Anton Barbaeu Glitch Wizard and Dig The Lght.

Friday 11th July 2025 was an auspicious day for Anton Barbeau fans and followers, because he released not one, but two brand new albums, Acording to The Man Hisself, Glitch Wizard was recorded  bfore Dig The Light. He furthur says that Glitch Wizard is a psychedelic rock record and Dig The Ligh is his album of perfect Pop songs. While that's broadly tue, both discs display Barbeau's uncanny knack of writing soungs that stick in the mind, often days after you've heard them only once. I've lived with these records for aboout ten days now ( the Spanish PO were very slow to deliver the goods) and the Earthly delights of both albums have become clear.

OK, Glitch Wizard first. It's somehow a denser record tha its twin with more psychedelic flourishes than Dig The Light, and a little bit darker too (but not that much!). The title track kicks off procedings in fine style, followed by Nightcrawler, for me one of the high points of both records. Cigarettes refers to Anton's Father who was the smoker in the family and Soft Golden Halo sounds like Can to these ears. I won't go into too much detail about each track, suffice to say that Glitch Wizard is a career high, in my not so humble opinion! I love it. The players are are mostly Barbeau veterans: Andy Metcalfe, former Soft Boy, Egyptian and member of Three Minurte Tease, plays exemplary bass on five songs, Dave Gregory, late of XTC and The Dukes Of Stratosphear contribute guitar to Feed and Off The Hook and Julian Cope collaborater Donald Ross Skinner plays great guitar on the title track. Here's the cover:

 

So, on to Dig The Light. It opens with the just -a -shade -over- a -minute  Moondust Hallelujah and then the party starts with Dogstar, issued previously as a single on the Fruits De Mer label.  Here Anton mentions "Cups of creamy tea", one of his recurring themes. It should have been a hit but instead was limited to something like 300 copies. Check out the video where ever you can find it. Direceted by Anton's wife and partner in music, Julia VBH, it's a cracker. But I digress: Anton says this is an album of Pop songs but there are psychedelic flourishes everywhere. A look at the tracklisting reveals Cosmic Mind Awaken,, Mushroom Madmess and Mahogany Jam Jar - if they aren't psyche , then I'm a stuffed rabbit (stop laughing at the back). I Saw Syd relates a true story from Anton's time in Cmabridge and Hallelujah Sun closes Dig The Light in fine style. Musicians include Barry Melton, the guitarist fom SF legends, Country Joe And The Fish, on Dogstar and Dave Gregory again on the title song.

Well, I can't choose between these records and fortunately, don't hav to! I'm delighted with both of them and look forward to acquainting myself with their charms further

Available from Anton Barbeau's Bandcamp page or direct fromthe record compan, Think Like A Key Music, who provide an excellent mail order service. 

 

Monogroove Popsicle Drive Thru

The other day I was contacted by a very polite chap named Rin Lennon, who asked me if I was still taking submissions for my blog, The Purple Bottle. Now, The Purple Bottle has been dormant for the last fifteen years. However, as he asked so nicely and sent me mp3s of his band, Monogroove, how could I refuse?

The first song that came up on the Monogroove demo album was a versuion of the old Young Rascals song, Good Lovin'. A craking take on it which banished memories of the Grateful Dead stretching it out to 40 minutes!  Their original material is as strong; songs like All Day All Night (not The Kinks' tune) and Dangerous are melodice but with an almos Garage band flair. Their Sixties influences are pretty obvios and that's right up my street.

It's very nice to find a new band to get behind - I shall be checking out their other albums to be sure

https://monogroove.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.facebook.com/monogrooveband/