With "Barricade" and New Album, Interpol Has Officially Become Terrible

By Ian S. Port Fri., Aug. 27 2010 at 1:58 PM

So maybe Interpol was never going to become the creative monster some hoped in 2002. But Turn On the Bright Lights and Antics were both reasonably solid-to-quite-enjoyable albums, joining gothy proto-punk with the eerie, paranoid welps of vocalist/guitarist Paul Banks. That was then; this lame video for the single "Barricade" (literally: "To keep us away, it kind of does") is the state of Interpol now. Major bummer: with the departure of bassist Carlos D., there's no one the camera can turn to when the song's best part -- its funky stop-start bassline -- takes over. We're left with Banks singing to the camera, with his face imposed over suggestive slabs of female anatomy, and the rest of the members playing their instruments too enthusiastically in a field somewhere. Snore.

Oh, and about that self-titled album the band has coming out September 14: We've heard it, we've played for other Interpol fans, and we feel completely confident telling you that it is not good. It may even be terrible. If anything, Spin's early review is too nice. And we take no pleasure in telling you all this.

Follow us on Twitter @SFAllShookDown and @iPORT