•
Rating:
"Pipes Traversed by Frozen Neon" (from "Rockstar" December '97)
Becoming X was what Chris Corner aimed for in '96, and probably, given the name of the project he founded with the new Millennium, "IAMX," he succeeded.
Never was a title more appropriate for an album that, 11 years later, still sounds suspended between the undefined and the icy, yet terribly elegant, refined but never cloying.
I don't know if those who, like myself, listened to this album "live" had the same feeling, which is that the Electronic Pop of the Reading project would have a tough time with the passing of Seasons and Years, but it's a fact that the absolute invisibility enjoyed by the still beautiful subsequent albums "Splinter" and "Bloodsport" confirmed the common saying that you can't have a foot in two camps unless you're already an Acknowledged Icon...
The problem could be clarified with the expressions "Commercial but not enough, Refined but too Pop", and indeed this indefiniteness might be the weak point (for those who have to sell the Album) of "Becoming X." However, if we momentarily put aside useless prejudices tied to the era and consequently to the Genre (the Trip Hop) that then swallowed anything mildly related (and therefore also this album, although being Trip Hop as much as Tool is Hair Metal), we end up understanding that the "hesitant fluttering" of this First Work is, in reality, the strength and characteristic for which it is still enjoyed today, fresh as a just-baked brioche, even if the icy atmosphere of the disc makes the comparison seem off...
A year ago, I began by reviewing their (for now) latest album, and now I find myself on this path, intentionally backward, talking about the first one while there’s a fairly fresh rumor that sees them working on a fourth LP "SP5," (which in reality, as understood from the title, would be the fifth since an "SP4" was never released and whose songs ended up being included among the IAMX works), and needless to say, this excites me greatly and gives more sense to writing, which being my third on this group, would have little (depending...) to say.
The little refers to the biographical notes that you can read and to the Electro and Dark Wave influences of Corner & Co, which is quite redundant to discuss, having done so extensively already. More important things to highlight for those who have only listened to other works of theirs is that here in the singing is not Chris but, as the fashion of the time wanted, a sweet lady named Kelli Dayton destined to be remembered only for (the excellent, however) work done here and, furthermore, that if you are looking for the Spleen atmospheres of their second album ("Splinter"), you won't find them here.
There is no existential suffering here; there is only an aptitude for sonic elegance and programmed coldness that incredibly manages to captivate, sustained as it is by Dayton's subtle but sensual voice and a barely noticeable groove yet vibrant enough to remain extremely vital...
...and then the electrominimalism of “How Do”, the "fake" violins of “Walking Zero”, the almost dance rhythm of “Spin Spin Sugar”, the Darkish charm of “Tesko Suicide” and “Low Place Like Home” and obviously the Author's Pop of “6 Underground” are more than valid reasons to rediscover an album often confused in the pit of all too predictable easy listening.
I would stop here... in the comments you'll let me know if I’ve said enough, too much, or too little. For the rest, Happy Winter DeBaser people...
Becoming X, being light and undecided, frightened by a new millennium about to arrive but tired of the dominant nihilism of the one we're about to leave, Becoming X to defend ourselves and continue to live and be happy, invisible to enemies but present for those who, even just for a moment, loved us...
I Am X.
Mo.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Low Place Like Home (04:38)
You walked all over, in your blunderstones
In your own road movie, with your one armed man
Gonna make it to the problem page
Trouble-shoot your life
Gonna make it to the problem page
Need some time and space
Just to find yourself
I hope you find yourself
In a low place like home
Low place like home
You talked it over from your bedroom throne
Making sense of nothing, like your one armed man,
Read your future in the magazine, search your stars for clues
Read your future in the magazine, tells you what to lose
Just to find yourself
I hope you find yourself
In a low place like home
Low place like home
You fall all over, in your small town heels
Catching hold of nothing, like your one armed man,
Treat your life like a tragedy, self-inflict abuse
Treat your life like a tragedy, precious else to choose
Crucify yourself, I hope you find yourself
In a low place like home
Low place like home
02 Tesko Suicide (03:48)
Phone me and I'll hang up
Sick and tired of being bubble gum chewed up
Dark lane, bleak house shrinking rose, You're over and out
Tie a cherry bootstring, put your candy teeth in
Choking on a sweetheart, hang up, hang up, hang up
Go on girls - solo,
Go on girls - take a chance,
Go on girls - trust it,
Go on girls - the truth is ...
Cut your hair wear a chip on your shoulder
Get ahead, get laid, get it over
Cheap show, back seat martyr's pose, you're over and out
I'm checking out of my senses, buying best defences
Putting on the trousers, hang up, hang up, hang up
Go on girls - solo,
Go on girls - take a chance,
Go on girls - trust it,
Go on girls - the truth is ...
So so ... Single ... So low ... The truth is ...
You want the day to fit to a soundtrack
Get a story get a life and get back
You've got nothing to shout about
You're over and out
I'm checking out of my senses, Buying best defences
Fired up on free-will, hang up, hang up, hang up
Go on girls - solo,
Go on girls - take a chance,
Go on girls - trust it,
Go on girls - the truth is ...
So so ... Single ... So low ... The truth is ...
So so ... Single ... So low ... The truth is .
