Posts Tagged ‘Ryan Kattner’

MAN MAN – ” Dig Deep “

Posted: July 4, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Birthed in the weird waters of Philadelphia & revitalized in the even weirder smog of Los Angeles, Man Man is an acclaimed experimental rock band trafficking in multi-genre ear worms. Unique, beautiful, undefinable. Man Man, the project led by Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner), have shared a new song, “Dig Deep.” It was posted to Bandcamp on a day where revenue shares are being waived. Any downloads of the song today (July 3rd) will benefit the NAACP and Know Your Rights Campaign and you can pay what you’d like, starting at $1.00.

Man Man released their first album in almost seven years, Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, in May via Sub Pop, Man Man’s first album for the label.

Previously Man Man shared the album’s first single, “Cloud Nein,” via a Kattner-directed lyric video for the new song. “Cloud Nein”. Then they shared another song from it, “Future Peg,” via a strange Stephanie Ward-directed video for the song. Then they shared another song  “On the Mend,” that featured backing vocals from Dre Babinski (aka Steady Holiday) and Rebecca Black ,

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Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between was the follow-up to 2013’s On Oni Pond. Since then Kattner has released a solo album, a children’s music album, and an album as a member of Mister Heavenly. But it took him a long time to get back to Man Man. Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between was written over a three-and-a-half-year period while Kattner lived in a friend’s guest house in Los Angeles. Kattner pointed out in a previous press release that it was more of shack than a fancy guest house and had “an old upright piano, a thrift store lamp, and nothing else.”

“I had chord progression notes that looked like chicken scratch and lyrics on pieces of paper stuck all over the walls. It looked like I was about to break the big case, catch the killer,” Kattner said of the period. “One of the best things about this time, in these ‘lost in the wilderness/surreal exile from my own band’ years, was that I finally found players who believed in me, trusted my vision, respected my songwriting. It was rejuvenating.”

MAN MAN – ”  Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between “

Posted: April 21, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“On the Mend” is a new highlight from Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between – A heartbreak-post-breakup pop song with Swordfishtrombones-vibes, that includes backing vocals from Steady Holiday’s Dre Babinski and Rebecca Black. 

Honus Honus says of the track, “I wrote this a year or so after a painful break-up and although I was in a better place at the time, I wanted to touch on all of those raw emotions someone has to work through in order to get healthy and able to love themselves again. Musically, the tempo, the push, and pull of the band, the openness of it all just drives this home. So, yes, it’s a bit of a heavy song but I think it’s also one about hope, healing, letting go and moving on. The heart can be cruel but you can’t let it consume you.”

Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner) has devoted his career to exploring the uncertainty between life’s extremes: beauty and ugliness, order and chaos. The songs on “Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between”, Man Man’s first album in over six years and his Sub Pop Records debut, are as intimate, soulful, and timeless as they are audaciously inventive and daring.

The 17-track effort, featuring “Cloud Nein,” “Future Peg,” “On the Mend” “Sheela,” and “Animal Attraction,” was produced by Cyrus Ghahremani,  it also includes guest vocals from Steady Holiday’s Dre Babinski on “Future Peg” and “If Only,” and Rebecca Black (singer of the viral pop hit, “Friday”) on “On The Mend” and “Lonely Beuys.” The album follows the release of “Beached” and “Witch”, Man Man’s contributions to Vol. 4 of the Sub Pop Singles Club in 2019.

At the end of 2015, Man Man went on an unexpected and unforeseen hiatus, and thus began a period of creative reinvention for Honus. He worked in music supervision and on scores (The Exorcist, Superdeluxe, Do You Want to See a Dead Body?). He acted in the indie film Woe (“I played a park ranger, a nice guy in a sad movie.”), So It Goes, a short musical film with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and starred in the award-winning tour documentary Use Your Delusion. He also developed an animated series, wrote film scripts, a graphic novel, a neo-noir TV pilot, and briefly penned a music column for The Talkhouse all while continuing to work on new music, such as an unreleased kids’ record, another Mister Heavenly album, a self-released Honus Honus record, and a conceptual art/noise project Mega Naturals. He was sleeping just 2.5 hours per day.

In the midst of this Man Man sabbatical, Honus began piecing together what would become Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between. He recruited longtime-creative collaborator Ghahremani to help him produce. Written in a friend’s LA “guesthouse” (more shack than chic) that had “an old upright piano, a thrift store lamp, and nothing else,” it was an arduous, three-and-a-half-year process, “I had chord progression notes that looked like chicken scratch and lyrics on pieces of paper stuck all over the walls. It looked like I was about to break the big case, catch the killer,” he says, laughing. “One of the best things about this time, in these ‘lost in the wilderness/surreal exile from my own band’ years, was that I finally found players who believed in me, trusted my vision, respected my songwriting. It was rejuvenating.”