Reviews: Glitch Wizard / Dig the Light
OUTSIDE LEFT MUSIC
by John Robinson
Barbeau’s psychedelic hook filled songwriting couldn’t come at a better time weather-wise, if there’s more summery 60s tinged sonic wizardry available, I don’t know where it is. Glitch Wizard is the darker, murkier, glitchier companion to Dig The Light, also released today and not even the last album he’s got lined up for this year alone. The beautiful cover illustration, by a Mexican street and digital artist called Ocote, perfectly aligns with the concept, a native South American festooned with circuitry on a floating space pod with a tablet computer in hand, just like those Chariots of the Gods images our rational brains try not to believe are spacecraft and spacemen, but we know they are. (Not a million miles away from Momus’ imagery on Little Red Songbook and Folktronic either).
The jams on this album were recorded in Barbeau’s basement studio called Dark Mystery Temple, the initials of which may supply the main key to understanding all this. XTC’s Dave Gregory contributes, along with Soft Boys’ Andy Metcalfe and Julian Cope’s Producer/Guitarist Donald Ross Skinner. The title track is catchy as hell, and an adequate description of whatever has taken control of Barbeau’s psyche. The album was recorded during his father’s illness and death, and many of the songs have themes of exorcism, casting out of demons, “celebration of a life left behind”. There’s an aimlessness in the second single Nightcrawler, the protagonist wandering around in uncertainty, but getting “on with the show”, perhaps a metaphor for casting off shadows to re-engage with life. The twanged surf psych of Cousins literally quotes the Beach Boys, running away to the cemetery, although completed long ago, the spectre of Brian Wilson hangs over the project.
Barbeau has the ideal voice to deliver these chemical hymns, a trembling inflection highlights uncertainty, weirdness, the smallness of humanity against cosmic forces, our inability to control or even feed the machine of modern life. The songs have touches of British Invasion pop, The Move, The Idle Race, against the tectonic plates of Californian psychedelia, with Barbeau’s power pop ear for a hook evident, occasional proggy keyboard solos and flourishes making a heady ascent, as songs like Sing High and Off The Hook aspire to. Not that Anton is immune to a more down to earth cheesy pun, as in the meditative mantra of Almost Om, in fact the sense of humour that pervades all his work is essential, puncturing any possible pretentiousness in the profundity. There’s optimism by the end though, Me Coughing is a beautiful litany of happy things, and closing track A Pattern Forming is electro-pop, speaking of new dimensions, healing sounds and journeys.
The sister album is more concerned with journeys outward than inward, with rocker Dogstar taking us away on a silver ray, like the beautiful light seen on the cover, refracted through stained glass. That light is perhaps what makes the Cosmic Mind Awaken, with its gentle, folksy guitar being the light of the universe. Dig The Light, with its measured, Oldfield-esque guitar line and declaration also emphasises the importance of love and fellowship. The next track, Incantation (Oldfield again!) asks us to “follow the feeling, see through the ceiling”, “be turned on, be kind”. The inspiration for all this is pretty clear just from the song titles of Mushroom Madness and I Saw Syd. Be careful when you are foraging! The first of these is a fun rocker with fuzzed up guitar about, well, mushrooms. “Grow you hair, cut your beard, do the things, make you weird, Jesus perm”. I’m sure I Saw Syd is fairly self-explanatory, and Life Gives You Lemons is a brief, silly interlude about what life both gives and takes.
Mahogany Jam Jar, a scene of domestic life, toast, kettles, breakfast and jam, tempered by the fact that he isn’t really there, but is “waiting on the wrong bus, stuck again in Swindon, Octagon is closed, I’m freezing”: do Americans have romantic visions of places like Swindon just as Europeans fantasise about exotic locations like L.A. and New York? The Octagon is a real café next to the bus station, which has indeed unfortunately closed. But the album’s good natured view of people, and connection, is borne out by the closing track Hallelujah Sun, gently beautiful and twining, “We are here right now, and we’ll be here soon”.
