★★★★★
A friend of mine was actually taking a tour of Electrical Audio studios the day before Defcon 5...4...3...2...1's sessions started. After showing him around and answering a few general questions about recording, Steve Albini wrapped up their chat by saying, "I actually need to prepare for Man Or Astro-Man? tomorrow." This story perked my ears because there was a name I hadn't heard in a long time ... Man Or Astro-Man? Man Or Astro-Man? is one of those bands that took too long of a hiatus...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-06-20
★★★★★
There's always some past sound being revived, but in the 1990s, it seemed like every sound was being held up for reconsideration before the century expired, from Dixieland to synthpop made with keyboards that were barely dusty. Surf instrumentals had never really gone out of fashion, perhaps because they were square as a crew cut from the start...
- dustedmagazine.com
2012-01-09
★★★★★
It looks like a collection of just about every variety of shape, angularity and granularity, about every variety of rock you could find," says an anonymous voice near the end of the latest album from Alabama's Man or Astro-Man? That's what you call truth in advertising: Just as the Cramps whipped up rockabilly with B-movie iconography, Man or Astro-Man...
- www.rollingstone.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Opening with a two-ton breakbeat, Man or Astroman? have dreamed up a new
chunk of space-rock for the Silver Surfer. Part beach-blanket bingo, part
mad science experiment, this quartet from beyond the Moon have long been
critical favorites. How could they not be with song titles like "Curious
Constructs of Stem-Like Devices Which Now Prepare Themselves to Be Thought
of as Fingers"? Well, there's that, plus their consistently innovative
approach to instrumental surf-rock...
- www.splendidezine.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
Good evening, earthlings. The dreaded Planet Sandlin here again. You may be interested to know that Man or Astroman and I have something in common. You see, I, too, am from outer space. In fact, as you'll learn from my revealing Pitchfork bio, I'm the result of my own Big Bang theory-- or in my case, the controversial Barely- Audible Poof theory. I'm my own planet, kids. Cool...
- pitchfork.com
2009-06-07
★★★★★
"Last I heard from starfleet command, the new Man or Astro-Man album, Experiment Zero, is to be released on April 16, 1996 A.D. By clicking on the astronaut you can warp to my official Experiment Zero Countdown Page. Thank me later." --Surflyer's Astro Site It says something about Man or Astro-Man that, of the seven fan pages listed on the band's official website, three of them no longer exist, and three of them haven't updated since 1996. There's a reason for this...
- pitchfork.com
2009-06-07
★★★★★
Super-nice lookin' new seven-song effort from these sci-fi surfers, fun as usual....
- www.aquariusrecords.org
2009-06-05
★★★★★
Space-surf masters' new effort, the latest in a countless line of fan-pleasing discs....
- www.aquariusrecords.org
2009-06-05
★★★★★
These guys have been around for quite some time, touring around the country and popping
out albums at the rate of almost one a year. If you ever get a chance to see one of them
live, don't hesitate. They play with 10 televisions running at the same time and act like
a spazzed-out Devo on stage.
Technically, their music is probably nothing more than hopped-up surf rock, but they
manage to keep things fairly interesting with samples from old sci-fi movies and a ton
of energy...
- www.almostcool.org
2009-06-05