Man... or Astro-man?

Man... or Astroman? is the band of the future. They hail from space, but became stuck on earth in 1992 when they crash landed their saucer near Auburn. They tour the globe, looking for parts to rebuild the saucer, and paying their way by playing the most kick-ass sorta punky sorta surfy music in the Galaxy.

They bring out a 75,000 volt Tesla Coil on stage after shows. That is reason enough to love them like a son.

Band with a very "Unique" background, and also one of my favorites. Mixture of Surf and what I feel borders on Thrash to some extent. They have recorded over 14 albums, so i won't even go into them. The real treat about the band is their eccentric design and creative feel. They are kind of a Sci-Fi surf band (They recorded the theme for Mystery Science Theater 3000). What they are best known for I suppose are their fabulous live shows, which are wild and unpredictable. The most recent featured an enourmous mainframe tape drive which was programmed to buzz in rhythm with the music.

I figured we might as well have a node with the correct band name here (at least according to their website...), see also Man or Astroman? and Man... or Astroman?

Man or Astro-man is a pretty cool surf/punk/electronica band composed of aliens who live among us disguised as college students. They are mainly an instrumental band, and a lot of times their music reminds me of a more punk influenced Dick Dale. Sometimes I think if you've heard one Man or Astro-man song, you've heard them all... But the live shows are a lot of fun, with the band wearing bright red jumpsuits and playing on a decked out bad sci-fi movie decorated stage, complete with a supercomputer named EEVIAC which controls their movements.

The band consists of (according to their website):

• Birdstuff
• CoCo the Electronic Monkey Wizard
• Blazar the Probe Handler
• Trace Reading
• The Brannock Device
• Mr. Q-Beam

Who knows... A while back, the band cloned themselves and sent three groups on tour at the same time. It was pretty up in the air as to what band you would actually go see for a given show, but from what I heard they all pretty much sounded the same... Then the band came back controlled by a computer with two new members, the above mentioned Trace Reading and Blazar the Probe Handler. In reality, they have been with the band all along, but they were out of phase with reality. But this doesn't matter as they are simply slaves of the computer anyway.

What can I say, it's a pretty wacky band. But the music is decent, and the shows are a lot of fun, so although I might not suggest running out and buying a cd, definately try to hit one of their shows. And if you do, wear some hospital scrubs :)

So it's true - their heinous plot to replace all decent music with astro surf waves comes one step closer! As earthling ears become accustomed to the other worldly sounds of Man Or Astroman? the high pitched intergalactic squeakings of Starcrunch are lowered almost subliminally into the human aural range. Before we know it there'll be no more surf instrumentals but songs, songs, songs and more trashy songs. Steve Albini meddled in this affair from outer space and there are Rapeman samples lurking around so what further proof is needed of some catastrophic conspiracy? Of course the plot may not yet have reached fruition. There's evidence on Lo Batt of how the wiles of earth women have mystified and befuddled Man Or Astroman?

"I think she can manipulate time," sings a desperately confused Starcrunch in a most illogical situation.

It's been a long time out there in outer space but even that can't explain the husky whispering on Junk Satellite. So will MOA? be defeated in a sex war or are these beings really made from impervious technetium from which mini astro-orchestras can be cloned? That's what they'd like us gullible earthlings to think.

Could it just be a cheap tin foil hoax? There's clear evidence on Breathing Iron Oxide that the science and technology of MOA? may not be as invincible as it seems. "Hey, a malfunction," wails Starcrunch as another astro device fails. Then Muzak For Cybernetics borrows from the earth band Rapeman (or was Albini really from Uranus?) and the final defeat of the fiendish MOA? sound weapon is related in secret code on the hilarious Sound Waves Reversing.

"Why has the music stopped?" demands a confused denizen of the outer space community (perhaps Birdstuff).

"I don't understand. Look at the metre - the sound waves are reversing," replies his subordinate (Coco?).

"No!" screams the frustrated invader as the astral surf rays run backwards and are jettisoned into outer space where of course MOA? are plotting, researching the Theoretical Sounds Of Slow Motion to combat this planet's gravity with the power of simulated slow motion movements. The planet may be safe for a while but they'll be back so keep listening to the skies for those surfing saucers.

http://www.webinfo.co.uk/crackedmachine/astroman.htm