discographies-discovery

[discographies-discovery]

American Supreme

Studio album #5 by Suicide

The fifth and last studio album of the band Suicide is American Supreme.

It was self-produced by Alan Vega and Martin Rev and was released by Mute Records in 2002: 20 years after the last album of the duo.

In the meanwhile, 9/11 has happened and this event would have influenced this production.

The cover shows the picture of a creased American flag which symbolises the decadence of the American culture.

Surprisingly, the style of the duo has not changed: Martin Rev creates loops and Alan Vega finds his space in between them to express, with a limited amount of words and with unusual sounds, feelings that are hard to describe.

The innovation stays in the fact that the duo tries new genres such as hip hop, funk, house, techno.

However, it is worth to notice that all these genres are nothing new for the audience. In their minds, these ways of playing and making music have already completed their cycles in the past 20 years, therefore, some of the listeners labelled the album as old fashioned.

One may argue that, since the album was self-produced, Alan Vega and Martin Rev have just recorded what they wanted and liked, without being worried of any expectations to embody some kind of avant-garde.

It is likely that they actually had a lot of fun while experimenting sonorities that were new to their repertoire as in Wrong Decisions, where Alan Vega breaths heavily on the mic and gasps while Different Strokes by Syl Johnson sampled by Martin Rev – but already sampled by many other before - goes on.

The album starts with scratches in the song Televised Executions, a colorful funky patchwork, and ends with Alan Vega delirating over a pounding base while repeating I don’t know, I don’t know. His voice is multiplied with the result that his desperation is amplified (I don’t know).

In between there is disco music (Child, It's a New World), techno (Death Machine), heavy artificial drums of the 80’s that make me think to a Ninja turtles movie (Beggin' for Miracles), minimal electronic that could be heard today in any club in Berlin (American Mean) and other styles that are very hard to put in the same bucket because they are very different from each other.

Misery Train is one of the few calm tracks with a simple and neat base.

The remaining tracks are fast and distressing (Swearin' to the Flag) apocaliptic, able to fit the scene of a war movie where bombs are being dropped and airplanes are fighting in the air (Dachau, Disney, Disco), eerie, as if there were souls calling from the other side (Power au Go-Go).

The duo will not record any other studio album after American Supreme.

In 2004 and 2008, there will be two releases of live performances from 1977 to 1980.

Alan Vega will pass away in 2016.

Suicide have not always been easy to listen to, however, there is something in their music that feels real and close and that has made this journey interesting.

Often, the duo talks in a simple way about deep feelings and tries, in many ways, to translate those feelings into music and to express a sense of discomfort that many humans feel when dealing with emotions. The results are diverse: they go from eerie to dreamy, indeed two good extremes between which human emotions move.

[discographies-discovery]

Why Be Blue?

Studio album #4 by Suicide

Why Be Blue is the fourth studio album of Alan Vega and Martin Rev and was released in 1992 by Brake Out Records.

13 years later, in 2005, a new remix of the whole album made by Mr Rev, along with an additional disc of a live concert in Paris on 17 April 1989, was released by Blast First.

Blast First, a sub-label of Mute Records, was founded by Paul Smith in 1984 and has released artists such as Sonic Youth, the Butthole Surfers and Big Black, an American punk rock band founded by Steve Albini.

The producer of Why Be Blue is, once again, and for the last time, Ric Ocasek and, once again, the genre is synth pop and electronic.

I find it very interesting that Mr Rev, a jazz pianist trained by a blind, strict and innovative teacher named Lennie Tristano, ended up exploring the sounds of synthesisers together with a visual artist, fan of rockabilly music, met in New York in 1970 at the open art space Project Of Living Artists.

A lot has changed since the debut album, but some elements remain the same, like the playfulness. It is apparent in songs like Hot Ticket or the pop/rockabilly Flashy Love.

Alan Vega and his voice are very free, as usual.

He likes to play with words, like in Mujo, where he does not really sing words, rather gibberish. His voice is nasal and makes me think about the standup Delirious from Eddie Murphy, where he tells the joke of a kid who bought an ice cream and celebrates it in front of a kid who doesn't have it, merciless.

In Last Time, a track with a base full of hope, the voice of Mr Vega is so low that it is a bit hard to catch his words when he begs one more time baby for the last time.

In Cheat-Cheat, Alan Vega sings “did you ever love me? Did you ever cheat on me?". His voice reverbs and it amplifies the desperation hidden behind these questions.

