rock / psychedelic
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Wait, can anyone tell me what year it is exactly? Am I back in the late seventies, listening to my dad's old records on his old turntable? Am I witnessing the exact moment when blues turned into rock music? Of course not, I'm just being lured into another revival and quite frankly, I'm really enjoying it. Like I mentioned in an earlier review, it seems like current bands are finally writing and recording the songs that their predecessors forgot.
Especially in England, certain musical trends emerged around a number of venues, clubs and record stores before they slowly conquered the world. Manchester was one of those cities who proved to be elementary in the success of Brit pop. In 1999, the cities saw the birth of Politburo, a bunch of teenage dreamers. Gradually, the band build a solid reputation. They built their own studio, named '11STSQ', where they recorded this odd little gem.
The music on 'Barrington Way' could be described as classic rock, seemingly influenced by bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Iggy Pop and Jefferson Airplane. Sometimes, as in opener 'Umm, Rhombus?' it takes the form of punky party rock while on other occasions the psychedelic influences shine through, as it does in my favorite song 'A Crack In Staturn'.. Besides, there's also a touch of blues present in 'Deep, Down, Deep' and 'Zoos Of The World'..
Most of the songs are rather short pop songs which could have indeed been written in the sixties or seventies, but I guess that's usually the case with quality Brit pop. Yet, unlike a lot of Brit pop bands, Politburo do not sound like they write the same song over and over again. True, songs like 'Her Long Shadow' and 'Under The Ground' are quite elementary and inelaborate pop songs, but that simply makes them catchy and a good counterweight to the more psychedelic driven anthems like the title track and the previously mentioned 'A Crack In Saturn'.
So I mentioned a heap of brit pop related stuff but there's one more aspect I like to mention. There seems to be some influences from post-punk and new wave present, hidden behind the quite joyful sound of the whole. Here and there, I can't help but think about acts like Joy Division, which definitely makes this album more interesting than any Brit pop thing I've heard in the past ninety years or so. So yeah, I think I like this album...
Serge
Especially in England, certain musical trends emerged around a number of venues, clubs and record stores before they slowly conquered the world. Manchester was one of those cities who proved to be elementary in the success of Brit pop. In 1999, the cities saw the birth of Politburo, a bunch of teenage dreamers. Gradually, the band build a solid reputation. They built their own studio, named '11STSQ', where they recorded this odd little gem.
The music on 'Barrington Way' could be described as classic rock, seemingly influenced by bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Iggy Pop and Jefferson Airplane. Sometimes, as in opener 'Umm, Rhombus?' it takes the form of punky party rock while on other occasions the psychedelic influences shine through, as it does in my favorite song 'A Crack In Staturn'.. Besides, there's also a touch of blues present in 'Deep, Down, Deep' and 'Zoos Of The World'..
Most of the songs are rather short pop songs which could have indeed been written in the sixties or seventies, but I guess that's usually the case with quality Brit pop. Yet, unlike a lot of Brit pop bands, Politburo do not sound like they write the same song over and over again. True, songs like 'Her Long Shadow' and 'Under The Ground' are quite elementary and inelaborate pop songs, but that simply makes them catchy and a good counterweight to the more psychedelic driven anthems like the title track and the previously mentioned 'A Crack In Saturn'.
So I mentioned a heap of brit pop related stuff but there's one more aspect I like to mention. There seems to be some influences from post-punk and new wave present, hidden behind the quite joyful sound of the whole. Here and there, I can't help but think about acts like Joy Division, which definitely makes this album more interesting than any Brit pop thing I've heard in the past ninety years or so. So yeah, I think I like this album...
Serge
