23 Nov 2024
Barracks - EP Review: Lovestay
15 Sep 2016 // A review by Paul Goddard
What a week! I just found out Refused are playing at Laneway and then this lands on my lap, well laptop.
There are some bands who are innovators, they become the bands that other people follow and unfortunately some try to copy. When you first see or hear these bands it is often obvious, they just stand out. I remember the first time I saw The Mint Chicks or Cut Off Your Hands (they were called Nova Echo at the time) they blew me away.
Barracks just did the same thing with theirLovestay EP. Anyone who has heard their previous releases might be worried by the title Lovestay thinking that Barracks have moved into the post softcore scene but whilst there is definitely more melody going on this time round Barracks still hit hard and loud. The production by Nathan Sowter is excellent as usual and you can hear influences of other NZ bands he has worked with in the past but one thing that stands out overall just like the other innovative bands I mentioned is Barracks don't sound like a New Zealand band and that is a good thing.
Lovestay is not a collection of watered down Blindspott tunes like so many bands over here seem to trudge out. This is a blast of melodic post-hardcore that needs to be turned up loud. The vocals are great and these guys are talented enough to take this music anywhere. The stand out track for me is Afterall as it is probably the most immediate and angsty but all the songs on here stand up against anything their contemporaries around the world would release.
New Zealand has produced a band that could put us on the map again. A band that others in NZ will try to emulate. Bands like this in a country as small as ours are rare. If Barracks keep this up and set their sights overseas they could do anything.
- Paul Goddard
What a week! I just found out Refused are playing at Laneway and then this lands on my lap, well laptop.There are some bands who are innovators, they become the bands that other people follow and unfortunately some try to copy. When you first see or hear these bands it is often obvious, they just stand out. I remember the first time I saw The Mint Chicks or Cut Off Your Hands (they were called Nova Echo at the time) they blew me away.
Barracks just did the same thing with their
New Zealand has produced a band that could put us on the map again. A band that others in NZ will try to emulate. Bands like this in a country as small as ours are rare. If Barracks keep this up and set their sights overseas they could do anything.
- Paul Goddard
About Barracks
Ghosts was featured in BitTorrent's and AbsolutePunk's best of 2015 lists.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Barracks
Releases
Other Reviews By Paul Goddard
Cairo Knife Fight - EP Review: Dream Season
19 Jul 2024 // by Paul Goddard
Cairo Knife Fight have been around a while and been through a lot. Spawned in NZ and now based in the U S of A it has been a journey full of highs and lows.
Read More...
The Dirty Tones - Album Review: Sweet Thang
23 May 2024 // by Paul Goddard
For me, Blues music is the real soul music. It has storytelling like Country and folk music and passion like Rock music, but at its core it gives a window into the soul of the people creating it.
Read More...
Sam Cullen - EP Review: Love Again
18 Apr 2024 // by Paul Goddard
When I first heard this brand-new EP from Invercargill native Sam Cullen, I was immediately reminded of another famous Sam who has an equally famous last name (Fender).The four songs on the Love Again EP have a familiarity and similarity with roots going back to Springsteen and the well-trodden stadium rock road but there is also something in the songs on Love Again that could only be grown in New Zealand.
Read More...
Skitch Hiker - Single Review: Slippery Wet Handshake
30 Jun 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Wow.Just when you have given up on music and banging your head against a brick wall wondering why Taylor Swift is more popular than toilet roll during a pandemic something like this comes along.
Read More...
Retro Valley - Single Review: Backseat Lovers
19 May 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Right from the opening bars of Backseat Lovers by Hamilton-based Retro Valley it is clear that this song is pure class.This 3-minute tune is a next-level lesson in how to create, perform and produce a pop/indie classic.
Read More...
Murmur Tooth and Lars Moston - Album Review: No Time To Explain
19 May 2023 // by Paul Goddard
Collaborations can work. Sometimes they do most of the time they don't.
Read More...
Album Review: Sex Dad's Greatest Hits: The Very Best Of Sex Dad
27 Dec 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Feeling bloated and underwhelmed. Listening to mainstream radio in the car as I left my phone at home.
Read More...
Marrow Neck - EP Review: Made Up
23 Nov 2022 // by Paul Goddard
Sitting here in a very wet and cold, rainy UK watching the oldies falling out of the local Wetherspoons where they have been on the piss since 9am (yep the UK is weird it's only the old people who can afford to get pissed all day).I am reflecting on the past as I listen to the latest EP Made Up from Auckland-based Mark Hannington.
Read More...
Most Viewed Artists
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- APT.
ROSÉ And Bruno Mars - DIE WITH A SMILE
Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Billie Eilish - TASTE
Sabrina Carpenter - I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
Gracie Abrams - ESPRESSO
Sabrina Carpenter - SAILOR SONG
Gigi Perez - LOSE CONTROL
Teddy Swims - A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
Shaboozey - GOOD LUCK, BABE!
Chappell Roan
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
Custom Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
