Man Man - Oh, La Brea

 Man Man is a pretty amazing band that uses chaos to create beauty, and they do it oh so well. They don't belong to a genre, Man Man is a genre of its own. They sound like music you would hear from pirates, circuses, doo-wop groups from the 50's, Donkey Kong, gypsies, ballroom waltzes and much more. It's such controlled chaos, I've never heard anyone or any band get it right like Man Man does. It's almost as if their songs shouldn't make musical sense, but it all just goes together superbly. And that alone shows how good of musicians they all are. They're also the most amazing band to see live, anyone that's seen them will agree. Lyrically, the lead singer Honus Honus can write like no one I've heard before. He takes heartbreak and gloom and turns it into anger and amelioration. And even though he sings in an agonized, angry growl, his lyrics are so eloquent that it wouldn't turn anyone away. Man Man can't be analyzed or explained by one song, but I would like to talk about them in terms of their last song on Life Fantastic, their second newest album. It starts off light and happy accompanied by strings and a frolicking piano, but the lyrics are about dead animals buried in someone's (La Brea's) house. The music stays light and Honus wails out his love for La Brea. The way he does it sounds like a doo-wop love song. That is, until the Honus reminds you that he loves no one with a horror movie sounding crash, in which he clarifies he is merely speaking about the tar pit. He's done the same before in "Hurly Burly" with his band chanting "this ain't no love song". The song then goes into some falsetto doo-wops from his band and Honus growls about a love that is no longer there, from which he decides to "drift away". And from there the song carries on without words, it's just beautiful strings that bells that range from sad notes, to ominous notes, to notes that remind you there's still hope. This song is so different from most of the other songs on their new album, but with so many different twists and turns in it, it's easy to tell that this band is one of a kind, and takes influences from all over the musical spectrum. This song being at the end of the album is something worth mentioning too, because their albums have all ended with a heartfelt doo-woppy or beautifully instrumental song.

Honus is also in another band called Mister Heavenly and you can tell what sound he's brought to the band: doo-wop that he's mixed with mayhem. The term for it is "doom-wop", and people have accredited it to Mister Heavenly. But Man Man has had that sound for years, and I think it comes from Honus. A lot of music blogs and reviewers also like to portray Man Man as being heavily influenced by Tom Waits and Frank Zappa. Sometimes I see it, but not enough to say Man Man sounds like either of them. I'm not even going to bother figuring out what specific influences I think this band has built on, because I really don't give a damn. It's so eccentric and original that Man Man stands on its own, and I'm constantly impressed by how their music and style has evolved over the years but still had that controlled chaos, patented Man Man sound. I'm also surprised that Indie Music hasn't gone in the direction that they have created. I think their sound is much more interesting and difficult to create musically than any of this chillwave bullshit that's taken over. Below are all songs by Man Man, including "Oh, La Brea". These are songs that I think exemplify the band's broad spectrum of sounds and influences. It's all over the place -- and it's beautiful because of that.