Man Man

Rabbit Habits (Anti-)

Spoiler alert: The men of Man Man wear funny outfits, have excessive body hair, and tend to go balls-out live. The merry band of Philly pranksters, led by Beefheartian singer/pianist Honus Honus, emcees a three-ring circus on third LP Rabbit Habits. It’s dinged with xylophone, backwoods hollers, and a sense of clown-car urgency, and it would be easy to pass it all off as schtick – and mind you, much of it is – but opening on gripper “Mister Jung Stuffed” and not letting loose until the final curtain-dropping notes of “Whalebones,” Rabbit Habits lingers in monochromatic, spotlighted visages. The album’s visual, an indie rock show tune on shrooms, but it’s just difficult to take seriously hairy men smeared in war paint incoherently singing Benny Hill infested “The Ballad of Butter Beans” and Charlie Brown doo-wop “Harpoon Fever (Queequeg’s Playhouse).” (3:30pm, Dell stage.)

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This article appears in September 26 • 2008.

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