In Why Be Blue the voice becomes scratchy and full of grit like the voice of Jim Morrison.

In Play the dream and Chewy-Chewy, Martin Rev creates beautiful and dreamy bases.

In Universe, the sound is disturbed and I am not sure whether the reason is the remix or whether it's intentional, since the song is about receiving a call from the Universe. It's a pity, because it's my favourite song from the album: the base is good, not too pop and a bit misterious.

As regards the second album, added to the second release of the remastered album in 2005, I find it a pleasant surprise.

The Live at Le Palace, Paris / 17 April 1989, must have been a beautiful concert, where the audience could really feel what the duo Suicide is about.

The performance starts with the song C'est La Vie, maybe because the concert was in France and it was a playful way to start the exhibition. Playfulness remains on stage throughout the whole performance: in Johnny, where Alan Vega howls and mocks a woman while singing. In On Fire, where he barks and humms. In Mambo Mambo, announced as a song that the audience never heard before, and where Mr Vega says random words in French.

While listening to Rock Train, that starts with very energetic drums on a rockabilly base, I hear someone screaming loud, as if they went on stage and Mr Vega gave them the microphone. A good energy starts two more tracks: Jukebox Baby '96, which feels like a continuation of the previous song, and Night Time, where the voice is distorted and nasal.

When Dream Baby Dream arrives, I'm very surprised, because the duo offers a completely different version of one of their most famous songs. This version is slow, thoughtful and dreamy. Alan Vega doesn't really sing. He rather pronounces a few words from time to time and his voice reverbs. The music leads and he follows, at times in a dramatic way, like when he says and ever repeatedly. The audience appreciated this version and I did it too.

Each song performed takes a fairly long amount of time, however, the final effect is an intense exhibition filled with moments of fun, trance, love and desperation.

Moments à la Suicide to say.

[discographies-discovery]

A Way of Life

Studio album #3 by Suicide

The third studio album of Mr Rev and Mr Vega was released in 1988.

Between the recording of the second and third studio albums, both members of the duo produced solo albums and Mr Vega also performed in Europe.

As well as the previous album, also A way of life has been produced by Ric Ocasek.

The first release was done by Chapter 22 Records Label and, after, the album was globally distributed by the independent record label Wax Trax Chicago, focused mostly on industrial bands. It seems that the audience of Wax Trax Chicago did not welcome the album of Suicide very warmly because it was too different from the bands usually released by the label.

The reviews of A way of life were mixed and, once again, the work of the duo who would have later influenced artists such as Depeche Mode, New Order, Radiohead, R.E.M., Erasure, Soft Cell, Bronski Beat, Yaz (also known as Yazoo), The Birthday Party of Nick Cave, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Nine Inch Nails and The Sisters Of Mercy, and who was admired by personalities such as Henry Rollins from the punk rock band Black Flag and Steve Albini, a well respected producer in the alternative rock scene, was not very succesfull.

Tracks are composed based on the usual formula of minimalistic bases made with the synthesisers and keyboards.

Alan Vega keeps his rockabilly attitude in songs like Surrender, a romantic ballad from the 50s with a choir (!) and Jukebox Baby, an electro rockabilly track where he sings like Elvis Presley.

There's still space for screams, howls and rants like in the mesmerizing Rain of Ruin or Love So Lovely but the sonorities are not eery anymore. The band has transitioned to industrial pop. This is evident in songs like Devastation, and the energetic Dominic Christ where Alan Vega offers an unusual raspy voice and also in Wild in Blue - which would be a perfect soundtrack for a movie scene of a browl between gangs carrying pocket knives.

In some tracks it feels that the sound is about to explode but it never happens like in Heat Beat or Suffering in Vain where eventually only Alan's Vega voice explodes in his usual screams when he pronounces the word Suffering.

While with the second album there was still room for doubts on whether the transition to industrial pop was a phase, with this album it becomes clear that the duo has found its identity in the genre and it already sets specific expectations for the next studio album. Stay tuned!

[discographies-discovery]

Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev

Studio album #2 by Suicide

The second album of the band Suicide is entitled Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev, was released in 1980 and included 10 tracks.

It was produced without pay by Ric Ocasek from the rock band the Cars.

He will produce also the subsequent 2 albums of the band (A Way of Life from 1988 and Why Be Blue from 1992), whereas, Martin Thau, the founder of the label Red Star Records who co-produced the first album, will not produce any more albums of the band Suicide.

