Even if you don't like Barcelona's music, the group deserves respect for doing something most bands never accomplish: they created their own niche, and filled it quite nicely. By flavoring standard boy-girl song-fodder with their own tastes and interests, they've succeeded in establishing their own sub-genre. For the sake of argument, we'll call it Programmer Pop -- a mixture of upbeat twee-pop-derived social awkwardness and Speak and Spell-era Depeche Mode, liberally spiced with references to Unix, modems and robots.
It's not surprising, then, that Barcelona's alter-egos tend to be intelligent, awkward and antisocial. We've all known -- or been -- these kids: they're more comfortable around computers and electronics than people (see "Electronic Company"), and as "Robot Trouble" suggests, prefer companions who interact in a non-challenging way. They're prone to the same romantic and social problems as the rest of us, but you'll identify more with Barcelona's approach if you've ever lost a boyfriend/girlfriend over a difference in operating system preferences. If you immediately picked up on the title's binary code reference, this record is for you.
On this sophomore release, Barcelona have just about honed their style to perfection. For proof, look no further than "I Have the Password to Your Shell Account"; you'll probably find an MP3 of this song on the hard drive of every Napster-wielding sysadmin under the age of thirty-five. Essentially an internet-age version of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", it's an amusing tale of a geek-girl's ability to outwit her crush with superior comp-sci skills, cracking his unimaginative password and keeping him under her thumb. This is a fleshed-out version of the song that appeared on March's Moshi Moshi compilation laste year; the lyrics are longer, and the throbbing bass anchor would give Dave Edmunds a run for his money. The true high point here is Jennifer Carr, who delivers her vocals with such conviction that you don't doubt for a moment her ability to bring a rival's server down as and when needed. Yes, at its heart it's a song about stalking, but it's still fun.
Similarly effective is "Robot Trouble", which strays into sci-fi territory. The home-made robot, named Paul, is labeled "trouble" by its creator's parents, but it's also his best friend. Anyone see a goofy eighties TV series here? "Replicant" tries to work in the same quasi-sci-fi territory, but though it's a catchier tune (with an opening seemingly swiped from REM's "Radio Free Europe"), the subject matter is a little more iffy. A crush on your own replicant? Phil Dick would not approve.
"Have You Forgotten the Bomb?" is another intriguing tune, particularly because its atomic-age paranoia and high-power-jangle chorus are reminiscent of the Poster Children at their most playful. It's easy to imagine Barcelona maturing into a band a lot like the Poster Kids, and gradually becoming a little bit more forceful with their melodies.
Techies will gravitate to "Bugs", "Paging System Operator" and "Obsoletion", while eighties-loving luddites will find their interest piqued by "Studio Hair Gel" (which sounds quite a lot like "I Have the Password to Your Shell Account"), "Haunted by the Ghost of Patty" and the timeless cross-generational love triangle tale, "My Mom's New Boyfriend". Whatever your tastes, if you play ZeRo-oNe-INFINITY enough, you'll find the songs blurring together into an agreeable mist of techie-twee. It's nowhere near as repetitive as the string of digits its title suggests, but you'll occasionally get the feeling that Barcelona isn't above duplicating their successes, making only minor changes to the details. Compared to most of their twee-pop peers, though, they're capable of almost inestimable variation.
At the rate they're going, Barcelona's next album will be a massive, well-deserved success, snapped up by a generation of net-savvy chatroom denizens. I hope it is, if only so we get to see them looking shy and awkward at some MTV event, or conducting network TV interviews via webcam.
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