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Rating: Nowadays, it is fashionable to automatically label works made exclusively with electronic tools as worthless rubbish, without perhaps realizing that there might be something among them that is precisely the opposite, a known fact always until proven otherwise. And here arises a question: is it still possible to create a true masterpiece using a simple computer to create many genres at once, and especially on just one record? For the one-man band Musica Per Bambini, the answer is undoubtedly yes.
Manuel Bongiorni (the person behind this project) had already made a name for himself with his previous works "Nascondino coll'assassino," "Del Superuovo" (with the memorable "Bolla Di Brodo"), and especially "M_sica" ("O' Dipintore" ring a bell?), excellent works with one peculiarity in common: they were entirely created with the computer. And who would have thought that last year, still following a single style capable of uniting everything into one (electronics), with this "Dio Contro Diavolo (Ovvero La Girella Del Guitto)" he would create a work of art, a synergy of a thousand and more genres capable of hitting the target? Perhaps no one.
But this is the soul of the Musica Per Bambini project: a true melting pot of classical, rock, metal, punk, avant-garde, lots of electronics, like mini-suites characterized by atmospheres that are first cheerful, then unsettling, and finally almost circus-like, just like the concerts of this one-man band.
When Manuel Bongiorni sings, he is not easy to describe: he manages to be many voices in one person. A bit leaning toward the harshness of a Mike Patton ("Morto Vivo", "Dio Contro Diavolo", with influences very much like Mr. Bungle during the "Disco Volante" period), the calmness of an Elio ("Lettere Dall'Armadio"), the tongue twisters of a Caparezza ("O Caramellaio") or even the most whimsical Capossela ("Cose Da Non Fare Al Gatto", the launching song of the entire CD). Wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, pride, greed, envy are the dark forces that act in the characters inhabiting this CD (which coincidentally has the seven deadly sins as its theme). It's not an everyday occurrence.
And "Dio Contro Diavolo" is nothing less than actual proof that from a tiny spark, a great fire can emerge. Something that dissociates from certain pre-packaged and soulless products.
A work that is everything and nothing, a full and empty record. A universe belonging to everyone and one alone. The only place to find bizarre characters like Madiro Sovenzio, Maipago Tascamuta, Ronfasano Senzasosta, Nullavanzo Tuttomagno, Sonbello Solio, Manomorta Guastadonne and Lagogno Anchemè. The desire to change insufferable human limits "from the fingertips to the end of life." One of the true manifestations of a sort of revivalistic Italian Dadaism of the 2000s. Maybe even something we could talk to our children about in the future, to find an answer to that question that good Vasco Brondi posed months before the release of this album.
Music for children, sure. But perhaps more like music for adults.
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