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Rating:
The latest album by Testa Riccia picks up where the previous one left off... an album easily exploitable for concerts. Anyone who has attended one of his concerts will understand perfectly what I'm referring to: Michele Salvemini is a showman on stage, and this album will allow him to deliver a very entertaining show.
But let's get to the record: it's yet another snapshot of the times passing by. It continues the sad but extremely realistic portraits of an Italy in the hands of schemers, petty politicians, young people who don't study and have ephemeral idols and reference images. Often, the focus is on his Puglia, but in reality, it depicts a nationwide reality of misconduct much more pronounced in the south.
The entire album, as he promised in the previous one, has "More Stratocaster and less DJ"; in fact, the entire album is played with no samples, even though electronics are present. The opening track, "La rivoluzione del Sessintutto", is a fake live performance dedicated to Jimi Hendrix; in reality, the music greatly resembles some riffs by the good old Tom Morello with RATM. The track ends with the destruction of a guitar, hailed by the audience. This causes a time hole that makes a teenager, Ilaria, from '68 appear, who will serve as the common thread throughout the album.
Demoralizing is the track "Pimpami la storia", dedicated to historical revisionism, which uses as a common thread the youngsters who no longer know history and have no "values" other than the fact that image is everything.
Another particularly interesting topic is linked to the transformation of Ilaria, the girl from '68, who, adapting to our times, considers people only if they have a MySpace or belong to the Tim community; she becomes "an alternative girl" who has Che on her t-shirt but in the end is just a spoiled brat (sucks on Nestlé chocolate). In the end, it results in a terrible portrait of a falsely "committed" person. This is "Ilaria condizionata".
"La Grande opera" is a clear reference to the mixture of public works and corruption.
The crossover between tarantella and hip-hop in the track "Vieni a ballare in Puglia" is very nice; it’s ultimately a depiction of the pollution and work hazards present on the Italian Ionian coast.
I won't be here discussing all the other tracks, including the first single, except for the closing one, "Bonobo power", where in the end it is concluded that "The ape is an evolution of man".
The whole album is full of quotes, from video games to TV programs, comics to advertising as usual; I don't think it's much appreciated by those under 30 since some of the references date back to the mid-'90s and might be incomprehensible.
In conclusion, I can only say that I've had it for two days and I spend 8 hours a day at work with this curly-haired guy keeping me company in my headphones.
Happy listening
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