Of course all this peace and light could get a bit.. much, to a darkly humoured somewhat gothic-leaning soul like mine, but when a songwriter has the ability that Barbeau does to weave such strong dynamism into even the most idyllic of settings, as in All My Dreams, it can be forgiven. That song in particular seems to utilise a guitar riff from Game Theory’s The Waist and The Knees, a reminder of his link to Scott Miller’s later career. Still, I think I prefer the slightly darker waters of Glitch Wizard, both albums are, however, perfect pop for summer months, with a side helping of vegetable delirium.
IT'S PSYCHEDELIC BABY MAGAZINE
by Jeff Penczak
‘Glitch Wizard’ was a cathartic experience for Barbeau, written during his father’s final days, occasionally in the midst of “mystical experiences” that shaped some of the material.
The album features top-notch support from Dave Gregory (XTC), Donald Ross Skinner (Julian Cope, Love Amongst Ruin), and Andy Metcalfe (The Soft Boys and Barbeau’s ‘Three Minute Tease’ trio with Soft Boys bandmate Morris Windsor).
The opening/title track speaks to cracks in the universe that pull us in different directions—directions we don’t always immediately understand and can’t always control. Like Dorothy in Oz, it’s a journey we feel we must continue to the finish line, no matter what we encounter along the way. Perhaps an Ant-AI warning about robots shaping our lives, making our decisions for us? What happens when the “glitch wizard” takes over and our future is no longer under our own control? Skinner’s fretwork is particularly tasty, and Sharron Kraus’s “distant vocal” adds a glitch-in-the-machine spooky vibe.
‘Nightcrawler’ is a bit funkier, with hints of the Talking Heads big band tickling my grey matter, while ‘Cigarettes’ and ‘Me Coughing’ speak directly to his dad’s smoking in the next room while Barbeau crafted his songs. [Some snippets of sound from the TV his dad was watching even snuck into the final mix of some songs!]
‘Sing High’ takes several interesting musical detours of the “kitchen sink” variety, with the lyric:
“I got a letter from my doctor/Telling me to take it slow/I asked him was I getting better/But he didn’t know,” particularly schizophrenic and frustrating, as anyone who’s received cryptic “advice” from their practitioner can attest.
‘Off The Hook’ is perhaps the album’s spaciest, most ethereal track, with Barbeau deeming Gregory’s wah-wah solo “transcendent, krauty holiness.” Right on, brother!
‘All I Want Is A Little More Of Your Time’ is self-explanatory in the circumstances; ‘Almost Om’ channels Barbeau’s inner spiritual energy to deal with incredible loss, aided and abetted by Gregory Curvey’s “righteous lead guitar”; and the aforementioned ‘Me Coughing’ is particularly poignant—a conversation between father and son who have only a few moments to enjoy each other’s company.
The krautrockin’ finale ‘A Pattern Forming’ is part Giorgio Moroder, with a soupçon of orgiastic, disco-styled chanting from Karen and Xoxo Eng permeating the mood of acceptance, resignation, and a will to move forward—as I’m sure Dad would’ve wanted. A valentine of love that not only touches anyone who’s lost a loved one, but offers hope for a future without one of the most important people in your life.
And for those of you sitting cross-legged on the floor with the headphones on and staring at the album cover trying to discover hidden meanings to enhance your musical journey, a special mention of Mexican artist Ocote’s mesmerizing album cover is in order. It’s a mind-melting mind-map maze, presenting numerous opportunities to rewire your neurological circuitry to avoid those unexpected glitches in life or, having encountered dead ends or “roads under construction,” retrace your steps and start again.
As American baseball player/manager Yogi Berra famously suggested, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!”
HERE COMES THE FLOOD
by Hans Werksman
Psych-pop musician Anton Barbeau shows his versatility by releasing two full albums simultaneously: the dark Glitch Wizard and the optimistic Dig The Light. By doing so he was able to capture his more morose and introspective side next to his outgoing personality, a range of emotions that the listener can relate to and play to suit the current mood he or she is in.
Glitch Wizard
After hiding in his shell after being struck down by grief and seeking for a way out through psychedelics and listening on repeat to a bunch of Steeleye Dan albums, Barbeau resurfaced with a baker's dozen of well-structured bleak songs to chase away his inner demons.
