Filling the Void: New Mannequin Pussy
September 20, 2023
Simply trying to write regularly again. Here’s some music ‘n stuff I found recently with thoughts:
Chad VanGaalen - Clinically Dead
Underground indie from 2004 with a jaunty guitar-driven pop song and strange lyricism about brain-death and prank calls. I’m not super familiar with VanGaalen but from this snippet, he reminds me of outsider artist Daniel Johnston combined with the musicality of Jeff Rosenstock.
Girlfriends - Untitled #3
Something so satisfying about building a song around a single, repetitive chord.
Mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions
When we gonna torch the restaurant? Sing it!
Funeral For A Friend - Juneau
Weirdly never heard of this band until a friend recommended them. Very 2000s post-hardcore like Thursday or Circa Survive but the mathy guitar lines and lyrics elevate it beyond usual emo boy nonsense.
Eddy Benz - Landline
Lo-fi bedroom pop with a hip-hop edge, Eddy Benz is a New Orleans local who has been putting out incredible music videos for years and deserves more attention. His most recent track addresses isolation in a time of unprecedented human communication. Also, kidnapping I guess. Metaphorical? Oooo.
Self-Checkout Renaissance - A WASP’s Guide to Ideology
Baton Rogue art punk that’s like a grittier Parquet Courts. Neat lyrics.
Bad Anxiety - Demonstration II
A six minute EP of super fast, dirty hardcore from Mississippi.
BEEF - D.N.A.
Bandcamp punk of the week with fuzzy vintage sound like classic Clash records.
Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
Horse eyes are so weird, man. Have you ever really looked at one of those? Besides the obvious horizontal slit shape of their pupil, they have these weird brown clouds that 3-D, pop out of the middle of their giant jellies (apparently they work as living sunglasses??)
Anyway, the transcendent indie-punk band Mannequin Pussy released their big comeback single “I Got Heaven” a couple of weeks ago and busted down the barn door with its music video (hence the horse eye). The big question for the band seems to be if they will recapture their pre-pandemic hype.
Their 2021 EP “Perfect,” definitely was received well but it didn’t seem to have the same ripples as the Epitaph Records’ debut “Patience” in 2019. To me, it was interesting to see the band take a more aggressive approach to “Perfect” especially with the title track as well as “Pigs Is Pigs.”
The latter was an open screed about the 2020 BLM and protests standing against police violence. The usual lead vocalist, Marisa "Missy" Dabice, took a backseat for the song in favor of the band’s Black member Colins "Bear" Regisford as lead vocalist which only added to the emotional and political potency of the track.
There are still softer, shoegaze-y moments on the 2021 EP but if the new single is any indicator, it does seem like MP’s only grown heavier and weirder.
The commanding delivery of Missy mixed with the rumbling bass line by Bear makes for an explosive return. Psychedelic vocal and guitar effects around the chorus make it clear the band has lost what made them stand out musically to begin with but what really makes the song compelling is Missy’s contemptuous lyricism.
I went and walked myself
Like a dog without a leash
Now I’m growling at a stranger
I am biting at their knees
Missy’s crunching down on cat-callers, gatekeeper or whoevers preventing you from living your life and doing what you want. It’s a larger theme (and a common one across their discography) of prioritizing action. Don’t wait for someone to permit you. Walk down the streets. Tell Jesus to “eat my fucking snatch.” Don’t wait for happy endings. Go make your heaven.
Read More
Rathbone: Soundtrack to the Class War - Recent interview I did with local anarcho-communist, bedroom-folk artist in New Orleans. Show this Friday, September 22 at Marigny Opera House if you’re around. Read Antigravity.
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