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Ensemble sperimentale di Ottawa (Canada), gli Spiny Anteaters compongono collage
caotici di eventi musicali. Il gruppo sa suonare sia ballate folk sia blues
strascicati ma su disco ama mescolare le sue esibizioni dal vivo in maniera
tale che nulla sia completo e ordinato. Le canzoni di
All Is Well (1994) e la title-track di Current (Kranky, 1996)
sono esemplari di questo "spreco" metodico di opportunita` rock. Buone melodie
e graffianti riff vengono appena abbozzati e poi subito abbandonati, in un
caso mostruoso di pigrizia musicale.
Molti dei frammenti potrebbero essere delle canzoni "lo-fi" nella tradizione
di Guided By Voices o Sebadoh, come dimostrano gli splendidi
singoli Planet Mars (Baby Universe, 1995) e Mr Sun (Speed Kills).
Last Supper (Ba Da Bing, 1998) accentua l'eccentricita`, snocciolando
in maniera ancor piu` laconica e suicida spunti d'alta classe come
What You Can't Say, con bruciante distorsione di chitarra e ondulare
boogie alla Lou Reed, e come
Alt 23, jam strumentale scandita da solenni droni di chitarra e da
dissonanze di tastiere. Vikings e` invece la cacofonia piu`
spregiudicata, un'improvvisazione free-jazz dal vivo.
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Well Laid Plans (Ba Da Bing, 2001) offers a
more organic view of their art. The twenty songs are more accomplished and
better structured than anything they have done before.
This is not necessarily a sign of genius, but in this case it is a sign of
maturity. First of all, the band composes complex scores such as the
seven-minute psychedelic/cosmic instrumental Sun Rise, that manages to
fuse Sun Ra, Pink Floyd and Velvet Underground and the celestial
Beautiful Loser.
Secondly, the new approach reveals a non-trivial melodic talent, especially
when augmented with power guitar (as in Apology), although the riffs
are often borrowed from the classics
(the one for Mining For Gold from
Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde,
the one for the instrumental Circle Of Sound from
Rolling Stones's Street Fighting Man).
On the down side, too many of these ballads indulge in the gently estranged
tone of a Syd Barrett, cupled with discreet sound effects and folkish
strumming.
The trick works in Sailor Nation (thanks to a repetitive
piano figure) but elsewhere simply drags.
Back to their goofy, amateurish style,
the Spiny Anteater affectionately deliver the
lunatic proto-Lou Reed dirge Metropolitan,
the surreal novelty 1967 Dusty Bunny,
the musique concrete of Saturday Night Pirates
and tons of odd interludes (alas, no more than two minutes long when they
could use an extra ten/twenty minutes to justify the oddity).
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