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Fartbarf is a three-piece analog electronic band that began in the South Bay of Los Angeles, California.

As Oliver Walker cites on his website, Fartbarf's description of themselves is: "A mere handful of ape-like orderlies resisting a touchscreen future. Give us knobs or give us death!" Oliver Walker describes Fartbarf's sound as a, "..sonic wall of post-neanderthal analog synthesis."

Fartbarf originated in the South Bay of Los Angeles, California. They are notable for their costumed presence at performances as well as the unique sounds of their all-analog instruments and refusal to use computer-editing to generate their electronic-sounding music.

They have played at an abundance of Southbay clubs, bars, events, local shops, and, really, any music venue they can get their hands on. Although, much a local band, they have performed in San Francisco, Hollywood, and even Scotland.

History
Josh McLeod, (Vocals / Synthesizer / Programming) began Fartbarf with Dan Burley (Vocals / Synthesizer) and Brian Brunac (Drums) in the South Bay of Los Angeles, California in 2008.

They performed at an annual Ohio music festival dedicated to DEVO called DEVOtional in 2009, and were invited to perform at the festival again in 2010. In 2010 they were also invited to perform at two music festivals, RockNess and GoNorth, and without so much as a record label, or even an EP, were flown to Scotland to do so.

In late September of 2012, Fartbarf was added to the lineup of the end of the Black Light Burns U.S. Tour, playing with Black Light Burns, Psychostick, and The Witch Was Right. At one of their shows at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, CA, Wes Borland, guitarist of Black Light Burns/Limp Bizkit, was seen onstage with Fartbarf, joining their performance.

Played at RobotSpeak in San Francisco, CA

Fartbarf's music can be heard on indie radio station, KXLU, as well as during commercial breaks of the streaming webcast of KROQ's Loveline show. They have also recently been reported to have received an artist endorsement deal through Tom Oberheim and Oberheim SEM’s.

Music style
Although their music is easily misclassified as 'computer-created music', they use predominately analog equipment, live drums to layer over pre-made drum machine sequences, and a kaleidoscope of homemade pedals and devices.

An editor at Hermosa Beach rock club, Saint Rocke, describes Fartbarf's music: "Fartbarf’s music is not computer music at all. Nothing is generated from computers. All sounds heard are created from electrical voltages being controlled by keyboards which in turn are being controlled by the members of Fartbarf."

Fartbarf employs the use of circuit-bending to personally create much of their own equipment.

History and notoriety of the name
Their name, Fartbarf, noted as "kind of genius" by A.V. Club&apos;s Kyle Ryan, has both helped and hurt the band. On one hand, sans both record label and professional management, the name Fartbarf alone aggregates plenty of free press, attention, and memorability. On the other, securing venues with other bands can sometimes be challenging because, really, who wants their band's name next to a word like "fartbarf" on a public marquee...

History
When asked about the origins of their name, Fartbarf says the name began as somewhat of a joke, but progressed from there. In 2010 they were invited to play the RockNess Festival and flown to Scotland, so changing the name after that would be slightly difficult.

On how the word fartbarf even came to be, at least in the hearts and minds of the band members' themselves, Jeff Vincent's article on EasyReader includes a quote from Josh McLeod himself: ''“We stopped in this little town and it smelled like, wow…it smelled like a fartbarf actually…it smelled terrible. We stopped for a bathroom break because that’s the only reason to stop in this crap-hole town…and there was a label [in the bathroom] from a label maker that some kid or someone had wrote fartbarf with. Many months later Dan and I started jamming and we needed a name for the collaboration, and Fartbarf was there.”''

Notoriety
Fartbarf, booked as an opening act to hip hop artist E-40 at the Grove of Anaheim, prepared a dance troupe in anticipation of the event, only to be cancelled at the last minute due to the unpalatable nature of their name. In addition to this, many venues in the past have shied away from displaying Fartbarf's name on their venue's marquee when advertising the lineup for the night, even going so far as changing the Fartbarf name itself on the marquee. Lead vocalist of Fartbarf, Josh McLeod, explains, ''“No one wants to put us on a marquee anywhere. We were supposed to play with E-40 and they wouldn’t play with us, just based on our name. I think it’s just people being weird and way too freakin’ PC these days. It’s definitely our biggest handicap. But we’re not changing the name.”''

Discography

 * Improv Cassette Vault: #001 (2010) EP
 * Post Neanderthal Peel Sessions (2010) EP
 * Dirty Power (2014) LP

Radio play
Fartbarf has enjoyed continuous radio play on Loyola Marymount University indie radio station KXLU (88.9 FM) and Los Angeles's commercial modern rock radio station KROQ (106.7 FM)'s Loveline.
 * KXLU - Interviewed by Los Angeles radio station KXLU 88.9FM co-hosts 'DJ Jen' and 'Dirty Jeff' on November 18, 2010.
 * KROQ's Loveline - Fartbarf's music is in regular rotation during the breaks of the Loveline show, on the online streaming broadcast of the show on the website.  Co-host of Loveline, Mike Catherwood (Psycho Mike), frequently mentions this band on the show, and has, in fact, personally played a show with them with his own band, Murder on the 405.  Loveline's long-time sound engineer since 1999, Anderson Cowan, often a part of the Loveline show himself, has uploaded video of Fartbarf's show in 2011 at Alex's Bar in Long Beach, CA, to his own personal website.

Festivals

 * RockNess in Scotland (2010)
 * GoNorth in Scotland 2010


 * DEVOtional in Ohio (2009/2010)
 * Devo-fest in Ohio (2010)