Search - Barcelona :: Simon Basic

New Wave fun minus the bad haircuts

10/22/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I lucked into seeing Barcelona play and rushed out to the buy the CD. This is easily one of the best indie pop CDs of 1999. You can pick out the influences, lots of 80's new wave pop like OMD and the lightning seeds and yet the album sounds so fresh and original. Don't let the new wave tag fool you. Its not an electronic album. There are lots of guitars and nice boy/girl vocals. Great melodies and songs that will be stuck in your head. If you're a web geek like me, you will really appreciate the lyrical content also. Not a lot of trite love songs here. Barcelona are singing what they know about. Its all very fun!"

The perfect summer CD!

09/14/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Barcelona's harmonies and analog synths are perfect, and you couldn't find a better mix of 80s new wave and 90s twee pop. Barcelona sings the perfect all-day-long sunshine lollipop song. Barcelona will make you smile."

Catchy tunes for the open-minded

Walter | Washington, D.C. | 03/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album permeates nostalgia. From the first to the last track, Barcelona conjures up images of what it was like to grow-up in the 80s, before the term "indie" was accessible to the masses. When you preferred bands, such as "OMD", "Icicle Works", and "Prefab Sprout" over the long-haired, bleached-out, hairspray bands that dominated MTV during the mid to late 80's. This quartet of "twenty-somethings" from Alexandria, Va creates a sound fixated on pretty guy/girl vocals backed up with hook-laden analog synths, which sometimes make you forget that there other instruments involved. Barcelona definitely masters the art of writing simple pop-tunes that thankfully seems to stick in your head. This is a highly recommended album that guarantees to be heavily rotated in your cd player for quite a long time."