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Rating: While Italy is shaken by an album like "Terremoto" by Litfiba, France simultaneously sees at the top of the best-selling albums a work similar both musically and content-wise, "Tostaky" by Noir Désir. Both albums are, in fact, infused with pure, hard, and direct rock, with politicized lyrics, highlighting the worst aspects of their respective societies.
With this album, the best and best-selling of their career, Noir Désir definitively abandon the status of "next big thing" to become one of the most important rock groups France has ever had. Supported at the mixing board by a certain Ted Niceley, a member of Fugazi, the group, Denis Barthe (drums), Serge Teyssot-Gay (guitar), Frédéric Vidalenc (bass), and Bertrand Cantat (vocals, guitar) unleash a series of songs with great impact, traversing different genres and languages, characterized nevertheless by Bertrand's splendid lyrics, surreal and full of wordplay, but always very poetic and never predictable.
We are introduced by "Here It Comes Slowly", a short and direct track, bordering on punk, where at the end Bertrand engages in his ungraceful scream excellently supported by his three companions. The lyrics address fascism. In "Ici Paris", always very direct and hard with beautiful solos, the theme is war, and it even includes a reference to Syd Barrett "a l'amour et a la vie/a Syd Barrett et c'est fini". A change of atmosphere with "Oubliè", a dissonant ballad that tells the story of a love affair gone wrong, where the drums sound almost like a metronome for its obsessive constant beat on the skins. The pace picks up again with "Alice", the story of a girl who "a le don de la metamorphose" or "fait sa nuit dans des villes enchantées/et elle se réveille au matin sur des terres brûlées"; beautiful the musical crescendo at the end. Followed by 2 classics from the group: the first is "One Trip/One Noise", a foray of the group into world music, and the earthquake-inducing title-track, where the group turns up the amplifier volume to the maximum and unleashes a ride of unprecedented violence; in this case, the chorus is sung in Spanish and discusses the war in Latin America.
"Marléne" owes a debt to certain Central European sounds; indeed, the track seems like a military march, enhanced by the harmonica and part of the text sung this time, obviously, in German, "Hier und immer , Da kennt man sie, Kreuz unter Kreuzen Marlene immer liebt". The lyrics, once again antimilitaristic, are inspired by the famous "Lili Marleen". Pure rage is unleashed in "Johnny Colére", a short but intense track, again antimilitaristic, this time against the people who decide wars and the fates of thousands of people "johnny m'a dit, johnny m'a dit/ rejoins tes frères, rejoins tes soeurs/ bois le sang de ton ennemi". The longest song on the album, 6 minutes, is "7 Minutes", greatly indebted to Sonic Youth's noise-rock, given the long feedback solos that characterize it; an over-the-top performance by Bertrand, who uses a very emphatic and powerful tone. The acoustic guitar makes its appearance in the bleak ballad "Sober Song", in which the singer prays to God to make him sober, promising that "I'll drink water till I die". The last sonic assault is "It Spurts", which finds its strength in the singer's interpretation, who this time delights us with a dark, rage-filled vocal register; rage that is unleashed in the middle section, "so come on/stop/I fuck you/shut up/I'll kill you/fuck off/you always drive me crazy". It closes with "Lolite Nie en Bloc", alternating calm verses with violent feedback in the chorus.
An album of great value, capable of providing strong emotions with every listen, despite being 14 years old.
SCORE = 9
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Here It Comes Slowly (03:03)
Crawling like a thunder slug
Now it smells like a war drug
Here it comes slowly
Here it comes slowly
Deeply burried in the bowels
Now it spurts out of the wells
Here it comes slowly
Here it comes slowly
We can keep that beast away it still lays in its gore
We'll never stand fascism anymore
No way out no miracle, just stop it your blood
Has your neighbour really understood ?!
We all wallow in dirt
But there's a shadow to hurt
Crawling like a thunder slug
Now it smells like a war drug
Deeply buried in the bowels
Now it spurts out of the wells
Sad shit flowing to the skin
No one forget what you mean
If it grows up like a death tree
Why don't we beat it down here and now ?
