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Rating:
I know that on DeBaser, those who write "too many" reviews about the same artist are not looked upon with much sympathy, and this being my seventh concerning Chris Corner*, will probably start causing some itch. In any case, assuring that A) I am not Chris Corner and B) much less a relative or someone from his entourage (unfortunately), I promise I will be brief, especially since this piece also arises from the desire to complete the discography of the magnificent electro(postpunkdarkwaveaddicted)glamster (have I overdone it with the neo-Anglicisms?) from Middlesbrough (England) before the new album comes out (on May 15th, that is).
"The Alternative" is the second album released under the name "IAMX" and was published in 2006. Building on the path already started with the Pimps and then with "Kiss+Swallow", the first album under the aegis that is the subject of this writing, Corner still doles out an intriguing blend coming straight from mainly 80s, dark, and dark-electronic influences (the names are the usual ones I have repeated since the first review, but for those who have the misfortune of reading me for the first time, it costs nothing to mention the never-praised-enough Joy Division, the elegant New Order, the unforgettable Cocteau Twins, and of course, Depeche Mode for whom I resist finding an adjective...you decide...) and infuses, masterfully as the dance animal he is, decidedly more 90s rhythmic loops: after all, it's impossible for an Englishman born in that excellent year of '74 not to have his heart and mind firmly planted in what was happening in Albion's clubs in the '90s (to be honest, this also happens to non-Englishmen, but I don't want you to tell me again that I talk too much about my own stuff in reviews...).
The rest is determined by Corner’s skill in proposing catchy melodies, his penchant for dark and melancholic atmospheres and emotionally "charged" moods, lyrics that tackle difficult topics like sexual ambiguity, addictions, etc., all things that we (ex?) youths enjoy, with the addition of a (although amid an Electro Carnival, it seems to docilely lose itself) greater (almost) acoustic component. Then, his voice, suspended between dream and lament, does the rest.
Perhaps I should have been more "poetic" and less pragmatic in describing this record, but for this time it’s fine like this: I’ll leave you with the battle cry "After Every Party I Die"
Mo.
PS: Apparently (only apparently) off-topic, I greet (even if they will hardly read this) the guys from Motorfm the best (and I don't feel like adding "for me") radio in the world.
*Three on Sneaker Pimps, two on IAMX and one on Robots_in_Disguise (a project in which he is involved as sessionist-producer).
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 President (03:53)
They pull our strings
The animals
They blind, they breed the hate
Under their wing
We’re scientists
We swallow what they fake
For all you lonely boys
I will be president
In all you sons of men
I can be accident
Most fall in line
They do the dance
And salute the safest thing
Bought with their lives
Cry and socialize
And throw all the beauty away
For all you lonely boys
I will be president
In all you sons of men
I can be accident
02 The Alternative (03:59)
Lay back
For me.
You are just exactly what I need
In this cold town.
Lay back
For me.
The three of us in circus
And in liberty
It's been so long.
So throw your guilt religion
To the liars and the weak,
This is the politics and war
Of ecstasy.
And all the nonsense of that vision
That is failing every test;
It's the comedy and death
Of your senses.
The alternative to real world
Is just time for me and a fantasy
Be blind to myself;
To idolize.
The alternative to real world
Is just time for me and a fantasy.
I'm blind to myself
And idolize.
You work
So deep.
Astonished and in rapture
I can barely speak.
These are hard times.
Hormones
In key;
A slow whispered wet confession
From our body heat.
There's no return.
The alternative to real world
Is just time for me and a fantasy
Be blind to myself;
To idolize.
The alternative to real world
Is just time for me and a fantasy.
I'm blind to myself
And idolize.
04 Lulled by Numbers (03:58)
Who put the mess in your head?
Filtering the sense of all your could have said
I stole the words from your mouth
So twisted in contagion, and reaching out
If this is the lullaby, then
Why am I not sleeping easy?
If you leave me alone, I will come home
Dragging my tails behind me
Sweetheart, don't hang me out to dry
When nothing is left
There is always us
When nothing is left
There is always us
If I could sing you to sleep
Lay you down and pray that your soul to keep
I would be all that you need
Wider eyes oblivious to everything
If this is the lullaby, then
Why am I not sleeping easy?
If you leave me alone, I will come home
Dragging my tails behind me
Sweetheart, don't hang me out to dry
When nothing is left
There is always us
When nothing is left
There is always us
When nothing is left
There is always us
When nothing is left
There is always us
05 Song of Imaginary Beings (04:25)
Her mother said that she couldn't love
The physical way a woman should
Then where else could she go?
Where the sisters and the fathers can’t save her soul
Send them in, see them on
She can’t find a lover, she’ll fashion one
Imaginary men
Like the burned out poets in the hinterland
The phoenix says,
The devil says,
The serpent says,
The siren says,
Why use the word, when the word means the beast?
Why use the word, when the word means the beast?
The hourglass sees what shelf life does
She asked, exactly tell me
"what is love but grieving life alone?"
