BILLY BAO "Buildings From Bilbao " LP 2012 Burka for Everybody (Valencia) Terminal Picnic (Albacete) Download: zip
"If rock’n’roll was the sound of the city, then Billy Bao are the sound of the unemployment line, the empty
backyards and the dark hidden places of that city.
Concrete interferences provide a backdrop that alludes to the class war that emerged in Bilbao.
After some line up changes, Billy Bao gives sound to this landscape by exceeding horizontally the
nihilistic and individualistic discourse of noise: with 9ice, Flipper, Bobby Sox, an unstable
afrobeat, the visceral freak outs of Red Krayola and distorted blues, as if Jimi Hendrix jammed withThrobbing Gristle, while Peter Brötzmann plays with his sax in the toilet. After their last record,
released in Parts Unknown and Pan, they ended up in Burka For Everybody and Terminal Picnic."
Review by Elvis Von Doom
http://terminal-boredom.com/forums/
Billy Bao, Buildings From Bilbao LP. A monumental record, and Billy's
best by a wide margin. It's a song for song reply to Fun House that
sweeps up strands of Lagos high-life and techno amid the band's
digitally saturated post-Brainbombs debris. The entire record,
including artwork, is downloadable at mattin.org, but you should really
try'n get your hands on a physical copy. It looks amazing.
BillyBao, Buildings From Bilbao LP. It's tempting to call this Billy's
best. It's certainly his most tuneful, and his most conceptually
interesting. The album is modeled on the Stooges' Funhouse, each of
whose seven tracks is "remade" (though not covered, strictly speaking.)
Billy's native Nigerian High-Life
shows up as a primary "influence" for the first time on this rec. An
immensely rewarding and kick-ass record. IQ: @%*
Just some of the most captivating, fucked up and stained rock music
you could ever imagine hearing. I could say that maybe PC WORSHIP
(perhaps GARY WRONG GROUP) sounds a bit like this at times, but
otherwise I’m having trouble thinking of other bands that straddle the
garage rock-noise rock divide with such bombast, and scuzzy layered
disdain. This music goes well beyond anything that could be called rock
though. BILLY BAO is a fictitious Nigerian emigre living in America, created by Spanish composer MATTIN…
Snatched from last.fm:
“When Billy Bao came from Lagos (Nigeria) to San Francisco (Bilbao) life was tough here or there.
He did not mind, he had a purpose in his life: to fight the system that
fucks up everyday of our life. Back in his hometown, he was an unknown
songwriter but, as soon as he arrived to the streets of Bilbao, he
discovered Punk Rock. It had energy and attitude and was exactly what he
needed.”
And while it might be cooler if Billy was really from Nigeria, this
is still a mightily fucked rock we have on our hands courtesy of Billy
and friends (guitarist Xabier Erkizia, guitarist Anla Courtis,
keyboardist Pablo Reche and drummer Alberto Lopez). This is
deconstruction rock. Rock chiseled away from several different angles
all at once; cut and paste, glitched out post-effects on the whole
recording, walls of feedback, free jazz takeovers, layers of feedback
and recordings. A swampy, swampy thing, that is definitely hard to
listen to, but for me at least it’s the kind of hard to listen to that I
cannot stop listening to. I cannot turn away. I love rock AND I want it
to die. And I want to watch and listen as it dies. BILLY BAO is killing
rock, so that he can save rock. BUILDINGS FROM BILBAO is the latest
recording from BILLY BAO. It was released in 2012 on BURKA FOR EVERYBODY.
If you’re scared beware. “Loose” is an unleashed beast awash in total
feedback, charging guitars, and a band of goons let loose to do their
thing atop the madness. A mad saxophonist(s) emerges from within the
giant pile of pillows that the rest of the band have been playing atop.
Said sax player(s) finish the song duking it with the yelling bunch for
some space, and then ZAP. The final intertwining tones that end the song
make me feel as if I have just experienced a raging, hopped up punk
version of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in audio form. What in the fuck? This
project goes back to the early 2000s, so lot’s to explore, and beyond
that MATTIN seems to have had many other musical projects over the
years. Come. To. Boston.
- See more at: http://www.bostonhassle.com/2014/01/09/billy-bao-building-bilbao/#sthash.LwnfNzHf.dpuf
January 9, 2014 by Dan
Just some of the most captivating, fucked up and stained rock music you
could ever imagine hearing. I could say that maybe PC WORSHIP (perhaps
GARY WRONG GROUP) sounds a bit like this at times, but otherwise I’m
having trouble thinking of other bands that straddle the garage
rock-noise rock divide with such bombast, and scuzzy layered disdain.
This music goes well beyond anything that could be called rock though.
BILLY BAO is a fictitious Nigerian emigre living in America, created by
Spanish composer MATTIN…
Snatched from last.fm:
“When Billy Bao came from Lagos (Nigeria) to San Francisco (Bilbao) life was tough here or there.
