Baustelle
La Malavita

I admit it. I discovered the Baustelle while wandering through that pseudo music network which is MTV. Apparently, that day, the MTV director decided to slip in these four normal-looking Florentines amidst a Lee Ryan and a Britney Spears, who don’t pretend to be rock stars nor do they twist in Piero Pelù-like movements while playing, the Baustelle. The video in question is "La Guerra è finita", of course. I watch it from start to finish, mesmerized, the melody is perfect, Bianconi's voice as well, plus add that stunning girl who is Rachele Bastreghi, and they create the group that would make me fall in love with music again, from the Metallica downfall.

The CD containing this piece is titled "La Malavita", the first album with a major for Baustelle. Of course, I also got their other two CDs: "La moda del lento" and "Il sussidiario della giovinezza". But the first love is never forgotten, and so today I review "La Malavita". Okay, you might tell me there are already so many reviews of this CD, but I love this album too much not to do it. I hope you’ll forgive me for that. Anyway, let’s get to the point.

"La Malavita" begins with the most classic of intros, Bastreghi dives into a long solo with her instrument, followed by the guitar, bass, and drums, a perfect opening as it meshes beautifully with the initial guitar riffs of "La Guerra è finita", the first real song of this work, excellent, it talks about a girl who commits suicide, her problems and so forth. Great start, but I already knew it, and I continue listening to the CD with a hint of skepticism. Skepticism that disappears after the third track, "Sergio". Honestly, I still haven’t figured out what "Sergio" is about, perhaps about a transvestite or maybe just the mixing of random words by Bianconi, but it stands out as one of the best songs on the CD, and the sentence "Mi chiamo Sergio e come te, vivo" is almost moving. By the fourth track, I am already in love with Baustelle and here... Surprise! Miracle! A female voice! It’s obviously Rachele Bastreghi singing "Revolver", not having heard the other works of the group up to that point, I didn’t know that Rachele sang, besides being beautiful, she’s also a wonderful singer, her voice is cold but confident at the same time, and the instruments here are almost entirely absent (except for the drums), with her melodic voice taking the lead. The fifth track is "I Provinciali", a beautiful song, short but decidedly touching, perfectly encapsulating life in the province. We come to the sixth track, "Il Corvo Joe", the most beautiful of the album in my opinion. Gloomy, Bianconi's voice fits perfectly with the words, melancholic, intelligent, and well crafted. A masterpiece. Another masterpiece is "Un Romantico a Milano", with Bianconi’s quote "Mamma che ne dici di un romantico a Milano? Fra i manzoni preferisco quello vero, Piero", Bianconi sings again, I'm a bit disappointed because by now I'm in love with Rachele, but it’s still fine (Speechless, Vasco would say). In the eighth and ninth tracks, respectively "A vita bassa" and "Perchè una ragazza d’oggi può uccidersi?", Rachele returns, in perfect duet with Bianconi. The songs don’t reach the level of "Sergio", "Il Corvo Joe", and "Un Romantico a Milano", but are both very beautiful, especially the ninth, which is from the perspective of two kids, the best friend and the boyfriend of the suicidal girl, who betrayed her, and who talk about why their friend killed herself. The 10th is "Il Nulla" and the phrase "Mi dici che ti emoziona il tramonto ed io ti chiedo se ce l’hai per caso in tasca un chewing gum" is, in my opinion, GENIUS, just as the song proves to be very solid, with a melody soft but catchy, always halfway between pop and rock, like the whole CD. The album closes with "Cuore di Tenebra", a little pop song suitable to conclude "La Malavita" in the best possible way.

In conclusion, the album consistently lies between rock and pop and in my opinion, it is the best work of this Florentine quartet (formerly quintet). Soft, delicate but also dark and shamelessly true. They don’t indulge in chatter and syrupiness like Ramazzotti, nor in screams and explosions of anger like Hard Rock, they are simple. And it is precisely their simplicity that distinguishes them from a music world in constant search of the supernatural.