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"Tubi percorsi da Neon Congelato" (da "Rockstar" del Dicembre '97)
Diventare X era quello che nel '96 Chris Corner si prefiggeva e probabilmente, visto il nome del Progetto che ha fondato con il nuovo Millennio, "IAMX", c'è pure riuscito.
Mai titolo fu più azzeccato per un album che a 11 anni di distanza suona ancora sospeso tra l'indefinito ed il glaciale ma terribilmente elegante, di quel ricercato che però non diventa mai stucchevole.
Non so se chi, come il sottoscritto, ascoltò "in diretta" quest'album ebbe la mia stessa sensazione e cioè che difficilmente il Pop Elettronico del progetto di Reading avrebbe avuto vita facile con il passare delle Stagioni e degli Anni ma, è un fatto, che l'assoluta invisibilità che "godettero" presso Critica e Media i pur belli e successivi "Splinter" e "Bloodsport" diede conferma all luogo comune che non si può stare con il piede in due staffe a meno che tu non sia già un'Icona Conclamata...
Il problema si potrebbe chiarire con le espressioni "Commerciale ma non abbastanza, Ricercato ma troppo Pop", ed è infatti questo essere indefinito che potrebbe essere il punto debole (per chi poi l'Album te lo deve pur far vendere) di "Becoming X" ma se per un attimo si mettono via inutili pregiudizi legati all'epoca e di conseguenza al Genere (il Trip Hop) che allora fagocitava in se qualsiasi cosa purchè un minimo in tema (e quindi anche questo disco, pur essendo Trip Hop quanto i Tool sono Hair Metal), si finisce per capire che lo "svolazzare esitante" di quest'Opera Prima è, in realtà, il punto di Forza e la caratteristica per cui ancor oggi si gusta ancor fragrante come una brioche appena sfornata, anche se l'atmosfera glaciale del dischetto fa apparire sballato il paragone...
Un anno fa cominciai con il recensire il loro (per ora) ultimo disco e ora mi ritrovo in questo cammino, volutamente a ritroso, a parlare del primo mentre è abbastanza fresca una voce che li vede al lavoro per un quarto Lp "SP5", (che in realtà come si capisce dal titolo sarebbe il quinto visto che un "SP4" non vide mai le stampe e le cui canzoni finirono ad essere incluse tra le cose degli IAMX) ed è inutile dire che questa cosa mi emoziona molto e da più senso ad uno scritto, che essendo il mio terzo su questo gruppo, avrebbe poco (poi dipende...) da dire.
Il poco è relativo alle note biografiche che potrete leggere e alle influenze Elettro e Dark Wave di Corner & Co di cui è anche abbastanza superfluo parlare, avendolo già fatto a iosa, cose invece più importanti da far notare per chi avesse ascoltato solo altri loro lavori è che qui a cantare non è Chris ma, come voleva la moda del tempo, una dolce signorina dal nome Kelli Dayton destinata ad essere ricordata solo per (l'ottimo, comunque) lavoro fatto qui e, inoltre, che se cercate le atmosfere Spleen del loro secondo Album ("Splinter") non le troverete.
Qui non c'è sofferenza esistenziale, qui c'è solo attitudine per un'eleganza sonora ed una freddezza programmata che finiscono incredibilmente per ammaliare, sostenute come sono dalla voce sottile ma sensuale della Dayton e da un groove appena accennato ma abbastanza palpitante da rimanere estremamente vitale...
...e poi l'ellettrominimalismo di "How Do", i violini "finti" di "Walking Zero", il ritmo quasi dance di "Spin Spin Sugar" , il fascino Darkeggiante di "Tesko Suicide" e "Low Place Like Home" ed ovviamente il Pop d'Autore di "6 Underground" sono motivi più che validi per riscoprire un disco spesso confuso nel calderone dell'easy listening fin troppo scontato.
Io mi fermerei qui... nei commenti mi farete notare se ho detto abbastanza, troppo, o troppo poco, per il resto Buon Inverno popolo di DeBaser...