Just the words from prophets and religious shows
Imagine hurt, imagine tears
She opened up until she disappeared
Vanished, hand in hand,
With all the long-lost children locked in Neverland
The phoenix says,
The devil says,
The serpent says,
The siren says,
Why use the word, when the word means the beast?
Why use the word, when the word means the beast?
The phoenix says
The devil says
The serpent says
The siren says
Oh, the pheonix says
- Burn for me
The Devil says
- Lie for me
The serpent says
- Beg for me
The siren says
- Die for me
Oh, the pheonix says
- Burn for me
The Devil says
- Lie for me
The serpent says
- Beg for me
The siren says
- Die for me
06 The Negative Sex (03:10)
Pay no attention to obedience
The kids and wishes fix and forgotten for my self defence
We all want to fuck ourselves and rape the world
So the odds of the cops will prevail
And vanity, not bored, not love
Oh no, we can't leave it alone
Oh no, we can't leave it alone
Because a negative sex was born into a bloodline
The negative sex is powerful in our time
Show a man from examp? the alternative
It's all ammunition for the gender bend and the bedroom twist
They say that the fashion's just not feminist
But the sweet and the turn-on sits in the laps of the girls with the balls and the hits
Oh no, we can't leave it alone
Oh no, we can't leave it alone
Because the negative sex was born into a bloodline
The negative sex is powerful in our time
The negative sex was born into a bloodline
The negative sex is powerful in our time
Sex for a lifetime
Sex for a lifetime
Sex for a lifetime
07 Bring Me Back a Dog (03:23)
From the fall I hold the word conviction
And the thrill to the swell is in your golden touch
But the flesh is weak and without reason
So I slave to your beat and soul for all time
God give a little love
Bring me back a dog in the next life
God give a little love
Wanna be a dog in the next life
When you strike with soul and quick precision
I'm snagged by a nervous twitch and cold desire
But they say the wretched get their kingdom
Breathe on, it's my time, let's go, we all die
God give a little love
Bring me back a dog in the next life
God give a little love
Wanna be a dog in the next life
The trouble is me, you
The trouble is me, you
Oh, the trouble is me, you
The trouble is me, you
God give a little love
Bring me back a dog in the next life
God give a little love
Wanna be a dog in the next life
09 Spit It Out (03:34)
And if you're hurting
I will replace the noise with silence instead
Flushing out your head
If you like it violent
We can play rough and tumble
Fall into bed
And I won't breathe so you can recover
When you're in pieces
Just follow the echo of my voice
It's okay
Tune into that frequency
Don't fight your reflex
Embrace the instinct
You can feel your way
Through the bed and weak face in the end
'cause it breaks my heart
That we live this way
I know people need love
'cause them people never play the game
And we talk the talk
We communicate
The people need love
Those people never play the game
Pleasure for pleasure
It eases consequence
And love for a fall
But I know you love to take a risk
The past is weakness
Don't beg the question when the answer is war
There are moments when I'm overcome
'cause it breaks my heart
That we live this way
I know people need love
'cause them people never play the game
And we talk the talk
We communicate
Them people need love
Those people never play the game
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
In love
10 After Every Party I Die (03:49)
You're living but you've got no soul
You captivate but you hold no weight at all
So watch as I start to smile
You dove and you think you're deep
You aggrevate but you always start to speak
So watch as I start to smile
After every party I die
After every party I die
The morning breaks us up inside
Payback, execution, killing time
So watch as I start to smile
There's something that you think you need
Trying your best to sleep on coke and speed
So watch as I start to smile
After every party I die
- Die after every party
After every party I die
- Die after every party
You're living but you've got no soul
You captivate but you hold no weight at all
So watch as I start to smile
Smile, smile, smile, smile
Smile, smile, smile, smile
Smile, smile, smile, smile
After every party I die
- Die after every party
After every party I die
- Die after every party
After every party I die
- I die after every party
After every party I die
- Die after every party
I die, after every party
I die after every party
11 This Will Make You Love Again (04:44)
when the joys of living just leave you cold
frozen from the failing mess you made your own
and if you want an ending to your screenplay life
well here's the consolation that will change your heart and mind
all the glitz messiah's just pass the time
a cure for no real sickness, cross your hopes and die
your supermarket jesus comes with smiles and lies
where justice he delays is always justice he denies
this will make you love again
this will make you love again
this will make you love again
this will make you love again
and now you save
love again
to feel the rays
love again
the sweet delays
love again
and shoot the breeze
love again
early thursday mornings
wipe away the flies
the crossfire fight for action
inbetween your thighs
every touch is sacred
when they leave the room
if i have to switch the lights off
i wanna switch them off with you
this will make you love again
this will make you love again
this will make you love again
this will make you love again
and now you save
love again
to feel the rays
love again
the sweet delays
love again
and shoot the breeze
love again
early thursday mornings
wipe away the flies
the crossfire fight for action
inbetween your thighs
every touch is sacred
when they leave the room
if i have to switch the lights off
i wanna switch them off with you
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