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(Translated by Martina Caon)
Roger Miller's career
is one of
the most adventurous in rock history. He began with Sproton Layer, a
Boston
band who played psychedelic, Pink-Floyd-like music (and which had
their
first album With Magnetic Fields
Disrupted published by New Alliance
just in
1992). Miller became then the guitarist of Mission
of Burma,
the legendary punk band also from Boston. Afterwards, together with
Erik
Lindgren, Miller founded the Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. As that
experience
also came to an end, Miller had revealed himself to be a virtuoso
of the
piano, which was soon to be his only
instrument.
His first
solo
album, No Man Is Hurting Me (Ace Of Hearts, 1986), is a
balanced mix of eccentric gag ballads in the way of the first Brian Eno
or of
the most extravagant Todd Rundgren (i.e. the disco-pop fanfare of
King Of
The Road and the distorted,
ear-splitting heavy-metal of
Red Ants), and post-modern suite compositions, where Miller
creates a
new kind of instrumental rock. He's at his best in the sonatas
for
overdub keyboards, like Echo Piece, Sketch For Night
Music, and
above all in the grand finale of Explorer,
while in Zoomusical Habitats he goes
=93flippertronic=94 at
pleasure, merging tribalistic atmospheres and dissonances.
Miller's
classical
ambitions are more evident in The Big Industry (Ace Of Hearts,
1987), a maximum electric piano album (where maximum stands
for
prepared). It contains blurring, industrial
mini-symphonies (above all The Age Of Reason and
the title-track) and surreal, crazy lieder (Portrait
Of A
Mechanical Dog). The ballad
Groping Hands, based on a weak metallurgic poli-rhythm, is
emblematic.
Oh
Guitars (Forced
Exposure,
1988) is a collection of some of the artist=92s guitar tours de
force (Miller prepared, played and mixed all the instruments in his
basement), just as a sample (the most high-sounding tracks are We
Grind
Open, Chinatown Samba, The Cosmic Battle and
Kalgastak).
Win
Instantly (SST,
1989) blends
songs for maximum electric piano with maniac guitar
excursions, but
since Miller returns to sing, with this album he renegades the
instrumental
form, which fitted his experiments at best.
The
most popular side of Miller's art is revealed in Damage The
Enemy (New Alliance, 1989), a mix of tracks produced in
studio,
where the percussion consists of electronically
elaborated noises of
various objects (petrol tanks, cutters, food-mixers, vacuum cleaners and
so on),
and improvisations on rhythmic sessions. Despite its limits on
the whole, this album still presents some first-manner,
strong
ballads like those of the psychedelic period (States,
Into The
Ocean, Rocket), and some electro-rhythmic,
maelstrom tracks
(Hey, Giants Head Coat, The Lion Got His), which
would not
sound bad alongside Eno's first compositions. In this album Miller uses
the
pseudonym No Man.
The
circle is concluded by Whamon Express (SST,
1990), a
new rock album after ten years, where Miller hands out riff
and
perfect melodies (Oppression, Heaven Street,
Floated),
still inspired by the garage culture.
Meanwhile, Miller also devotes himself to a more learned
production,
like in Xylyl (New Alliance, 1991, a suite
composition for guitar, trumpet, viola, electric violin,
percussion
and electronic keyboard), and the soundtrack A Woman In
Half
(for piano and tapes), works which do him great credit as
avant-garde
composer.
How The
West Was
Won (SST,
1992)
presents just the same sound Miller had in mind since Mission:
his
guitar is ear-splitting, cacophonic but also melodic (Cartoon
Cartoon,
It's Just A Day).
The return to the singing leads to Elemental Guitar
(SST, 1995),
where Miller plays a drum machine along. The result,
despite his obvious talent as guitarist, is disappointing: the
compositions are abstruse, chained to obscure conceptualisations
and
pitiful arrangements.
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La carriera di Roger Miller e` una delle piu` avventurose della storia del rock.
Comincio` negli Sproton Layer, un complesso di Boston che suonava
musica psichedelica alla Pink Floyd (pubblicata soltanto nel
1992 dalla New Alliance su With Magnetic Fields Disrupted).
