If “unpopular music” from Brisbane, Australia sounds as promising to you as it does to us, you’ll definitely want to check out the label Lost Race, and their new release, the Shades EP, from the Aussie trio Barbiturates.The band describes their music as “moongaze, alienwave, and freehop”, saying that it’s “made from the bottom of the ocean”. That’s an apt descriptor, as, somehow, there is a sense of the ocean here, possibly due to the band’s geographic proximity to it, or maybe their liberal doses of reverb, surf stoned riffs, etc., and yet it’s hard to quite classify what Bariturates are up to, as they are apt to walk down any back alley or dead end street that catches their fancy. I suppose the track “Look What The Internet Did To Us” is the most straightforward and pop-like, and yet listening to the slurred and echoey vocals, downturned spooky melody, and canned rhythms, you might have the impression the band is having some fun at your expense! “Doug Franks” and “Double Happiness” probably wont have you cleared up on that score, either. However, on the other side of the band’s spectrum, yet definitely sonically connected, are tracks like “Toowong“, “Gone Done It“, and the lovely and weird “Rinona Wyder“, where the band surfs ambient, guitar-driven passages into golden, sun setting bliss! Physical copies will be limited to 50, pressed by Peter King on clear lathe, so if you like what you hear, you’ll have to jump on this one quickly!