He did not mind, he had a purpose in his life: to fight the system that
fucks up everyday of our life. Back in his hometown, he was an unknown
songwriter but, as soon as he arrived to the streets of Bilbao, he
discovered Punk Rock. It had energy and attitude and was exactly what
he needed.”
And while it might be cooler if Billy was really from Nigeria, this is
still a mightily fucked rock we have on our hands courtesy of Billy and
friends (guitarist Xabier Erkizia, guitarist Anla Courtis, keyboardist
Pablo Reche and drummer Alberto Lopez). This is deconstruction rock.
Rock chiseled away from several different angles all at once; cut and
paste, glitched out post-effects on the whole recording, walls of
feedback, free jazz takeovers, layers of feedback and recordings. A
swampy, swampy thing, that is definitely hard to listen to, but for me
at least it’s the kind of hard to listen to that I cannot stop
listening to. I cannot turn away. I love rock AND I want it to die. And
I want to watch and listen as it dies. BILLY BAO is killing rock, so
that he can save rock. BUILDINGS FROM BILBAO is the latest recording
from BILLY BAO. It was released in 2012 on BURKA FOR EVERYBODY. If
you’re scared beware. “Loose” is an unleashed beast awash in total
feedback, charging guitars, and a band of goons let loose to do their
thing atop the madness. A mad saxophonist(s) emerges from within the
giant pile of pillows that the rest of the band have been playing atop.
Said sax player(s) finish the song duking it with the yelling bunch for
some space, and then ZAP. The final intertwining tones that end the
song make me feel as if I have just experienced a raging, hopped up
punk version of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in audio form. What in the fuck?
This project goes back to the early 2000s, so lot’s to explore, and
beyond that MATTIN seems to have had many other musical projects over
the years. Come. To. Boston.
Just
some of the most captivating, fucked up and stained rock music you
could ever imagine hearing. I could say that maybe PC WORSHIP (perhaps
GARY WRONG GROUP) sounds a bit like this at times, but otherwise I’m
having trouble thinking of other bands that straddle the garage
rock-noise rock divide with such bombast, and scuzzy layered disdain.
This music goes well beyond anything that could be called rock though. BILLY BAO is a fictitious Nigerian emigre living in America, created by Spanish composer MATTIN…
Snatched from last.fm:
“When Billy Bao came from Lagos (Nigeria) to San Francisco (Bilbao) life was tough here or there.
He did not mind, he had a purpose in his life: to fight the system that
fucks up everyday of our life. Back in his hometown, he was an unknown
songwriter but, as soon as he arrived to the streets of Bilbao, he
discovered Punk Rock. It had energy and attitude and was exactly what he
needed.”
And while it might be cooler if Billy was really from Nigeria, this
is still a mightily fucked rock we have on our hands courtesy of Billy
and friends (guitarist Xabier Erkizia, guitarist Anla Courtis,
keyboardist Pablo Reche and drummer Alberto Lopez). This is
deconstruction rock. Rock chiseled away from several different angles
all at once; cut and paste, glitched out post-effects on the whole
recording, walls of feedback, free jazz takeovers, layers of feedback
and recordings. A swampy, swampy thing, that is definitely hard to
listen to, but for me at least it’s the kind of hard to listen to that I
cannot stop listening to. I cannot turn away. I love rock AND I want it
to die. And I want to watch and listen as it dies. BILLY BAO is killing
rock, so that he can save rock. BUILDINGS FROM BILBAO is the latest
recording from BILLY BAO. It was released in 2012 on BURKA FOR EVERYBODY.
If you’re scared beware. “Loose” is an unleashed beast awash in total
feedback, charging guitars, and a band of goons let loose to do their
thing atop the madness. A mad saxophonist(s) emerges from within the
giant pile of pillows that the rest of the band have been playing atop.
Said sax player(s) finish the song duking it with the yelling bunch for
some space, and then ZAP. The final intertwining tones that end the song
make me feel as if I have just experienced a raging, hopped up punk
version of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in audio form. What in the fuck? This
project goes back to the early 2000s, so lot’s to explore, and beyond
that MATTIN seems to have had many other musical projects over the
years. Come. To. Boston.
- See more at: http://www.bostonhassle.com/2014/01/09/billy-bao-building-bilbao/#sthash.LwnfNzHf.dpuf
There’s a saying and it goes something like this – When all is
said and all is done far more’s been said than’s got done (sic).
There’s an argument for that summing up modern day punk rock, all
bluster, Top Man t-shirts, and empty bottles, fighting the system
with a laptop and some slogans from middle class surrounds.
Billy Bao’s fourth album carries with it a genuine threat of
mobilization, of anger. Recorded 40 years after Funhouse and
taking its cues from said album, song titles, listed song lengths,
Buildings From Bilbao is a guided tour through the San Francisco
area of the bands home city. Like Richard Linklater’s debut film
Slacker where the camera follows a variety of souls around Austin,
Texas for a single day, catching snippets, clearly showing a love for the city, this
record does that for the bands own neighbourhood.
