Summary.
The most obvious link between post-rock of the 1990s and progressive-rock and German avant-rock of the 1970s was a band from Maryland, Trans Am, a trio led by guitarist/keyboardist Philip Manley. The keyboards-driven instrumental rock of The Surveillance (1998) were unique in that they exhuded the rhythmic exuberance of dance music. The group moved towards a less distinctive but more accessible prog-pop sound that culminated with Red Line (2000), under a broad range of influences, from Devo's futuristic rock'n'roll to Frank Zappa's noise-jazz bacchanals.
If English is your first language and you could translate my old Italian text, please contact me.
Scroll down for recent reviews in english.
|
I Trans AM di Philip Manley (chitarra e tastiere),
residenti a due passi da
Washington, fanno parte della corrente (Magnog, Jessamine, etc) del nuovo rock
strumentale basato sulle tastiere.
Il loro mini-album d'esordio (Thrill Jockey, 1995) fa ampio riferimento a
progressive-rock e kraut-rock in piece come Ballbados
(evoluzioni della chitarra attorno a un riff sardonico di basso)
e Orlando (sonorita` spasmodiche al confine fra hard-rock e jazz-rock),
anche se emergono tentazioni verso il techno-pop come Firepoker
(sesta traccia, non quinta come indicato sulla copertina).
Gli esperimenti (Trans AM fra minimalismo, heavy metal e Sonic Youth)
culminano nei nove minuti di Amerikan Kooter, con le danze stridule
dell'organo e le convulsioni spigolose della sezione ritmica.
Il gruppo esegue poi una conversione al ballabile con l'EP Illegal Ass
(Happy Go Lucky, 1996), con la title-track e Koln.
Surrender To The Night (Thrill Jockey, 1997) e` un lavoro di transizione
che serve piu` che altro a mettere a punto i sincronismi.
Questa volta a prendere il sopravvento
e` l'indole teutonica, ovvero un sound tetro e massiccio che si sviluppa
per iperboli ritmiche. Anche il senso di incompiuto e` teutonico:
Motr e Rough Justice, jam assordanti di rock chitarristico
al limite dell'heavy-metal,
castrano i propri temi, accontentandosi di creare tensione e suspence e
divertendosi a confondere l'ascoltatore con stravaganze cacofoniche (come il
forte disturbo della seconda).
La coesione fra i musicisti e` miracolosa. Le parti strumentali si compenetrano
come gli ingranaggi di una macchina, anche quando sono apparentemente
incoerenti. E` spettacolare il modo in cui Love Commander, su una base
che e` fondamentalmente dub, sovrappone un frenetico assolo di batteria
e liquide improvvisazioni d'organo alla Soft Machine.
Illegalize It e Tough Love riprendono il loro dotto studio
sul ballabile, la prima con un sofisticato jazz-rock, la seconda con un
pastiche poliritmico nella tradizione di Neu e Kraftwerk.
Cologne e` un rifacimento di Koln.
Cio` che manca a questa musica e` uno scopo. Manca un finale, un messaggio,
un traguardo. Anche Surrender To The Night, che decolla in un magma di rumori
elettronici e percussivi, non sa finire.
The Surveillance (Thrill Jockey, 1998),
secondo album della formazione di Philip Manley, prosegue il discorso
(puramente strumentale e altamente sperimentale) del precedente
senza titubanze di sorta, semmai con un'austerita` degna della
musica da camera d'avanguardia. Nella sostanza Manley si propone di fungere
da ponte fra il progressive-rock degli anni '70 e la musica da ballo
elettronica degli anni '90. In tal modo ritrova le fila di cento discorsi
abbozzati nella storia del rock da gruppi che si spingevano oltre il formato
della canzone, Bitch Magnet e Can, Neu e King Crimson, Glenn Branca e Steve
Albini. O, per citare i contemporanei, Run On e Ui.
Buona parte dei brani vive di un'esuberanza turbolenta,
in gran parte dovuta agli uragani ritmici di Sebastian Thomson (batteria)
e di Nathan Means (basso).
Il sibilo lancinante di Armed Response cede il posto a un
riff spasmodico di progressive-rock e esplode in un'accelerazione epilettica.
In Campaign le schitarrate folli della chitarra e le sincopi torrenziali della
batteria sfociano in schemi iterativi che ricordano il modo in cui i
Polyrock usavano il minimalismo nei primi anni Ottanta.
Apice violento ed emotivo dell'opera e` Extreme Measures, una sorta di
blues-rock pachidermico nella tradizione di Blue Cheer e Hawkwind.
