As 2025 mercifully draws to a close, there was a little bit of unfinished business I wanted to tend to before I called it a year. Of course there were many releases this year that I slept on, was unaware of, or just didn't feel I needed to review. If I tried to catch up on all the stuff I didn't review, I'd be halfway into next year before I even made a dent. But there were a couple of reviews that I found myself absolutely needing to write before the year was out. Men and Dust, the latest album from Missouri-based punk trio The Itch, was the first to come to mind.
I have a long history with The Itch, having reviewed the band's albums The Courage to be Hated (2006) and Tales of Hard Luck and Woe (2013) back in the day. You might not think of The Itch as being the kind of band I would typically write about, and perhaps that's the whole point. I may be a genre geek for the most part. But if I hear music with heart, guts, and undeniable power, I'm going to be moved by it even if I have no idea where it's supposed to fit in the realm of musical categories. There has always been something about this band that has made me stand up and pay attention, something that has made me say, "Wow, that's different!" Broadly we can call The Itch a punk rock band, but I can't think of another band they sound like. These guys play with a style that's raw, gritty, and forceful. You can hear their roots in hardcore, but there's so much else going on: a hint of surf rock, an ear-battering '80s/'90s indie punk sensibility, and a discernible whiff of Bible Belt rural Americana.
Men and Dust is an ambitious but fully realized project. Inspired by Sheldon and Lee Dick's 1940 documentary short, this is an album about the band's hometown of Joplin, Missouri. Through the music and a 30-page book that accompanies the record, the band examines the town's tragic history and its continuing influence on its culture. Combining history, storytelling, and social commentary, the album has a lot to say about Joplin. It does so with unflinching honesty but also tremendous compassion for the people who have called this town home.
I put off listening to Men and Dust for a while because I knew that a) I'd need to be in the right headspace to appreciate it and b) I wouldn’t be able to do it justice if I didn't give it 100% of my attention. This was not an album that I could just play in the background while I was working or folding laundry. I wasn't going to be dancing in my underwear to these songs. I knew I'd need to treat this album like a movie or novel and sit down and immerse myself in it. But that seems to be the whole point of this project. The band wanted to put something into the universe that would exist as physical media — something that was meant to be experienced and felt as opposed to just consumed and forgotten. Sure enough, Men and Dust is an intense listen (and read), but it's a formidable work of art. And I can assure you that you won't hear anything else quite like it.
Musically, Men and Dust is not radically different from its predecessors. Having typically written songs about rather dark subjects, The Itch was a band well-suited to a narrative of exploitation, misfortune, and human suffering. "Why Do Farmers Kill Themselves?" is a powerhouse opener very much in the band's wheelhouse. Likewise, "Black Rollers," "Michelle Remembers," and "All Better" find the band dealing in emotionally intense, uniquely Midwestern blood & guts rock 'n' roll. Other songs find the band venturing into raging hardcore ("Straight Shot Through Missouri"), noisy punk ("Arsonist in Northtown"), instrumental surf-punk ("Landlocked" and "Weight of Genius"), and even some full-on grunge rock ("Heathen House"). "Dynamics of Rural Living" is the only track that goes much longer than three minutes, and it just might be the high point of the record. It has the feel of a country folk ballad, pacing itself deliberately yet also plunging into the depths of resigned desperation. By the time you get through "Little I Is Me," you'll feel like this album, for better or worse, has transported you to Joplin, Missouri and into the lives of inhabitants past and present.
I find it quite amazing that, since the time I first wrote about The Itch, over 2 billion people have been born and reached adulthood. I was 35 when I wrote that first review; I’ll be 55 in a few months. This band and I have grown two decades older, but here we both are still doing our thing. The Itch set out to do something special with Men and Dust and make a record that would not just be another disposable entry in an ever-expanding sea of content. What they've created is, in my estimation, worth a listen. I consider the time I've spent with this record to have been well-invested. I feel like I've learned a lot about both Joplin and the men who made this album. And even if we laid the concept aside, we'd still have an exceptional and truly original punk/rock 'n' roll album on our hands.
I know it's a huge ask to say, "I think you should go and spend $40 on a record." That's a lot of money in tough times. But if you are the type of person who values physical records and the experience of listening to them, Men and Dust is absolutely an album worth owning.
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