TMC gig review: when MEN played Madame Jo-Jos
by Petit Fours
MEN is the new band of Le Tigre singer and uber-cutie JD Samson, playing a sort of tribal disco dance, throbbing jungle beats fizzing with disco fistles. While JD’s handsome boy looks (cute moustache or what) would get the band a devoted fan base if they just stood on stage kicking the floor, this band have got a lot to offer beyond androgynous eye-candy.
MEN
Madame Jo-Jo’s, the glitter sprinkled Soho venue, crammed a sizeable chunk of London’s square-fringed gays under its swagged velvet ceiling when MEN came to play. It was an exuberant gig from three-piece electro dance outfit.
The music was a glorious jumble of space-agey rock riffs & electro burps over bursting confetti of electro sounds. JD’s droney twangy vocals kept a rising rhythm in songs like Off Our Backs that pulled into high-adrenalin crescendos.
MEN kept the feminist and left-wing politics passionate but not preachy in songs like Credit Card Babie$, at other times the music was just sheer exuberant dance.
JD was on keyboards and vocals at the front of the stage wearing a t-shirt and at times a paper hat shaped like a house. The guitarists wore a combination of lilac Lycra, snoods and chainmail headpieces. It was pretty glamtastic.
In between songs, JD gave a little shout out to gays, expressed how weird English accents are “you guys don’t say ‘heart’ the way I say ‘heart’”, and told us how much we were all smiling.
In the tender complex song Simultaneously JD closed her eyes, and just breathed out the lyrics keeping the intensity really strong, rousing indecent passions in the heart of this reviewer at least.
It was pumped fizzy disco with a heart (however you chose to pronounce it) and made for a really joyful gig.
MEN on MySpace
See also:
The Beth effect: TMC review the Gossip’s London gig
Seriously folks, this gig was the nuts. And JD dressed as a house was worth the entry price alone.
I was there as well, i had been meaning to see M.E.N play for a year because i was told by a friend they were great live. I had no idea the singer was from Le tigre or gay for that matter, let alone that the audience would be mostly lesbian (I had a Tegan and Sara deja vu for the first minutes…). I didn’t know Credit Card Babie$ was that song i heard all the time in bars… I went because i was told they were great live and that’s why i go to small gigs sometimes. So i was super super happy when, after queuing for 30 minutes unsure we’d get in, i got to attend a show that was so splendid it got a place in my top 3 electro gigs with Robots in Disguise @ Islington Academy and CC @ Rough Trade. Of course, consequently i thought the mere £6 entry fee was a bargain for such an intimate venue and soon-to-be-huge act. I was on a high all night- during and after. The chemistry those three have on stage was unique; the beats, melodies and heavy guitar riffs pervaded the room and got straight to my skin to goosebumps effect! They are fun, they are having fun and it is contagious!! JD’s genuine friendliness in her voice, her words and her manner was very heart-warming, even alluring (to my surprise) and most definitely refreshing. Alice from Crystal Castles, with her on-stage beer consumption and no-talk/ all-jump act can go home and cry after this gig!! My tickets for their Cargo gig in April have been bought and arrived thru the post last week and i C.A.N.N.O.T wait ;)