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Esiste, soprattutto nell'ambito della musica classica ma non solo, il concetto di musica "assoluta". Potremmo provare a semplificare dicendo che la musica, di qualsiasi genere o epoca, possiede delle caratteristiche intrinseche, delle strutture interne che, come una formula matematica, riescono a fare in modo che quello che io sono solito chiamare contenitore e contenuto possano fondersi. In questo modo nasce una composizione di musica assoluta; cioè una musica che riesce a superare il limite rappresentato da quello che originariamente erano le intenzioni espressive dello stesso artista che l'ha creata.
Questa introduzione mi è sembrata il modo migliore per parlare di un opera di un gruppo come i Nine Inch Nails, incontrastata icona della musica Industrial.
Al di la dell'indiscussa capacità di Trent Reznor di "tradurre" il linguaggio tipico dell'Industrial in qualcosa di più accessibile per ampie fasce di ascoltatori, principalmente avvicinandosi a sonorità più propriamente rock, il merito infinitamente più grande della sua opera consiste nella creazione di strutture musicali possentemente "assolute".
E' pur vero che un disco come "Year Zero" è un opera scopertamente politica e diretta, rispetto certamente a "The Fragile", dove Reznor metteva a nudo il suo lato più intimo e personale. Ma il grande pregio di questa realizzazione, a mio avviso sottovalutata, è quello di superare appunto i limiti di ciò che viene direttamente dichiarato nei suoni e nei testi dei singoli brani.
E' del tutto superfluo sapere ad esempio che "The Good Soldier" si riferisce a qualcosa che ha a che fare con le guerre, e ancor meno che si tratta di quelle combattute sotto la bandiera a stelle e strisce: per la scioltezza ammirabile, la tensione trattenuta a stento, il pezzo è un gioiello spirituale che potrebbe parlare di qualunque cosa. Quello che percepiamo non è più allora una banale invettiva contro la guerra in se, ma addirittura un "rimpianto" per le guerre di una volta, quando non c'era la meschinità di combatterle usando aerei senza pilota; ecco, questa è la "profondità" di un pezzo di musica assoluta. Di non costringerci cioè ad andare in una sola direzione nella percezione che abbiamo di un brano, ma di lasciare aperta la nostra coscienza alla ricezione di una verità più vasta. La pressante batteria con cui si apre "Hyperpower!" e l'intero album, è semplicemente e assolutamente un tumulto operaio di fronte all'avanzare della tecnologia nelle fabbriche, magari agli inizi del 900'. E' questo il punto: non importa se sulla copertina dell'album compare un alieno. L'assolutezza - e l'oggettività - di questa musica è tale da condurre l'ascoltatore verso un interpretazione più vasta di ciò che gli verrebbe suggerito in apparenza. Nulla ci vieta di considerare i rumori meccanici che fanno da sottofondo a "Vessel" un' allusione ai macchinari di una fabbrica degli anni settanta, dove il lavoro aveva ancora una dignità. O ancora: perché autocostringersi a recepire "Capital G" magari come una scontata denuncia dell'alienazione consumistica attuale? Può significare un infinità di altre cose. Mentre "God Given" ci riporta ai Nine Inch Nails più puri, "The Greater Good" è l'emblema di quanto di più alienante e grottesco ci sia nella globalizzazione: atmosfera allucinata con un sottofondo vagamente tribale, quasi l'immagine del contrasto tra l'Africa preistorica e l'era dei computer. Qualcosa di simile anche in "Another Version Of The Truth" dove però quel piano etereo ci fa intravedere la luce in fondo al tunnel, ci dice che, come in "Blade runner", alla fine la pioggia cesserà e il sole riapparirà a illuminare le nostre vite... Sensazione del tutto suggellata da "Zero Sum" che chiude l'opera quasi con un senso di redenzione.
Alla fine, concludendo, siamo di fronte ad un ottimo esempio di musica assoluta. Un opera che dimostra di possedere la capacità di trascendere l'etichetta, in questo caso l'Industrial, con la quale viene comunque classificata. E' l'essenza della grande musica, di ogni tempo e di ogni genere.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
03 Survivalism (04:24)
I should have listened to her, so hard to keep control
We kept on eating but our bloated belly's still not full
She gave us all she had but we went and took some more
Can't seem to shut her legs, our mother nature is a whore
I got my propaganda, I got revisionism
I got my violence in hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist, I got my plan, I got survivalism
Hypnotic sound of sirens echoing through the street
The cocking of the rifles, the marching of the feet
You see your world on fire, don't try to act surprised
We did just what you told us, lost our faith along the way and found ourselves believing your lies
I got my propaganda, I got revisionism
I got my violence in hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist, I got my plan, I got survivalism
All bruised and broken, bleeding
She asked to take my hand
I turned, just keep on walking
But you'd do the same thing in the circumstance I'm sure you'll understand
I got my propaganda, I got revisionism
I got my violence in hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist, I got my plan, I got survivalism
You got your pacifism, I got survivalism (repeat)
05 Vessel (04:53)
I let you put it in my mouth
I let it get under my skin
I let you pump it through my veins
I let you take me from within
They tell us what we can and cannot do
Same thing we've heard a hundred times before
When I put you inside of me
None of that matters anymore
My God
Can it go any faster?
Oh, my God
I don't think I can last here
My God
Can it go any faster?
Oh, my God
I don't think I can last here
I am you and you are me
We will never be alone
I have finally found my place in everything
I have finally found my home
I can leave all of the flesh behind
I can see right through the whole façade
I am becoming something else, yeah
I am a turning into God
My God
Can it go any faster?
Oh, my God
I don't think I can last here
My God
Can it go any faster?
