Review: Barlow - "Every Time I Saw Him"

Barlow - Every Time I Saw Him

(Self-Released 2016)

Barlow tapes are not unlike those packs of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla sugar wafers you can snap up for a buck or two at Kroger. They're neatly wrapped assortments of flaky little fuzz-pop jingles churned out at an automaton rate and primed for convenient consumption. Each track on Every Time I Saw Him is a brief, concentrated dose of sugary endorphins ingested in the form of hydrogenated sludge-rock drones and balmy Beach Boys vocal harmonies. Most potently sweet are "Down The Stairs", leaving jangle-pop residue floating in liquid reverb like chocolate in cereal's milk, and "Tempeh", a sunburned chunk of early Dinosaur Jr fuzz punk that opens with a deceptively breezy New Wave chord progression. Though much of the album traverses territory familiar to any devout Barlow fan, closing cut "Hymn" acts as a fresh closer that could hint at future ventures into antsy Krautrock composition. Every Time I Saw Him might not provide the same thrill of discovery that previous Barlow ventures have served up, but its familiar pie crust textures and skillful pop constructions are as trusty as ever - comforting like a favorite dessert paired with coffee.

Review: Barlow/Naked Ant - Split

Barlow + Naked Ant

(2015 Self-Released)

As close to a physical manifestation of the DIY Ethos as I've ever come across, this cassette collaboration between two of my favorite garage rock outfits is a match made in post-internet heaven. Back in late 2014, Ethan Oliva - frontman of veteran shoegaze trio Barlow - dropped the titles of a few of his own songs into the Bandcamp search bar to check up on their streaming stats. Among the results lurked an impassioned cover of Barlow's "In The Air" recorded by New Jerseyan high-schooler Ben Spizuco. Though faithful to the tune from which it sprang forth, Spizuco's rendition of "In The Air" retains the signature charm that accents the entirety of his own discography - it's as raw as rock gets, unapologetically leaving splatters of sonorous mic feedback audible among a tight weave of trebly chords and a few (sometimes clumsy) lead guitar riffs. It was a perfectly punk tune made up of imperfect takes, the product of a single musician whose efforts could stand up proudly next to his those of his influencers. Impressed by the cover and flattered to witness the influence of his music firsthand, Oliva gave Spizuco a shout-out on the Barlow Facebook page.

Flash forward to November 2015: Spizuco has formed a fuzz-pop trio of his own, Naked Ant, and has joined forces with his heroes on a self-titled split tape. On the A-side of the magnetic rectangle, Barlow invites listeners to help clear out their attic, dusting off old unfinished demos. Vocals are added to instrumentals like the Hüsker Dü-esque "Ride" and "I'll See You", a brief power-pop ditty carried by hyper-melodic lead guitar that would make J Mascis proud. Alongside a handful of brand new recordings that resemble Isn't Anything-era MBV, there are a smattering of skeletal song-sketches that comprise my favorite section of Barlow's end of the split. "Down There" bobs buoyantly on the crest of a tinny guitar loop while "For All Time" coats arpeggios with warm layers of ambience that resemble the cry of a Kricketune. 

Naked Ant's side of the tape is chock-full of experimentation and infused with the fun of jamming in the garage with one's friends. "School of Thought Graduate" makes use of mistakes in mixing and mastering to maximize shifts in dynamics and texture, making for a tune that ferries listeners down into the murky depths of an ocean of reverb only to send them rocketing toward the surface on the strength of powerful cymbal crashes and muscly chords. The band ventures into a combination of blues and 70s soft rock on "Sailing On The Delaware" and even delves into some slinky free improvisation on closing cut "Lisa". My favorite Naked Ant cut from the tape, though, is perhaps its most unassuming, coyly concealing the alien timbres hidden beneath its surface. "The Wait For September" starts out as a traditional acoustic strummer that hearkens back to the early efforts of Sentridoh, but slowly morphs into a haunting piece of avant-garde wizardry: distant growls of feedback pass through the mix like transient phantoms. Beautifully spooky.

Check out Barlow's side of the tape here and Naked Ant's side here 

Top 10 Albums of 2014 Pt. 2

7. Reighnbeau - Hands
(May 2014 Bridgetown)

Migrating from capacious slowcore to a pummeling brand of fuzzed-out shoegaze, New Mexico's Reighnbeau turned his signature sound inside-out on his most recent full-length effort, Hands. The sound of the album is simultaneously atmospheric and crowded, rushes of airy guitar coursing through primal rhythms like white water rapids. All that attempts to raft atop the swift flow of trebly noise, (breathy vocals and the occasional synth tone), is pulled under. Reighnbeau's approach to songwriting is a study in minimal maximalism: cramming as many textures and as much beauty into what is nearly a unified drone.

RIYL: Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Airiel

6. Death Grips - Niggas On The Moon

(June 2014 Harvest)

A sensory feast for the ears, Death Grips' Niggas on the Moon is the hip-hop trio's most puzzling effort, much less linear than previous outings like the punk rock influenced mixtape Exmilitary or the sinewy industrial assault of No Love Deep Web. Niggas on the Moon finds the trio eschewing the distorted, fat synths that so defined their work for a more brittle sound built up from sliced-up Bjork vocal samples and warbly percussion. Stefan Burnett's lyrics, though delivered with the same ferocity as always, veer from the unhinged violence they conveyed in previous efforts, instead bordering on dadaist absurdity. From the jarring beat drop at the beginning of "Up My Sleeves" to the samply freakout that concludes "Big Dipper", Niggas on the Moon has become my favorite Death Grips album since its release date.

RIYL: Clipping, Wolf Eyes, Swans

5. Barlow - Four Castles

(July 2014 Self-Released)

Four Castles is a brief, but powerful dose of old-school lo-fi pop, borrowing influence from Sebadoh's noisy brand of proto-emo as well as the catchy fuzz-pop peddled by Robert Pollard's Guided By Voices. It's not merely an act of revivalism, though; the Pennsylvanian trio uses the sound of its influencers as a benchmark for building upon, injecting a healthy measure of shoegaziness into their gritty sound and incorporating elements of Captured Tracks surf pop into the mix. Highlights of the album include the sludgy, yet ethereal, opener "Missionary" and the muscly punk assault of "Visor".

RILY: Guided By Voices, Early My Bloody Valentine, Beach Fossils

Order Issue 3 of the Zine!

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