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A British sextet from Leicester with two vocalists
(Mick Derrick and Linda Steelyard),
the Prolapse did not fit well in the
vain Brit-pop scene of the 1990s. They embodied pretty much everything that
Brit-pop aimed to erase: neuroses, tensions, insecurity.
In keeping with the British ritual,
their career was launched by the EPs Crate (Cherry Red, 1994),
Pull Thru Barker (Cherry Red, 1994) and
Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc (Cherry Red, 1994), three vitriolic indictments of
pop music that resorted to abominable harmonic practices to demolish extant
musical taboos.
Pointless Walks To Dismal Places (Cherry Red, 1994) was no less
frantic, chaotic and dissonant.
While the singers intone their psychopatic call and response, the guitars and
the rhythm section hammer around casually.
If the singles had presented a group of
musicians with a wild imagination, the album showed them intent to carving
an artistic persona somewhere between
Sonic Youth,
Pere Ubu and
Fall.
Backsaturday (Lissy's, 1995 - Jetset, 1996) is even more uncompromising:
seven tracks of angular and abrasive noise-rock that hardly sizzle at all.
After the relatively relaxed beginning of
TCR and the instrumental Mein Minefield Mine Landmine,
guitarists Dave Jeffreys and Pat Marsden charge full speed with their
spastic imitation of Red Krayola and Faust. The
15-minute blistering nightmare Flex is the tour de force, but
Every Night I'm Mentally Crucified better deserves the role of
centerpiece, while Zen Nun Deb, with its nods to dark-punk, could be
the masterpiece.
After a long hiatus, Prolapse released The Italian Flag (Jetset, 1998),
a collection of more mature and refined songs.
The sound is less aggressive, more melodic.
The main attraction is definitely the vocal harmonies, that offer the sharpest
contrast since male/female harmony was invented.
Witness the way
Steelyard's ethereal vocals duet with Derrick's punk neurosis in
Slash Oblique.
Derrick's pseudo-Clash punk emphasis detonates the
square dance of Deanshanger while Steelyard croons innocently over a
bed of bagpipes.
The narrative peak ought to be Flat Velocity Curve, where Derrick chats
in a conversational tone while Steelyard chants like a cross between a
disco-diva and a fairy queen, their dialogue
propelled by a driving guitar raga.
The underlying rhythm section is no less inventive, borrowing from different
idioms of blues, country, rock and roll and even ethnic music.
The hammering pace that bridges all songs teals the show at least in the
soaring and psychedelic Return Of Shoes.
At her most angelic, Steelyard's sounds almost like Enya
(Cacophony No A);
at her most dramatic, she sounds like
the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde
(Killing The Bland).
Her pure contralto embellishes the breezy
Belly-esque Autocode, her witchy
howl pierces the voodoobilly of A Day At Death Seaside.
Her growth is mirrored by the growth of the band as a whole.
Each song can be said to be completely different from the others.
The only drawback is that none of this very creative compositions stands out
as a fully accomplished masterpiece.
Steelyard's charisma totally prevails on
Ghosts Of Dead Aeroplanes (Jetset, 1999)
and somehow it manages to downplay the brutal dissonance of previous works.
Essence Of Cessna, Cylinder V12 Beats Cylinder 8 and
Government Of Spain are certainly not upbeat and certainly not uplifting,
but they float lighter over the cacophony of the foundations.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da
Alessandra De Angelis)
I Prolapse, sestetto inglese di Leicester con due vocalist
(Mick Derrick e Linda Steelyard),
non si confacevano alla vacua scena Brit-pop degli anni novanta.
Incarnavano quasi tutto quello che
il Brit-pop voleva cancellare: nevrosi, tensioni, insicurezza.
Seguendo il rituale britannico,
la loro carriera fu lanciata dai singoli Crate (Cherry Red, 1994),
Pull Thru Barker (Cherry Red, 1994) e Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc (Cher
ry Red, 1994),
tre accuse al vetriolo contro la pop music
che ricorrevano a pratiche armoniche abominevoli per demolire i tabu' musicali
del momento.
Pointless Walks To Dismal Places (Cherry Red, 1994) non era meno frenetic
o, caotico e
dissonante.
Mentre i cantanti intonano il loro botta e risposta psicopatico, le chitarre e l
a sezione
ritmica
martellano qua e la', a caso.
Se i singoli avevano presentato un gruppo di musicisti dall'immaginazione selvag
gia,
l'album li mostrava intenti a forgiare un personaggio artistico a meta' strada
fraSonic Youth,
Pere Ubu e
Fall.
Backsaturday (Lissy's, 1995 - Jetset, 1996) e' persino piu' intransigente
: sette pezzi
di spigoloso e corrosivo noise-rock, che non fa granchŠ faville.
Dopo l'inizio relativamente rilassato di TCR
e dello strumentale Mein Minefield Mine Landmine,
i chitarristi Dave Jeffreys e Pat Marsden caricano a pieno ritmo con le loro spa
stiche
imitazioni di Red Krayola e Faust. Flex, incubo morboso della durata di q
uindici
minuti, e' il tour de force, ma
Every Night I'm Mentally Crucified merita con piu'diritto il ruolo di pez
zo centrale,
mentre Zen Nun Deb, con i suoi accenni al dark-punk, potrebbe essere il c
apolavoro.
Dopo una lunga interruzione , i Prolapse hanno lanciato
The Italian Flag (Jetset, 1998), un'altra brutta accozzaglia di suoni, pe
r lo piu'
improvvisata. Un'inflessione punk-pop piu' pronunciata tiene assieme Slash Ob
lique e
Killing The Bland.
Le voodoobilly Return Of Shoes, Deanshanger e
Flat Velocity Curve danno energia alle spaccate melodie del duo vocale.
Il carisma di Steelyard domina su Ghosts Of Dead Aeroplanes (Jetset, 1999
)
e in qualche modo riesce a far dimenticare le dissonanze brutali dei lavori prec
edenti.
Essence Of Cessna, Cylinder V12 Beats Cylinder 8 e Government O
f Spain
non sono di sicuro eccitanti e di certo non particolarmente significative,
ma si librano piu' lievi sulla cacofonia della struttura.
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