Diventando X, essere leggeri ed indecisi, spaventati da un nuovo millennio che sta per arrivare ma stanchi del nichilismo dominante la fine di quello che stiamo per lasciare, Diventando X per difenderci e continuare a vivere ed essere felici, invisibili ai nemici ma presenti per chi, anche solo per un attimo, ci ha amati...
Io Sono X.
Mo.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Low Place Like Home (04:38)
You walked all over, in your blunderstones
In your own road movie, with your one armed man
Gonna make it to the problem page
Trouble-shoot your life
Gonna make it to the problem page
Need some time and space
Just to find yourself
I hope you find yourself
In a low place like home
Low place like home
You talked it over from your bedroom throne
Making sense of nothing, like your one armed man,
Read your future in the magazine, search your stars for clues
Read your future in the magazine, tells you what to lose
Just to find yourself
I hope you find yourself
In a low place like home
Low place like home
You fall all over, in your small town heels
Catching hold of nothing, like your one armed man,
Treat your life like a tragedy, self-inflict abuse
Treat your life like a tragedy, precious else to choose
Crucify yourself, I hope you find yourself
In a low place like home
Low place like home
02 Tesko Suicide (03:48)
Phone me and I'll hang up
Sick and tired of being bubble gum chewed up
Dark lane, bleak house shrinking rose, You're over and out
Tie a cherry bootstring, put your candy teeth in
Choking on a sweetheart, hang up, hang up, hang up
Go on girls - solo,
Go on girls - take a chance,
Go on girls - trust it,
Go on girls - the truth is ...
Cut your hair wear a chip on your shoulder
Get ahead, get laid, get it over
Cheap show, back seat martyr's pose, you're over and out
I'm checking out of my senses, buying best defences
Putting on the trousers, hang up, hang up, hang up
Go on girls - solo,
Go on girls - take a chance,
Go on girls - trust it,
Go on girls - the truth is ...
So so ... Single ... So low ... The truth is ...
You want the day to fit to a soundtrack
Get a story get a life and get back
You've got nothing to shout about
You're over and out
I'm checking out of my senses, Buying best defences
Fired up on free-will, hang up, hang up, hang up
Go on girls - solo,
Go on girls - take a chance,
Go on girls - trust it,
Go on girls - the truth is ...
So so ... Single ... So low ... The truth is ...
So so ... Single ... So low ... The truth is .
03 6 Underground (03:49)
(A one, two)
Take me down,
6 underground, the ground beneath your feet (A one, two)
Laid out low
Not meant to go
No where or way to meet (A one, two)
I've got a head full of drought
Down here
So far off from losing out
Round here
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open...to falling through grace
Calm me down
Bring it round
To way high off your street (A one, two)
I can see
Like nothing else
In me you're better than I wanna be
Don't think cuz I understand
I care
Don't think cuz I'm talking
We're friends
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open...to falling through grace
Talk me down
Safe and sound
Too strung up to sleep (A one, two)
Wear me out
Scream and shout
Swear my time's never cheap (A one, two)
I fake my life like I bleed
Too much
I'll take whatever your giving
Not enough
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open
I fake my life like I've lived
Too much
I'll take whatever you're giving
Not enough
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open...to falling through grace
(A one, two)
(A one, two)
(A one, two)
(A one, two)
04 Becoming X (04:15)
you can keep breathing
i only fall when you are near me
incomplete
i only talk when you can hear me
keep dreaming
can't wake up until i'm sleeping
lost on me
close to something i'd never be
()
if i just stay here
close my eyes can you still see me
obsolete
very nearly something to see
see me
i can't wake up for sleeping
incomplete
very nearly something to be
still see me
there's a punishment needed
obsolete
very nearly something to be
very nearly something to be
you can keep trying
drown in sleep to be flying
see for miles
something that I wanted to be
i can't wake this dream
prototype ends up has been
incomplete
the consequence of something to be
05 Spin Spin Sugar (03:35)
I'm everyone - I feel used
I'm everyone - I need you
I'm everyone - hang your label on me
I'm everyone - Paint it black and white and easy
I'm everyone - Sticks in me
I'm everyone - Sticks with me
I want perfection - I'm real need
I've seen attention - See through me
Call on me - Spin spin sugar
Crawl on me - Spin spin sugar
Stinks on me - Spin spin sugar
Twists for me - Spin spin sugar
I've seen attention - See through me
I want perfection - I'm real need
I'm everyone - Sticks in me
I'm everyone - Sticks with me
Call on me - Spin spin sugar
Crawl on me - Spin spin sugar
Stinks on me - Spin spin sugar
Twists for me - Spin spin sugar
06 Post-Modern Sleaze (03:30)
She looks ahead, she paints her toe nails red,
She's wet and wild, a typical 90's child,
She makes every move they make,
She takes everything they take,
She must be a Thelma or Louise,
She must be a post-modern sleaze
Unscrew the wine, she'll throw a party line,
Stories extreme, she's such a drama queen,
Cries through the night, she choked on Marlboro lites,
Pure charm and grace, she hates her pretty face,
She makes every move they make,
She takes everything they take,
She must be a Thelma or Louise,
She must be a post-modern sleaze
Straw spun from gold, she craves a tortured soul,
All doom and gloom, she plays an open wound,
She takes every scene they steal,
She fakes every pain they feel,
She must be a Thelma or Louise,
She must be a post-modern tease.
