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The group is composed of Bruce Lose (Vocals-Bass), Will Shatter (Vocals-Bass), Ted Falconi (Guitar), Steven De Pace (Drums). To define Flipper’s attitude, we can certainly say that they blend hardcore nastiness with the most intimate emotionality, spitting out a nihilism soured by years and marrying it with minimalist, sparse, and precise poetry. It's as if each member of Flipper had been asked to choose only one color to define the external and visceral world: they collectively opted for a pale and vivid purple at the same time. Introspective beasts thirsting for blood. We notice strong resonances of social criticism with Carpenter’s film “They Live,” the man sterilized by the television medium, happily dehumanized by the flux of images and sounds dealing with fashion, money, and fundamental hierarchical ambition. Flipper is passive in the face of all this; they coexist with heroin, and their voice manages to manifest in claustrophobic, heavy music with strong dark noise tinges, essentially pre-grunge (Mark Arm - Mudhoney, Kurt Cobain - Nirvana, Buzz Osborne - Melvins: they will consider this manifesto as a mine to exploit).
Often the two languid, anorexic basses repeat a single riff for entire minutes, until they oppress and drug the listener with a crepuscular and moribund slowness. Meanwhile, the guitar rumbles maliciously and often distances itself from punk for a dreamy and absent character. The two voices are rather rough, spitting angrily, and a sublime factor is the ability to unite the most sincere anger of the '77 season with a deep and Schopenhauerian analysis of oneself. “Have you ever seen a flower and hated it? Have you ever seen a couple kissing and it made you nauseous? Have you ever wished that the human race never existed, and then realized that you belong to it too?” Ever. Diabolic.
Every alternative artist must have at least marked this LP with their fingerprints: among the most seminal gems of modern rock music. Listen to “Big Long Now” by Nirvana on Incesticide and then “(I Saw You) Shine” on Generic Flipper, Ops Ops, it’s evident that the work in question contains every character of the most celebrated future movements. The Melvins, among the major influences of Stoner groups, somehow imitated that deadly slow setting of Flipper. Stoner and grunge in 1982? I think so. Five years after the publication of the work in question, Shatter will die of an overdose leaving as a legacy his passion, his dedication, total prostitution towards music. His testament is works of virulent and intelligent alienation like "Ha Ha Ha" and "Life Is Cheap."
After 8 invaluable rubies, the record closes with the serial killer "Sex Bomb." Silly and monotonous bass for about 8 minutes, the animalistic and subhuman scream alternates with the only words of the text “She’s a Sexy Bomb Yesssss, yes, YES, yessssssssssss” a sort of corrosive irony and imitation of a society in heat towards a plastic patina that surrounds individuals. Man and woman now rendered animals that mount and must be mounted along a trained path dictated by TV, both with mouths agape, until exhaustion and a manager’s heartbeat. Then they die, without ever waking from the torpor of modern society. They live...
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Ever (02:59)
Ever live a life that's real
Full of zest, but no appeal
Ever want to cry so much
You want to die
Ever feel that you've been had
Had so much that you turn mad
Ever been depressed that
(to) those you turn to, you bring distress
Ever sit in tormenting silence
That turns so loud, you start to scream
Ever take control of a dream
And play all the parts and set all the scenes
Ever do nothing and gain nothing from it
Ever feel stupid and then know that you really are
Ever think you're smart and then find out you aren't
Ever play the fool and then find out that you're worse
Ever look at a flower and hate it
Ever see a couple kissing and get sickened by it
Ever wish the human race didn't exist
And then realize you're one too
Well, have you ... ever .. I have
So What
03 Shed No Tears (04:27)
Shed no tears for the martyr dying
Only in pain suffering and death
Can the martyr become what he's chosen to be
No tears wasted
No sorrow no pity
No, no crying, no loss
Shed no tears for the cop bleeding
He once held the gun. He once held the key
Now his prisoners will sing and dance and play
No tears wasted
No sorrow no pity
No, no crying, no loss
Shed no tears for the nun beaten
By the children she once called her flock
How they hate their teachers. Who force darkness upon us
No tears wasted
No sorrow no pity
No, no crying, no loss
Shed no tears for the suicide
He has made his choice, the pain of life is great
And some will find it sweet to rot beneath the earth
As we rot and live and breathe
No tears wasted
No sorrow no pity
No, no crying, no loss
04 (I Saw You) Shine (08:33)
Turn away, turn away from the wall
Turn away, turn away from the wall
Face me now, Face me now
Show me, show me all your tears
Your pain, your pain makes me burn
It's my shame
It's my shame we both hurt
We both hurt
I've got to strip this flesh from my bones
I've got to hammer this wall with my hands
With my hands
And I saw you
I saw you shine
I was holding you
I saw your face. I saw our face as you heard my words
my words
And you left me. You left me to hold yourself
And I've got to strip this flesh from my bones
I've got to hammer this wall with my hands
with my hands
The lights have all gone out
The lights have all gone out
But I saw you
I saw you shine
06 Life (04:47)
I too have sung Death's praise
But I'm not going to sing that song anymore
Yes, I've figured out what living is all about
It's life! life!
Life is the only thing worth living for
Yes life! life!
Life is the only thing worth...
Life! life!
(I know it has it's ups and downs)
08 Living For The Depression (01:26)
We're living for life to be the way we feel
Not living for life, but the Death appeal
Who wants a cancerous boring end
when you can die from misery and following the trend?
I say "Who cares anyway? Who listens to what I say?"
This song rhymes and we play it in time
And if you wanna live in Super Market Isles
And take your vacation by flying for miles
Take a day off and live in the lies
While others work and capitalize
I say "Who cares anyway? Who listens to what I say?"
This song rhymes and we play it in time
We're living like cockroaches in this place
Sprayed with insecticide that leaves no trace
And if we could crawl on you at night
You could be sure we'd love to bite
I say "Who cares anyway? Who listens to what I say?"
This song rhymes and we play it in time
I'm not living life to be
A really cheap fucker like you
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By Caspasian
How the fuck can you... HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA;
It’s not self-destruction that’s our martyrdom but your closeness!!! Fucking “normal” people, consider our existence.