Check this:
It’s called TV Eye, and it rages.
Spitting fury at regeneration and inevitable gentrification the
seven songs are a masterful mix of noise rock, tape edits, and
pure Stooges-esque nut swang. Sax wails over the thundering
caveman riffs, vocals wave the flag at the inevitable-ness of it
all, “…things will change and you will not like it….” They bellow
and you wanna go into battle with them.
Songs collapse to nothing, sporadic bass thumps, mumbled words,
and then out of nowhere comes a shaft of light, as in Slacker when
bursts of sound pour from the clubs and shops, we get taken into a
now defunct bar called Precious. With a gleeful sense of humour
and love there’s a remix or refit of Lagos band 9ice’s Gongo Aso,
a regular tune on the jukebox in the bar. It’s a nod and a wink to
the area’s Nigerian Community, it captures the spirit of the
closed down bar, it gels the area to the record.
Here ya go:
Nice, 9ice.
City’s have neighbourhoods that have been made by communities
over years and years and the beauty of this record is the way in
which it nails it down, the vibe and spirit of the area. The
sleeve is as important as the record, a beautiful gatefold affair
with images of houses (fun or otherwise) and the people dancing,
protesting, skulking in the shadows hiding from the recently added
CCTV cameras. The CCTV subject is covered in the tune above, TV
Eye; San Francisco is the first area in the Basque Country to
receive their double edged joys.
Sweet sleeve, with stickers from label:
Punk rock takes on all forms, but with Billy Bao’s output you get
a sense of the bigger picture via the targeted nature of it.
There’s 500 copies of this record, they’ll go quick, but don’t
worry BB are anti copyright so they’ll have it up for free download around now,
take that Top Man punx, take that.
Marca el quinto álbum de la banda bilbaina, y primero
editado en España, un punto de inflexión en tanto
que revela la baja (amistosa) de uno de sus fundadores, Mattin.
Sin duda el más internacional de los músicos que en
este país han adoptado la escarpada senda del ruidismo y la
improvisación electrónicos, el prolífico y
polifacético francotirador de Getxo ha aportado no obstante
sugerencias en “Buildings From Bilbao”, un trabajo conceptual en
el que se funden el homenaje en abstracto a “Fun House” de los
Stooges con la crítica marxista a la gentrificación
urbanística y social de la capital vizcaína.
Habiendo en anteriores ocasiones extenuado las posibilidades de un
riff y explorado los silencios de Cage, alcanza masa
crítica la dinámica de la banda en su nueva entrega
con un collage donde punk y avant-garde interaccionan en una
formidable ruptura de códigos, horadando un foco de
negatividad y sevicia que enfrenta al oyente a la posibilidad de
que todas las convenciones aprendidas se vengan abajo, lo cual
siempre estimula. Y en ese sentido, nos encontramos ante la que
probablemente sea la experiencia sonora más atrevida, y
productiva, de las vividas en la escena peninsular durante los
últimos años. Un monolito de alienación que,
como el de “2001. Una Odisea Del Espacio”, plantea preguntas de
dificil respuesta. Qué maravillosa sensación, la de
sentir a estas alturas el lenguaje eléctrico como un cuerpo
extraño alojado en nuestra comprensión. Jaime
Gonzalo
Massive new album from Mattin’s feral punk/rock project Billy
Bao: Buildings From Bilbao takes its formal cues from The Stooges’
Funhouse, lifting titles – “Down On The Street”, “Loose”, “TV Eye”
- and song-timings from Iggy’s seminal album while reconstructing
it as a savage critique and celebration of the psychogeography of
Bilbao. The deluxe full colour sleeve matches shots of cityscapes
and architecture with a series of scabrous invectives against
contemporary urbanism while the sonics are totally drooling, with
Mattin successfully animalising jack-off rock modes to the point
of total abhorrence, re-presenting rock music as something that’s
appallingly revolutionary and that effectively refuses any kind of
coherent ‘aesthetic’ in favour of offending every one of them.
Buildings combines the post-Germs/Stooges aggression of the early
Bao sides with the more conceptually deconstructed of the recent
jams, with slobbering two chord rock and free jazz blurt
collapsing into non-denouement and weird, detourned street noise
where surveillance sounds are cut up into almost-beats and waves
of minimal circuitry, matching the pulse of the
city grid itself. There are also some fabulous bursts of all-out
refusenik noise in a squalling post-Borbetomagus style that make
you wanna stick your head right inside the speaker. The trouble
with most ‘protest’ music is that it ends up aestheticising what
it claims to abhor but here the sounds are as wretched as – in Bob
Dylan’’s words – “a tramp, man, vomiting into the sewer”. A
fantastic, challenging and brutally deformed work from Mattin.
Edition of 500 copies. Highly recommended.
