Released in 1999, Simon Basic by Barcelona [MP3s below] is amazing indie pop music fused with synthesizers and shifting, deep baselines. That is why it is being featured in IRC's "Digging The Archives" series.
Barcelona is a great, largely forgotten indie pop group and Simon Basic is their crown jewel. We call it "indie blueberry music" because it is one of those albums that once you start spinning it, you can't resist to spin it more and more to the point that everything else is momentarily unimportant.
Experience proves, however, that much of the best indie rock and pop music out there - from approximately 1980 to now - is lost in the thousands of CDs reviewed by "the critics" during the past quarter century. Meanwhile, indie music has thrived.
The band was formed in Washington, D.C. in 1998. Band members Jennifer Carr on bass, Jason Korzen, singer and guitarist, Ivan Ramiscal (moog/keyboards/ guitar) and drummer (guitar/singer), Christian Scanniello found time between their passion for soccer and computers to make indie pop music.
Digging up, reporting, writing, editing, packaging and presenting to you the best of indie, old and new, is what sets IRC apart from all the other indie rock music websites and blogs.
From the moment Simon Basic starts spinning, there's an automatic attraction to it's poppy sound, soft, melodic harmonies and upbeat sytheniziers that play-off of, and merge with, each other for a full and intriguing experience.
Computer sounds and themes are spliced throughout the album, most notably on "I Have The Password to Your Shell Account" and "The Downside of Computer Camp."
"Space Guy Blues" and the cheery "Indian Names" and are mini-indie classics, supplying all the ingredients of indie pop rock with infectious energy, wit and grounded rythmatic baselines laden with catchy guitar and keyboard riffs. Other songs like "1/2", "Unreal," and "Summer Songs", which should have been a hit are album highlights as well.
Check the music downloads from Simon Basic below for your listening pleasure. You can also find the tracks for sale on sites like MP3.com, Amazon and Emusic.
Be warned: If you can get the CD, don't lend it out. You're probably not going to get it back. It's that good. Sometimes a great artist that was previously unknown to the masses re-emerges to popularity deserved long ago, but it is usually from a television commercial or movie soundtrack.
A year after the debut of Simon Basic, the group pumped out two reasonably good (with some stand-out songs) song collections in 2000 on the EPs Robot Trouble and Zero One Infinity .
The Transhuman Revolution was released in 2001 and didn't sell or spark a fire in the indie scene. The Barcelona experiment (but it was so much more) was over by 2001. The following year, singer, songwriter and guitarist Jason Korzen formed Sprites.Barcelona's music is similiar to a bunch of artists, including Mates of State, Matt Pond PA, The Close Lobsters and The 6ths.
From a purely online marketing point of view, the name Barcelona doesn't help fans find information easily and quickly on the Internet. In fact, we were unable to find one photograph of the band after an extensive search, but just about every other image on the Internet with 'barcelona' in it's name. We all know that means tens of thousands of hits. If you can find a photo of the band, let us know. The lack of a band photo makes Barcelona even more mysterious and "indie".This CD was found by chance at a real record shop. Once independent record shops are all gone, and they're going fast, an iconic cornerstone of the indie movement will have disappeared. In ten years from now, there may be a few record stores here and there. How they will make money in the age of instant download (even though iTunes has been down and showing error messages most of the week from the 'gift card' redeemers) is anyone's guess.
The old-skool meeting place where you talked with store clerks, other customers and friends about a great indie album that you didn't know about and that you listened to 20 times or more will fade away into a computer screen.
To get an idea of the tracks on the album, listen to, and download, the following:Summer Songs [mp3]
The Downtime of Computer Camp [mp3]
Indian Names [mp3]
Labels: Album Reviews, Alternative Classic CDs, Añejo Mockingbird, Barcelona, Best Indie Albums, Best of Indie Rock, College Indie Rock, DC, Independent Record Labels, Underrated Classics, Washington
