by Joe Fielder
Manhattan Murder Mystery have been recruiting to their musical cause – an underground revolution both for and by unlikely heroes – at spots like Mr T’s Bowl, Pehrspace, and Echo Curio around Los Angeles for a few years now. A secret message worth sharing…
Lead Matthew Teardrop performs with the sort of flawless punk rock charm, he could sing from the encyclopedia and you’d buy it. In the band’s five-song EP, he projects the sort of mix of poetic and absurd you see rarely pulled off so well outside of acts like LA favorite sons The Movies, backed by music as urgent as early, blue collar punks The Misfits, but with greater range (Doyle never played the banjo…).
Try to listen to the track “Jonathan” without having its minimalist chorus (“Jonathan / Where have you been? / I’ve been waiting for ever and ever.”) stuck in your head for weeks and you’ll epic fail all over yourself. And the same goes with “In The Parking Lot,” a song so good other local acts are already covering it.
Manhattan Murder Mystery’s EP release party is this Saturday night at Pehrspace. Seasons, The Health Club, and Odd Modern join the celebration, and so should you.
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