Meta` dell'album appartiene alla storia della musica d'avanguardia:
Prowler 97 vive soltanto di uno stridulo battito di rhythm-box e di un
sintetizzatore ubriaco; Access Control campiona un segnale telefonico e
altri rumori a mo' di rhythm-box; e
l'intermezzo comico di Home Security libra sfarfallii del sintetizzatore
su una marcetta grottesca. Proprio nei pezzi piu` brevi si avverte piu`
forte l'influenza dei Neu.
Lo stile cambia di nuovo per Future World (Thrill Jockey, 1999).
Gli elementi piu` in vista sono il canto, benche' sempre "trattato"
elettronicamente, i motivetti delle tastiere elettroniche (mai cosi`
orecchiabili), e le cadenze della sezione ritmica (mai cosi` semplici0.
Il disco si apre con un assolo schizoide di chitarra, 1999, che ricorda
le improvvisazioni caotiche che aprivano i concerti di Von Lmo.
Television Eyes incalza con una progressione ritmica nel loro miglior
stile "teutone", ma la sua divina geometria e` dissacrata da due temi:
una melodia stridula del canto e una melodia ariosa di organo.
La carica ritmica e` ancor piu` possente in Future World, e
la filastrocca (sempre deformata nel registro dei robot) e` ancor piu`
immediata. I Trans Am potrebbero proporsi come un incrocio fra i Devo e i Neu.
La maggior coesione giova ai brani strumentali soltanto quando
si spalancano le fauci di City In Flames, giu` per la china del
grindcore e dei Chrome, ma in generale questo e` un disco di "canzonette"
futuriste. Anche la suite conclusiva, Sad And Young, sa piu` di
Roxy Music (decadenza mitteleuropea) che di Can.
C'e` anche posto per una novelty strumentale degna di Frank Zappa,
Cocaine Computer, un funk da discoteca imbastito sui versi delle
macchine elettroniche, e per il synth-pop atmosferico di
Runners Standing Still, una ballad che sarebbe piu` appropriata per
un disco degli Spandau Ballett.
Disco molto meno sperimentale dei precedenti, piu` ordinato e accessibile,
piu` serio e meno comico,
disco cantato, invece che soltanto suonato, disco di (brevi) canzoni, invece che
di (lunghe) piece, Future World cambia forse direzione a una delle carriere
piu` coraggiose dell'epoca.
Who Do We Think You Are (Spunk, 1999) is a mini-album that sounds
like a less serious affair that pokes fun at their own innovations and at
their idols.
|
(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Trans AM's Philip Manley is also the mind behind the instrumental project
Golden, which developed slowly since 1993 over the course of three singles
(Golden Chet's Jalopy, Victory Is Ours).
With a little help from his friends
Six Finger Satellite ,
Golden (Slowdime, 1998) is surprisingly a rock record, which tones
down Trans AM's experiments. One can still hear Can in the convoluted geometry
of the songs, but the focus is on Manley's own record collection and in
particular hard-rocking bands of the 1970s such as Black Sabbath and ZZ Top
(Good Hope). As it spirals down Manley's memory lane, the album sounds
closer and closer to Sonny Sharrock's hard-jazz.
Baja Grip is the highlight of
Super Golden Original Movement (Slowdime, 1999), an album which
leaves largely behind Manley's obsessions with hard-rock and tackles
progressive-rock, ambient house and world-music.
Golden's third album, the concept
Golden Summer (Slowdime, 2000), is even more surprising, as it delves
into southern boogie and hard rock but with an ever increasing obsession for
progressive-rock and art-rock attitudes.
The rhythm section of drummer Jon Theodore and bassist Ian Eagleson
frames with gusto the dual guitar haze.
When the guitars sprint at raga speed, the quartet recalls the wild jamming
of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
But Golden's fourth album, Apollo Stars (National, 2002), is mere
imitation where the previous albums where revisitation of 1970s sounds.
You Can Always Get What You Want (Thrill Jockey, 2000), a collection of
EPs and rarities, works as an excellent anthology of Trans Am's career.
It shows how their music is rooted in progressive and German rock of the 1970s
(Soft Machine's percolating and dissonant jazz scores highlight
American Kooter,
Neu's madly percussive music propels Simulacrum, both 1993 tracks)
and it displays the band's erudite take on music making, a praxis that waives
any pretension of entertainment in favor of a careful dissection of
constituent elements.
Illegal Ass and Koln previously appeared on a 1996 EP, one
of their stronger moments.
Illegal Ass is possibly their most subtle essay on rhtyhm.
