At the moment some interesting bands come from the US. Next to Dresden Doll and The Vanity Set there is Barbez. Barbez plays cabaresque music with influences from Eastern European folkmusic, Brecht/Weill elemements and some references to the weird music of The Residents (there is also a cover version of ‘The Ultimate Disaster’ on this record).
At times the music is playful (‘The Defiant Bicycle’) but the band likes to play around with moods, as in the darker ‘Wisconsin’ and ‘West Rogers Park’. The best tracks are the Russian traditional ‘Beauty’ and the Brecht/Weill songs ‘Pirate-Jenny’.
Barbez is part of what you might call American Moodiness. This band proves there is a lot more to discover then (the wonderful) 16 Horsepower and (great) Sonic Youth in America.
