with the gloriously insanely pompous tribal dance of White Rice Brown Heart. Man Who Make You Sick is a chameleo-like eight-minute mini-suite that runs the gamut from convoluted industrial rhythms to dissonant instrumental jamming.

Six Demon Bag (2006), featuring a new line-up with Need New Body's percussionist Christopher "Pow Pow" Powell, multi-instrumentalists Les Mizzle and Sergie Sogay, was a catalog of musical mistakes cursed by an ever-shifting focus. The music was even more old-fashioned. The pub singalong for nostalgic Eastern European immigrants Feathers, the grotesque piano-driven vaudeville skit Engrish Bwudd, the frantic Western-tinged pow-wow dance of Banana Ghost, the comic jump-blues of Spider Cider, and the drunk quasi-ragtime of Van Helsing Boom Box (all complemented by a choir of silly female voices) are vignettes of life in a demented timewarp. Unfortunately, they don't explore their wilder side, except for the intense minute of Young Einstein On The Beach and the demonic Slavic rhythm of Black Mission Goggles.

Rabbit Habits (2008), again flooded by all sorts of instrumentation, was still highly creative but somehow less spontaneous. Even the best numbers (the feverish The Ballad Of Butter Beans, the anguished Big Trouble) had lost their bite, although gained in polish and The lengthy Poor Jackie is a lively take on the musical and the vaudeville, but not worthy the past madness. The jazzy Whale Bones sounds like a less lunatic Tom Waits fronting a sleepy dixieland orchestra.

The friendlier Life Fantastic (2011) delightful Zappa-esque gags of "Piranhas Club" and "Oh La Brea".

Man Man then released the albums On Oni Pond (2013), Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between (2020), and Carrot on Strings (2024).

(Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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