Clever little fookers, weren’t they, to use the @ sign instead of a proper “a” in their name…? They ended up as almost as much of a punchline to the mid-’90s Britpop movement as Northside did with the same movement in the early ’90s, but damned if Menswe@r’s one US-released album, Nuisance, hasn’t held up for all these years.
The Wire-influenced “Daydreamer” was the first single, but soaring tracks like “The One” and “Sleeping In,” or the rocker “125 West 3rd Street,” have equal repeat-play value, as does the ballad “Being Brave.” The B-sides are of equal value, if you’re of a mind to hunt them down. (Major points for covering PiL’s “Public Image.”) They put out a second and final album in 1998 entitled “Hay Tiempo,” but it was only released in Japan and, frankly, I’ve never even seen a copy of it; if you can find it, you’re a better man than I am…and should probably zip it and E-mail it to me post-haste. Interesting footnote: the band’s guitarist, Simon White, went on to manage Bloc Party.
