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Rating: Pubblicità Progresso: listen to them.
The OfflagaDiscoPax are a band from Reggio Emilia. The OfflagaDiscoPax, in the person of Max, class of '67, tell stories from the great cold post-Cold War and the fall of communism (they literally narrate, with an Emilian accent) but they do it with just the right amount of sarcasm and irony that are evidently essential for survival.
These are minimal stories, soaked in the demobilizing political climate of the red Emilia between the mid-Seventies and our days: the story of an antagonist chewing gum and its disappearance ("cinnamon"), of a fourteen-year-old barricading girlfriend who one would like to 'help grow' and discover is 'already grown' ("khmer rossa"), of a cartoonish militancy that stands alongside and clashes with the grip and icons of capitalism (Berlinguer and Space Invaders mentioned side by side in the list of memories that is the ride "robespierre").
As you can tell, it is the lyrics that captivate attention first and foremost, the music contextualizes them: for this reason making musical comparisons is a bit silly (the symbiosis with the words is more important than originality, so to speak) but still... an electronic drum and many new wave touches, some guitar work between 4AD and acoustic shoegazing, "robespierre" is a punk-funk rampage...
But, as mentioned, it is above all the text-music interplay that matters: often I had the feeling that the two things were too disconnected, but where the contrasts work well they are fantastic: for example, in the dreamy guitars that support 'kappler' (MASTERPIECE), realistic lyrics but an atmosphere of abandonment that suggests the protagonist’s letting go after retirement, at the end of conflicts.
The Offlaga, on the other hand, have remained alive, castaways who hold on while grinning, lost in the ocean.
I have left out many things, it's up to you to discover them...
Tracklist and Videos
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Other reviews
By sodo_caustico
One of those albums that makes you look to the future with optimism.
Recommended: for those who feel like spending a day cruising around in the car, whistling with the arm out the window.
By AristarcoScannabue
A militant record by Offlaga, yet full of dreamy hints and delicate moments, as sharp as only sweet memories can be because they are stored in an area of our mind directly connected to the heart.
The whole work is supported by a constant ideological misunderstanding which is the result of political passion reacting with the present.
By Dune Buggy
The essentially original feature of their music lies in combining electro, new wave music, sometimes kraut, with lyrics that are not sung but rather recited.
The listening of these ‘technical tests of transmission’ is first of all advisable in small doses, paying attention to the lyrics, to the stories, more than to the melodic cues.
By expresuntuoso
This is a CD that is COMMERCE. It is based on the basic principles of marketing: finding a target audience being appealing even to a range of people close to this target (or even, as in the case of this CD, creating one from scratch).
The main merit of this CD is having created a timeless bubble, a cosmic black hole to dive into without risking molecular disintegration.
By DanteCruciani
Their lyrics energetically express their point of view, with autobiographical and sarcastic hints.
Offlaga Disco Pax struck me quite a bit: rather simple formulas applied to a good dose of inventiveness and courage.
