Barbez
Issue #25
Insignificance (Important!)
By Elizabeth Rhodes
Published: September 1st, 2005 | 4:26pm
Insignificance is creepy. Not in the overt death-metal way or the troubling Phil Spector way — and certainly not in the nauseating Hilary Duff way. The third album from the Brooklyn avant-garde rock band, Barbez is creepy for the same reason Munch's expressionist painting
The ominous sound of Russian-born Ksenia Vidyaykina singing, moaning, and wailing in her native language opens the record. Her only accompaniment on the traditional folksong, "As For the Little Grey Rabbit," is Shahzad Ismaily slowly and forcefully whacking his drums. But although the album's beginning is minimalist and fairly traditional, all that changes when Danny Tunick enters on the marimba, followed by Pamelia Kurstin on the theremin, followed by the Dan Coates on the palm pilot. Yes, the palm pilot.
Barbez combines cabaret, East European folk music, Argentine tango, and avant-garde classical to create music that sounds innovative but never contrived. Guitarist Dan Kaufman holds the multilingual and multinational rock sextet together and writes most of the songs. Kaufman's compositions, however, are not so much good as they are interesting; the covers are the strongest songs on the album. "Song of the Moldau," written by Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler towards the end of World War II, and "Gnossienne #3," by Eric Satie, are particularly powerful.
Fans of world music-infused rock and Rasputina-esque eccentricity should check out Barbez. Insignificance is uncomfortable, disturbing, and very enjoyable.
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Barbez's official Web site
Barbez's Myspace page
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