Anton Barbeau Plays the Sad Clown in “Stranger” (premiere)
It’s tempting to think the “Stranger” video’s two clowns are happier versions of Anton Barbeau, from whom he is currently estranged.
Adam Sobsey
Adam Sobsey is coauthor of Bull City Summer: A Season at the Ballpark, a book about minor league baseball, and has written about music and culture for the Paris Review and other publications. His biography of the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde is available from University of Texas Press.
Daily Worker Writes a Strong New Chapter with ‘Autofiction’
If you like mid-period Beatles and Byrds, Wilco at their lightest, the Stones at their brightest, and Big Star, you’ll like Daily Worker’s Autofiction.
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Revisiting Cotton Mather’s Classic ‘Kontiki’ 25 Years on with Robert Harrison
Cotton Mather’s Kontiki sports almost relentless invention, vitality, toughness, brightness, and irrepressible exuberance—a powder keg full of the joy of making music.
Pop Savant Anton Barbeau Beholds the ‘Stranger’ in the Mirror
In a sea of indistinct pop music, Anton Barbeau’s sheer unmistakability and inimitability prove he is a significant and successful artist, regardless of his level of fame.
FaltyDL Goes Indie and Finally Sings on ‘A Nurse to My Patience’
FaltyDL’s A Nurse to My Patience is home-alone, headphones-on, glow-of-a-smartphone-in-the-dark indie music. It’s the sound of the demons dancing in his head.
Johanna Warren’s ‘Lessons for Mutants’ Is Beautiful and Uncategorizable
Johanna Warren’s Lessons for Mutants is state of the art. It rings with an uncategorizable quality that our age seems not to value very much, to our own peril: beauty.
Bird Streets’ ‘Lagoon’ Delivers Melancholic Pop Pleasure
The aesthetic sensibility of Bird Street’s Lagoon is the urbane, soundtrack-ready, slightly melancholic popcraft ushered into the world by Club Largo.
No. 2’s First Album in Years ‘First Love’ Takes You for a Spin ’90s Style
No. 2’s First Love pulls right up in front of you and wastes no time, like a friend who comes to pick you up for a night out and leaves the car running.
Caleb Nichols’ ‘Ramon’ Gives the Beatles’ Mean Mr. Mustard Respect
Caleb Nichols’ Ramon shows respect for Paul McCartney’s maligned Ram and sympathy for the misunderstood man in the Beatles’ “Mean Mr. Mustard”.
Anton Barbeau Records the Sound of His Brain on Power Pop!!!
Anton Barbeau talks about how he is obsessed with sound and the emotion it carries, but it isn’t the sound of power pop that runs through his brain.
Anton Barbeau on Working with the Loud Family’s Scott Miller and Reissued LP ‘What If It Works?’
Anton Barbeau talks about working with the Loud Family’s Scott Miller on the adventurous LP, What If It Works?, reissued this week by Omnivore Recordings.