The fifth and last album (American Supreme from 2002) will be instead self-produced by the same Mr Vega and Mr Rev.

Suicide recorded their second album at a very expensive studio, the Power Station located in Manhattan, where Bruce Springsteen was recording next door on the same days. The band had access to better equipment and it will influence the sonorities as Mr Rev had more room for experiment.

The album was distributed by the label Ze and it seems that one of the co-founder, Michael Zilkha, pushed for more disco sonorities to have it produced by the Italian electronic music pioneer Giorgio Moroder known for songs such as I feel love by Donna Summer.

The album has been re-issued in 2000 and included extra-songs, like Dream baby dream that became famous because it was used in an advertisement by Marc Jacobs.

It also includes rehearsal tracks from 1975 recorded in Lower Manhattan’s Greene Street after Mr Rev bought for 30$ his first drum machine, the Seeburg Rhythm Prince. The result is a bit puzzling since the recordings from 1975 are closer to the eerie sonorities of the first album of the band than to the 10 tracks originally included in the second album.

For this album, Mr Vega focused exclusively on lyrics whereas Mr Rev focused exclusively on the sound and the result is definitely brighter compared to the previous album but there is a certain continuity as well because of the use of the well-known formula of repetitive bases lightened up by simple loops on the keyboard and whispers and howls of Mr Vega mixed with his rockabilly attitude, an attitude that emerges clearly in the electronic rockabilly ballad Sweetheart and the cruel Be bop kid that tells the story of a man who was disfigured and punished for writing a song.

The first track of the album Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne is dedicated to the decadence of the nightlife scene in New York and anticipates the disco sonorities that will come up again throughout the entire album.

The fact that Mr Rev had access to better equipment and could experiment a lot is evident in tracks like Mr. Ray (to Howard T.) - describing an arrest for possession of illegal drugs -, again Sweetheart, and Fast Money Music.

The second part of the original album is a mix of pop sonorities like in Shadazz, dedicated to a creole queen singing the blues of andromeda - goddess of dreams - and darker tracks such as Harlem and Las Vegas man.

Dance, the last track of the album originally released, is hypnotizing with its ufo sounds.

The extra track Super subway comedian has a good base with soft drums and little pop elements. Dream baby dream is a sweet beautiful lullaby. Drums are like a clock ticking. I wonder if Joy Division have been influenced by this track because it feels almost like hearing Ian Curtis' deep and warm voice.

Speed queen is a brief interlude that creates the passage from the overall pop/disco sonorities of the previous tracks to the dark world where the sounds of the Suicide lived back in 1975 made of creepy voices coming from a cave where a ritual is happening (Creature feature) or, even worse, from the devil's crib in a David Lynch movie (Sneakin' around).

Too fine for you and See you around may have been the same song at the time of the rehearsal as they share several elements such as the lyrics, the base, the whispers of Mr Vega, dissonances and disturbances.

Space blue bambo is a brighter track lightened up by the keyboard and characterised by the experimental attitude of Mr Rev, despite the lack of equipment.

Disturbance, especially the change of the frequency of the volume, come back in the track Into my eyes, however, it is not clear whether it is intentional. Maybe it is: hard to say with Mr Rev.

The sound is clearer in the tracks New city, mainly instrumental, and Do it nice.

Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev is overall a happier album compared to the previous one and definitely creates the curiosity to know where this journey from the dark to the light is headed to and whether the dance element is just a phase - especially considering that, straight after the release, the album was not very succesfull and it would have taken years before the contribution to the music scene of Suicide could be appreciated - or, on the contrary, is a permanent natural evolution.

[discographies-discovery]

Suicide

Studio album #1 by Suicide

In 1977, when the first studio album of the New York band Suicide was released, Alan Vega (born Boruch Alan Bermowitz), visual artist, frontman of the duo - originally a trio with a guitarist - was 39 years old.

Mr. Vega died in July 2016 and has left behind him four more studio albums recorded with the second member of the duo, Martin Rev (stage name of Martin Reverby) and several solo albums.

I became interested in the band Suicide because, while listening to the discography of the italian rock band Afterhours, I have found a cover that they have made of Bruce Springsteen's song State Trooper. The song is about a man who has committed a crime, drives his car at night and begs the police, on distance, not to ask him to pull over. I read that Bruce Springsteen has openly expressed his admiration for Suicide's song Frankie Teardrop and that it has been the main inspiration for the song State Trooper.

