how to evaluate Barbez with some frame of reference

[manny at garfieldartworks.com]

Although they have some Kurt Weill-type influences, Barbez at this point
is not nearly as 'cabaret'
as comparisons to the Dresden Dolls would have you believe. Which is good,
because frankly,
although they're certainly good musicians, the Dolls' overdramatisms are
tiresome.

(Most of whatever respect i have for the Dolls simply comes from the fact
that the only time I saw them, they were *opening* for Edward Ka-Spel at
Club Cafe...).

Barbez is essentially a very darkly tinged postrock/chamber rock band.
They have Eastern European influences, and a great theremin player to be
sure. But Dan Kaufman's guitar work
is not that different from the playing of say, Efrim Menuck of Godspeed
and David Pajo of Slint, etc. Plus, there's the whole 'Radical Jewish
Culture' angle of being on Tzadik Records and hanging
with Zorn and doing that tribute to Paul Celan.

So, if you like Barbez, you have to appreciate the amalgam of Eastern
European, Jewish, cabaret,
and postrock that the band is. In other words, drop preconceived desires
for simplistic gothiness, and approach the music from a nuanced,
multi-faceted perspective.

In addition to being on the unbelievable roster of Tzadik, Barbez's first
two releases are on
Important Records, a label that never fails to advertise in magazines like
The Wire or Signal to Noise.

 Important Records has some other music you might enjoy:
Coil - the Ape of Naples LP
Andrew Liles - Nurse with Wound associate
Larsen - recorded with Annie Anxiety, toured with Jarboe, also on Young God.
Eleh - a really good Coil imitator.
Julia Kent - of Rasputina, and Antony & the Johnsons.
Merzbow - ultimate industrial noise champion.
Angels of Light - LP version of Michael Gira's CD.
the list just goes on and on and on. just go over and check their website.
they are easily one
of the finest American labels.

In other words, grok the complex, sophisticated side of 'darkness' and the
appreciation of Barbez will be fairly straightforward.

> On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 2:20 PM,  <manny at garfieldartworks.com> wrote:
>
>> 2) producing the recent "Force of Light" album by Barbez on Tzadik
>> Records
>> (if you caught Barbez's great show at the Warhol this past Friday...).
>
> Anybody have any idea how this compares to their self titled debut
> album?  (I picked it up when the label compared them to The Dresden
> Dolls, and didn't hear the similarity at all.)
>
> Also, seriously, does the Warhol have a friggin' mailing list?  I've
> missed so many shows there because I didn't know about them.  We're
> damn Carnegie museum members and still don't hear about these things
> (unless they're getting lost in the mail).
>