Barbez: a novelty act?

The music of Barbez has been billed as a fusion of "ethnic-punk," "Eastern European avant-cabaret" and "post-war anti-pop." In other words, the Brooklyn-based band makes music that has yet to catch on in these parts, let alone anywhere, and the day it does is a rare day indeed.\nWhile an attempted description of Barbez might be more genre-confusing than anything, I am here to try nonetheless, starting with the group's one-of-a-kind theremin virtuoso, Pamelia Kursten, who has contributed to albums by Air and David Byrne.\nIf you are unfamiliar with the legendary theremin, don't worry. You aren't living in that much of a bubble (and there is always www.wikipedia.org's very enlightening definition!) In short, it's a crude precursor to the Moog Synthesizer and, invented in 1917, the first instrument designed to produce music without touch, as the musician fingers air and the simultaneous whooshing of electronic pitches merge and diverge at her will.\nOutside of the orchestral effects of the theremin (an unavoidable talking point), add to Barbez your standard guitar/bass/drums rock foundation, a vibrophonist, one souped-up palm-pilot and singer/dancer Ksenia Vidyaykina's husky Nico-esque verse, sung in theatrical English and Slavic. And with producer Martin Bisi of Sonic Youth, Herbie Hancock, John Zorn and Iggy Pop fame at the helm, avant-garde is the word for this band, who has also shared the stage with other unique acts like the Dresden Dolls, Cat Power, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Devendra Banhart.\nBarbez themselves cover odd territory. They are a band as fascinated with Brecht/Weill compositions as they are with the Residents and eccentric French composer Erik Satie. On Insignificance, the group's sophomore release on Important Records, they interpret Brecht's "Song for the Moldau" as well as Satie's "Third Gnossienne." The album has an austere formality and macabre eeriness to it, akin to that of Murder By Death, and Barbez finds as much chaotic control as a symphony orchestra might find in performing Metallica.\nBarbez, named for the diverse neighborhood where the group's founder Dan Kaufman once lived, is of the highest breed of interesting and unorthodox bands out there. There's no doubt Barbez has talent, but their novelty on record strays a little too far from the mainstream for most tastes. Maybe after seeing them Sept. 30 during their visit to Bloomington, we'll be able to hear their genre-defying music in another light.