Poi divenne il chitarrista dei Mission Of Burma,
leggendaria formazione punk di Boston.
Poi insieme a Erik Lindgren diede vita ai
Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic.
Quando anche quell'esperienza termino`, si scopri` che Miller era diventato
anche un virtuoso del pianoforte, che sarebbe presto diventato il suo unico
strumento.
Il primo album solista,
No Man Is Hurting Me (Ace Of Hearts, 1986) e` equamente spartito fra
ballate-gag eccentriche sulla falsariga del primo Brian Eno o del Todd
Rundgren piu` stravagante
(la fanfara disco-pop di King Of The Road e
l'heavy-metal distorto e assordante di Red Ants)
e suite post-moderne in cui Miller conia un nuovo genere di rock strumentale.
Il suo forte sono le sonate per overdub di tastiere, come Echo Piece,
Sketch For Night Music, e soprattutto il gran finale di Explorer,
ma in Zoomusical Habitats sfoga libidini di "frippertronics" in un coacervo
di tribalismo e dissonanze.
Le ambizioni "classiche" di Miller sono piu` evidenti su
The Big Industry (Ace Of Hearts, 1987), suonato al
"maximum electric piano" ("maximum" nel senso di "preparato").
L'album contiene
stordenti mini-sinfonie "industriali" (The Age Of Reason e la title-track
su tutte) e Lieder esagitati e surreali (Portrait Of A Mechanical Dog).
La ballata Groping Hands, propulsa da uno stentoreo poliritmo metallurgico,
e` emblematica.
Oh Guitars (Forced Exposure, 1988) raccoglie invece alcuni suoi tour de force
chitarristici (Miller prepara, suona e miscela tutti gli strumenti nel proprio
sottoscala), a puro titolo dimostrativo (We Grind Open, Chinatown Samba,
The Cosmic Battle e Kalgastak i titoli piu` altisonanti).
Win Instantly (SST, 1989) fonde le sonate per "maximum electric piano" e le sue
maniacali escursioni chitarristiche, ma rinuncia alla forma solo strumentale,
che era anche quella piu` appropriata per i suoi esperimenti,
ritornando proditoriamente alla canzone.
L'aspetto piu` popolare dell'arte di Miller viene alla luce con Damage The
Enemy (New Alliance, 1989), spartito fra brani costruiti in studio usando come
percussione i rumori elaborati elettronicamente di svariati oggetti (bidoni
di benzina, taglierine, frullatori, aspirapolveri e cosi` via) e brani
improvvisati con una sezione ritmica. Nonostante i limiti dell'assunto,
il disco puo` vantare qualche grintosa ballata del primo tipo (States,
Into The Ocean, Rocket) degna del repertorio psichedelico e
alcuni maelstrom elettro-ritmici del secondo tipo (Hey, Giants
Head Coat, The Lion Got His) degni dei bozzetti "ambientali" di Eno.
Miller ha nel frattempo assunto lo pseudonimo di No Man.
Il cerchio si chiude nel 1990 con Whamon Express (SST, 1990),
il primo album rock in
un decennio, nel quale Miller scodella riff e melodie da manuale
(Oppression, Heaven Street, Floated), ancora
ispirate dalla civilta` dei garage.
Ma nel frattempo Miller ha anche composto lavori colti come la suite
Xylyl (New Alliance, 1991), orchestrata per chitarra, tromba, viola,
violino elettrico, percussioni ed elettronica; e la colonna sonora
A Woman In Half
(per pianoforte e nastri), che ne rilanciano la statura di compositore
d'avanguardia.
How The West Was Won (SST, 1992) continua a propinare lo stesso sound
chitarristico che Miller ha in mente dai tempi dei Mission: assordante e
cacofonico, ma anche melodico
(Cartoon Cartoon, It's Just A Day).
Il ritorno alla "canzone" culmina con
Elemental Guitar (SST, 1995), sul quale si accompagna da una
drum machine. Il risultato, nonostante le indubbie doti del chitarrista,
e` deludente: composizioni astruse, ingabbiate in un'oscura concettualita`,
arrangiate in maniera pietosa.
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