oh. MAN.

I notice that my mp3 software (pointedly-unnamed, right, bc what am I: some kind of corporate endorser?) has a Play Count indicator. It’s no big deal I’m sure yours does, too. My point is I’m seeing that I’ve now played that MAN/MIRACLE album over 50 times since I wrote my valentine to the band last month. Which I’ll just go ahead & tell you works out to one-plus times per day.

It has not grown old, it has not grown thin. This is a little surprising to me, if only because THE SHAPE OF THINGS was so immediately fun from the very first listen. Look, I’m not proud of being a snob but here’s the truth: when music is that catchy, is that suddenly enjoyable, it usually tends to mean there’s not a lot of depth there. It’s a trade-off. The music that does keep on yielding new surprises long after you think you’ve got it is –often– the stuff that took a little time to get into in the first place.

M/M has not seemed to work that way, though. I loved it right away. I did. I thought it was poppy but edgy & very catchy & just fun as all hell. I keep on listening though, & my appreciation continues to broaden & to deepen. This I had not anticipated.

One thing (among many) I’m really into right now today is the way that “ALWAYS, JUST” deviates so far afield of the tight, sharp paradigm of this album into a noisy monolith of monster chord feedback & crash cymbal, only to whip right back to tasty, arpeggiated “BACK OF THE CARD.” Which, in turn, itself see-saws from high-hat sophistication back again to a raucous, chaotic wash. But don't start there if you're still new to this band. Start with, e.g., "UP":

Up - Man/Miracle

M/M are currently opening for Rogue Wave, on a sort of Western tour that culminates at the Fillmore on April 30. I will predict that, some time later, you will want to be able to say you saw them way back when.