When I was at the New York edition of the electronic and noise festival Neon Marshmallow earlier this fall, I was standing around watching the Men, and someone said, “This is, like, a band. Huh?” It's true – the festival had no other set up like this, with guitars, drums, bass, and vocals. It blew everyone's mind to see something so…normal?
But this is the rub: the Men are a really good band. Their sets can veer from harsh experimentalism into a range of almost pure rock-pop. Sure, it was unsynchronous to see them right after 82 year-old drone innovator Phil Niblock and right before punishing noise provacateur Kevin Drumm. But on a normal night, say, a random evening at Shea Stadium, they are like the baby bear's porridge: just right. Check them out in Europe in December.
