19 November 2004

The Barbs - 'Massive Crush'



"She killed her parents. I left mine a note."

Looking at the website of their record label, Mother Tongue records of Tuvalu – http://www.mothertongue.tv/ – this has been out before. Seems it was first released in August 2003. Well, I missed it then (it must have been one of those spells last year when work forced me to labour hellishly hard in hot, exciting places). I’d remember this, because it's is the sort of tune I’ll always fall for: loud, quick and built around an irresistible shout-a-long chorus. A boy and girl swap lines about the usual teen rebellion fantasy of getting into a car, leaving all behind and setting off who knows there, and a dirty guitar does the rest. I bracket this with other dark gems like the Hells' He's The Devil But I Love Him So and Ciccone's Leggit, It's The Rozzers, which is intended as high praise. Only young people can make this music. I don't even know if, as a fat mid 30s bloke, I'm allowed to like it, but I know that while there's breath in my body, records like this are going to get me every time.

You can download more from their website at www.thebarbs.co.uk, but I confess I've not listened to the other stuff yet. I kind of don't want to spoil this one right now. The only things to object to are the horrific cover art and the fact that this is apparently only available as a CD. It would be a perfect 7" single. But in whatever format, you can't live without this. I fully intend to love it for a fortnight and then grow tired of it, leave it on the shelves for a few years and then dig it up at some point in the future and love it all over again.

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