• Voto:
Quinta fatica discografica per il tenebroso Jamie Stewart e la sua musa Caralee McElroy, affiancati in questa circostanza da Greg Saunier dei Deerhoof (in qualità di produttore e membro non ufficiale).
Il connubio di chincaglieria post wave, di solenni aperture classicheggianti violentate da scariche al vetriolo di synth pop e di chitarre, di sperimentalismo post rock e variabili da musica folk e cabarettistica illumina le 11 tracce che compongono “The Air Force” forse con minore intensità rispetto a capolavori come “Knife Play” o “Faboulous Muscles”, ma i risultati sono sempre ottimi. Ed è pure intatta la poetica del gruppo, la solita “Ian Curtis Wishlist”, per citare uno dei brani più famosi del gruppo californiano: le sofferte interpretazioni di Jamie, i suoi testi lancinanti tra Dennis Cooper e Yukio Mishima, amore e morte che si inseguono in un forsennato gioco d’ombre. Caso mai il linguaggio sonoro tra questi solchi si è ulteriormente affinato, arrivando a scavare momenti di concisione pop praticamente perfetti nel consueto tourbillon rumorista: ”Boy Soprano” ad esempio, che si regge su un fantastico giro d’ organo che ipotizza una futurista “Decades” dei Joy Division , e con un testo come sempre torbido (“pulling out a bat at the Kill Me Court /slaps me that I can't handle you /but yes no yes no yes /tell me how to live /boy soprano /take me away from here”) che sembra rispondere al celebre quesito curtisiano di quel pezzo, “Here are the young men, where have they been?”.
Altri highlight di pop sinistro e obliquo sono la pianistica “Buzz Saw”, l’haiku crepuscolare “Hello From Eau Claire” (cantata da Caralee) e soprattutto “Vulture Piano” (un arpeggio rubato a Johnny Marr e inserito in un lancinante muro del suono) e “Save Me” (“She’s Lost Control” passata in lavatrice), eccellenti nel dimostrare quanto nessuno come Jamie abbia saputo rinnovare il canovaccio new wave in questi anni.
Non mancano certamente i momenti per chi rimpiange la claustrofobica e contorta introversione dei dischi precedenti: minisuite surrealiste come “The Fox And The Rabbit” e “Pineapple vs. the Watermelon” ammaliano coi loro intrecci di violino, piano e sintetizzatori, mentre la rarefatta “Wig Master” chiude il sipario, a fari spenti, tra musica soffusa e testi come “Loneliness isn't being alone/It's when someone loves you/And you don't have it in you to love them back”.
Certo, Jamie Stewart ha capito tutto dell’amore.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Buzz Saw (03:01)
Daniella, don't say be tender first
And don't say teach me
Before you get tied up for your first time
I'm not like that
I'm not so good you will want too
Your black hair is like black hair
Mine I promise is a jerk's hair
Your acne is like a pearl
Mine I swear is a brimstone
I'm not like that
How is it you thought I might be?
02 Boy Soprano (03:23)
look at me nothing bad is ever
going to happen to you again
although you are a solid pile of hate
you're still pretty like a cake
pulling out a bat at the Kill Me Court
slaps me that I can't handle you
but yes no yes no yes
tell me how to live
boy soprano
take me away from here
boy soprano
where will we go tonight?
boy soprano
do what you can to shock me
boy soprano
boy boy boy
(I hope you make it I hope you have)
when you get to be my age
the police don't assume that you
still like to light things on fire
bearing that in mind
I wouldn't trust me either
but it was the two of us watching
two bunnies hop across
the peach street gang
yes no yes no yes
confide in me you don't want to die
look back from the stains on my gloves
to the stains on yours
thank you for telling me vodka
is a poncy drink but little man
the hand ball is in your court
boy soprano
take me away from here
boy soprano
where will we go tonight?
boy soprano
do what you can to shock me
boy soprano
I hope you make it I hope you have
03 Hello From Eau Claire (02:54)
I know it's dumb to say
That you are on my mind
I know it's stupid to dream
That you might think of me as a man
I can loose my own tie knot
I can button up my own pants
I can buy my own cigarettes
I can pluck my own mustache
I read it's lame to wish
That you won't walk out on me
But I'm not embarassed to sing
Plainly the words love and your name
I can pay all my own bills (debts)
I can unroll (rip off) my own tights
I can untuck all I have to untuck
(I can humiliate myself to your face)
I can weep through my own midnights
04 Vulture Piano (03:23)
Won't let it go
It's creeping along
A deep lack of guilt and
A fools sense of love
You could say it's nothing
You could claim there's no one to hide
You could be respectable and keep it to yourself at least
Cuz I know she was the best that you've had
Cuz I know she was the best that you've had
Greased and unclean
A hiss laid by God
A duped bridal hole and
A boyhood slipping in blood
You could say it's nothing
You could claim there's no one to hide
You could be respectable and keep it to yourself at least
Cuz I know she was the best that you've had
Yes I know she was the best that you've had
V-U-L-T-U-R-E-P-I-A-N-OH!