Koln is a tone poem that mixes eastern motives, metallic industrial
rhythm, weird noises, gothic organ drones.
Another rarity,
the single Strong Sensations, betrays the leader's obsession for
hard rock.
Included are also three tracks from
Surrender To The Night (Thrill Jockey, 1997).
While not as compelling as their major works, this album is a good introduction
to the ensemble's compositional technique.
On Red Line (Thrill Jockey, 2000)
21 tracks (71 minutes) of Trans Am's futuristic rock and roll are enough to
betray their true inspirations:
Suicide
(the panzer-grade exorcism of I'm Coming Down)
and Devo
(I Want It All, with filtered, robotic vocals and symphonic electronics).
Slow Response (massive beat, eerie choir, Led-Zeppelian guitar riff)
and Shady Groove (tribal beat, electronica, sax solo)
are a skewed version of new wave, deformed by the lens of conceptual art.
Actually, the instrumental, noise-jazz bacchanal of
Village In Bubbles is reminiscent of Weasels-era Zappa,
and the orchestral nonsense of Don't Bundle Me is reminiscent
of Uncle Meat-era Zappa.
At the same time, an unusual dose of violence (the industrial ballet
Polizei, the Sonny Sharrock-ian jazz-rock guitar assault of
Play In The Summer,
the frenzied rock and roll of Ragged Agenda)
shows the darker side of Trans Am.
Trans Am's catastrophic visions, though, are restrained.
Something is missing: the band often seem direction-less, shooting before
aiming, uncertain and absent-minded.
The 10-minute suite The Dark Gift drifts from a dreamy piece for
acoustic guitar in the vein of John Fahey to a convoluted avant-jazz jam
to a majestic prog-rock symphonic finale.
The ear-piercing drones of For Now And Forever,
the rhythmic metamorphoses of Talk You All Tight,
the cheap electronic effects of Where Do You Want To Fuck Today,
the minimalistic undulations of Lunar Landing
are cryptic compositions that indulge, more than usual,
in intellectual doodling.
TA (Thrill Jockey, 2002),
Trans Am's sell-out album, sounds like a parody of 1980s' synth-pop, replete
with silly ditties such as Cold War and Basta (that borrows
from funk carioca).
Half of the songs are sung and the results are, at best, amateurish
(the hip-hoppish Party Station, Infinite Wavelength).
Their instrumental genius has completely disappeared from
Afternight and Bonn, which are the least obvious compositions
here.
Looking back, this facile sound merely completes a progression that led
from the kraut/progressive-rock of the early albums to the new-age feeling
of Red Line.
Looking back, Trans Am may have been the most over-rated band of post-rock.
Liberation (Thrill Jockey, 2004)
is a political concept that, like most political concepts, is sloppy music
for rudimentary politics.
The agit-prop sound collage of Uninvited Guest and Divine Invasion
is so dull that one gets more drawn
into the samples. But these are no Public Enemy or Tackhead.
Total Information Awareness, Outmoder and
White Rhino spice up the proceedings with a few aggressive beats,
but any kid with a drum machine can do the same.
The songs that hark back to 1980s' synth-pop
(Pretty Close to the Edge,
Idea Machine, Music for Dogs, and especially
Remote Control)
fare much better than the pretentious commentary.
Trans Am must be paid by George W Bush's reelection campaign.
Returning to Trans Am's original (instrumental) premise after two inane detours,
Sex Change (2007) sounded like a lightweight version of their Red Line, in which the Babelic confusion of styles borders on parody instead of
tragedy. Their smooth stylistic game runs
the gamut from ambient pop muzak (First Words) to industrial-metal music
(Shining Path, Triangular Pyramid).
None of the pieces sounds "ambitious", as they all content themselves with
stating their identity and quickly coming to an end. There is no epic
endeavour to refound music or to give higher meanings to sound.
Trans Am simply entertains, in its own oddball manner.
What Day Is It Tonight? (2009) documents live performances from
1993 to 2008.
In their attempt to become more accessible, Trans Am ended up aping
the prog-rock and psych-rock heroes of the 1970s on
Thing (2010) with pieces like
Please Wait, Heaven's Gate, Interstellar Drift and
Space Dock, but these are mere sketches, not full-blown suites.
Phil Manley's Life Coach (Thrill Jockey, 2011) was devoted to
brainy albeit touching prog-rock structures, such as the
nine-minute Night Visions.
Norcal Values (Thrill Jockey, 2011) documents a collaboration between Manley and Earthless' Isaiah Mitchell.
|
|