07 Waterbaby (04:12)
Sneaker Pimps
Becoming X (1996)
Waterbaby
Your heart is served cold
Your sights are set in perfect stone
And when you go you go alone
And when you stand you're on your own
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
We're nothing like friends
You have no time to lend
And if you're guilt then I'm the shame
And if I'm hurt then you're the blame
You wash my trace from your skin and you leave again
You wash my trace from your skin and you leave again
(the love is boards
life left with anons)
Random laid plans
40 days of one night stands
And when you go you go alone
You walk the cross you made your own
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
(wash my skins off run my skin off
wash my skins off run my skin off)
08 Roll On (04:29)
Roll on, these doors are open
Roll off, you can come next time,
I'm in love with your confusion, on your knees
When you're breathing through your elbows,
Down on me, down on me
Roll on roll off,
Roll on roll off,
Don't take that wrong
Don't take that wrong
Roll up, these doors are open,
Load up, come next time
Don't try to hurry me along,
Just walk ahead a little gone
Roll on roll off,
Roll on roll off,
Don't take that wrong
Don't take that wrong
Roll on, going down on me,
Roll off, make it easy on me,
You can't think you're someone special,
On your knees,
We're throwing punches underwater,
Sink with me, sink with me, sink
Roll on roll off,
Roll on roll off,
Something is sinking X5
09 Wasted Early Sunday Morning (04:29)
you're not the sun
it's just a light
waking on a sunday morning
you're not the church
it's just the bells
ringing sweetly through the house
and if this sense of mind
you got an answer
and I am not this rare
you're still in reach
I please myself
wasting early sunday morning
you're not my lead
you're just my help
tuck me in just denied
and in this state of mind
you want a want
nothing close to what I need
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
suit yourself
lose myself
breaking early sunday morning
you're not the sun
you're not my church
I still hold some self control
But in this sense of mind
I'm still too high
look no hands
I breathe you in
breathe you in
breathe you in
breathe you in
breathe you in
(i breathe you
i breathe you
i breathe you
i breathe you
i breathe you)
10 Walking Zero (04:31)
Sacrifice my vanity
Kick off my heels
A careless weight on your hatred
Understand it's so simple
A simple please
To keep the faithful on wounded knee
To the madness i do confess
I never see myself as blessed
(confused, unaddressed)
Like a saviour i do caress
The truth is boredom more or less
(unused, obsessed)
My time is only given up to you
Too much to choose
It's not mine to contemplate
If i can lose
With this blood on my shoes
Compromise in full extreme
Cut off my heels
Name a price on what's sacred
Guaranteed i've got something
A royal disease
Take a flood to clean these streets
To the madness i do confess
Forever see myself as blessed
(immune, obsessed)
Like a saviour i do caress
The truth is boredom, it's excess
(take more, give less)
My time is only given up to you
Too much to choose
It's not mine to contemplate if i can lose
With this blood on my shoes
Carico i commenti... con calma
