"we'll go dancing / yeah we'll go downtown / near 17th and South / where they were all gunned down...
The surfy busker punk dioramas and come on scorched earth vocals of "Aperture" by Baltimore, Maryland's queer noise pop band Manners Manners, casts iconic late 70's meets late 80's beat poet indie rock / post punk atmospheres on static cathode ray televisions. The sounds is so compelling, not only because of the addictive ways the bands swings, but the lively snap and dark folk rock punch realized by J Pinder on guitar / vox, Jes Welter on bass and more and H.S. Sweet's raucously gorgeous vocals while playing drums.
On "Aperture" that, for me, exists sonically, attitudinally somewhere between Concrete Blonde's 'Make Me Cry' and Pixies' 'Here Comes Your Man', the sensibility is ernest vocals that burn in real colors delivered not just as a song but as experiences to be recalled, dreams to be dreamt aloud, and blood to be let.
As a side note, I was supposed to feature this amazing song weeks and weeks ago and a harried life got in the way. My apologies to Manners Manners.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://mannersmanners.bandcamp.com/album/i-held-their-eyes-i-kissed-them-all
https://www.instagram.com/mannersmannersmd/
https://www.facebook.com/mannersmannersmd/
https://x.com/jackpindermusic
Manners Manners have been carving a unique space of their own in Baltimore since 2015, with memorably fierce live performances and the spikey noise of their early, self-recorded singles. Their 2018 J. Robbins-engineered debut EP, First In Line, put them in conversation with queer history, busting the romance of pioneering visibility. The EP struck a chord with many, including Robbins, who released his own cover of the eponymous single in 2020, and garage legends Wreckless Eric and Shonen Knife, whom Manners Manners locally supported on tour.
Then, life. The tidal wave of pandemic-era change. Manners Manners held tight through the era of closed venues via songwriting and collaboration, and in 2021, their single “Deaccession Now” teased new, gutsy directions – but we were, none of us, the same. Had we not as queer people been here before, splintered and transformed by tragedy? There were tears to be cried and noise to be made in the same breath – and that’s what Manners Manners did, over the course of the next few years. I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All was the result.
With J Robbins back in the engineering chair, the band’s first LP, I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All bears the fruits of their continued experiments in process and production. Collaboration with Baltimore’s $100 Girlfriend (mems. BODEGA, Super City, Adjective Animal) launches crowd-favorite “Yr Well” to stadium enormity. Uncompromising searches for chime and tone brought mandocello and 12-string guitar into the studio for the jangle-pop gold of “Aperture” and the Fleetwood Mac-tinged “Straight Cost of Living.” “Cinemattachine” and “Wallpaper” charge the trio’s sexual politics into freshly re-imagined post-punk and glam rock.
The album is bookended by “Big Outdoor Party” and it’s expansive reprise – Americana-infused meditations on grief and impermanence on the scale of geologic time.
IHTEIKTA is the sound of a band embracing their multiplicity, taking risks, and staking their inimitable place in the world.
I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All is out via 20/20 Records on CD, tape, and all streaming platforms on July 26th, 2024.
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://mannersmanners.bandcamp.com/album/i-held-their-eyes-i-kissed-them-all
https://www.instagram.com/mannersmannersmd/
https://www.facebook.com/mannersmannersmd/
https://x.com/jackpindermusic
Manners Manners have been carving a unique space of their own in Baltimore since 2015, with memorably fierce live performances and the spikey noise of their early, self-recorded singles. Their 2018 J. Robbins-engineered debut EP, First In Line, put them in conversation with queer history, busting the romance of pioneering visibility. The EP struck a chord with many, including Robbins, who released his own cover of the eponymous single in 2020, and garage legends Wreckless Eric and Shonen Knife, whom Manners Manners locally supported on tour.
Then, life. The tidal wave of pandemic-era change. Manners Manners held tight through the era of closed venues via songwriting and collaboration, and in 2021, their single “Deaccession Now” teased new, gutsy directions – but we were, none of us, the same. Had we not as queer people been here before, splintered and transformed by tragedy? There were tears to be cried and noise to be made in the same breath – and that’s what Manners Manners did, over the course of the next few years. I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All was the result.
With J Robbins back in the engineering chair, the band’s first LP, I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All bears the fruits of their continued experiments in process and production. Collaboration with Baltimore’s $100 Girlfriend (mems. BODEGA, Super City, Adjective Animal) launches crowd-favorite “Yr Well” to stadium enormity. Uncompromising searches for chime and tone brought mandocello and 12-string guitar into the studio for the jangle-pop gold of “Aperture” and the Fleetwood Mac-tinged “Straight Cost of Living.” “Cinemattachine” and “Wallpaper” charge the trio’s sexual politics into freshly re-imagined post-punk and glam rock.
The album is bookended by “Big Outdoor Party” and it’s expansive reprise – Americana-infused meditations on grief and impermanence on the scale of geologic time.
IHTEIKTA is the sound of a band embracing their multiplicity, taking risks, and staking their inimitable place in the world.
I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All is out via 20/20 Records on CD, tape, and all streaming platforms on July 26th, 2024.
Manners Manners, indie rock, post punk, busker punk, folk, jangle pop, folk punk, alt pop, queer noise pop, 70's / 80's aesthetics, "Aperture", compelling vocals, new album "I Held Their Eyes, I Kissed Them All",
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