The Men played St. Vitus

The Men, of New York City, played a record release show for their new album, New York City, at the almighty St. Vitus in Brooklyn, New York City.

The Men - "God Bless the USA"

The Men will release a new album called New York City in February 2023 and today they've shared the second single, "God Bless the USA."

Ten Years | | Ten Songs

I've spent the past decade writing about music and my time in New York. It's one thing that makes me feel connected and relatable to everything around me. Over ten years, I've written about countless songs and concerts, but I've selected ten songs from the past ten years that feel really special to me. Thank you to everyone who has ever read any of these posts.

The Men played Bowery Ballroom

To celebrate the release of their latest effort, New Moon, Brooklyn hot rods Parquet Courts and Nude Beach supported the Men through a blistering night of surging rock and roll. A year ago to the date, the Men were unleashing their breakthrough record Open Your Heart at 285 Kent and while that show saw the band shift from the dark tones of Leave Home to a more structured sound, tonight the band continued their evolving dynamic. The past three years have seen 3 releases from these Brooklyn rockers and the progress unveiled is enough to make most bands jealous. In 2011, it would have been seemed as if these dudes could rule the post-hardcore drone scene and now I wouldn't be shocked if I learned that the band just covered some lost Crazy Horse demos. This is a not necessarily a bad thing. Despite the looser arrangements becoming even more exaggerated in a live setting allow feedback to swallow the stage for some dense noise jams, new stunner "Electric" still packs a Husker Du / Dinosaur Jr. punch and makes great company for solid jams "Open Your Heart" and "Turn It Around". These guys can still rock when push comes to shove and the pacing of the show did a great job of reminding you of that. "I Saw Her Face" can feel a little flat on the record, but it exploded on stage evoking Cortez moments and serious guitar sways. The Men aren't known for being a well-oiled machine and their crusty punk aesthetic still shines through on both their lo-fi recordings and fuzzed out performances and perhaps that spills over onto their records. Their almost frightening ability to shift sonic landscapes in only a matter of years could lead to some isolation or shake off some potential success, but the Men don't seem to care. Their 'don't give a fuck' attitude has been a motif from the beginning and even with acoustic guitars thrown to the front of the mix, the attitude remains the same. The band doesn't harmonize, but rather four of them just sing at the same time. It's rough, dirty and in your face. It is grungy-Americana at its best.

The Men - "Electric"

Last year, Brooklyn rockers The Men broke through with their incendiary third album Open Your Heart. On March 5, the band will release the follow-up New Moon via Sacred Bones. That's the album art above (which strays from the standard Sacred Bones art work) and below you can hear the first single "Electric" which seems to pick up perfectly from where Open Your Heart finished.

Albums 2012

Following my favorite songs of the year, here are my favorite records of 2012. Thank you so much for reading all year. I'll finish up the year end posts with my guest lists next week.

Redd Kross and the Men played Music Hall of Williamsburg

Home town punks, the Men, joined a reunited Redd Kross as part of the inaugural CBGB Festival last night in Brooklyn. Although only a small crowd had assembled by the time the Men took the stage, the band blasted through charging anthems and roared through a set featuring new material from their forth coming record. The opening chords of "Turn It Around" really got people moving and the astounding transition into "Open Your Heart" didn't skip a beat and was without question the highlight of their show. Brooding bass plagued the band's sound, but did not stop them from unleashing a stellar set and their unabashed energy made up for whatever technical issues were keeping them down. When Redd Kross hit the stage, the room was feeling a little tighter and their sing-a-long anthems were met with a hearty reception. Often revered as the band that bridged the power-pop stylings of Big Star and Cheap Trick with the punk of Black Flag and influenced bands like Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies, the veterans were out in full form last night and delivered a career spanning set from the classic Born Innocent right up to new tracks from their first album in fifteen years. Led by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald, the California punks offered some witty banter between songs and talked about the joys of being in the band again. After discussing their self-proclaimed laziness of recent memory, the brothers opened up about their excitement of more touring in the future and their new found energy was apparent as they ripped through an extensive set and even returned for several encores that included a full performance of their first EP that the band recorded with Greg Hetson before he joined Bad Religion. The sugary sweet pop-punk blowouts proved that these aging rockers could still nail a slick guitar solo and Roy McDonald might be the most entertaining drummer in punk-rock as he never missed a chance to show off his drum stick twirling skills and still kept the band right on pace.

The Men played 285 Kent

Brooklyn noise/hardcore/punk quartet the Men packed 285 Kent to the brim as they unleashed some sonic fury for the record release show of their rocking new album Open Your Heart. The night exploded with the epic assault of "Turn It Around", "Open Your Heart", and Leave Home standout "Bataille" before heading into an annihilating drone jam. While the Men, are not breaking ground with a unique sound (hell, "Turn It Around" is almost a copy and paste tribute to Stiff Little Finger's "Suspect Device) their ability to combine thrashing classic riffs, ear bleeding guitar solos, and pulsating drum fills brings out an intensity lost on most bands. The raw rage built to such intensity through the opening tracks and strengthened the hostility of the crowd that as the set wore on, fists and beers were sent flying. Perhaps it might have been best to save one of their most aggressive and exuberant songs for the finale, instead of kicking things off with such a gigantic thrust of sound, but the Men have now proven that their ability to rock out leaves no room for questions.