You could say it's nothing
You could claim there's no one to hide
You could be respectable and keep it to yourself at least
Cuz I know she was the best that you've had
Yes I know she was the best that you've had
(woop woop ahp woop)
05 PJ in the Streets... (02:57)
Straight ahead what is there?
My brother and sister and I
Trying to make some sense of this
It's just a fleeting thought though
For there is nothing in our wondering
Night in night out love begins and love ends
The red sun rises
Sadness is still in print
My royal name is Cyrus The Selfish
And yours Panic In The Streets Of London
Listen when the baby calls your name
And don't act as if you didn't know...
06 Bishop, CA (04:06)
this blue dot of sickly light
that is daytime in your embarassed town
burns a hole in the fading yellow ribbon
on your fading wine colored Cavaliere
the mine has fallen down on you
as you dug a well of death
milk and sugar water
in brief sympathy with them
when we see the hate in your eyes
it doesn't make us better men
the mine has crushed your brother
as he ruined our rotting sky
a white blast of black hot powder
as you lapse into a real boy
the mind has fallen down on you
as you dug a well of death
tears of sugar water flow
in briefest sympathy with them
should you be ashamed for more than that?
than that your daddy raped you silly
leaning my head on the refrigerator
crying for the stupid world we share
walla walla walla walla walla walla walla hey
08 The Pineapple vs. The Watermelon (03:28)
can I pray for your return?
the bird I am looking for is not in me
it is you
it's so clear you missed it
what we saw in you
green like flame
someone felt something pure
and told it all to you
that was why you killed yourself
to prove it wasn't true
say hello to Cory's mom
say hello to Freddy's mom
say hello to Ryan's mom
we're all and have been
on your side
what is worse for you to bear?
it's obscene
why you missed
what they saw in you
grey like flame
can I pray for your return?
09 Save Me Save Me (02:39)
Though this is all you'll ever get
It would be a strange delite
No eyes no nose no mind
The grey light of Porto stays with you
Oh how can you love a tiny bug impressed
By the night when you cut yourself?
Save me Save me
Your body rotten as the last melon
On the vine
Pull your shirt down
Save me Save me
Press my thumb onto your tounge
Hand a knife up to me
No mouth no neck no rest
The white poem of self hate stays with you
Even though you know a chance to cut
Is still a chance to cure
Pull your legs apart
Save me save me
Your body doomed as the last apple
On the tree so let me hurt you
Save me save me
Save me save me
Oh how can you love a tiny bug impressed
By the night
Save me save me
Your body rotten as the last melon
On the vine
10 The Fox & The Rabbit (03:12)
I like people who are wrong
could you then feel like I do
Collossus bestrides the haves and have nots
go softly this is being sung for you
wake up wake up
the wish you made is plucked
go out get up
you've done enough enough
wake up wake up
to take the time to cuss
go out get up
you've seen enough enough
do you think that you deserve it?
I am waiting here for you
looking out across the brooke
my hands resting on my chest
but still I stare into the night
wake up wake up
the wish you made is plucked
go out get up
you've done enough enough
wake up wake up
to take the time to cuss
go out get up
you've seen enough enough
when the fox hears the rabbit cry
he comes running but not to help
11 Wig Master (04:17)
You said, "I will build you a bed of cactus
where you can sleep when the night is
too sharp."
I said, "I will cover you with wax and light
your hair like a wick when the night is too cold."
you don't think of me as often as I'd like you to but
when you do it's of me looking for you on the ship
the plane I am waiting on has your face printed on
the wings
when it crashes I will eat the paint off
I'm gonna spank your ass so hard you will hate
the wig master but I'll put two pillows on your
dining room chair
you're like a parrot something that belongs to me
and not to you
loneliness isn't being alone, it's when someone loves
you and you don't have it in you to love them back
look at my hair it's a dirty little mop crying
for you to send it away
all a guy needs is a chance to pull off my clothes and
snicker, "Try harder."
if you mail me a toy I will use it but that's the most
I have to offer
"Do you want to see my panties?" is the last thing
I will ever say to you
"I want to finger every teenager I see," is the last thing
you say to me
don't make fun of my night out
Carico i commenti... con calma