The darkness is still prevalent, but he does manage to let a little light in, with Dave Gregory (XTC) on guitar, Andy Metcalfe (Soft Boys) on bass, and Donald Ross Skinner (Julian Cope) with his cosmic textures all reaching out to him to pull him out of his emotional quagmire. Family, hitting the town and nicotine offered some respite as well, but endless tinkering in his studio was the only thing that really helped. Despite the prolonged process the songs were not polished ad infinitum. Depression and spontaneity are unlikely bedfellows, but lo and behold, when done right, it is a match made in heaven (or in hell).
Dig The Light
When the darkness had subsided Barbeau dug deep into his bag of tricks and treasure trove of sound effect, sprinkling faerie dust on the songs that ended up on this album. It is a sonic trip - he evens meets Syd Barrett riding high on some undisclosed mind-expanding chemical enhancement. He is out in the world again, ready to connect with people and life in general.
He appreciates the little things as a means to look at the greater picture, using old school melodic psychedelic rock as the vessel for his musings. Naive? Maybe. But also inspiring and a bit of escapism to get away from the madness has never hurt anybody.
PSYCHEDELIC SCENE
by
Dominyka Mauliūtė
Has anyone ever felt it? That precise, trembling instant when a new enigma reveals itself—sudden, blinding, like a shooting star that blazes once and vanishes forever into the infinite mystery of the cosmos. The universe that cracks itself out of its nutshell by sheer force and releases a static that purrs like waves of joy into the universe. An arrow flying in the summer sky. Pure happiness, sealed in the magic of music. Sweet like the coming of summer.
That’s the moment Anton Barbeau arrives.
Just like Peter Ivers once was—a myth wrapped in melody—Anton is the riddle of now. Though the music you hear is new, he has been around for a long time now. An old soul orbits this plane, an American from Sacramento, California, carried on the paisley winds of psychedelic vibration. His music channels the cosmic sounds of 1967–Forever Changes and Sgt. Pepper’s-era sweethearts plucking your vinyl grooves with long nostalgic dreams out of the void. He is a Taurus – the mystic in the garden. Calmly tending to his tea and petals that grow like albums on a glorious landscape. He has made over 30 of them and doesn‘t intend to stop.
His sound?
It isn’t heard.
It’s discovered.
Enter his newest cosmic odyssey – Glitch Wizard. Inside the dream, he has gathered 13 cosmic fellows, each playing a vital role in his freshly conjured psychedelic dreamscape. He has names for everyone. He calls them one by one. We travel through spaceways on a Glitch Wizard astral plane. Both the song title and the concept of the album, as Anton describes is “a dense, glitching tapestry of psych-pop and krautfolk that’s less an album and more an emotional exorcism set to music—perfect for listeners who enjoy their pop with a side of existential crisis and a sprinkle of interdimensional travel. Heading our way through we are being taken “Off the Hook” but not yet adrift and lost in space, because tracks like “Almost Om“ keep us afloat in our woolly orbit, and the strange journey days end with “A Pattern Forming“, leaving us waiting…just for another day.
His voice? There’s something I call “naïve treble”—a term I coined a long time ago while searching for the artists I love the most. This is not to suggest immaturity but to capture that rare, bright honesty found in only a few voices. It’s a kind of unfiltered clarity like sunlight hitting a bubble. Anton’s vocals convey a pure emotional tone, evoking the off-kilter charm of Jonathan Richman, the sweetness of Peter Ivers, and Gary Numan’s distinctive android croon. You might hear the gentle shimmer of The Cleaners from Venus, the sincerity of Jimmy Whispers, or the reverb-mystery of Sean Nicholas Savage. And the landscape of Gardens & Villa, never wanting to part time but always clinging for more. This isn’t retro—it’s interdimensional travel.
Will he enter the dream forever? We‘ve followed our wizard Anton Barbeau through the ages – and he has only improved. Or perhaps it’s truer to say that he’s always been great. Albums like these leave us wanting more, always anticipating the next unraveling of this enigma’s inclinations and worldview. It feels like there are thousands of them.
And yet—why do we still listen? Because it’s coming anew, friends. He has tuned the perfect crowd and settled in the right orbit. The album dropped in the summer of 2025—but the vibrations ripple like the 60s. The same way Beatlemania swept the nations and the Stones rocked the world, this scene—this energy—is circling back. The inner revolution Jim Morrison once spoke of? It’s happening again, through new waveforms and new prophets.
