If There Ever was a Gimmick, This is the One...

While these days Dave Sardy is doing mostly nothing but producing, there was a time when he did also create music with his band Barkmarket. Their finest album Gimmick, released in '93, stands as a truly overlooked and under appreciated album. With the slew of terrible music that also came from majors at the time, you would think something as identifiable and different would of at least caught some attention, however, it remains that Barkmarket is still widely unknown to most.

On Gimmick, and as on any other album by Barkmarket, the guitar tone is something that is by far their very own. It may not be for everyone, however, I am a huge sucker for down tuned crunching guitars, and Gimmick serves up plenty of those. Often thrown alongside bands like Helmet or Therapy?, Barkmarket are really not entirely that similar in my opinion. Especially with Gimmick, it seems that Barkmarket may indeed share some qualities with some of their 90's hard rock peers, but the experimental/noise influence shown throughout is much more prominent than of those previously mentioned. When all put together though it forms a very trashy metallic sound that leans more heavily on Sonic Youth or Big Black than anything else. I must say though, I absolutely fucking love it. It's almost like creating and putting an anxiety attack onto a recording, amazing. Dave Sardy's vocals and lyrics should be taken note of and appreciated as well, as he spits out some seriously crazy lyrics. It's even more convincing when they are delivered in such a way that it makes you feel as if Sardy is teetering on the edge of insanity, only adding to Barkmarket's panic stricken sound.

Take a listen to some of these songs below and then run out and find a copy of Gimmick. You owe it to yourself. Like everything neglected, but however amazing, you can find it pretty cheap used, like here.

Barkmarket - Whipping Boy [MP3]
Barkmarket - Curio [MP3]
Barkmarket - Hack it Off [MP3]