AA.VV. - Killed By Deathrock, Vol. 1
2014 (Sacred bones)
cold-wave, death-rock, post-punk
7.5
La Sacred Bones si deve essere messa in testa di accontentare tutti i “maniaci” delle varie nicchie: scorrendo le sue ultime uscite troviamo infatti la psichedelia (The Holydrug Couple, Psychic Ills, Destruction Unit), il kraut-rock (Follakzoid), la synth-wave (Vår, Lust For Youth), il post-punk di The Men e Pop. 1280 e molto altro ancora.
E ora arriva il turno del dark-punk; in effetti un territorio già esplorato dall’etichetta statunitense con un bel 7” dei newyorkesi Anasazi, ma questa volta la label si dedica a un lavoro di “ricerca”, recuperando una serie di brani registrati negli eighties al di qua e al di là dell’Atlantico.
“Killed By Deathrock” omaggia nel titolo la serie di compilation punk-rock “Killed By Death” e si apre con “I Wanna Be You” (presa da un 7” del 1982) delle Your Funeral, terzetto all-female di Denver la cui musica echeggia Siouxsie (nella voce) e i primi Cure (per le atmosfere plumbee e malinconiche).
Troviamo quindi una manciata di gruppi europei: i Kitchen And The Plastic Spoons (“Liberty”), vere e proprie meteore sulla scena svedese dei primi Ottanta, con i loro synth sghembi e conturbanti, seguiti dal gothic-punk degli scozzesi Twisted Nerve: un sound veloce e dal respiro “epico”, in bilico tra Theatre Of Hate e Southern Death Cult.
Il quarto brano della compilation è forse la vera “chicca” del lotto: vengono infatti recuperati i misconosciuti (“ungoogleable”, come vengono definiti nella press release) Move, di Firenze, con “Casa Domani”, un bell’esempio di death-rock cantato in italiano, originariamente pubblicato su un 12” dalla A&D Records nel 1986.
Spostiamoci oltralpe per il brano successivo, “My Own Way”, dei francesi Bunker (poi Bunker Strasse), tra i più oscuri ensemble cold-wave, un pezzo suggestivo e inquieto, mentre la “Factory” dei tedeschi Taste Of Decay, è tirata, punkeggiante.
Torniamo negli Usa con il lato B del vinile: la “Satellite Of Love” degli Afterimage (1981) non è una cover di Lou Reed, bensì un brano di vibrante post-punk: dei “prime movers” nella scena dark losangelina; sempre dagli Usa, ma dall’altra costa, arriva “The Love”, degli Screaming For Emily, death-rocker del New Jersey. Una voce alla Jay Ashton e delle tastiere “sinfoniche” delineano un brano molto gotico, proveniente da un contesto decisamente insolito, come insolito è lo scenario di San Francisco per i joydivisioniani Glorious Din (“Tenement Roofs”).
I “The Naked And The Dead” non sono “famosi” come Christian Death e 45 Grave, ma meritano senz’altro un posto d’onore nella storia del death-rock statunitense: anche loro furono attivi per un lasso di tempo brevissimo, si sciolsero infatti nello stesso anno della loro formazione (il 1985), dopo aver pubblicato un demo omonimo. Marziali e ossessivi: una band sicuramente meritevole di riscoperta. Chiude quest’ottima compilation un altro gruppo francese, e si torna quindi in ambito cold-wave con i Baroque Bordello e l’energica “Put It Down”.
Con questa raccolta la Sacred Bones ha “saccheggiato” i blog più di nicchia del web, assemblando una raccolta di rarità davvero azzeccata; qualcuno potrebbe obiettare che non si tratta di una raccolta “100% death-rock”, ma essendo i confini del genere piuttosto labili, nulla vieta di apprezzare questa antologia gotica.
Da notare che alcune band erano già state oggetto di una prima riscoperta grazie al Drop Dead Festival, la manifestazione itinerante organizzata dal collettivo NY Decay: alcuni fortunati ricordano infatti le esibizioni di Twisted Nerve e Kitchen And… rispettivamente a Praga e a Lisbona, e qualche tempo prima i Naked And The Dead nella terza edizione newyorkese.
La speranza ora è che il marchio Sacred Bones contribuisca a generare ulteriore interesse per questo microverso oscuro e affascinante, una speranza alimentata da quel “Vol. 1” sulla (bella) copertina del disco.
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05/03/2014
This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Lorenzo Pagani, 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. Your Funeral - I Wanna Be You
- 2. Kitchen & The Plastic Spoons - Liberty
- 3. Twisted Nerve - When I'm Alone
- 4. Move - Casa Domani
- 5. Bunker - My Own Way
- 6. Taste Of Decay - Factory
- 7. Afterimage - Satellite Of Love
- 8. Screaming For Emily - The Love
- 9. Glorious Din - Tenement Roofs
- 10. The Naked And The Dead - Carousel
- 11. Baroque Bordello - Put It Down
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