The style of Mr. Vega and Mr. Rev is minimalistic: just vocals, howls, reverbs, heart-pounding synthesisers and drum machines.

Death, love and desperation are the main themes of the songs of this 32 minutes album composed by 7 tracks and named Suicide after the band.

The lyrics of most of the songs are pretty simple and repetitive as well as the music: a ghost rider revealing everyone that America is killing its youth (Ghost rider), an imminent car crash (Rocket USA), the declaration of love for a black leather lady (Cheree) in a dreamy song where sweetness is brought by the sound of a carillon, a boy who looks mean and tough and looks for love (Johnny), pleasure in a pretty realistic mimic of a sexual intercourse (Girl), the excessive idolisation of Che Guevara when called a saint (And when he died / The whole world lied / They said he was a saint / But I know he ain't ) (Che). Frankie Teardrop is an exception because the song lasts a bit more than 10 minutes and describes in very vocal details, especially with screams, the story of Frankie, a 20-year-old young man who works in a factory, struggles for food, gets evicted and, eventually, in a escalation of desperation, kills his wife, his six-months-old son and after asking himself "Oh, what have I done", commits suicide.

The band, as admitted by Mr. Vega, has been influenced by The Velvet Underground and The Stooges.

They have not always been appreciated by the audience, especially at the beginning and because of the confrontational attitude of Mr. Vega who apparently used to carry with him at concerts and beat on the floor while on stage, a long motorcycle chain. Despite all of that, today, Suicide are considered a highly influencial band in the history of modern music and the avant-garde of electronic music. I think that, everyone who enjoys electronic music, should listen to this album and let Mr. Vega be the host of a dark and mesmerizing world.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #10

Foto Di Pura Gioia - Antologia 1987 - 2017 by Afterhours

This collection, released in 2017, celebrates Afterhours' 30 years of career. It's composed of 3 CDs of tracks from albums released between 1987-2017 and a book.

I read that there was a fire in the studio where the band rehearsed and that they have tried to save as much as they could of all the work done in the past years and made this collection as a gift to their fans.

The collection includes tracks from the very first 3 albums of the band - All The Good Children Go To Hell, Cocaine Head and Pop Kills Your Soul - defined as post punk and new wave. Back then, Afterhours used the English language.

The band included also a not-so-hard-to-forget version of the song Bianca featuring the sicilian singer and songwriter Carmen Consoli and the song Il paese è reale played at the historical Italian Music festival of Sanremo.

The collection Foto Di Pura Gioia (Picture of pure joy) is named after the first line of the song Quello che non c'è (Ho questa foto di pura gioia /È di un bambino con la sua pistola/Che spara dritto davanti a sé/A quello che non c'è… I have this picture of pure joy/it's about a boy with his gun/who shoots straight in front of him/to what is not there) one of he most famous single of the band and in the cover there is a picture of Manuel Agnelli as kid with a toy gun. Wonderful image. Can't be more personal and intimate.

The Velvet Underground have definitely inspired the track My bit boy, whereas Love on Saturday night makes me think about Oasis even though the Afterhours' frontman defined himself as a fan of the band Blur. I

The last part with all the Demos played in English and the unreleased tracks, is actually very interesting.

I like all the tracks sang in English, however, I think that the band has found their real identity after they started singing in Italian, as if their potentials were impaired.

The cool thing about collections is that they give the chance to really see how a band evolved over time.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #9

Folfiri o Folfox by Afterhours

Folfiri o folfox is the 9th studio album recorded by Afterhours and released in 2016. Folfiri and Folfox are treatments to cure cancer and the album is inspired by the loss of Manuel Agnelli's father who was subject to treatments to cure cancer.

I feel that to name the album after treatments for cancer can be a risky choice because it sets high expectations for the themes and lyrics. But Afterhours, after almost 30 years of activity, knew what they were doing.

Grande is a great start. Manuel Agnelli is not tired after all those years and he does sing. Simple as that. And the result is amazing. The song is romantic and suspenseful. It's about a promise not kept, the one that parents make to children that they will always be together. The music calls back the memory of Nuotando nell'aria by another cool Italian band, Marlene Kuntz.

I also find some reminiscents of Lucio Battisti when Manuel Agnelli sings Avevamo un patto io e te.

Addictions in the Italian society is the theme of Il Mio popolo si fa a track that sounds like a march because of the drums.

