Bars Of Gold
Of Gold
Friction; 2010
Maybe I’m too engrossed in my current reading of Rip It Up And Start Again, Simon Reynold’s classic treatise on the formative years of post-punk, but I find it quite difficult to stay away from comparing Bars Of Gold to iconic bands from that era. The press release for Of Gold proclaims sonic similarities with Fugazi, MC5, and The Jesus Lizard, and while those are apt, it’s the game-changing sounds (and approaches) of Gang Of Four, Television, and The Fall that I hear coursing through the music. This quirky eight-song effort shakes and shimmies with frenetic post-punk textures and some bizarre electro twinges, from the harsh, angular attack of the guitars to the steady pulse of the funk-infused bass lines and the clamor of the clattering drums. The general tone is a harried, slap-dash one that’s shrill, yet insistent and compelling, but it’s the disaffected yelp of Marc Paffi, channeling David Yow and Mark E. Smith, that gives the record its real power.
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