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Bark
Psychosis: Codename: Dustsucker
About ten years ago, I bought one of the best CDs I have in my collection. I was listening to lots of early 70s Pink Floyd, and I eventually read in some Tower Records Magazine that Ambient musicians like the Orb and Brian Eno might be the next logical step. So I picked up the C&S records compilation Ambient Extractions, and my taste in music has never been quite the same since. The songs on this release will always have a warm spot in my heart, and one track happened to be Big Shot off of Bark Psychosis 1994 release Hex. Well, Codename: Dustsucker is the first Bark Psychosis release in over ten years, and Im happy to say that its just as mysterious and intriguing as their early work. Opening track From What Is Said to When Its Read starts the album off strongly with some gentle guitar and ominous drumming in some ways reminiscent of Mogwai. Its odd that newer Mogwai songs sound like rock even though their records are ruthlessly produced with the use of digital equipment. As a sort of negative image, Bark Psychosis seems to use lots of organic instruments here, yet they maintain their dreamscape quality of ambient futurism. Its not really trance-inducing or hypnotic synthesized ambient music, but it sort of borders on a very somber or melancholic form of Jazz or Post-rock. The songs drift in and out of focus, sort of like watching a pretty mountain range from a train. You focus on some ridge out ahead of you, and it gets clearer and more distinct as you approach; then as it slowly fades from view, youve hardly noticed the new landscape thats beginning to form in front of your eyes, so you shift your focus and watch the new scene as it come to life. Now imagine these scenes from a train in the context of 50 minutes prior to a thunderstorm, when all is eerily dark with thunder lighting up the sky periodically to catch your attention. Thats basically what Codename: Dustsucker sounds like, at least to me and my metaphorically mixed-up-mind. Occasional sounds disturb the peacefulness here like answering machine snippets, machine-like noises, and a few short bursts of heavy electric guitar, but these never last long enough to detract from the atmosphere. Theyre more like a quick nudge to make sure that you havent drifted off a bit too far from consciousness. Many songs hear have different vocalists singing, but the voices are left a bit underneath the music like a typical Slowdive song or something similar, so I still have no problems classifying Bark Psychosis at least partially with an Ambient nametag. The guitar sounds at the start of INQB8TR sound so un-rock n roll that its amazing, and it certainly takes some creative talent to warp such a familiar instrument into such a drastically different context. Yet speaking of rock, Bark Psychosis do deliver Shapeshifting near the end of the album, and it really is a work of beauty despite a slightly more traditional arrangement. This song shrugs off the Ambient haze to grab your attention with some vocals conjuring up The Cranes and a guitar break that can only be described as David Gilmour trying to play the closing solo of Comfortably Numb in under one minute while his guitar is wired up through the same distortion rig Trent Reznor used on March of The Pigs. As a unique offering on this release, Shapeshifting has me hoping that Bark Psychosis will follow up Codename: Dustsucker with some more material quickly, but if it takes them another ten years, Ill still be waiting.
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