Cimentando los refuerzos sobre el basamento del Fun House de los Stooges
y articulando los espasmos a base de los títulos y el espíritu del
legendario álbum de los de Detroit. La formación vasco-nigeriana se
encarga de hacer girones todos aquellos postulados del high energy y
basculan su propia visión del asunto embadurnando el mapa del barrio de
San Francisco de Bilbao, con una paleta de colores bastante poco
autocomplaciente, llena de grises y fosforescentes, trazando líneas
visibles y arqueadas sobre calles de adoquines erosionados y decantando
un aire de mal rollo y confusión ante el medio circundante tornasolada
en pepinazos de ruidismo incontrolado, rítmico y salvajemente
estructurado. Aquí la psicodélia, el punk , el rock y la música
tradicional se van directamente a tomar por el culo en una visión
totalmente vertiginosa de la sensación de hastío y descoloque. Asco e
incomprensión se riegan con mala folla de espanto,devolviendo una mirada
totalmente embrutecida del entorno y las ciscunstancias que es uno y no
son pocas. La visceralidad, los acoples y los instrumentos se quejan al
servicio del maltrato y la guerra sónica formada por un barullo
asumible por la parte de Flipper, Throbbing Gristle o a los ya mentados
Stooges de Iggy Pop,más no es presumiblemente esta oda al desencanto un
decálogo de estilos o una empresa mimetizadora a pesar del pretendido
homenaje e intrínseca estructuración. Aquí hay mucho ruido con chicha y
mala baba, una psicosis con todo el barullo que el nigeriano Billy Bao abrazado
a un grupúsculo vasco de vertiginoso currículo :La Secta, Atom
Rhumba,si hablamos del fugado Mattin deberíamos mentar La Grieta,aquella
del malogrado Josetxo Anitua
,o Sakada, que aunque no haya grabado en este disco es una parte muy
importante del proyecto, currículo de unos miembros cuyos nombres se
destilan al lado de su función como Xabier Erkizia
(guitarra);IñigoTelletxea(bajo);Alberto López(batería); Jean-Luc Guionet
(saxo). No hay moco de pavo ni cubículo que los encierre.
El volumen se sube al trece con toda la mandanga a mil de vueltas y
"Buildings from Bilbao" se convierte en una experiencia extasiante con
toda la jeta del que promete peligro y lo regala a manos llenas por amor
al prójimo y a la confusión mental que provoca la deconstrucción
diletante del urbanismo salvaje entre otras cosas que se consiguen
sumiendo la mente y las orejas tanto del ejecutor como del oyente, en
distorsiones y combinaciones conformadas sobre el discurso situacionista
de la psicogeografía de las ciudades feliz desmostración de lo jodida
que está la cosa en San Francisco en particular, en Bilbao en concreto y
en el mundo en general.
Puedes pillarte esta obra magna de nuevo costumbrismo postmoderno en Burka For Everybody
How on earth did Billy Bao/Mattin ever find a
blender strong enough and gigantic enough to
fit in a whole band, a ton of electronics, and
a few rugged city blocks from Bilbao along with
radios tuned into Nigerian-flavored hip hop.
Billy Bao may be a lot of things, and a prankster
among them, but this release is no joke, nor is
its homage via song titles to the Stooges’ “Fun
House.” There are moments of raw rock to match
the original here, but it all gets sliced by the
blending, blinding blades of Billy Bao’s production
such that you might get a several seconds of sine wave
searing, a sax spun around in a cyclone, a police
siren, an arcing short circuit, some guy in a keyboard
store in a mall, and plenty of pregnant pauses and
prostitutes, all amidst some relentless and
dirty rock and roll. Well and slow-mo, spun-up hip
hop on “2010″, altered to its DNA and R&B roots.
Jump cuts to commercials (“There are no limits” and
“Expanding your world”)…got that right! Did I hear the
sounds of people digging out of or is it into the rubble?
I am confused, but happy. Audio excitement a plenty,
bristling with feedback and frenzied emotions.
A social experiment…or a
sonic one? Either way
it’s a freaked out Fun House with room for me
and especially YOU!
Billy Bao "gure garaietako gaixotasun
urbanistikoa" aurkeztera datorkigu
'Buildings from Bilbao' diskoan
Bizkaiko hiriburua dute jo puntu
Billy Baoren diskoaren karpetaren
artea.
