I Am X
The Alternative

THE REVIEW

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).