Some musicians have the most distinctive style and enterprise that it is easy to know who they are just from a burst of sound. When it comes to drummers for us here it is not so easy but one man has a touch and style to his rhythmic imagination that it is impossible not to recognise. That artist is Dave Barbarossa and he has just released a rather irresistible new EP as part of the Icon Series.
2013 saw the publishing of Dave’s excellent debut novel Mud Sharks and the new EP adds its apparent connection through its title. The Mudsharks EP provides three instrumentals uniting his trademark style with electronic intimation and endeavour; at times marrying the rhythmic sound which ignited so many musical journeys in the seventies with his just as potent exploits through more recent projects such as Cauldronated.
The EP opens with Buttercup Girl, a slice of tenacious dance music with summer fervour in its keys and melody and flirtatious incitement in its rhythms. Like a flight through spatial climes but with earth bound muscularity pulling at its exploration, the track has the body bouncing and imagination conjuring in no time.
It is a rousing start though one for us swiftly eclipsed by the following pair of tracks. First up is Keep Walking, a piece which strolls along with relentless tenacity through cosmopolitan air over a more defined urban landscape. Dave’s rhythms just shape the imagination; suspense and drama fuelled by his web of swings as a cinematic weave is cast by electronics and synths. Quickly addictive and more so by the listen, the song reveals itself a viral persuasion.
The closing arousal of the EP’s title track is the perfect union of nostalgia and new. MudSharks harkens back to the irresistible rhythmic exploits of Bow Wow Wow but incitement draped in thick electronic intimation and drama amidst the floating lures of vocal harmonies. As its predecessors, it masterfully lures thoughts into painting adventures whilst turning hips and feet into its puppet.
Dave Barbarossa has been integral in numerous major treats and now the Mudsharks EP can be added to the list.
The Mudsharks EP is out now on download and Ltd. Edition Cassette Tape via Icon Series.
https://www.facebook.com/dave.barbarossa https://www.facebook.com/iconseriesrecords/
Pete RingMaster 13/08/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Wolves Of Wonderland brings a blues flavouring with its steady hard rock canter next with not for the first time just a sniff of Queens Of The Stone Age to the melodic graining while Teenage Demon is a punk ‘n’ roll courting holler with a garage rock lining which swiftly had feet and neck muscles rocking. Again there is no missing a seventies/eighties seeded nature to the excellent track; a regular ingredient in the increasingly individual Smash Fashion sound.
As suggested earlier, there is an eclectic character to the album no better epitomised than by the following Something Beautiful. A cover of the Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews track it is a glorious slice of pop shaped rock which just radiates temptation from the magnetic vocals to the uncomplicated but flirtatious tease of guitar and the understated but potent moody hues of the bass. It is a superb rival to its predecessors for best album song and in turn matched by another cover in Wall’s version of Sam Cooke’s Change Is Gonna Come; itself a firmly captivating take on a great song with the strings of Jonas Petersen an added pleasure.
With no other hand but Hughes involved from writing and playing to recording and producing, the EP opens up with the truly irresistible Poorly Boy. The track rises up with drama and attractive tension in its tone, bringing its thick hues together to burst into an instantly rousing and infectious affair led by the potent voice of Hughes. Though under control, there is tempestuousness to the track which emerges in twists and an unpredictable enterprise that just gripped attention and a quickly forming appetite for the Hypnosister adventure. There is a touch of The Horrors to the song in certain moments too but merely one of the alluring hues in its individuality.
Because of that inherent dislike of certain songs, some tracks certainly got under the skin more than others but all left a smile on the face especially tracks like Smells Like Billie Jean, a glorious mash up of the Nirvana and Michael Jackson classics. There is a vein of unpredictability to the song even with their extremely well-known sources which teases, as good as grins at the listener as song and band romps.
Next up is Walls away, a far calmer affair with a melodic temperament which captivated from its initial lure. It has a raw undercurrent though which accentuates its elegance breeding, that aforementioned unpredictability lurking at every corner while Slaínte (Salud, dinero, amor) has a Celtic lining to its infectious festivities; an Irish Gaelic inspiration which again had the body bouncing across its primarily instrumental canter sharing “good health”.
The Hammer / The Coffin follows and instantly takes its own tight grip on attention as the feral temptation of Capovilla’s bass aligns to the swinging rabidity of Valente’s beats. Vocals and guitar toxicity are soon infesting song and listener, their carnivorous discord raw contagion as the noise rock seeded invasion swiftly has body and thoughts bouncing with equally bedlamic eagerness before the track releases its puppet into the waiting subversive rock ‘n’ roll jaws of Dial Tone. Harmonic toxins vein the boisterously bruising stomp, lighting up its heavy tenebrous flood of sound to easily get under the skin whilst exhausting the senses though it in turn is just a warm up for the even more debilitating roar of A Sorrowfull Night. With strand like hooks recalling The Fall within its tsunami of voluminous sound, the track is a post/noise punk trap to which capture and addiction was a done deal within its first few breaths.