BILLY BAO presents Buildings From
Bilbao 3
BILLY BAO presents Buildings From
Bilbao 6
Duela 43 urte grabaturiko Stooges-en Funhouse
diskoaren egitura berdinetik abiatuta, Billy Bao Bilboko San
Frantzisko auzoan barrena bidaiatu da psikografiako
soinu-ariketa burrunbatsua grabatzeko: Buildings from
Bilbao (Terminal Picnic / Burka for Everybody)
Hala, Iggy Pop-ek eta Asheton
anaiek grabaturiko kantuen izenburu eta iraupen bereko zazpi
piezatan, Bilbao Ria 2000 erakundearen politika urbanistikoa
hankaz gora jartzen dute. “Gure garaietako gaixotasun urbanistikoa
aurkezten dizuegu: kapitalaren zerbitzura ez dagoen bizitza
publiko oro asasinatzen duen hiri-berroneratzea”, irakur daiteke
diskoa babesten duen azal bikoitzean jasotako ohar mamitsuen
hasieran. Billy Bao, Mattin musikari eta
soinu artista bizkaitarraren egitasmo gitarra zaleena bada ere
–grabazio honetan ez du berak parte hartu–, noise-punk laukoteak
Berako Mik estudioetan grabatu duen lan hau rock eskema
tradizionaletatik urrunen dagoena eta esperimentalena da. Xabier
Erkizia (gitarra); Iñigo Telletxea
(baxua); Alberto Lopez (bateria) eta Billy
Bao nigeriarra (ahotsa) izan dira ehundura eta
sekuentzia urratzaileekin, haustura zaratatsuekin, isiluneekin,
Afrikako musika zatiekin, abiadura handiko pasarte basatiekin, eta
ahots ilun eta guturalekin onduriko zauri honen egileak.
Billy Bao San Frantzisko auzoari jar
ziezaiokeen soinu banda da, euriak higaturiko
galtzada-harriekin, orratz herdoilduekin, immigrazioaren izerdi
eta erritmoekin, atarietan barreiaturiko semen zorrotadekin, alu
nekatuekin, ipurtzulo dilatatuekin, eta espekulazioaren sosa
ustelduekin josia
Hala, 2010 doinuan Nigeriako hainbat musikariren
sanplerrak entzun daitezke, bai eta reggae/dub kutsuko ekoizpenen
oihartzunak ere; top-manta saltzaileen omenezko soinu-collagea da.
Doinu horren atzetik datorren kasik zortzi minutuko Fun House
da diskoaren sorpresarik handiena. Prostituzioa eta sexu
askatasuna ardatz duen doinu honetan Jean-Luc Guionnet
saxo jotzailearen hots askeak ateratzen dira gitarra pisutsuen
artetik, –Stooges-en bertsioan ere Steven Mackay-ren
saxo tenorea entzuten da–. “XX. mendean Cortes eta San Frantzisko
kaleetan sexu fantasia guztiek zuten bere tokia, eta sexualitate
ezberdinak bizi ziren bertan”. TV Eye hardcore erritmodun doinu piztian, berriz, eta
doinuaren jatorrizko izenburuaren harira, auzoko kaleen izenak
oihukatzen ditu abeslari nigeriarrak bertan jarritako kamerek
eragiten duten etorkinenganako jazarpena salatzeko. “(...) Baina
kamerek ez dituzte etengabeko arrazakeria ekintzak gelditzen”.
Hori baita Bilbon ikus daitekeen erosotasunaren logika zaharra:
“Garbitasuna kanpoan; ustelkeria barruan”. Erabateko kontrola
ezartzen duten lege zibilek talde sozial ezberdinen banaketa,
polarizazioa eta ghettoak sortzen dituztela dio Billy Baok sutsu.
“Gobernuak bitartean, kulturaren homogeneizazioa sustatzen du
jaialdi eta klub handien bitartez, BBK Live, BEC, FEVER...”
Billy Baok San Frantzisko auzoari jar ziezaiokeen soinu banda da,
euriak higaturiko galtzada-harriekin, orratz herdoilduekin,
immigrazioaren izerdi eta erritmoekin, atarietan barreiaturiko
semen zorrotadekin, alu nekatuekin, ipurtzulo dilatatuekin, eta
espekulazioaren sosa ustelduekin josia. Oinazea eragiten du,
egungo testuinguruak egiten duen legez. Izan ere, tokiko hari
musikal mingarri hau planeta osora eraman daiteke. Horren erakusle
diskoa zabaltzen duen Down on the Street doinu
zapaltzailea da: “Zoriontasuna gaur, patera batean jaio berri den
haurraren izena da”.
Billy
Bao
Buildings
from
Bilbao
Terminal
Picnic / Burka for Everybody
Julen Azpitarte
Partiendo
de la misma estructura del Funhouse que Stooges
grabó hace 43
años, Billy Bao se ha introducido en las callejuelas
del barrio San
Francisco de Bilbao con el objeto de grabar este ejercicio
sónico de
psicogeografía. Así, incluyendo los mismos
títulos y duraciones de
las canciones que Iggy y los hermanos Asheton grabaron,
Billy Bao ha
puesto patas arriba la política urbanística de
la entidad Bilbao
Ría 2000 en estas siete piezas. “Os presentamos la
enfermedad
urbanística de nuestro tiempo: la regeneración
que mata toda vida
pública que no está al servicio del capital”,
se puede leer en
las primeras líneas del extenso texto que cubre la
doble portada del
disco.
Siendo
Billy Bao sea el proyecto más guitarrero del
músico y artista
sonoro vizcaíno Mattin, quien no participa en esta
grabación, el
quinteto noise-punk ha grabado su disco más alejado
de esquemas
tradicionales rockeros; por el contrario, se podría
afirmar que es
su trabajo más experimental. Xabier Erkizia
(guitarra); Iñigo
Telletxea (bajo); Alberto López (batería);
Jean-Luc Guionnet (saxo)
y el cantante nigeriano Billy Bao son los responsables de
las
texturas y secuencias abrasivas, de los esguinces ruidistas,
de los
agujeros silenciosos, de los retazos de música
africana, de los
salvajes pasajes de alta velocidad y de las oscuras voces
guturales
que pueblan esta herida.
Así,
en el corte 2010 (título que actualiza a 1970)
se pueden
escuchar samplers de músicos nigerianos,
además de ecos de
destartaladas producciones de tintes reggae/dub, para
finalmente
concretarse en un collage sónico que quiere ser un
homenaje a los
vendedores de top-manta. Sin embargo, la mayor sorpresa del
disco es
Fun House. Igual que en la original, donde se escucha
el saxo
tenor de Steven Mackay, un saxo se libera entre toneladas de
guitarras de cemento. Un corte que tiene como eje la
prostitución y
la libertad sexual: “En el siglo XX todas las
fantasías sexuales
encontraban su lugar en las calles Cortes y San Francisco,
allí
convivían todas las sexualidades”.
En
la salvaje y hardcorista TV Eye, se denuncia la
vigilancia
mediante las cámaras que las autoridades han colocado
en las
distintas calles del barrio. El vocalista nigeriano se
desgarra
listando las calles bajo control. “(…) Sin embargo, las
cámaras
no detienen las continuas acciones de racismo”. Esa es la
vieja
lógica de la mercancía que se puede contemplar
en el nuevo Bilbao:
“un exterior limpio; y un interior podrido”. Las leyes
civiles
que imponen el control total polarizan, dividen y generan
guetificación entre los distintos grupos sociales,
grita quemado
Bily Bao. “El Gobierno local mientras, promueve la
homogeneización
de la cultura mediante grandes festivales y clubes: BBK
Live, BEC,
FEVER…”.
Todo
ello conforma la banda sonora que el nigeriano hubiera
compuesto para
el barrio: adoquines erosionados por la lluvia, agujas
roñadas, los
ritmos y el sudor de la inmigración, chorros de semen
derramados en
portales, vaginas cansadas, anos dilatados y el dinero
podrido de la
especulación. Genera dolor, el mismo dolor que
produce el contexto
en el que transitamos. De hecho, este hilo musical creado
para un
barrio urbano multicultural podría trasladarse a todo
el planeta.
Reflejo de ello la aplastante Down on the Street que
abre el
disco: “Felicidad hoy en día es el nombre de un
bebé que acaba de
nacer en una patera”.
Sullo sfondo c’è “Funhouse”,
lo storico disco che gli Stooges
pubblicarono nel 1970. In primo piano, un coacervo di rumori,
stecche, rigurgiti, sfasci armonici, freakerie
dissennate… insomma, “Buildings From Bilbao”, quarto disco di Mattin
e compagnia bella.
Simulacro di un rock duro e puro, classico ma comunque già
oltre i suoi tempi, “Funhouse” rappresenta, però, solo un
punto di partenza, l’imbocco di un sentiero destinato a essere
abbandonato fin dal primo passo, per dare sfogo a un delirio
postmoderno & plunderfonico (l’apice, in tal senso, è
“2010”), a un mosaico di orrori sparsi e stupri assordanti.
Così, “Down In The Street” è un mostro ormai
irriconoscibile, alienato, che solo di sfuggita ritorna alla sua
vera essenza, prima di perseverare nella dissoluzione ad oltranza.
I Billy
Bao inscrivono il caso in sette strutture esplose-sfasciate,
destrutturando il punk (“Loose”), brandendo il vessillo del
garage-rock tra i corridoi di un centro per l’igiene mentale
(“T.V. Eye”), lasciando manifestare imponenti ouverture sinfoniche
o battiti technoidi nel bel mezzo di uno scazzo tra amici ubriachi
(“Dirt”) e deragliando alla grande con una “Fun House” che suona
il free-jazz (il sax di Jean-Luc
Guionnet è a dir poco su di giri!) che imita il free-noise
che imita il degrado morale della civiltà. Il rumore,
però, copre ma non allontana i fantasmi, non mette a tacere
l'inquietante (“Lagos Blues”).
Decisamente più anarchico di “Dialectics
Of Shit” ma non così decisivo, “Buildings From
Bilbao” è, comunque, l’ennesima cartuccia malefica sparata
da una delle realtà musicali più interessanti e
realmente “creative” degli ultimi anni. Una cartuccia che arriva
da una terra di nessuno, dove si suonano, in contemporanea, i Won
James Won di “Tol’s Toy”, i Throbbing
Gristle delle origini e gli Harry Pussy più
sconsiderati.
Il fatto: nel luglio del 1970 gli Stooges davano alle stampe il loro secondo, epico, album Fun House. Il misfatto: quarant'anni dopo, nel luglio del 2010, Billy Bao, Mattin
e soci entravano in studio per celebrare l'anniversario del disco e
registrarlo interamente daccapo a modo loro. Il risultato di quello
scellerato omaggio lo ascoltiamo pero' solo ora, a tre anni di distanza,
dissimulato dal titolo Buildings From Bilbao e in formato
rigorosamente vinilico tirato in un'edizione limitata di solo 500 copie
(volendo, tuttavia, c'e' anche l'opportunita' di acquistarlo e
scaricarlo in formato digitale).
Per mettere un po' di pepe all'operazione, i sette brani di Fun House conservano qui il loro minutaggio originale, e anche gli stessi titoli, con l'eccezione di 1970 (ribattezzata 2010) e L. A. Blues, rinominata Lagos Blues in onore delle origini nigeriane del capobanda. Conoscendo l'indole e l'attidudine del gruppo basco (ne parlammo gia' qui
nel passato), non e' difficile intuire come la celebrazione dell'opera
(genuina, sincera, devozionale) lasci volentieri il posto alla
provocazione e all'esasperazione. È un po' come se Billy Bao, Mattin e
soci si fossero interrogati su come avrebbero suonato gli Stooges se
fossero nati e comparsi nel terzo millennio dandoci Buildings From Bilbao
come risposta. Pertanto, e' meglio mettere subito in chiaro che chi si
aspetta di riconoscere in questo programma i temi strumentali e i motivi
vocali delle arcinote composizioni originali restera' certamente deluso
e spiazzato. Il trattamento riservato dal gruppo a questo materiale e'
l'esatto equivalente di uno strupro sperimentale, un affondo feroce nel
corpo del rumore e dell'improvvisazione radicale dove voce, chitarre,
basso, batteria, elettronica e sassofono (quello di Jean-Luc Guionnet che compare nella rendition di Fun House)
si rincorrono, rotolano, incespicano e balbettano con ritmi sfasati,
assalti di decibel, volumi di distorsione e pura confusione, armistizi
fruscianti e semisilenziosi, frequenze radio inserite a caso che
preannunciano agguati mortali free form sopra macerie industriali e detriti postnucleari.
Un
senso di opprimente precarieta' e smarrimento, accompagnato dalla
ineluttabile consapevolezza che al virus diffuso anni addietro da gente
come Monte Cazazza, Throbbing Gristle, Butthole Surfer e Pussy Galore
non c'e' ancora un antidoto. Il rock, il free noise e il punk in
un nuovo rivoluzionario conflitto contro la musica e il sistema,
sterminati e annientati come meglio non si potrebbe …
The POP GROUPのシンガーのマーク・スチュワートのソロ作品のようなカットアッ
プっぽい作りの中に、
FLIPPER、THROBBING GRISTLE、HANATARASHIがとぐろを巻いている。
首絞められてアジテーションが断続的になっているかの如きヴォーカルもひっくるめて考えると、
The POP GROUPの『Y』に初期SPKが乱入したかのようだ。
Billy Bao - Buildings From Bilbao [LP, Burka For
Everybody, 2013]
Label z Walencji, Burka For
Everybody, wydał nowy album Billy Bao. To
jeden z wielu projektów Mattina, baskijskiego muzyka
urodzonego w nigeryjskim Lagos, od paru lat znanego z uprawiania
zaangażowanej politycznie muzyki improwizowanej. Mattin
współpracował z takimi artystami jak Eddie
Prévost, Rosy Parlane, Dion Workman, Taku Unami, Emma
Hedditch, Margarida Garcia, Xabier Erkizia, Karin Schneider,
Oren Ambarchi, Dean Roberts, Bruce Russell, Campbell Kneale,
Tony Conrad, Taku Sugimoto, Matthew Bower, Philip Best,
Drunkdriver, Ray Brassier i Junko. Billy Bao jakiś czas temu
zdobyło popularność za oceanem. Ich noise-rockowe nagrania
przywodziły krytykom na myśl najlepsze tradycje pig fuck'owe i
doskonale wpisały się w popularność takich zespołów jak
Drunkdriver, Mayyors czy starszych jak Rusted Shut i Brainbombs.
Doceniano też wpływy improwizowanego noise'u. Buildings From
Bilbao zawiera więcej bezpośrednich odniesień do punk
rocka. Odnaleźć też można dźwięki z afrykańskiej ulicy.
Większość
dyskografii Mattina jest dostępna za darmo i to
bezstratnych formatach. Artysta prowadzi działalność przeciwko
prawom autorskim i jest aktywnym zwolennikiem wolnego
oprogramowania. Znamienna jest adnotacja, którą można
znaleźć na jego stronie:
BILLY BAO DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT COPYRIGHT SO YOU CAN DO
WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT WITH HIS STUFF. THANKS TO THE
BLOGGERS THAT SHARE BILLY BAO STUFF.
