Con il bellissimo "Washing Machine" la vena creativa dei Sonic Youth sembrava rigenerata dopo le ultime prestazioni, meno originali e più tendenti al mainstream.
E così nel 1998, dopo una serie di EP sperimentali pubblicati per l'etichetta SYR, esce "A Thousand Leaves", il nuovo e attesissimo disco della Gioventù Sonica.
Con "A Thousand Leaves" Moore & compagni ammorbidiscono ulteriormente il loro sound, preferendo intrecci chitarristici raffinati all'oltranzismo noise dei primi album, ormai sempre meno presente nelle loro ultime produzioni.
E il disco in questione non fa che confermare quanto di buono avevamo ascoltato in "Washing Machine": si parte con "Contre Le Sexisme", dove il rumore di sottofondo accompagna il canto appiattito di Kim Gordon, seguita da altri pezzi bellissimi come il singolo "Sunday" (bellissimo video!), "Wildflower Soul", il tributo ad Allen Ginsberg "Hits Of Sunshine, 11 emozionanti minuti cantati sottovoce dall'immenso Thurston Moore, "Karen Koltrane" e la lentissima "Snare, Girl", dai tempi lenti e dilatati simili ad "Unwind".
Forse in un paio di pezzi ("The Ineffable Me", Heather Angel") l'invettiva polemica di Kim Gordon sembra un po' fuori luogo, ma sono solo momenti saltuari, che non intaccano la bellezza del disco, un vero gioiellino nella discografia sonica.
E poco importa se "A Thousand Leaves" non ha avuto il successo di vendite sperato: pur restando un album sottovalutatissimo, è sicuramente uno dei vertici toccati dalla band newyorkese nella loro carriera ventennale, una carriera che non ha quasi mai conosciuto momenti di declino, e il recente e ottimo "Sonic Nurse" ne è una conferma. Mitici.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Contre le sexisme (03:55)
describe the touch, no it’s the thought
it’s warm and yellow and has a ruffle
it’s warm and yellow and...
he’s so quiet i forgot he’s there
and i think here i am.
“oh alice, come back he’s just a kitten...
he’s just a kitten�?
a thousand leaves for your disguise fall on
the sky and looking up from down is a sea to
realize the leaves are falling up and down
up and round.
and this is from my heart to you
a crazy wind will stir me too and contre de la
sexisme
i am with you.
02 Sunday (04:52)
Sunday comes alone again
a perfect day for a quiet friend
and you - you will set it free
i see new morning round yr face
everybody sez its another phase
and now - now its come to me
see the magic in yr eyes
i see it come as no surprise
and you - you turn yr eyes away
yeah you - you turn it all away
i guess its true its never too late
still i don't know what to do today
oh why - can't i set you free
will you - do the same for me
sunday comes and sunday goes
sunday always seems to move so slow
to me - here she comes again
a perfect ending to a perfect day
a perfect ending what can i say
to you - lonely sunday friend
with you - sunday never ends
03 Female Mechanic Now on Duty (07:43)
i wanna shut you down
love yr. sight and sound
i wanna spin you round, till yr. underground
i wanna strip you down
till you feel the round
i wanna feel your shine
i wanna waste some time
i wanna paint my face
like a model out of place
cause im supposed to dare
the machine will tear
i’ll throw up sometime
and then you’ll be mine
i wanna serve you down
while my mind is on the ground
i wanna move your switch
make you go quish
my desiring machine
yeah it’s made pretty clean
now i’ll turn the dial
and i’ll put you ina pile
modern women cry
modern women don’t cry
cry don’t cry
you hut me with your lie
touch the fire in the rain and
see the children
stop their play and
look for shelter
in the garden of their
make believe and i
i believe
perfection is a
i can see what you’re going thru but
i can’t melt my head to what you’re
whisked away to light the bomb a
thousand leaves are left to stay and...
04 Wildflower Soul (09:04)
sing yr children
yr children song
sing yr love child
love is on
see thru child eyes
eyes are old
and old is magic growing
see the child lights
spinning gold
everyday girl
they blow away
leaves falling to the water
wildflowers
for you today
sing yr birthday
yr birthday blues
sing yr wild light
wildflowers bloom
they will not forget you
and down/they go
to sleep/so slow
away/they grow
they go
i wait/i wait all day
sing yr love child
love is on
sing yr child lights
sing yr child lights
lights are gold
sing yr child life
wildflower soul
05 Hoarfrost (05:01)
I put my feet deep in the tracks that you made
walked behind you off into the wood
‘We’ll know where when we get there’ you said
And we both knew we would
high above like a spider
the colors turning brown
freeways passing by us
I took yr hand and we knelt down
wheels paddle wheels paddle movement as we go
trees passing trees passing signs along the road
a view thru the trees to a couple in the snow
a view thru the trees to a couple standing in
the snow
Suddenly the trees were flashing by us
Clouds reflecting fast across your eyes
We turned into a frozen medow
The wind the only sound
‘We’ll know where when we get there’ you said
‘We’ll know where when we get there’ you said
06 French Tickler (04:52)
free time, free time
I have got it gonna get me some
free time, free time
I would spend it forever captivated
free time, free time
would you tell me the secret of yr arm
free time, free time
forever fabulastic, blowup, pleasuristic
I feel combustible
that’s my will say it all
mille feuille
mille feuille
mille feuille
now you better take a deep breath
the smell is just the best
i’ll transform even yr breast
you are my new weekend guest
I can’t believe this could happen to me
caught inside someone’s knee
free time, free time
uncovered forever barest endeavor
free time, free time
if you want me splash me forever
free time, free time
let it happen the leisure, enchanting
free time, free time
yr neck is my favorite pleeze don’t spare it
I feel combustible that’s my will, say it all
now you better cough up the dough
if you want to join the show
exotique is not for free
spend wisely eternity
engine of desire is on the road
don’t get stuck without a job
free time, free time
you have got it gonna get me some
free time, free time
wandering, fantastic, sparkling demanded
free time, free time
did I mention that you control me
free time, free time
the merest endeavor slightly forever
mille feuille
mille feuille
mille feuille
mille feuille
09 The Ineffable Me (05:21)
cant catch me
i’m syntax free
i’m preconceived
preternaturally
i don’t invest
in what is best
your once and for all
means shit to me
hate translator
hate translator
hate translator
you can’t catch me
don’t mistake her
don’t misshape her
you don’t mutate her
you can’t get me
the radical beacon
the preverbal season
the abstract poetics
immediate treason
do you remember
reductionist lie
fundamentalist
alibi
hate castrater
hate castrater
hate castrater
don’t fuck with me
don’t you break her
and don’t deflate her
don’t outdate her
or you’ll fuck with me
its a cushy job
a pussy’s job
a cum junkie’s job
makes my dick throb
feel...ineffable
cant catch me
i’m syntax free
i’m preconceived
prehistoricly
don’t be alarmed
don’t be alarmed
don’t be alarmed
its only me
come back in my arms
back in my arms
back in my arms
the ineffable me
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Altre recensioni
Di Dan Erre
«I don’t wanna die, guys» – Thurston Moore nel ricordo del 1998.
«Nei Sonic, lo sfondamento della soglia del rumore determinava l’approdo a un nuovo gradino espressivo, non l’esibizione d’una confusa rabbia iconoclasta.»