02 Ici Paris (03:37)
Marianne rebelle me disait
Qu'elle est plus jolie métissée
Ici Paris
Caravanes, vent du désert,
Mais nous n'irons plus à la guerre
A l'attaque
Ici New York, ici Moscou
Chacun pour soi, tous pour les sous
Solidaires
Ici Paris
Epargne moi
Ici Paris (3)
Adonis et bulldozer
S'accouplent à la volontaire
Ici Paris
Hola madonne tu m'étonnes
Enlève ce col qui te donne
L'air emprunté
A l'amour et à la vie
A Syd Barret et c'est fini
Ici Londres
Ici Paris
Epargne moi
Ici Paris (3)
03 Oublié (04:33)
Je ne t'en veux pas
Je ne te vois pas
Et j'ai oublié
Qui tu etais
Qu'est ce que j'ai bien pu faire
De ce souvenir
J'ai oublié
Je ne t'en veux pas
Je ne te vois pas
L'histoire de ce train
Ne me dit rien
De quoi nous avons parlé
A la fin de l'été
J'ai oublié
J'ai tout oublié
Oublié
04 Alice (03:55)
Alice a le don
De la métamorphose
Elle peut se transformer
Et rien ne s'y oppose
Alice a le don
Alice a le doigt
Qui se perd sur le globe
Elle suit le tracé des rivières
Et traverse la terre
Alice a le doigt
Alice se frotte
A l'immersion
Et au diadème solaire
Enfin à d'autres visions
Alice se frotte
Allez Alice se frotte
Assise au milieu des ondes
Alice est féconde
A dada sur son monde
Elle envoie ses flèches
A la fin oui tout s'explique
Réve et mécanique
Le ciel électrique
Des télévisions
Alice se regarde
Alanguie sur son plume
Elle a tant flotté dans l'éther
Qu'elle arrive à la lune
Alice veut le meilleur
Alice fait sa nuit
Dans des villes enchantées
Et elle se réveille au matin
Sur des terres brûlées
Alice fait sa nuit
Quand sur ses ailes d'acier
Dans des lits d'initiés
Elle sent le point du jour
Elle a fait le tour
Alice se sort de la faille
Et revient à sa taille
Alors le monde entier
Redevient normal
Alice est comme ça
07 Marlène (03:03)
Oh Marlène
Les cœurs saignent
Et s'accrochent en haut
De tes bas
Oh Marlène
Dans tes veines
Coule l'amour
Des soldats
Et quand ils meurent ou s'endorment
C'est la chaleur de ta voix
Qui les apaise, et les traîne
Jusqu'en dehors des combats
Oh Marlène, c'est la haine
Qui nous a amené là
Mais Marlène, dans tes veines
Coulait l'amour des soldats
Eux quand ils meurent
Ou s'endorment
C'est dans le creux de tes bras
Qu'ils s'abandonnent
Et qu'ils brûlent
Comme un clope
Entre tes doigts
Hier und immer,
Da kennt man sie,
Kreuz unter Kreuzen
Marlène immer liebt
08 Johnny colère (02:17)
Johnny m'a dit, Johnny m'a dit
Oublie ton père, oublie ta mère
Oublie ton coeur, oublie tes moeurs
Johnny m'a dit, Johnny m'a dit
Tupamaramos, Cangaceiros
C'est le camp qu'il faut choisir
Johnny m'a dit, Johnny m'a dit
Tout ça un soir où le ciel zèbré d'éclairs
Nous déclarait "Nous allons fonder le parti unique"
Johnny m'a dit, Johnny m'a dit
Rejoins tes frères, rejoins tes soeurs
Bois le sang de ton ennemi
Johnny m'a dit, Johnny m'a dit
Ecarte le rouge, écarte le blanc
La seule couleur, c'est noir brillant
Johnny m'a dit, Johnny m'a dit
Tout ça un soir où le ciel zèbré d'éclairs
Nous déclarait "Nous allons fonder le parti unique"
Et la victoire caresse l'espoir de nous appartenir
Et la victoire caresse l'espoir de nous appartenir
Car il faut tenir
Johnny m'a dit
Johnny m'a dit
Johnny m'a dit
Johnny m'a dit
09 7 Minutes (06:01)
Between skies and field
This land in midnight lights
Cold summer, cold summer
Till the end of time
The earth's like a belly
An heavy sleeping beast
But with her big eyes open
And cities are inside
Still standing on the hill
This city's like an ocean
Enjoy the metal waves
In which we drown ourselves
Don't you breathe anymore
Are you far from the next corner?
Your race is burning the pavement
Welcome to the city
The city's done for you
Yell with the underdogs
Make sure they won't bite you
11 It Spurts (03:53)
Nobody i'll drag me into this
Stinking thoughts i know you
You won't never carry it off
Even if you're kind with me
Get out leave me alone
And have a nice day asshole
I know why you're a pretty cynic shit
That i can't stand anymore
So sorry about that but
I feel like you pick on me boy
Get out leave me alone
And have a nice day asshole
Listen and see
Don't try it with me (x3)
I told you
Well you been drinking a lot
And your head's going round
Of course you think i'm a
Parano•ac silly dirty wicked boy
And you're a pain in my aah
So come on
Stop
I fuck you
Shut up
I'll kill you
Fuck off
You always drive me crazy
Get out leave me alone
And have a nice day asshole
Listen and see
Don't try it with me (x3)
I told you
You don't even know anything true
About my life
Poison
Explodes
And spurts out of our souls
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Other reviews
By Torre Ste
The band’s rock fills the auditory pavilion: distorted guitars and the insolent voice of the leader capable of charging the listener.
The most significant song on the album is certainly "Tostaky (le continent)" where Cantat & Co. bring out all the rage from the guts against everything that’s wrong in the world.
By Blackdog
The urgency, the strong and moral need to express poorly concealed anger, restlessness, and ideals annihilated by boredom and frustration.
'Johnny Colere' speaks to me and shakes me with words of passion: "forget your father, forget your mother and forget yourself because it’s time to choose which side, in which 'camp' to take a stand".
