Man Man - Tastes Like Metal

JUL 01 2024 · 12:00

Man Man - Tastes Like Metal (2024) Director: Joe Cappa Era: Post-Pandemic Indie Renaissance (2022–2024) - DIY-inflected art-rock era marked by Sub Pop's continued investment in idiosyncratic auteur voices and low-fi animated video aesthetics High curatorial value as a formally distinctive artifact of 2024 indie visual culture. The video's extreme economy, four scene changes in 211 seconds, and its foregrounding of the artistic process itself (mark-making, liquid application, surface reaction) function as a conceptual statement about creation, chance, and impermanence. Cappa's Sundance pedigree and Adult Swim connections lend the work cross-disciplinary archival relevance beyond the music video canon alone. Context: Released in April 2024 as the second single from Man Man's Carrot On Strings (Sub Pop), 'Tastes Like Metal' arrives during a moment of renewed creative confidence for the band following their pandemic-era album. The video's DIY animated aesthetic aligns with a broader 2020s trend of indie musicians commissioning illustrator-directors, particularly those with Adult Swim or internet-art lineages, to produce low-budget, high-concept visuals that prioritize artistic personality over production polish. Cappa's work sits at the intersection of outsider animation, YouTube absurdism, and art-house short filmmaking, a sensibility that complements Man Man's long-standing reputation for eccentric, multi-genre songwriting rooted in the Philadelphia experimental underground. Director notes: Cappa served as both illustrator and director on the 'Tastes Like Metal' video, released April 17, 2024, as a single from Man Man's album Carrot On Strings (Sub Pop, June 7, 2024). The video features pencil drawings being subjected to various liquid substances, including beer and Red Bull, poured directly onto the artwork, producing organic ink-bleed and color-wash effects captured in long, slow takes. The concept blends Cappa's signature hand-drawn illustration style with a deadpan observational premise. Multiple sources confirm his dual role as illustrator and director. A disclaimer from Sub Pop and Man Man noted the video does not advocate or endorse any drug use depicted.