Man Forever Indierock | Alternative 3 Items

Imagine 100,000 drummers taking a break from a wank to practice drums in the basement of their parents' house. Everybody hates a drummer. Drummers all feel it. But drummers seem to love each other. Nobody knows why - or nobody bothers to ask them. Man Forever decided to sally forth to unknown climes - be it a moon landing - in the lunar module or orbiting in the commandmodule- who the F cares. Kid Millions wrote and recorded a piece in February of 2010 with a little help from his friends.Then he got the stupidest idea in the world: play this stuff live; take this shit on tour. He was bewildered by the enthusiasm of his admired compatriots. The drummers all came from the country without borders - the land of the helpless rats crawling around desperately in search of a scrap of PASSION, INNOVATION, ROCK, ENERGY, ACTION. They found it themselves. People don't "found" movements for nothing anyway. They found themselves and decided to create this twisted gnarled mass of a cataract to play live. Cut to Bloomington: the heart of the rock science movement and the home of the patrons of this project. Those wise men and women hosted the performance you now hold in your hands. Man Forever was just arriving in the lunar orbit. The module's detached and descending to the surface. Some of them are out of contact with mission control. The rats are scurrying everywhere now. It's time to get your head right.

Orange vinyl seems unplayed. Cover is close to NM. Limited edition.

The music of drummer John Colpitts as Man Forever is explorative, innovative and fearless. A musician and composer equally versed in the disparate musical languages of DIY rock, improvisation, and contemporary classical, Colpitts (aka Kid Millions) has made an album that defes genre classifcation. Propulsive, elaborate drum arrangements (created with TIGUE Percussion) remain essential to Man Forever - on the songs of Play What They Want, they are augmented by voice and melody with contributions from Laurie Anderson, Yo La Tengo, and Mary Lattimore to name a few. Play What They Want represents the culmination of 25 years of musical engagement by one of New York’s most acclaimed percussionists. The collaborative process, essential to Man Forever, requires the relinquishing of one’s ego for a greater purpose. In Play What They Want Colpitts leverages a vast and talented stable of diverse collaborators to create a work that transcends the sum of its parts.
“You Were Never Here” kicks off the album with a gorgeous vocal performance by all members of Yo La Tengo and, like the transition from the black and white to technicolor, the piece becomes a driving, wild marriage of Max Roach’s “Garvey’s Ghost,” McCoy Tyner, Alice Coltrane and Steve Reich. World-class harpists Brandee Younger and Mary Lattimore join bassist Brandon Lopez, pianist Sam Yulsman and the Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble to create an experimental jazz and classical “dream team.” “Ten Thousand Things” resonates with TIGUE’s tense, virtuosic compound meters, a Moondog-esque vocal by Colpitts and singer Nick Hallett, and another intuitive performance by harpist Mary Lattimore. Finishing the side, “Debt and Greed” is a surprisingly wry pop tune that combines Colpitts’ Jaki Liebezeit-esque drum groove with CSN-style harmonies, guitar by Trans Am’s Phil Manley, and horn playing by Ben Lanz (Beiruit, The National, Sufjan Stevens).
The second side leads with the evocative album centerpiece “Twin Torches.” Here Colpitts worked with the legendary multi-media artist and musician Laurie Anderson, who provided spoken vocals and violin on the nearly 10-minute tour de force. This composition also features arresting vocal atmospherics by Quince, which precede some of the most complex drumming Colpitts has ever recorded. The album closes with “Catenary Smile,” a prickly ballad featuring Nick Hallett’s cascading background vocals which buoy the lyrics: a contemplation of humanity’s problematic tendency to anthropomorphize inanimate things.
While Colpitts’ previous albums have expanded on the possibilities and limitations of drums and percussion, this new album redefnes the project in myriad ways. Building on a complex rhythmic foundation, Man Forever created an album that is innovative, imaginative and joyous. Play What They Want is a rare record of untamed ambition that hits all its marks.