PROFILE: The Men (SXSW 2012)

As one mind put it: THE MEN are “more composers than musicians”. Any band blazing off a trail of singles or a singer-songwriter with more self-released tapes than a dude that runs a record shop in Portland can say they’re composer, but there’s also a DIY ethic. That mentality where creations are built from sweat, blood and raw emotions cut from the heart, not taken from radio pop songs that go hand-in-hand with chewing gum. With their recent cut Open Your Heart laying right on the dashboard next to 2011’s Leave Home (not to mention another collection of new tracks set to be recorded in May), the Brooklyn quartet are not reviving garage punk, they’re revolutionizing it. Through straightforward rock n’ roll, menacing howls and a pulsating psychedelia backbone, they emit the urgency to let go, to be emotional and to dive headfirst into the crash of sound bellowing from the amps and kit at their side. The plain truth is: The Men may turn your stomach, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want more.

The band’s third album Open Your Heart is available now via Sacred Bones // iTunes | Insound

 

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