L'odore della giacca di mio padre (The smell of my dad's jacket) is a evocative song mostly played on the piano and dedicated to the frontman's father.

There is some teen, adolescent spirit in the song Non voglio ritrovare il tuo nome, maybe because of the voice.

Ti cambia il sapore (It changes the taste) makes me think to a movie from Dario Argento, I guess it's because of the keyboard. It's dedicated to the changes to senses that people experience during chemotherapy.

The next track, San Miguel, is named after a Saint that, I read, drug dealers pray to before smuggling via air cocaine from Peru to Bolivia.

I like the rage in Qualche tipo di grandezza, but maybe I wanted even more, it wasn't mad enough.

Cetuximab, named after a drug used to cure tumour, is a short instrumental track that devolps in a beautiful climax.

I read in a review that sometimes, Manuel Agnelli, who writes most of the lyrics gets too introspective and it makes difficult to participate for the audience. I have this feeling while listening to the ballad Lasciati ingannare (una volta ancora). It seems to be about two people who broke up and one of them wants to be with the other one last time.

Oggi is one of these goodbye tracks that gently guide the audience towards the end.

Meglio Folfiri meglio Folfox, Meglio Folfiri meglio Folfox (better Folfiri, better Folfox) ..little devils ask which drug is better and open a bipolar track with mood swings where Manuel Agnelli plays with his voice while talking about the health system.

Only voice and guitar in Noi non faremo niente a song that I would define mature.

Simply beautiful the next track, Ne' pani né pesci, maybe the best track of the album for its completeness.

Ophryx, named after plants that belong to the same family as the one shown in the cover, is an instrumental track driven by violins.

Se io fossi il giudice is nice but it feels like I heard it already in other albums.

This is overall a good album that I had to listen to a few times to really appreciate it. It's great to see that the band still challenged themselves after all these years.

This is also the last studio album, for now.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #8

Padania by Afterhours

2012, getting closer to the present.

The album is named after a geographical area in the North of Italy historically linked to the political party Lega Nord. Will it be a political album? I'm not sure about it, Padania could mean traditions, fog, fields, farmers, food, nature. But, on the other hand, Afterhours definitely mean thoughts about society.

Let's talk about Metamorfosi (Metamorphosis) the first track: great vocal performance of Manuel Agnelli who plays with his voice to create a folk atmosphere in a song that escalates to heavy, metallic sounds that make me think about industrialization also because of the theme: changes, the past that won't come back and the future.

La tempesta è in arrivo is about some kind of invasion that cannot be avoided and that will bring change and pain. Pounding drums for a song about a storm.

Costruire per distruggere seems to be a song sang by statues who tell their thoughts.

Fosforo e blu seems to be about water pollution. Lyrics are sung fast, as if they were swollen by a vortex.

Padania is a nice rock ballad.

Ci sarà una bella luce has a difficult start but it's actually really cool. Could be the best track of the album. It is so experimental but the music makes sense to me.

Io so chi sono (I know who I am) has 2 completely different melodies inside one song as if it represented one entity with multiple identities.

I think that this album is a good work and I'm glad to discover it after the hard time I had while listening to I Milanesi Ammazzano Il Sabato.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #7

I Milanesi Ammazzano Il Sabato by Afterhours

The title of this album from 2008 means the inhabitants of Milano kill Saturday.

It is a wordplay clearly inspired by the book I Milanesi Ammazzano al sabato (the inhabitants of Milano kill on Saturday) written by one of my favourite writers: Giorgio Scerbanenco the author of several cruel, brutal and ruthless crime fictions set in Milano in the 70s.

I read one of his books, all at once, during a trip back to Europe from Bangkok. It was a great reading because there was not much else that I could possibly do in that circumstance so I could focus on the book and leave all the rest awaiting under the clouds.

My first impression after the first 2 tracks, Naufragio sull'isola del tesoro and È solo febbre - IX Version is that it's hard to get where the group is headed to. Words and the stories that they tell weight a lot and the sound is at their service, used, abused and maybe also a bit frustrated when it's suffocated because words always prevail over it. There was more balance in the previous albums.

I like the minimal drums in Tarantella all'inazione.

I finally start to recognise them in Pochi secondi nella lavatrice. The energy is channelled, I can feel it.

Just voice and guitar for the song I Milanesi Ammazzano Il Sabato. Interesting since the whole album takes its title from this song which is completely different from all the tracks that come before: they're full of words and sounds are hammering and distorted.

