Welcome to MAGNET's second Hot New Band Alert of 2009. (Back in January, we totally called it with the now-celebrated Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.) Only problem is that Chicago's Mannequin Men aren't all that new. But we're pretty sure their third album is gonna save us all. Actually, Lose Your Illusion, Too (coming [...]
The release date of this has been put in jeopardy, but the album cover is just too amazing NOT to share. Lose Your Illusion, Too may be out in June of this year--we'll have to wait and see.">Mannequin Men MySpace Page
Ok I'll admit it. This whole post started here, on You Ain't No Picasso , but it somehow turned into something completely different so while I think YANP for the Intelligence track that totally slays one of the crappiest tracks on the entire Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs" boxed set, which I love, srsly I do...I have only myself and my wreckless sleep deprivation to thank for the final outcome. Which isn't very terrific anyway. Except for the songs you can grab below and all the gnarly tour dates they that the Intelligence apparently need help filling. First thing's [...]
Monday: Love Is All @ Bowery Ballroom 7:30pm $12 If you missed out on the two smaller Love Is All shows don't fret too much because the band is playing a slightly bigger one at Bowery tonight! This is a band that doesn't come around often enough so if you haven't gotten to see them yet now is the time to do so!!! Love Is All - "Darling Nikki" Tuesday: Mannequin Men @ Southpaw 8pm $10 Mannequin
We continue sampling our favorite artists and songs found at the SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists website. We still have a lot more to go, so keep dropping by if you like. I should have said earlier how incredibly generous it is of the SXSW folks to make these available, so in case any of those busy eyes peer here, THANKS! Our previous SXSW 2008 posts can be found here and here. Hope you're finding

I have written a lot this year. Way more than anyone of my caliber should ever be allowed to write. And it has been almost unanimously about music. God knows what motivates me to do so on my own unpaid (in both financial and attention terms) accord, but I can only assume that it's whatever the same odd driving force is that seems to be encouraging the rest of this outspoken faceless society we refer to as the blogosphere. Maybe it's a reaction to being bombarded by so much curious and easily accessible media, an [...]

Pure "old school rock 'n roll" maken de heren van Mannequin Man. En om eerlijk te zijn, het is lang geleden dat ik nog eens dit soort rock heb gehoord. Het doet zwaar denken aan bands van het type The Hives (maar dan ietsje minder hysterisch) en The Black Lips maar who cares. Het klinkt gewoon lekker rauw en ruig. Hell Yeah! Mannequin Man - Grapefruit Mannequin Man - Boys (They Don't Mind)

Release Date: 09.18.07 The best way to enjoy Fresh Rot , the new album from Chicago's pysch-garage bandits Mannequin Men, is to suck down each dose separate from the other. Don't necessarily listen to all of it at once. Run a shuffle mix with Blondie, New York Dolls, or Alice Cooper. During some future live show, lead singer Kevin Richard will transition from "Everybody Has Loved Her" into "Under My Wheels" and you read it here first)! By following this easy step you will unlock the maddening power from within the Mannequin Men. [...]
Thanks to a happy stop-in at Love Garden while on a break from studying this evening, I got to see a show from one of my new favorite bands. Mannequin Men, from Chicago, are playing a show in Kansas City tomorrow night, and since they couldn?t get a regular gig, ...
"You're a grapefruit?" What in the name of Merriam-Webster does it mean when the Mannequin Men's Kevin Richard refers to the object of his desire as a grapefruit? Is she sour? A tart? Merriam-Webster doesn't have the answers, and the Urban Dictionary doesn't fare much better (someone with big balls, a big chested woman, or big tasty buds). Seeing as though there are no references to illicit drug use in "Grapefruit" and the transgendered angle, seems a bit far fetched as well, the best I have is that a "grapefruit" is a top heavy tart. [...]

It seems that the old garage rock style of music is back in these days. Last week I brought you one example by naming King Khan & the Shrines my Band of the Week, and this week I'm moving in the same direction. Mannequin Men are a straight forward rocking quartet out of the Chicago area. Having recorded their new album, Fresh Rot , in a day you can tell they are no nonsense too. On that album the boys in the band have put together a fast paced album that will get old school rock n' [...]
They're a four-piece out of Chicago, who have been building one of the most talked about live shows in that area. With comparisons to bands like Black Lips, these guys bring a loose energy that many bands can't duplicate without...

Boys (They Don't Mind) - The Mannequin Men . mp3

Mannequin Men - Dead Kids (Flameshovel 2007) Mannequin Men – Fresh Rot / Flameshovel As far as today's massive definition of rock 'n' roll goes, to be sub-classified as a proto-punk band has got to be the most impressive compliment one could give as a critic. Proto-punk is not a sound, a style, a specific tone or rhythm, or a look; it is an aesthetic and almost a way of life. It is a characteristic of rock-based bands that refused to be sucked into the pigeonholes [...]
Dead Kids - Mannequin Men . mp3

The Mannequin Men shouldn't have to apologize for playing snotty, proto-punk and singing choruses about private school girls and the new nowhere generation. Since when did drawing inspiration from Iggy, The New York Dolls, Television, or Cleveland's own Dead Boys mean you're a meathead? Yet, in an age where we've created the micro genre literary rock for the smart kids, they're interviews often include the defense, we're smarter than you think (see recent features Paper Thin Walls and Aversion). If anything, it's the other side that should be apologizing for making safe music [...]
Download: Mannequin Men - The Boys (They Don't Mind) Download: Mannequin Men - "Grapefruit" Download : Mannequin Men - "Weekender" Download : Mannequin Men - "Pigpen" Mannequin Men are a rowdy, raucous and utterly infectious garage-rock band that likes to write and record albums in a single, unholy day of productivity. That approach is what led to their second full-length album Fresh Rot . They rock directly, enthusiastically and [...]
if you havent noticed, i am beginning to take donations for a breast cancer walk my mother is participating in in october. one of her dear friends, a woman i have always referred to as my aunt, was recently diagnosed with the disease and i guess you sometimes dont start caring wholeheartedly about a cause [...]

Somewhere nestled between "Strychnine" , Paul Revere & the Raiders, Ron & Scott Asheton and The Ponys circa Turn the Lights Out is a little room on the shelf for Chicago natives Mannequin Men . And while garage rock revival and boozy instrumentation aren't necessarily a new thing to any of our ears, you have to give it up to a band like this. Sharing stages with The (aforementioned and also Chicago come-uppers) Ponys or more recent luminaries of blood, filth and urine, The Black Lips [...]