OUT OF LIMITS: MAN OR ASTRO-MAN? RETURN TO EARTH'S ORBIT WITH BRAND NEW SINGLE

     It's been nearly 12 years since Man or Astro-Man? graced the human race with terrestrial product, but fortunately for us it's been well worth the wait. Having intermittently re-appeared in earth's orbit over the past few years to deliver blistering sets of inter-planetary rock and roll to hungry fans, the time away from our gravitational pull seems to have served the band well when it comes to studio prowess, as their new single signals a return to form, with three tracks of cosmic madness worthy of the Silver Surfer himself. As a lead-up to their highly anticipated new full length album, the band teamed back up with legendary producer Steve Albini and Chunklet magazine founder Henry Owings to put out a series of 7"s to help sate the masses until its arrival. Dubbed the Astro Analog Series, the three singles will feature tracks off the new album, along with bonus material that can only be found on the limited edition runs (released on multi-color vinyl!!!), and should serve as a welcome reprieve for any starved disciples in need of a stereophonic fix.    
     And if the new single is any indication, longtime astro-fans will not be disappointed. From the barnburning A-side of "Defcon 5," with its synth wave warm-up and raucous Sonic Youth-Meets-The Ventures In Space mutant surf-rock attitude, to the high-octane, high-density B-side of "Anti-Matter Man" (featuring a rare vocal performance from Star Crunch), the album tracks are on par with anything the band has released in its 20 year career and point to a very bright future ahead. In fact, both songs harken back to the glory days of the band's mid-to-late-90's output, and seem to speak to some unfinished business from the last time they visited our solar system. But the real treat is the non-album B-side "Dr. Space." With its propulsive rhythm guitar and accordion-fueled thrust, it almost sounds like a mash-up between Dick Dale, the Feelies, and Rain Dogs-era Tom Waits, if all three had been left stranded in a remote galaxy with nothing more than polka records, freeze dried ice cream, a twelve pack of beer and a mixing board at their disposal. It's like nothing the band has ever done before and stands out as an object of desire for all MOAM? completists. And for a band that has pushed the boundaries of sonic reduction, space flight, and manned touring operations to their outermost limits, that's really saying something.
     As a preview of the new series, I spoke with MOAM?'s Birdstuff about what brought them back to this side of the universe, the new album, working with Steve Albini, and what exactly it is they have in store for humanity. This is what he said...



Audiovore: It's been almost 12 years since your last proper release, and although there have been periodic sightings of the band in live settings, it's been a pretty long hiatus. What motivated you all to reenter earth's orbit after so many years traveling the spaceways?

Birdstuff: We thought they had brought the McRib back at McDonald's so we ventured down to gorge ourselves on those artificial, heat lamp-induced, hormone-injected, overly-tender meat juice sticks. They are a high delicacy in the Grid Sector where we're from and go for huge monetary units there. Alas, we were wrong and now we're stuck here once again.

A: You just put out the first in a series of singles leading up to the release of your new full length album. What made you all decide to have the long roll out?

BS: Well, we were thinking about the way we used to do things way back in the yesteryears of our youth, and I think the thing we always enjoyed the most was putting out 7"s. I always thought that was the most suited format for us. Plus, it gave us a chance to analyze what all we had for the album and do some editing with what was going to eventually be on the LP and what would be exclusive B-sides. It both made it more fun and bought us some time to think about the material overall.

A: Had you all been working on new material prior to your return to the stage or did things just start to come together after regrouping?

BS: No, and it was certainly daunting being in a practice space for the first time together in 13 years, but we realized pretty quickly that we still pretty much sounded like we did when we left off in 1997. It was more natural than I was expecting it to be, but I think we were all concerned about it before it actually happened. Nostalgia– especially of a personal nature– can be a very dangerous thing. We didn't want to suck or be a sad parody of our former selves. For us it was a sort of therapy as well. We toured so much and really pushed what being in a band is to the limit, and I think it made us aware that it was the situation we were in that made things tough at times and maybe things weren't as difficult and unbearable as we sometimes remember them being. We had amazing times together, but we had almost too many amazing times together. Over-exposure in any capacity makes it difficult to function. This time it's a lot of fun though. There's not much pressure at all and we've all had a good time doing it again. It's sort of like our middle-age high school garage band.

A: Has the creative process changed for you at all? Or are you still working in the same mode that first brought you together so many years ago?

BS: I do think the biggest challenge was writing new stuff. We used to bang entire songs out– or at least the structures– at practice. Now with us all living in different cities, it was pretty much Star Crunch doing all the writing and sending us demos, and then we would flesh them out when we were all together. We worked pretty feverishly to get everything really tight in a short time and I think that shows in the recording.

A: What was it like working with Steve Albini again?

BS: Sort of high school reunion-y. Steve has been great to us over the years and was a big part of us getting on Touch and Go. The process has been a bit different for this album, but it's all been the same vibe we used to have with Steve. We knocked out a bunch of material in two days the first time we went up to Chicago and I think he really enjoyed that. Later, Star Crunch and I finished up a lot of the tasks (overdubbing, tracking instruments individually, etc.) and that was a much slower process. Not to say Steve wasn't great with all that stuff as well, but I think the thing he likes most is just hearing a band play well in a room together, all tracking at the same time in as much of a live, authentic form as possible. The cool thing though about this record I think is that the sounds vary a good bit from song to song. The other records Albini made with us like Experiment Zero I really like, but we made them where there was pretty much one sound for every song like a Ramones or AC/DC record or something. This recording was pretty diverse in how we recorded it. Some of it was on our end and some was just light experimentation in the recording and mixing itself.

A: Did you all happen to pass our new space probe on your way back to earth? What do you all think of man's latest efforts at space exploration?

BS: While primitive, the Mars thing is actually pretty cool. We were thinking about heading up that way and mooning Curiosity's camera. Nothing like good old Martian pale-white Astro-butt to wake you up in the morning. It is pretty sad though that manned space missions are absolutely over until there is a huge sea change in funding and general interest in the idea. Ironically, and jokingly, I wanted to call the record "Whitey's Not On The Moon"– after the Gil Scott Heron piece "Whitey On The Moon"-- because, truth be told, he really isn't and hasn't been for 30 years. Maybe I'll do my own spoken word piece about it and lay down some mad congas in the background in order to add that Greenwich Village angry poetry slam vibe to it.

A: Finally, should humanity take your return as some sort of harbinger of the "end times"? Is there any link between your new releases and the Mayan Calendar? If so, what is your message to the human race?

BS: Oh, man that would be cool. I wish we had the ability to end the human race– not that we would use it– but it would be a really handy device to threaten people with. Buy our record or we will end existence as you know it!!!

The new single is available NOW through Chunklet's website at http://www.chunklet.com/.