Cassette Review: MALE/MEN "special delivery"

[$5 // Edition of 50 // https://malemen.bandcamp.com/releases]

My personal theory is that if you're going to make music under the name of "MALE/MEN" and have "special delivery" as the title of your cassette, I'm going to have to listen to it because I have always been fascinated by the United States Postal Service.   Sure, I dabbled in stamp collecting and when I was young (I'm talking single digits) my favorite book was about a mailman so I always said that was what I wanted to be when I grew up, but nonetheless I've always been excited to get the mail if only because it often brings me new music.    On a side note: my letter carrier (as they are called now in this politically correct society of ours) always says he is happy I get so many packages because it helps keep the post office in business.   You hear that?  Not sending me cassettes is un-American people!

So how do you describe this?   The songs are fast paced and sometimes short in length.   They're like the early work of The Mr. T Experience at their core and I really like that about them, except instead of being about girl troubles they're about, you know, the USPS.    They have the driving bass lines of an early MxPx as well, which is to say a lot of the early MxPx which you can find on their "Let It Happen" CD from back in 1998 which seems forever ago now.

(Side Note: I worked with a guy who was impressed with how many songs you could get on the MxPx CD "Let It Happen" and it was priced at something $7.98 when CDs were, on average, twelve or thirteen dollars.    He failed to realize just how short some of the songs were, but what can ya do about it now, huh?)

An interesting note that I'm trying to ignore about this cassette though is that it was recorded after their second practice back in 2012.   On one hand this makes me wonder what this band would sound like now (if they were still together) after many more practices since it definitely holds its own even if done so early on in their formation.   I'm also curious as to why it was recorded in 2012 yet is only seeing the light of day now two years later.   I can only take this as a positive sign though that perhaps the band still exists and is working on new music which I most definitely would look forward to hearing.