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Rating: The country is real, and all you can do is run away. It all begins with the ‘scandal' of Afterhours at Sanremo. I wonder what's so scandalous, perhaps the scandal lies precisely in not having managed to go there earlier, during the times of ‘Voglio una pelle splendida’, for example. Because to me, the Afterhours have always seemed like a Sanremo kind of band, certainly with a different approach from Albano and Romina, but still singable in the shower. I don't understand, I investigate.
It turns out there is a scene of alternative Italian music, and independent, and I start to wonder, alternative to whom? Independent from what? The array of options that could clarify these terms alternative/indie could be overwhelming, so let's forget the illustrious commentators following this review...
But here comes a little disc at the tail end of this ‘divine’ and media appearance, featuring part of this music scene. It begins with an enjoyable track by Agnelli. A sincere flashback to the times of ‘Quello che non c’'è’. The praiseworthy singer-songwriter Paolo Benvegnù, highly appreciated first in the 90s with Scisma and then with a couple of solo albums. Marco Parente, another excellent singer-songwriter to be placed in the age group between 39 and 44 years. The new De André, Battiato, De Gregori, alright, I'm in. Next is one of the best Italian bluesmen, from Sicily, Cesare Basile... Summing up, I find some names with interesting music, but nothing new, derivative class, and of an artistic period that expressed today almost feels anachronistic. But alas, the neurotic synth pop of Antolini arrives, the nostalgic suite of Calibro 35. And still, the beautiful yet pointless desolate acoustic ballad by A Toys Orchestra, the Italian punk of Zen Circus who even in their verses invite the many artists crowding the scene to go work in the fields...
On the same line, the Teatro degli Orrori... By now, the images of fields to plow have taken over my thoughts, and I wonder. What am I listening to? Is it enough to gather a bunch of people, photograph them nicely, print them in a teen magazine, and pass it off as a musical and noble scene of this country? Adding to these Marlene Kuntz, brilliant indeed, and then Le Luci delle Centrale Elettrica, the Ministri, and who knows how many other 'new' names that have come to the fore in recent years, what's there to listen to in this or in their records? The last Italian scene I remember is from the 70s with groups that even though derivative of the English ones, found their own language, and I cite: Il Balletto di Bronzo, Il Rovescio della Medaglia, Metamorfosi, Pfm, Banco, Le Orme, Osanna, etc., etc...
Here I find pleasant but bland things, without any soul. As Benvegnù himself says in a very recent interview, and includes himself, "what's missing among Italian groups is the courage to dare", to express themselves beyond the mere mimicry of what's found across the border. I'm sorry, but I found nothing alternative, nothing independent from a system that neither has ideas nor charisma to express them in the future. An nightmare, real.
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