Man Man

Rabbit Habits

[4/5]

If you think the mathy art-spelunking permeating most of Rabbit Habits is, like, totally original, you probably haven’t spent much time getting cozy with the back catalog of experi-gonzo visionaries Tom Waits and Frank Zappa. That said, Man Man aren’t outrightly derivative; rather, they’ve raised a lightning rod high into the storm their predecessors channeled so well, pulling down a manic energy all their own. Peeling back the layers of boom-zydeco and soulcholia on songs like “El Azteca” and “Easy Eats Or Dirty Doctor Galapogos,” you’ll find a ramshackle genius in the band’s new wave kitchen-rock (i.e., performing with a full compliment of cookware and utensils). There’s a confessional tone when Man Man vocalist/CEO Honus Honus cedes, “Oh, my God/What happened to all those days before we were bruised” on the off-kilter “Doo Right,” while the album closer “Whalebones” is a hipster gypsy ballad for the ages. (ANTI-) Casey Lynch