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Post-marmalade cabaret, spooky jazz, film music without a movie, a punk chamber ensemble, and Erik Satie descends from above to lie in the grass and sip seltzer are five ways to describe the Brooklyn-based band Barbez. Sometimes they sound like Tom Waits, sometimes like the Residents (of which they cover 'The Ultimate Disaster') but a lot of times they remind me of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU). Barbez and DAAU have got the same classical-jazzy-poppy melange, and where DAAU once and a while make me think of an old French man with a hand-organ and a black cat, Barbez make me think of Edith Piaf and French musette. Tracks like 'Once This Was Called Marseilles' and 'Parisian Murder Waltz' reinforce this idea. The difference to their Belgian counterpart is that DAAU has more variations in both sound and speed. In my opinion Barbez' songs with most variations, like 'You Look So Wonderful There', 'The Ultimate Disaster', and the instrumental 'Love' are the best, and playing these songs at home seems to bring my mind to small, dark, and not too crowded pubs where not musicians play not too clearly all night and the bartender moans lowly. The instruments which are used on Barbez' self-titled debut make this picture even more reasonable. Besides the standard guitar, bass, and drums, they make use of an accordion, a violin, and - my favourite - a marimba. And to add to this, I should not forget the voice of lead singer Matteo de Cosmo, which is dark and deep (but not in the Gothic sense). The song 'Time' raises his qualities best. I saw Barbez twice: one time at CB's Gallery in New York and one time at a small open air festival. The first was the best, and the atmosphere lifted Barbez above their own record. The open air concert in the daytime took away all of the magic of their tense songs. Like any good record, Barbez needs to be played a lot of times before it reveals its deeper quality. If I had written this review a couple of weeks ago, it would have been completely different and not so positive. The only exception to this rule seems to be 'Parisian Murder Waltz' because the yawning French voice of Michele Amar becomes irritating after a couple of times. But this is really the only song you should skip when you play Barbez at a small home party with (French) red wine and exotic food or when you save this CD for the after hours. Don't forget to turn down the lights.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/barbez/barbez/207/
Meer Barbez op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/barbez
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