I Cani
Il Sorprendente Album d'Esordio De I Cani

"Don't believe the hype" said Public Enemy.

Sacrosanct, absolutely right, most of the time. The exaggerated promotion inflates expectations that, in the end, are inevitably disappointed, deflating like a whoopee cushion.

Undoubtedly, it also applies to this case, at least in part.

It all begins in the summer of 2010 when two catchy electro-pop tracks appear on YouTube: "I Pariolini di 18 anni" and "Wes Anderson". A Max Gazzè-like voice, tinkling synths, a singer-songwriter flair, and anonymity: the perfect recipe to drive the blogosphere crazy. Everyone asking "who are they?", "will there be an album?", "will they ever perform live?". Respectively: a Roman guy already involved in the obscure electro duo TAVRVS, here's the album less than a year after the first singles were released, and yes, they will play directly at MI AMI (the festival organized by Rockit) without ever having performed. It's marketing 2.0, baby!

With such a background, it's clear you can't approach the finished product without preconceptions: you either love or hate these Cani.

Too bad for those who hate them, as far as I'm concerned. "Il sorprendente album d'esordio de I Cani" (an intentionally playful title that will further annoy detractors) is a collection of all the pieces sprinkled on the internet in recent months plus a handful of new ones. Musically, it is all the same from start to finish with stretched lo-fi keyboard sounds that bury the voice, like New Order but more frivolous and "8-bitty". But the lyrics are the true breath of fresh air. The canine one-man-band, in fact, lucidly and ironically analyzes the hipster world of the city (of Rome North in this case): a world made of hypocrisy and an exacerbated search for coolness, a world in which the author is clearly immersed up to his neck. Like in "Velleità" which, under a driving beat and with an anthemic breath, lays out the stereotypes that "indie" culture has self-imposed:

"Those born in '89 have digital reflex cameras and post beautiful black and white photos on Flickr". Being born in '89, I felt a bit stripped bare, just like that, on the first verse.

Or like "Hipsteria": the story of a high-bourgeois girl trapped in her eccentric poses and equally eccentric escapism desires.

"I’ll go to New York to work at American Apparel.

I assure you I’ll do it,
or at least I’ll go to the park and read David Foster Wallace."

But beyond the invectives, always subtly self-critical, there is also space for amusing vignettes, or rather "Polaroids" for the effectiveness with which they capture moments of a reality that will pass. These aren't timeless songs, starting from the "poorly aged" sounds they propose, they don't want to be: they are frame-born faded that evoke melancholy and uneasiness for the simple truths they depict. Take, for instance, "Le coppie" which goes like this:

"Couples go out together and attend concerts holding each other tight: he introduced her to the band and being taller, he hugs her from behind. She jokes about how the guy singing is actually quite cute. He ignores her and for other reasons gets pissed later."

A banal story, true, but nonetheless striking for the frankness with which such a common situation is described.

They may have been overly hyped, okay, but there's a reason beyond the biographical curiosity for a guy whose name is unknown (come on, how many have done this since the Residents? Still, we get impressed by these little things?) and those who mockingly dismiss them, comparing them to a "city Vasco Brondi" (here, there are no hermetic-acrobatic metaphors) or to Baustelle (no cultured quotes and snobby attitudes here. There's no biting the hand that feeds here).

In reality, "Il sorprendente album d'esordio de I Cani" is simply a fun album, sharp, nostalgic and danceable: all things those other mentioned artists don't have. A smart-ass album that will please the same people it mocks and empathizes with. And right now, I'm too busy nodding my head like a bobblehead to the piercing electronic pirupiru beats to protest and say "no, I don't want to be labeled like that", I mean who cares anyway.