Matthew Melton and Bare Wires: Stuck In the (Bay's) Garage

Matthew Melton and Bare Wires: Stuck In the (Bay's) Garage

What follows is completely unfair, but not completely untrue.

The onslaught of Bay Area garage acts has, for the most part, been pretty steady in the qualitydepartment. Granted, it’d be pretty difficult to plain ole stink at a formula people have been working with for the better part of the last fifty years.

What’s weird, though, is that while folks who actually pay attention to music not covered by Pitchfork, Thee Oh Sees, the Fresh and Onlys as well as the rest of that cohort have been around for a pretty good amount of time now. Which makes some random internet outlet reviewing Ty Segall’s Melted something like six months after it was first released and passing it off as new a bit bothersome.

Still more bothersome, though, is the fact that it seems like just about every group spawned in the Bay Area now has instant cache to release albums and tour. Grass Widows deserved such accommodations – what other group can sing harmonies like that? And while Matthew Melton isn’t a hack, his narrow view of music is kinda boring at this point. Was there not an album released during 2010 without guitars that passed muster? Guess not.

Compounding the entire ridiculous scenario is that after releasing a nonsensically dated album with Bare Wires – he cover of Seeking Love should have relegated it to the cut out bin – Melton’s gone and recorded a solo album. Nope, neither is brand spanking new, just irksome.

Well, not irksome musically. Each is pretty much just what one would expect; pop melodies run through some fuzz pedal, love songs and laughable guitar solos (“If It’s Over”). The irksome part, though, works its way back to that totally rad top ten list.

Melton’s recordings as a solo dude are pretty much exactly the same as the Bare Wires’ album. In fact, it might be that a few tracks (“The Last Thing On My Mind”) included on Seeking Love reach further beyond garage stasis than anything on his solo album.

Still Misunderstood, Melton’s solo endeavor probably wouldn’t exist if not for another Memphis dude, Jay Reatard, and his low key recordings. The majority of Melton’s work on Misunderstood apes an even more stripped down sound than work with Bare Wires. That’s not saying too much, but there it is.

Nothing of his recorded output even approaches embarrassing, making the preceding screed a bit useless. At the same time, though, where’s the cut off point for this newest garage infatuation? Just go grab a Seeds’ album and be satisfied.