MANMAN

The London based musical project BARK PSYCHOSIS was formed as far back as 1986 and most famous for its 1994 debut album "Hex" which launched the term post-rock into the vernacular. The term was coined by Simon Reynolds in his review of the album and after a review of exactly how the musical style had been evolving, became a new term for an entirely new music genre.

The band had spent many years leading up to this moment though first by releasing a a couple of singles and then following with two short EPs before "Hex" would catch the world's attention and offer the musical world a new genre to expand upon. The first EP was simply called MANMAN and came out in 1992. It featured only three tracks that added up to 19 minutes and 53 seconds ("Manman" 5:03), ("Blood Rush" 7:14), ("Tooled Up" 7:36).

The band's two original members weree schoolfriends Graham Sutton (guitar, vocals) and John Ling (bass, vocals) were only 14 years old at the time they started by the band so by 1992 they were still at the tender age of 20 yet had a completely different vision of where music was heading. Despite "Hex" being considered the first official post-rock release, many artists had actually released albums that now qualify to be labeled under that genre. BARK PSYCHOSIS' early material is no exception.

The title track certainly was heading into post-rock territory but featured influences from techno and digital dance music however the atmospheres, laid back vocals and unorthodox musical arrangements were well on track to a full post-rock sound. This track is basically a minimalistic drum beat accompanied by a swirling synthesized backdrop and with detached apocalyptic vocals. The track breaks into a techno beat that didn't sound far off from bands like New Order or other English electronic acts. The music behind the simple drumming though is ominous and seemingly in another universe completely. It's an interesting mix with some nice vocal contributions of various types.

"Blood Rush" is more of an early post-rock track in its entirety with a dreamy high-pitched intro that slowly ushers in a clean guitar that crafts captivating arpeggios while a bass groove drops in and out. The main emphasis is on the spacey expansive atmosphere and the vocals are subdued and vulnerable. The track remains slow and nuanced with unique contrapuntal techniques that contrast the keyboards with the bass and guitar arpeggios. The tempo picks up about five minutes in and the drums join in but pretty much stays mellow and dreamy.

"Tooled Up" begins with a punch bass groove and is immediately followed by more of a post-punk sound with busy drumming and electric guitar riffing. Turbulent atmospheres swirl around in the background. The dynamics and styles changes around a bit but the strange bass line remains a constant. After three minutes or so the tempo picks up big time and the drumming becomes a bit frenetic. The rest of the instrumentation sounds completely original and i'm not really sure how they achieved it but the guitar is clearly in the realms of post-punk. The atmosphere is never out of range to create the overall mood effect. The track is all instrumental. The track ends in neo-psychedelia mode as the punk guitar drops out and strange sound effects dominate.

This is a brilliantly original EP with three distinct tracks that showcase a band with a vision to develop music beyond what's already been done. Each track delivers a unique stylistic approach and although the middle track would ultimately be the style that would define BARK PSYCHOSIS, the other two tracks are actually more inventive and more varied. The band members clearly were striving to think outside of the box and succeeded in doing so. These early EPs aren't to be missed. They are every bit as captivating as the band's more famous albums that defined them as one of the pioneers of post-rock.