Foggy Notions presents:
Man Man
Whelan’s, May 11th, 2008
& support: The Former Soviet Republic & Chevau


Tickets from WAV, City Discs, Road, Ticketmaster, Tickets.ie

www.myspace.com/wearemanman
www.wearemanman.com
www.anti.com

“Man Man’s music will irritate you, make you laugh, put you off and then bring you back for more.” – Prefix Magazine
 
“Man Man exhibits a varied flair for macabre theatrics that includes a veritable world’s fair of chaos and creation.” - Billboard

“Man Man's power isn't derived from the genres they stumble across, or the maniac light in their eyes, or the sweat pooling in their beards. It's the unbearable sadness in their marrow and how they transform it, like the existentially distressed but heroically steadfast men men they are, into a terrible and lionhearted joy.” - Pitchfork
 
 
Man Man set out to fill the yawning void that gripped the earth, and they crammed the emptiness with sounds of voices and guitars and drums, yes; but also with squeaky toys and pots and spoons and cap guns and chopsticks and old shoes and fruit and stuffed frogs. And such was their exuberant good time, and such was the mess they made, that they did not see their jealous creator, envious of their ingenuity and novelty items, sneaking up on their ebullient pandemonium and casting them out...
 
In their lost divinity, Man Man took up residence in Philadelphia, perhaps because of the Sweet Philly sound, Noam Chomsky, the water Sun Ra was drinking, Charles Barkley's elbows, the excellence of the Philly lacrosse team or Rocky or Betsy Ross or John Coltrane. Or maybe it was it's close proximity to south Jersey. The point is, Man Man keeps on keeping on, filling the blankness with their weird/beautiful, esoteric/heart-rending, profound/hilarious sounds.
 
There is so much lovely commotion to be made, Man Man famously do not break between songs during their live shows, but rather moves, revolving-door fashion, from one song to another, commandeering and discarding any number of instruments lying at their feet as the mood strikes and the music dictates. Comparisons to the usual avant-garde forefathers, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, persist, but Man Man are decidedly not identity thieving or even overtly referencing these spiritual godfathers in their music, but rather are acting as torchbearers of the unusual, the spontaneous and the plainly fucking funny in an increasingly homogenized world.
 
With Rabbit Habits, their Anti-Records debut, and the natural extension of their body of work begun with The Man In A Blue Turban With A Face and continued with Six Demon Bag, Man Man bring their incomparable vision to bear. Successfully capturing the raw spirit and essence of a Man Man live show, Rabbit Habits is the end product of the efforts of a band who are earnestly saying something important, even if you can't always make out the words over the blare of the sousaphone.

The Former Soviet Republic hopes to one day release an instrumental concept album inspired by Burgess Meredith's character in the Rocky series entitled "You had the talent to become a good fighter, but instead of that you become a legbreaker to some cheap, second rate loanshark!" When not working on that he writes guitar, percussion and synth loop-based songs about love, loss, guilt, sin, truimph and redemption. He'll mostly be playing the non-instrumental stuff.

www.myspace.com/theformersovietrepublic

 
Cheveu - “Three guys who understand the concept of the other in punk and rock crossroads better than any European outfit since Thee Milkshakes.” – Dusted Magazine

“France's Cheveu have an excellent grasp on a very French post-punk dynamism, devolved in a lopsided way.” - Wire

www.myspace.com/cheveu
www.cheveunet.free.fr