An Album Review and Recipe for your Eyes, Ears, Mouth an Nose- Local Label Edition!
Jon Barba-“SLEEP” (Folktale Records)
By Vivian Ponte-Fritz
It is the start of a lovely November Music Month! This week will focus on local labels and applaud that feature of our station. Stay tuned to the many shows this week that will be playing music made and produced around these parts!
Today I will be focusing on one album in particular and pairing it with a pair of recipes that I cooked up this morning in light of election day!
This man with a young girl’s voice spells out awkwardness in his every move. The allusion to those good ol’ John Hughes movies comes across in Jon’s stumbling and gasping vocals, always a tiny step behind the melody. The heavy organs and cheap, keyboard-created drum beat also adds to a manipulated and re-purposed 80’s soundtrack. Twenty Ten is the first track on this two track 7″. It begs for recognition in silly desperation. The DIY, childish display of pursuits of love remind me of Kimya Dawson and Daniel Johnston. Although it is very clear that this is not a serious love song, it could be because this Oakland artist is a big Miley Cyrus fan and used to perform under the name Nicole Kidman, so you never know, he might just be a corny guy.
The second and last track, Pop Punk on CD rides a similar vibe as the first. The relatable lyrics of a middle school student in love and anger flails over a simple and sparse drum beat and keyboard organ. The sound is not marketable to be on a Juno-type soundtrack, but might be played while riding on highway 10 in a Napoleon Dynamite-esque film. Listen if you like local labels (always support!), Kimya Dawson, Daniel Johnston, Calvin Johnson, or the Tiny Masters of Today. This album is sure to please more than some of Nicole Kidman’s earlier, shorter, weirder tracks that don’t contain the sweet, human stories we see here.
Here is Jon Barba himself talking about becoming a man:
AND
To represent the two sides of the election:
We have the blue and the red!
but you could also always make something purple too if you want to be everyone’s friend or are voting for the peace and freedom party:
