Wednesday, December 12, 2007

BARKMARKET

1993 - Gimmick
1995 - Lard Room EP

Barkmarket was a rock music group formed in New York City in 1987. Personnel were singer/guitarist and main songwriter Dave Sardy, bass guitarist John Nowlin and drummer Rock Savage.

Barkmarket's music was usually loud and aggressive, touching on many styles (most prominently including heavy metal, hardcore punk and noise rock), but not resting definitely in any one genre. Critic Stewart Mason wrote that the band "can at times be frustratingly difficult to pin down, but their best work has a noisy, rattling power." There were also odd touches that demonstrated an experimental edge: the eerie banjo and tape loops on "(Radio Static)" (from Gimmick), and the nearly delta blues acoustic slide guitar on "Visible Cow" (from L. Ron).

Sardy's ragged, proto-screamo vocals usually offered bizarre lyrics that were at once evocative and absurd, and rarely without a menacing undercurrent: "I bought a handgun made out of glass/I cut a hole in the side of a wild ass" ("Visible Cow"); critic Ted Alvarez wrote,

Sardy's distended poetry often has a dark humor about it; lines like "I opened all your mail" ("Feed Me") and "I got a game/it won't take long/we'll list all our beatings in a cursory rhyme" ("How are You") add a dash of laughter to the often humorless scowl across the face of hardcore music.

In 1988, they released an independently-recorded demo tape, 1-800-GODHOUSE. They were signed to Triple X Records, who released the group's first two albums, Easy Listening and Vegas Throat; the latter featured guest work from avant-jazz guitarist Marc Ribot.

Vegas Throat attracted the interest of Rick Rubin, and Barkmarket was one of the first groups signed to Rubin's American Recordings. Vegas Throat was reissued by American, which then issued Gimmick and the Lardroom EP. During this time, they released the Peacekeeper EP on the Man's Ruin record label.

L. Ron (1996) was Barkmarket's final album. Sardy's engineering/production work was taking precedence over his own band, and the group quietly broke up in 1997. Sardy has since become an in-demand producer and mixer for many heavy rock groups (e.g., System of a Down, Marilyn Manson, Wolfmother, Helmet, Quicksand).

* Discography *
* 1-800-GODHOUSE (1988)
* Easy Listening (1989)
* Vegas Throat (1992)
* Gimmick (1993)
* Peacekeeper EP (1994)
* Lard Room EP (1995)
* L. Ron (1996)


1993 - Gimmick
Download
mp3 - 192kbps
rar - 62.6mb



1995 - Lard Room EP
Download
mp3 - 192kbps
rar - 20.8mb


* Any other Barkmarket albums out there, I'd love to hear them! *

8 comments:

Zer0_II said...

It's good to see you back! I was beginning to think you were gone for good. I'm looking forward to more updates.

Anonymous said...

Very nice blog. Been back through the archives, and almost all links are still intact...the much lamented Megaupload still is one of the best out there in file retention, even though it loves to crash my d/l manager...Looking forward to hearing this Barkmarket- a group I never got around to investigate. Many thanks in advance!

Anonymous said...

Good to see you back m8!

yeah, I hace a Barkmarket CD called 'L.Ron'.

I can sort that out for you soon.

Baz.

Anonymous said...

fun stuff, nice to see you back. you have a refreshing collection of goodies. happy holidays.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I see your looking for more Barkmarket... here's a link to a blog that has 1989's 'Easy Listening Record' posted- Enjoy!

http://suckingicecubes.blogspot.com/search/label/barkmarket

Roger Camden said...

Thanks for the Lard Room EP!

I'm going to link your blog to mine.

crimson king said...

hey man, i tried DLing the albums but for some reason zshare will not allow it... could you please reupload both albums(megaupload seems to be the best free server at this time)???
If you still haven't got the L Ron album (1996), here's a link for you

http://lucidmedia.blogspot.com/2008/06/barkmarket-l-ron.html

Dig Me Out Podcast said...

Check out a podcast review of Gimmick by Barkmarket on Dig Me Out at digmeoutpodcast.com, a weekly podcast dedicated to reviewing the lost and forgotten rock of the '90s.