You cannot deconstruct unless you know how to construct. - Alexander McQueen

An Abduction By Man or Astro-man? permalink

Was abducted by aliens from Alabama (it’s tough being an alien in Alabama. Their words, not mine.) and it’s only now, after a few days of memory reconstruction, that I realize I’ve dragged space - along with a crowd that resists all attempts at identification (except maybe the guy that looked like he was on his way to the Ink-N-Iron Fest in Long Beach) - with Man or Astro-man?

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Man or Astro-man? Defcon 5…4…3…2…1.

Earlier that fateful Saturday, in the KEXP studio:

Scattered Man or Astro-man? surf punk audio transmissions date back, roughly, to the apex of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 period of American history. After twelve years, the original lineup of Birdstuff, Coco and Star Crunch have graced us with new material, decoded by audio wizards Steve Albini and Daniel Farris. The Man or Astro-man? ship was hailed by Seattle’s The Stranger and asked a series of questions, like for example, whether or not Steve Albini is human. To this they replied:

Well, what a lot of people don’t know is that Steve Albini is actually the inspiration for The Six Million Dollar Man. Last-minute studio changes resulted in the character having ‘bionic’ implants as opposed to the ‘microphonic’ implants Albini employs. Execs felt the world of studio recording was perhaps not as exciting as that of crime-fighting and espionage, so Albini’s character was shelved. They then changed Steve’s last name to Austin, and Albini became the Pete Best of electrical implants.

Birdstuff - the drummer and warp core of our ship - emerged from the charged shadows to avoid a meltdown (he is a prodigious timekeeper) and initiated a storm of witty provocations with the rest of the crew (”It somehow sounds less sexist if I say, ‘You play pretty good for a spacegirl’”, he tells Avona Nova, guitarist and space nurse in training.). Which left me convinced that these aliens need their own talk show. Humoring a touch-feely species and much to our delight, Coco descended into the crowd to be explored by our eyes and hands. He wore a protective suit. Later he played the theremin like a rock star and then lit it on fire while an anachronistic astronaut hovered inert on the viewscreen.

They indicated that the Seattle show was their last, but it seems that Man or Astro-man? do in fact have upcoming shows. Ambiguity is their native language, after all. So get yourself abducted! In addition to the full-length album, their most recent transmissions have been captured on three, color-coded 7″s known as the “Analog Series”.

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