Mannequin Men

Chicago's Mannequin Men put out Fresh Rot last year, an amazing thing that crammed in every grand or garbagey piece of rock & roll detritus you ever heard, ran it through a wickedly drunken punky blender and ralphed it all back out into the ionosphere, where it slowly shimmered down to Earth, puncturing the ozone layer, contaminating every river and making baby harp seals unhappy. Yes, it was that good/bad. The Mannequin Men sang about sex, beer and partying, their music was truly middle-class pointless and brainless, and they were proud of it. But then, few can pull off these intricate blends of Stooges/Velvets/Kinks/Television with such free-flowing ease without having intuitive smarts, the kind of brains that deliver one of the most insanely over-the-top live shows you'll ever see. (JP)