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Barkmarket | Gimmick

Noise, rock, and abstract structures go hand in hand on this classic album.
CD, American

Tekst: Bas Ickenroth

Publicatiedatum: 21 december 2000

Back in 1993, when grunge was just over its climax, some real gems were released. Although Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were regarded as somewhat experimental, I personally was longing for something more adventurous, more on the edge in the guitarorientated music. Primus didn't recover completely from the 'Pork Soda' debacle. And that was the closest thing to experimental music I listened to back then. Time for something new, I thought, and just at that time Barkmarket came along. 'Gimmick' was the name of the album and I went to my local recordstore to give it a try. I collected some information beforehand. I noticed for example that Barkmarket singer/guitarist David Sardy not only played in that band but also produced and engineered some serious acts like Slayer or RHCP. He had given those bands a hard and dry sound, so I knew the Barkmarket production would be alright. At that time I was only used to the 'normal' songstructures (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus-end), so when I started listening to 'Gimmick' I kinda freaked out by the seemingly non-existing songstructures. And it was damn loud at the same time! The cacaphony of sounds was quite overwhelming the first time, and the second time, and the third time as well. After the fourth time I began to recognise some hooks and accents in the songs and I realised these were no ordinary songs... It was something I didn't know existed (boy, was I ignorant...). No choruses, no catchy sing-along tunes, no rules about rhythm and time. Heavy guitar-riffs weren't repeated time and time again but were replaced after half a minute never to appear again, feedback going all over the place, hard drumsounds that seemed totally out of place at first, freaky yet subtle basslines kept it somewhat together. And the screaming, manic, yet melodic voice of David Sardy orating the most ingenious lyrics about pain, frustration, emotion, vulnarability, selfdoubt and politics without any repeating choruses. The knock-out was complete. In some magazines it was described as noise, bigcity blues, hardcore. They were also compared to Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop and Jon Spencer but those tags didn't cover the whole package. You couldn't just listen to Barkmarket, every time it was a test of endurance, of stamina. Under the thick layers of noise really beautiful melodies were hidden, and it sometimes appeared as if Sardy was on the verge of a mental breakdown. The guitars were loud, penetrating and there was feedback. But they weren't really distorted in the rock or metal kind of way. Totally different from other loud acts. For me rock would never be the same again. Once you begin to like Barkmarket, other rockacts are just so boring and middle-of-the-road. Barkmarket never topped the rage, emotion and nervousness they expressed on 'Gimmick'. In 1994 they released the EP 'Lardroom' and in 1996 the full album 'L.Ron'. Both releases show a bit more compact and slighly more accessible Barkmarket than on 'Gimmick', but don't make the mistake to think it is mainstream rock, or that they are weak records. It's just that 'Gimmick' is a real classic in my opinion, probably because it was my first real encounter with the leftfield. After 1996 David Sardy concentrated more on producing and engineering (see Soulwax), and started his own recordlabel. Unfortunately we've seen no more Barkmarket records. Too bad. I may hope though.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/barkmarket/gimmick/159/
Meer Barkmarket op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/barkmarket