Mai stato un ultrà della curva post-punk meneghina: eccettuato quell’irripetibile miracolo che furono i Krisma, ho sempre guardato con sospetto una scena popolata da troppi personaggi discutibili, fenomeni di costume che hanno portato a casa pochi risultati musicali, look prorompente a parte. Parlando di mainstream, quantomeno.
Come spesso accade, la situazione cambia se si inizia a sondare l’underground, magari allontanandosi dagli anni bollenti (anche se, dato il genere in esame, sarebbe più appropriato gelidi…) e sorvolando la fase successiva, quando la moda iniziava a scemare. Era il periodo in cui la new wave stava per consegnare all’hardcore lo scettro controculturale, con l’occupazione del Virus a rappresentare lo spartiacque simbolico tra le due ere: un medioevo che si stava lasciando alle spalle le tensioni politiche per aprirsi all’edonismo del riflusso, scavando una netta trincea tra l’ottimismo yuppie della Milano da bere e la sbandata disperazione di quella “da pere”.
La musica risultante, in qualche maniera, rimane in bilico su quel confine: ballabile come l’italodisco allora in voga, ma malata quanto basta da testimoniare un reale disagio, orizzonte distopico a metà tra “Fuga da New York” e le “città morte” profetizzate un decennio più tardi dai Future Sound Of London. Una scena magari non particolarmente sperimentale o originale, ma più che interessante per la personalità di alcuni nomi coinvolti, per lo più poco noti, capaci di immortalare quel clima angosciato da Guerra Fredda con brani che si riascoltano ancora volentieri. E chi meglio degli speleologi della Spittle, enciclopedisti per eccellenza della grande onda tricolore, per allestirne il polifonico manifesto, ben introdotto dal trench Gary Numan-iano in copertina?
L’iniziale “Goin’ On Jot” degli Aus Decline (un terzo “Ghost Rider“, un terzo “Der Mussolini“, un terzo Cabaret Voltaire) è forse il numero migliore del lotto. D’impatto anche la tignosa no wave strumentale dei Nobody, l’elastico funk bianco degli State Of Art, gli electro-tribalismi impetuosi dei Monofonic Orchestra e le cascate eteree dei Jeunesse D’Ivoire. Ci sono poi vere e proprie hit mancate: viene da chiedersi come sia possibile che “Brave Runner” degli Actor’s Studio (vecchio progetto di Fred Ventura, compilatore dell’antologia che ne ha inevitabilmente influenzato la direzione dance-oriented) non abbia spopolato. Meno pregnanti, anche se di pregevole fattura, l’enfatico synth-pop stile Tears For Fears degli Oh Oh Art o la darkwave sepolcrale di Der Blaue Reiter e Scunt.
Un’antologia che farà la gioia di tanti dj vintage, da avere per riscoprire senza nostalgie una parentesi derivativa ma non banale del rock nazionale. E ricordarci che Milano, grazie al cielo, non è stata solo Campari & tangenti.
Ride the wave of great music
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06/05/2019
This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Ossydiana Speri, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.
Tracklist
- 1. Aus Decline – Goin' On Jot
- 2. Oh Oh Art – Cosmic Desease
- 3. Der Blaue Reiter – Drowning
- 4. Other Side – An Impossible Dream
- 5. Cast Of Thousand – Hit My Mum
- 6. 2+2=5 – Meeting Mc.L.
- 7. Monofonic Orchestra – Overground
- 8. After Budapest – House You Never Lived
- 9. La Maison – You Night Head
- 10. State Of Art – Sleeping Together
- 11. Nobody – Blitz
- 12. Actor’s Studio – Brave Runner
- 13. Jeunesse d'Ivoire – The Sea
- 14. Scunt – Skin
- 15. La Maison – Volanz
- 16. Through 12 – Be Mine
- 17. Nobody – Quartet
- 18. State Of Art – Body And Soul
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