Riprendere Berlino is a very nice and positive track, full of good resolutions, musically closer to the album Non è per sempre. Maybe, after a cloudy start, we are headed towards the place where the weather looks good.

Tutti gli uomini del presidente is pretty cool. It makes me think to glam rock, maybe because of the falsetto.

I think that, after having lost it in the last album, irony has come back in the imagery of the band with the track È dura essere Silvan, very likely dedicated to an Italian TV magician. In a pretty silly chorus of this rock song Afterhours sing that it must be hard to be him, Silvan.

Tutto domani is kind of Pop.

I guess that Manuel Agnelli has become a father since this track is dedicated to his partner and the next one Orchi e streghe sono soli (ninna nanna reciproca) to his daughter.

This may explain the softness. The last time it happened, a violinist had joined the band. Despite being soft, it seems that not all the provocative spirit is lost when the frontman sings, in relation to his partner, Muse, a bit bitch, mather of my baby daughter. However, I'm kind of mourning because a lot has changed in the past 13 years (or even more if we count the first three albums sang in English) and a lot has gone and will never come back.

The album includes 7 live tracks: 4 from this album, 3 from previous ones. I don't get why the band decided to add 7 live tracks to an album of brand new tracks. Feels unnecessary. I'm not a fan of abundance.

Due di noi feels like the cover of some Italian song from 60s.

It's kind of funny that I wrote the longest post in relation to the album that I liked the least. I guess it's easy to say good and harder to say not good.

I read some reviews here and there and it may be worth to have a closer look at lyrics.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #6

Ballate Per Piccole Iene by Afterhours

At the time of the release of this album, in 2005, I was still a minor.

La sottile linea bianca is a dark song. The voice of Manuel Agnelli in the first lines sounds like as if it was carrying a death sentence witnessed by a choir of ghosts. He then turns into a screaming devil.

Your chauffeur-driver man / Only got one hand / That he steers around the visions / You think that your command.. Love leaves you alone / Then pain will come for sure / When your friends and foes will tell ya / You ain't dangerous no more.. A killer so afraid of dying

And baby, you don't wanna die near...

Little sweet hyenas / Never far away / Bittersweet hyenas / Conveniently tame.. (Ballata per la mia piccola iena).

I think that Ci sono molti modi was written with a broken heart, maybe the entire album. What kind of heart, if not a broken one, can say don't you know that love is a disease? I'll know how to eradicate it.

Carne fresca has some kind of continuity with La sottile linea bianca but there are no screams and the high notes are just beautiful, maybe because of the raspy voice.

I think that this is the album that I listened to the most because, while listening to a track, my brain already thinks about a line or a sound from the next one, even unconsciously. It's surprising as I haven't been listening to this album for years, maybe because it's gloomy and hopeless.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #5

Quello Che Non C'è by Afterhours

When this album came out, in 2002, I was 13/14 years old, eager to discover cool music in order to be identified as a cool person.

Quello Che Non C'è opens the album.

It has been in my playlists all these years and always will.

You know that feeling when something starts and it feels so good that you almost try to get even more comfortable, more focused in order to enjoy it even more? Full of hopes and grateful to be experiencing beauty? That's what happens with this album.

Bye Bye Bombai is weird and beautiful.

Varanasi Baby brings you down into a black hole and you can't resist. It's dark but you want to go anyways, there's something mezmerizing, maybe the guitar.

Both tracks Bye Bye Bombai and Varanasi Baby are inspired by a trip to India.

There's a lot of sound in this album, for example at the end of Quello che non c'è, Bye Bye Bombai, Bungee Jumping.

It's a sad rock but not so hard to listen to.

Poetry, nostalgia and hope are the core of Ritorno a casa.

The last track, Il Mio Ruolo, is a lullaby. I like the repetitive melody in the background. It feels like the group doesn't want to end this album, doesn't want to say goodbye and keeps playing and softly singing until it has to be over. Again, I feel nostalgia.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #4

Siam Tre Piccoli Porcellin - Live by Afterhours

I already mentioned this album from 2001 in a previous post. It is made of tracks recorded live between 1997-2000. The execution is good, they must be good on stage. Tracks are overall faithful to the versions recorded in the studio.

I like the start of Cose semplici e banali, full of hopes.

