Mark your calender, Richmond-ites. Brooklyn punks The Men are playing at Strange Matter this Thursday with Lost Tribe and Hoax Hunters. Most of you guys are probably already aware of this, as the Men are at the top of the food chain these days, but I just thought I would reiterate. If you aren’t familiar with The Men, you have two days, so you’d better step on it.

Immaculada (2010) - really diverse, warm, lo-fi stuff. Covers drone, hardcore, 90s indie, and even black metal.

Leave Home (2011) - more polished, sometimes post punk-esque, still diverse, good and really different. 

Open Your Heart (2012) - haven’t listened to this yet, but apparently the band continues to genre hop (surf riffs, psych, and country, reports a sacred bones write-up). Excited to get this. It’s impressive how prolific these guys are..

Older EPs, tapes, splits, and stuff can be found on The Men’s blog. There are some tasty nugs in there.

If interested, buy Men stuff at Sacred Bones, speaking of which.

Anyway - that’s plenty hyping, but I can’t help myself. The Men are one of the most compelling new bands around in my opinion, stepping outside punk genre restrictions without giving up any of the guts or energy.

So I don’t seem like a scumbag, here are some links for the other bands. Lost Tribe is a gloomy, kinda gothy punk act with keys out of RVA that’s really growing on me. 

Hoax Hunters I’m not so familiar with. They’re more on the indie side of things.

The photo is a poster I made for the show - 17x12, pen & ink, bristol paper, Lee Paluzzi. It’s unofficial, and I’m pretty sure they already have one made, but I’ll probably still slap some smaller copies up around town tomorrow. 

But basically, if you’ve been waiting for a good reason to skip a night class (like I’m going to have to do) or get drunk on Thursday (which seems unavoidable) or whatever, don’t miss this. I’ve already said too much. 

SLUGZ - SUIT AND TIE 

Title track (and best track) from their first 7” - a powerful dose of heavy, nasty garage. Charlottesville-area guys turned Richmond-ites playing loud and fast. Without losing any machismo, these tracks are also infectiously catchy. If you see this record around, pick it up. You will be glad that you did. Feeling couch-locked? You can download the whole damn thing here, ya freeloader. 

Or, you know. Perfect compromise - order it here. 

Navi is a new Richmond duo that deserves some attention. I had the pleasure of seeing them rip a little loft space a new asshole last week, with noisy, spastic jams reminiscent of Lightning Bolt. They pull off a thicker sound than most two pieces due to the guitarist’s heavy pedal pushing. Octave fx galore rattle your guts/nuts. The real kicker here is the exceptional drumming, though. The guy is something like 18 and I can safely say that he’s the most impressive drummer that I can claim to know personally. He operates on all cylinders constantly, thrashing around like some kind of spaghetti noodle, animal-from-the-muppets character while remaining startlingly precise. Single bass pedal. Does he have three feet or something?

Anyway, if you see these guys on a bill around town or on proboards, get on it. They’re both heavy/energetic enough and technically impressive/mathy enough to satisfy people from all walks. The recordings I’ve linked don’t do them justice, so it’s better just to track down their next show. Former member of Roy G Biv + Richmond’s answer to Brian Chippendale.