by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS
Man Forever represents something of a music nerd’s platonic ideal. Led by John Colpitts (aka Kid Millions), the vocalist, drummer, and creative backbone of New York noise-rock titans heavyweights Oneida, Man Forever takes artistic ambition and makes a game of how far it can be stretched with complex syncopation and dizzying percussion.
Man Forever’s most recent album, Play What They Want is a concise piece of propulsive art, melodically engaging and seductive in its rhythms, though it stands in slight opposition to Man Forever’s more challenging works. Play What They Want features both indie rock icons Yo La Tengo and avant-garde legend Laurie Anderson.
Colpitts’ wheelhouse is progressive and experimental rock that creates a primal, hypnotic state. To cite one example, in the new album’s “You Were Never Here,” listeners are submerged in a frothing sea of pummeled drums, only interrupted by increasingly discordant piano. This is viscerally alive music.
Colpitts also tends to bring in as many as four other drummers to join him in exploring the limits of the instrument. For anyone dismissive of the drum kit as merely a timekeeper, Colpitts’ output reads like a dissertation on the drum’s pliability and dramatic range. When it comes to the drum’s importance, this is his mic drop.
Catch Man Forever this weekend at Obsidian in Olympia .
What: Man Forever, with Terror Cactus and Skrill Meadow
Where: Obsidian
404 4th Ave E, Olympia
When: 10pm Saturday, November 11
How much: Donations Accepted
Learn more: 360-943-5710 | Man Forever website