Anton Barbeau is leading the charge.
He is putting the old back in the new–a revolution around the sun. The glitch is intentional. The wizard is real. He has crafted and tested his spell, and, like an alchemist, brought magic back into the world. The world has once again become infinite and continues turning the wheels of time with the newest psychedelic sounds.
He is the riddle.
He is the sound.
He is Anton.
Catch him before he vanishes back into the groovy mist.
VOIX DE GARAGE GRENOBLE
by Bertrand Tappaz
Sur ces 12 chansons le génie PsychPop de Sacramento à réunit une équipe prestigieuse autour de lui : Dave Gregory (XTC) Andy Metcalfe (Soft Boys) et Donald Ross Skinner (Julian Cope), excusez du peu...
Cela dit, vu la productivité du Monsieur, et en dépit de ce magnifique pédigrée, est-ce que la montagne n'aurait pas accouché d'une souris ?
Hé bien pas du tout ! Si c'était le cas, je ne perdrais pas mon temps à écrire dessus...
Dès la chanson inaugurale qui donne d'ailleurs son titre à l'album on entre de plain- pied dans l'univers musical (et mental) d'Anton Barbeau et on s'y sent bien ! Pour peu qu'on ait des accointances pour la Pop Psychédélique de haut vol, et que des penchants Art Rock ne vous effraient pas !!!
Je vous ai déjà parlé ici de certains des albums précédents d'Anton Barbeau qui est un compositeur & interprète prolifique mais ça n'est jamais au détriment de la qualité !
Quelques petits clins d'oeils ici où là mettent l'auditeur dans un univers connu, ou pour être plus exact le font baguenauder en bordure...
Imaginez le versant assombrit du Pet Sound joliment distordu par les cotonneux Dum Dum Boys des débuts, avec des accointances pour la New Wave du commencement quand elle n'était constituée que des groupes vraiment inventifs, et d'un coup le choix des musiciens qui l'accompagne ici devient une évidence !
Le tout est saupoudré ici et là que quelques relents bowisiens mais tout en se tenant éloigné de toutes tentations revivalistes rances.
Une splendide collection de 13 CHANSONS à très forte personnalité, qui sont assemblées de façon judicieuse pour en plus constituer un album homogène ET diversifié qui se déguste sans modération !
En même temps que cet album, Anton Barbeau en publie un autre, "Dig The Light" qui en est le pendant lumineux, toujours sur Think Like A Key Music. Je vous en parlerai bientôt !
Translation via Google Translate:
For these 12 songs, the Sacramento PsychPop genius has assembled a prestigious team around him: Dave Gregory (XTC), Andy Metcalfe (Soft Boys), and Donald Ross Skinner (Julian Cope), no less...
That said, given the man's productivity, and despite this magnificent pedigree, could it be that the mountain has given birth to a mouse?
Well, not at all! If that were the case, I wouldn't waste my time writing about it...
From the opening song, which also gives the album its title, we enter Anton Barbeau's musical (and mental) universe, and we feel right at home there! As long as we have a taste for high-flying Psychedelic Pop, and are not afraid of Art Rock leanings!!!
I've already talked about some of Anton Barbeau's previous albums, a prolific composer and performer, but that never comes at the expense of quality!
A few little nods here and there immerse the listener in a familiar universe, or to be more precise, make them wander along the edges...
Imagine the darker side of Pet Sounds, beautifully distorted by the fluffy Dum Dum Boys of the early days, with hints of the early New Wave when it consisted only of truly inventive groups, and suddenly the choice of musicians accompanying him here becomes obvious!
The whole thing is sprinkled here and there with a few Bowie-esque overtones, while staying away from any stale revivalist temptations.
A splendid collection of 13 songs with very strong personalities, which are judiciously assembled to create a cohesive AND diverse album that can be enjoyed without moderation!
Along with this album, Anton Barbeau released another one, "Dig The Light," which is its luminous counterpart, also on Think Like A Key Music. I'll tell you about it soon!
© Anton Barbeau. Photo of Anton by Karen Eng. Web site: interbridge.