Oh, my God
I don't think I can last here
My God
Can it go any faster?
Oh, my God
I don't think I can last here
My God
Can it go any faster?
Oh, my God
I don't think I can last here
07 Capital G (03:50)
I pushed a button and elected him to office and uh
He pushed a button and he dropped the bomb
You pushed a button and can watch it on the television
Those mother fuckers didn't last too long, huh huh
I'm sick of hearing about the haves and the have nots
Have some personal accountability
The biggest problem with the way that we've been doing things is
The more we let you have the less that I'll be keeping for me
Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Trading in my God for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G
Don't give a shit about the temperature in Guatemala
Don't really see what all the fuss is about
Ain't gonna worry 'bout no future generations and uh
I'm sure somebody gonna figure it out
Don't try to tell me that some power can corrupt a person
You haven't had enough to know what it's like
You're only angry cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head because you know that I'm right
Alright
Well I used to stand for something
But forgot what that could be
There's a lot of me inside you
Maybe you're afraid to see
Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Trading in my God for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G
Well I used to stand for something
But forgot what that could be
There's a lot of me inside you
Maybe you're afraid to see
Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Trading in my God for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G
09 The Warning (03:39)
Some say it was a warning
Some say it was a sign
I was standing right there
When it came down from the sky
The way it spoke to us
You felt it from inside
Said it was up to us
Up to us to decide
"You've become a virus
Killing off its host
We been watching you with all of our eyes
And what you seem to value most
So much potential
Or so we used to say
Your greed, self-importance and your arrogance
You piss it all away
We heard her cry
We've come to intervene
You will change your ways and you will make amends
Or we will wipe this place clean"
Your time is ticking away
11 Meet Your Master (04:09)
Bow down in position
Against the polished steel
This is something different
You like the way this feels
No time for asking questions
No time for wondering
We've had enough of you now
You've heard everything
You want to play a new game
You put on this blindfold
You do what we tell you
You do as you're told
Used to be the leader but
Now comes the time to serve
Maybe we'll show some mercy
Maybe you'll get what you deserve
Countdown to the end, gonna make it go faster
Right around the bend
Is a coming disaster
Countdown to the end, can I get a little faster
Come on down, my friend
It's time to meet your master
You've left quite a mess here
Under your stewardship
You thought you'd figured it out but
You'll find your place in this
You think its so convincing
You think you see the truth
Give us so many things now
We've got in store for you
Countdown to the end, gonna make it go faster
Right around the bend
Is a coming disaster
Countdown to the end, can I get a little faster
Come on down, my friend
It's time to meet your master
Come on down
12 The Greater Good (04:52)
Breathe us in
Slowly, slowly
Everything you do
Everywhere you go
Anything we want
Anything
Breathe
Breathe us in
Slowly, slowly
Persuasion
Coercion
Submission
Assimilation
Persuasion
Coercion
Submission
Assimilation
Persuasion
Coercion
Submission
Assimilation
Breathe us in
Slowly, slowly
15 In This Twilight (03:34)
watch the sun, as it crawls across a final time
and it feels like, like it was a friend
it is watching us, and the world we set on fire
do you wonder if it feels the same?
and the sky is filled with light, can you see it?
all the black is really white, if you believe it
as your time is running out, let me take away your doubt
you can find a better place in this twilight
from dust to dust, ashes in your hair remind me
what it feels like and i won't feel again
night descends, could I have been a better person?
if i could only do it all again
but the sky is filled with light, do you see it?
all the black is really white if you believe it
and the longing that you feel, you know none of this is real
you will find a better place in this twilight
16 Zero-Sum (06:15)
they're starting to open up the sky
they're starting to reach down through
and it feels like we're living in that split-second
of a car crash
and time is slowing down
and if we only had a little more time
and this time
is all there is
do you remember the time we
and all the times we
and should have
and were going to
i know
and i know you remember
how we could justify it all
and we knew better
in our hearts we knew better
and we told ourselves it didn't matter
and we chose to continue
and none of that matters anymore
in the hour of our twilight
and soon it will be all said and done
and we will all be back together as one
if we will continue at all
shame on us, doomed from the start
may god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
shame on us, for all we've done
and all we ever were, just zeros and ones
and you never get away
and you never get to take the easy way
and all of this is a consequence
brought on by our own hand
if you believe in that sort of thing
and did you ever really find
when you closed your eyes
any place that was still
and at peace
and i guess i just wanted to tell you
as the light starts to fade
that you are the reason
that i am not afraid
and i guess i just wanted to mention
as the heavens will fall
we will be together soon if we
will be anything at all
shame on us, doomed from the start
may god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
shame on us, for all we've done
and all we ever were, just zeros and ones
shame on us (shame on us), doomed from the start
may god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
shame on us (shame on us), for all we've done
and all we ever were, (just) just zeros and ones
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di Enkriko
Questo album è la conferma che il nostro stimato Trent Reznor in realtà è sempre stato uno scrittore di pop music mascherato.
Il singolo "Survivalism" è un pezzone innocuo che vorrebbe trasudare energia e "angst" ma lascia abbastanza indifferenti già al secondo ascolto.
Di beso
Trent Reznor con 'Year Zero' si è avventurato in un mondo nuovo, quello delle melodie, con un approccio più orecchiabile ma non meno cattivo.
Forse siamo di fronte a un polistrumentista-genio che ha deciso a 40 anni di gettare la maschera e far conoscere una parte della sua anima fino ad oggi nascosta.
Di Omega Kid
Finalmente ho trovato il degno successore di The Downward Spiral.
Un rock-pop-industrial da ascolto in cravatta, mentre ripensate alle vostre scorribande giovanili.
