Imagine you are watching a Tim Burton film set in an Eastern European, gypsy shanty town. Now, imagine what the soundtrack would sound like and you've got Man Man, the Philadelphia-based quintet that has made crazy sound better than ever.
If you have never listened to or heard of Man Man before, their latest release, Rabbit Habits, is as good a place to start as any. Contrary to what one may think based on my initial description of Man Man's musical style, Rabbit Habits combines all the crazy chants, improvised percussion and twisted lyrics of Six Demon Bag and The Man In a Blue Turban With a Face into a surprisingly accessible package.
Clocking in at just under 47 minutes, Rabbit Habits is a carefully woven piece of experimental rock gold that reveals a new layer after each listen. The musical style is completely unique and so chaotic at times that figuring out what makes the album beautiful is practically impossible, but also half the fun of the listening experience. You will hear instruments you've never heard before (probably because they are not real instruments and more like toys and noisemakers) as well as surprising uses of normal instruments, such as the ever-so-bizarre yet oh-so-necessary cartoon-like xylophone that works its way into much of the album. With all of these instruments piled on top of each other much of the time, repeated listens often leads to the discovery of a new sound present in each song, further adding to the replay value of Rabbit Habits.
Over the chaos that is Man Man's sound come the lyrics of Honus Honus -- the band's front man, keyboardist and mad scientist of a songwriter. They say there is a fine line between genius and insanity, and, much like Oscar Levant, Honus Honus seems to have erased it, crossing this border with ease multiple times in each song. While utilizing some images that are just as crazy as their sound (the food-based character Butter Beans is a good example), all of the songs still deliver rather poignant messages. This is a refreshing change considering that my experience with experimental music seems to simply rely on bands creating a crazy sound and nothing more.
The only complaint I initially had about the album was the song order. Upon first listen, the upbeat and delightfully crazy sound of the first few tracks somewhat overshadow the band's brilliant songwriting; however, the slowed pace of the second half of Rabbit Habits places Honus Honus's curiously attractive, scratchy moan of a voice in the spotlight. I was frustrated by this choice because it gives the album a sense of division between the crazy and meaningful. I quickly got over this setback upon listening to the album again and realizing, in fact, that no such division exists. The album simply slows down toward the end, making the lyrics easier to understand as well as concluding the album on a somber note, which works well considering the dark material addressed throughout the entire work.
Man Man's Rabbit Habits creates a kind of organized chaos that is both extremely entertaining as well as substantive, making it my favorite album so far this year. Buy this album if you are the least bit musically adventurous.
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