LISTEN: Barbiturates – ‘Look What the Internet Did to Us’

The name ‘Barbiturates‘ tells you quite a lot about how this track is going to sound. A side project of Roland Hlavka and Elliot D’Arcy from Brisbane’s Cobwebbs, Barbiturates characterise their music as ‘alienwave’, ‘UFO dub’ and ‘made from the bottom of the ocean’ – all of which are pretty accurate descriptors. With the guitar and analogue synths caked in delay, Barbiturates’ songs seem to bend unnaturally; a bit like light refracted in oily water. On previous releases they’ve used elements of shoegaze as well as a kind of zonked out hip hop that brings back memories of Dr Octagon (and also Salad Fingers).

‘Look What the Internet Did to Us’ is a comparatively upbeat number, driven by a propulsive lead guitar and synthetic beats. It’s about the bottomless internet sinkhole that opens up when there’s important work to do, with links generating links and email inboxes to refresh. ‘It’s always the same / it never changes’ Hlavka points out, ‘so why did I waste my time?’. (Don’t take that message as inspiration to navigate away from this page or go outside or something: there’s more new music coming up).

‘Look What the Internet Did to Us’ is taken from upcoming album Shades, due for release through Lost Race on 26 August. You can preorder the 10″ vinyl, which is limited to 50 pressings, or a digital copy of the album here.

Facebook / Bandcamp