03 6 Underground (03:49)
(A one, two)
Take me down,
6 underground, the ground beneath your feet (A one, two)
Laid out low
Not meant to go
No where or way to meet (A one, two)
I've got a head full of drought
Down here
So far off from losing out
Round here
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open...to falling through grace
Calm me down
Bring it round
To way high off your street (A one, two)
I can see
Like nothing else
In me you're better than I wanna be
Don't think cuz I understand
I care
Don't think cuz I'm talking
We're friends
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open...to falling through grace
Talk me down
Safe and sound
Too strung up to sleep (A one, two)
Wear me out
Scream and shout
Swear my time's never cheap (A one, two)
I fake my life like I bleed
Too much
I'll take whatever your giving
Not enough
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open
I fake my life like I've lived
Too much
I'll take whatever you're giving
Not enough
Overground
Watch this space
I'm open...to falling through grace
(A one, two)
(A one, two)
(A one, two)
(A one, two)
04 Becoming X (04:15)
you can keep breathing
i only fall when you are near me
incomplete
i only talk when you can hear me
keep dreaming
can't wake up until i'm sleeping
lost on me
close to something i'd never be
()
if i just stay here
close my eyes can you still see me
obsolete
very nearly something to see
see me
i can't wake up for sleeping
incomplete
very nearly something to be
still see me
there's a punishment needed
obsolete
very nearly something to be
very nearly something to be
you can keep trying
drown in sleep to be flying
see for miles
something that I wanted to be
i can't wake this dream
prototype ends up has been
incomplete
the consequence of something to be
05 Spin Spin Sugar (03:35)
I'm everyone - I feel used
I'm everyone - I need you
I'm everyone - hang your label on me
I'm everyone - Paint it black and white and easy
I'm everyone - Sticks in me
I'm everyone - Sticks with me
I want perfection - I'm real need
I've seen attention - See through me
Call on me - Spin spin sugar
Crawl on me - Spin spin sugar
Stinks on me - Spin spin sugar
Twists for me - Spin spin sugar
I've seen attention - See through me
I want perfection - I'm real need
I'm everyone - Sticks in me
I'm everyone - Sticks with me
Call on me - Spin spin sugar
Crawl on me - Spin spin sugar
Stinks on me - Spin spin sugar
Twists for me - Spin spin sugar
06 Post-Modern Sleaze (03:30)
She looks ahead, she paints her toe nails red,
She's wet and wild, a typical 90's child,
She makes every move they make,
She takes everything they take,
She must be a Thelma or Louise,
She must be a post-modern sleaze
Unscrew the wine, she'll throw a party line,
Stories extreme, she's such a drama queen,
Cries through the night, she choked on Marlboro lites,
Pure charm and grace, she hates her pretty face,
She makes every move they make,
She takes everything they take,
She must be a Thelma or Louise,
She must be a post-modern sleaze
Straw spun from gold, she craves a tortured soul,
All doom and gloom, she plays an open wound,
She takes every scene they steal,
She fakes every pain they feel,
She must be a Thelma or Louise,
She must be a post-modern tease.
07 Waterbaby (04:12)
Sneaker Pimps
Becoming X (1996)
Waterbaby
Your heart is served cold
Your sights are set in perfect stone
And when you go you go alone
And when you stand you're on your own
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
We're nothing like friends
You have no time to lend
And if you're guilt then I'm the shame
And if I'm hurt then you're the blame
You wash my trace from your skin and you leave again
You wash my trace from your skin and you leave again
(the love is boards
life left with anons)
Random laid plans
40 days of one night stands
And when you go you go alone
You walk the cross you made your own
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
I wash the streets from your skin when you come home
(wash my skins off run my skin off
wash my skins off run my skin off)
08 Roll On (04:29)
Roll on, these doors are open
Roll off, you can come next time,
I'm in love with your confusion, on your knees
When you're breathing through your elbows,
Down on me, down on me
Roll on roll off,
Roll on roll off,
Don't take that wrong
Don't take that wrong
Roll up, these doors are open,
Load up, come next time
Don't try to hurry me along,
Just walk ahead a little gone
Roll on roll off,
Roll on roll off,
Don't take that wrong
Don't take that wrong
Roll on, going down on me,
Roll off, make it easy on me,
You can't think you're someone special,
On your knees,
We're throwing punches underwater,
Sink with me, sink with me, sink
Roll on roll off,
Roll on roll off,
Something is sinking X5
09 Wasted Early Sunday Morning (04:29)
you're not the sun
it's just a light
waking on a sunday morning
you're not the church
it's just the bells
ringing sweetly through the house
and if this sense of mind
you got an answer
and I am not this rare
you're still in reach
I please myself
wasting early sunday morning
you're not my lead
you're just my help
tuck me in just denied
and in this state of mind
you want a want
nothing close to what I need
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
I breathe you in
suit yourself
lose myself
breaking early sunday morning
you're not the sun
you're not my church
I still hold some self control
But in this sense of mind
I'm still too high
look no hands
I breathe you in
breathe you in
breathe you in
breathe you in
breathe you in
(i breathe you
i breathe you
i breathe you
i breathe you
i breathe you)
10 Walking Zero (04:31)
Sacrifice my vanity
Kick off my heels
A careless weight on your hatred
Understand it's so simple
A simple please
To keep the faithful on wounded knee
To the madness i do confess
I never see myself as blessed
(confused, unaddressed)
Like a saviour i do caress
The truth is boredom more or less
(unused, obsessed)
My time is only given up to you
Too much to choose
It's not mine to contemplate
If i can lose
With this blood on my shoes
Compromise in full extreme
Cut off my heels
Name a price on what's sacred
Guaranteed i've got something
A royal disease
Take a flood to clean these streets
To the madness i do confess
Forever see myself as blessed
(immune, obsessed)
Like a saviour i do caress
The truth is boredom, it's excess
(take more, give less)
My time is only given up to you
Too much to choose
It's not mine to contemplate if i can lose
With this blood on my shoes
Loading comments slowly