Strategie is different from the studio version and is really really good. Manuel Agnelli puts all his heart in this song as if he thought that, even if he won't have any voice left for a few days after the performance, it is worth it. Sometimes I think that the world is divided between those who always save their voice and those who would loose it for a good cause.

The album includes a cover of State Trooper by Bruce Springsteen.

The howls and the minimalist sound - mainly just the bass - make the song a hymn of madness, the story of a lunatic who made a crime, drives at night and prays the police not to ask him to pull over. Some say that it was strongly influenced by Frankie Teardrop of the band Suicide which seems to have also influenced Afterhours.

I wish I went to one of their concerts when I was in Milan.

It's nice when you hear about places you're familiar with in a song. Milano, which is the city where Afterhours come from, has so much to offer when it comes to movies and music. It's a great city to put on the background of a story, especially the ones that talk about violence and misery.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #3

Non È Per Sempre by Afterhours

They got romantic in this album from 1999 with the ballads Non è per sempre, Baby fiducia, Bianca and Oceano di gomma. The reason might be that a violinist joined the band.

Non si esce vivi dagli anni 80 is an exception and one of their best work ever in my opinion with the powerful drums and the singer screaming with a distorted voice that there's no escape alive from the 80's.

However, I like this album less than Germi and Hai Paura del buio? Too soft for my taste.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #2

Hai Paura Del Buio? by Afterhours

I wasn’t ready for a change. I didn’t have enough of that raspy voice.

Male di miele evolves in such an unexpected way.

Rapace will always be one of my favourite ever. I'll come like a raptor to mutilate the peace inside your heart, e sia, e sia, e sia...in the dreams that you dream there are your friends, the King and the Queen, they are empty, you know, they are emptier than even, they are empty, you know..

I couldn’t find on Spotify or SoundCloud the first 3 albums recorded by Afterhours before 1995. They used to play in English and started to use the Italian language with the album Germi.

Senza finestra is pretty crazy. It’s an experiment. I don’t think that they meant to be liked when they wrote it.

Voglio una pelle splendida is a very nice ballad.

Terrorswing is an instrumental track, a cool one.

Lasciami leccare l'adrenalina is a hardcore track. I always remembered the line saying Sei più bella vestita di lividi (you’re more beautiful dressed with bruises). It’s impactful and provocative.

It seems that this is one of their most important albums. As a matter of fact there are so many genres that combine. Some tracks are super soft, almost childish, whereas, others are grunge, the language is sharp, bad.

Veleno is arrogant, filled with hatred, I feel desire of revenge.

Mi trovo nuovo is an interesting way to end the album. Soft but a bit psychedelic.

This album is from 1997 and in 2014 the band published a special edition of it made of 2 CDs: one is a remastered version. The other is made of reinterpretations of all tracks in collaboration with other artists, mostly Italian ones.

I really like the harmonic in 1.9.9.6. feat. Edoardo Bennato but I don't like his interpretation.

Male di miele by Eugenio Finardi made me miss the original version, a lot. Am I being conservative? No. I don't think so. Especially after having listened to the version played by Piero Pelu'.

[discographies-discovery]

Album #1

Germi by Afterhours

I felt a certain attitude and some evil.

Dentro Marilyn is really intense. Mina has reinterpreted it and renamed the track Tre volte dentro me. She has this incredible voice but I prefer when Manuel Agnelli sings it. Her timing seems off when she sings mentre attendo che io m'accorga che so respirare. Manuel Agnelli uses the word so as a preparation for the word respirare and gives it all his breath and attention, as it should be. Mina almost immediately merges the word so with the first syllable of the world respirare and it changes everything, because forces the word respirare to give some more space to the previous syllable. The result feels like a missed opportunity if not even a waste.

Ho tutto in testa ma non riesco a dirlo is a nice instrumental track.

I forgot how much I liked Strategie but I knew a different version, the one from the album Siam tre piccoli porcellin from 2001 which is made of tracks recorded during live concerts held between 1997-2000.

I may like the original better. In both cases, the raspy voice is the core of the track in my opinion.

Mio fratello è figlio unico: I totally forgot about this cover as well. All this knowledge is somewhere inside my brain and I think that it has been asleep for 10 years at least. And right now is fresh as it was 10 years ago, the whole song plays in my head a micro-second ahead of the device. What a surprise!

I didn’t expect the last instrumental track. It was a bit painful because of the squeak.

This album is from 1995 and, still 25 years later, the music goes straight into my brain and gives me pleasure. This is art.