I don't like I'm From Barcelona

They seemed like a pure gimmick. Now granted I never really got into their album all that much, but it seemed to me as if they were forcing themselves on so many different levels. As if they spent more time trying to act like a band I was supposed to care about rather than one I was actually into. From the ironic, misleading name to the 25,000 people on stage trying to be cute, it all just went over my head. I wouldn't have bothered to even bring it up if I didn't run into a bunch of friends at the pool Sunday who were really in to the whole thing. I was dumbfounded.

So this is the band's deal...There are anywhere between 20 and 28 people on stage at once. The exact number is irrelevant because there's only 4 or 5 of them seem to be actually doing anything on stage at once. The rest just kind of prance around in costumes, sing along and smile a bunch. This isn't a band so much as it's an untelevised children's show. Something better suited for Saturday morning on PBS than Sunday afternoon at the pool. So you watch them, and you hear people talk about them and the first thing everyone talks about is that there are 20-someodd people on stage and how cool that is etc etc! But it's just a gimmick! Any band can have 20 people on stage if 15 of them don't do anything! This isn't the Polyphonic Spree or Broken Social Scene, where you've got this massive cacophony of sound pouring out from every integral member on stage. This is just a band with a bunch of friends along for the ride. Added as pure spectacle, and nothing else. I suppose I understand the need for bands to make themselves stand out, but having a guy with his pants pulled up and a propeller cap jumping across the stage comes across and tacky and forced. The music should speak for itself. If it doesn't, this type of performance art shouldn't make up for it. Give me something substantive, please. It felt cheap. I don't like being pandered to.

I suppose I could overlook this little show they put on if I was really into the music, but I'm not. Aside from the opening track, 'Oversleeping', which is pretty good, the rest of their music is just kinda plain. Twee pop, by definition, is light and substanceless, but this doesn't have enough of anything that sets it apart from itself. All their music sounds mostly the same and the lyrics are empty and vague. If that's the point, then I wish they'd just stick with that and have the band go along with the music. If this was a normal, 5 piece band, the music would be fine and they'd just be another band I could listen to and forget about. But this live show really irked me. And everyone raving about to awesome they were got me more frustrated. You don't need 28 people to say nothing.

Comments

[Jens Carstensen]

Solidarity, brother.

[Chris]

I COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY AGREE.

[Max Power]

Spot on. You would have gotten an irriated dissenting opinion from me, had I known a poll was being taken. This was my first exposure and after hearing them soundcheck the same precious shiny happy song over and over again my lady friend and I were convinced they were an ill-conceived Sesame Street cover band. Good thing Blonde Readhead changed the station or I might have had a harder time forgetting all about them.

[doris]

substanceless? get a clue. this band writes amazing songs. and the folks onstage do a hell of a lot besides 'prance around'. it's too bad you're so effing close minded.