Neuestes Album der umwerfenden Band aus Bilbao/Spanien! Ein
Monstrum an Killer-Sounds, derb und durchgeknallt, als
würde man die STOOGES, FLIPPER und THROBBING GRISTLE
gemeinsam durch einen Fleischwolf drehen. Extrem und
beeindruckend! Auch optisch: Exquisit verpackt in Klappcover und
Innenhülle, beides farbig bedruckt. Limitierte Auflage von
500 Stück!
Ustedes no me dejarán mentir, hemos reseñado casi todos los discos editados por Billy Bao
o Mattin recientemente, y es que cada disco resulta un verdadero
espectáculo sonoro, una joya musical que va más allá de lo esperado, una
bestia que se sale del disco para tratar de darnos un zarpazo y
hacernos entender que no es sólo música, sino que se trata de algo más,
si en Rayuela, Cortázar nos exige más como lectores “activos”, Mattin y
su proyecto Billy Bao nos exige más como escuchas “activos”.
Si hay algo que hemos aprendido con Mattin, es que hay un porque de cada
sonido, de cada palabra, inclusive, de cada silencio, siempre hay un
plan maestro, un concepto que va más allá de sentarse a escuchar, hay un
ejercicio por parte del escucha, hay algo que se quedará con nosotros
además de la música.
Buildings From Bilbao
finalmente llega a nosotros con medio año de retraso, supimos de su
existencia desde mediados del año pasado y por alguna razón, este
simplemente no llegaba, ¿Sería esto también parte del plan? O
simplemente Billy Bao y su conocido inestable temperamento retrasó y
retrasó la salida del este tan esperado disco, habrá que preguntarle a
Mattin, mente y cuerpo tras Billy Bao, claro acompañado de algunos
músicos, quienes en esta ocasión nos traen otro extraño disco, que
incluye algunas extrañas historias.
Buildings From Bilbao es un disco de varias dimensión, en primer lugar
tenemos Down On The Street, la a narración de la historia de la ciudad a
cargo de decadentes personajes que parecen salidos del Trash Humpers de
Harmony Korine, que golpean botes de basura y cuyos ritmos se cruzan
con los ritmos nigerianos de la mente de Bao, por otro lado tenemos las
incursiones noise de la
banda, parte punk rock, parte ruido electrónico, parte los Stooges o los
MC5, y parte los Pussy Galore más estridentes, el título no es
casualidad, ya que importante mencionar aquí, que otra dimensión del
disco es el abusivo uso de los títulos de las canciones del clásico
subterráneo Fun House de los Stooges, así como un sin fin de partes
abruptas grabadas de comerciales de radio, y música nigeriana.
En Loose la banda arranca de manera frenética en pleno punk rock mode,
arropados de estática y feedback al por mayor, con un ritmo bastante
encajado que se niega a moverse y con unas guitarras militantes y
pesadas que nos recordarían un Flipper con anfetaminas acelerándolos y
llevándolos a un cáustico final, T.V. Eye nuevamente nos presenta
nuevamente al mismo narrador estrambótico, al tiempo que una
destartalada guitarra suena al fondo, con todo inmerso en estática pura,
y después los instrumentos son traídos al frente y nos encontramos con
un ritmo primitivo, muy a la Stooge,
para luego ser interrumpidos abruptamente por crujidos y rechinidos de
feedback monstruos, Mattin sacudiendo al escucha con técnicas de cut and paste y abruptos sobresaltos que llenarìan de orgullo profundamente a William S. Burroughs, a Jean Luc Godard y a Frank Zappapor
igual, de hecho muy probablemente así sonarían los primeros de disco de
Zappa, si este hubiera escuchado a bandas como los Stooges, los
Velvets, los MC5 o Blue Cheer.
Dirt reproduce en cierta forma el agonizante paso del tema original de
los Stooges, que aquí sólo comparte el título, más feedback y un bajo
reptiliano que aparece de manera intermitente, al tiempo que el ruido es
invocado de la misma manera intercalándose con estos rudimentarios y
esqueléticos ritmos, mientras sonidos de canciones pop desconocidas
interrumpen lo que escuchamos, para después sumergirnos en lo màs
parecido al afrobeat que Billy Bao debió escuchar en su niñez, claro, todo esto según la mente de Mattin.
2010 es una pieza hecha de fragmentos de música diversa, mucha de ella
proveniente de la radio nigeriana que Billy Bao debió escuchar en las
cuales de su natal Nigeria, un paseo por diversas estaciones de radio,
sin caer en ninguna en especifico, una brutal provocación por parte de
Mattin, que da paso a la no menos brutal Fun House, con un ritmo
poderoso y trabado, que se acompaña de pavoroso riffs
de guitarra y un saxofón que buscara evocar el sax de Steve Mackay en
los Stooges, pero que termina siendo más cercano a una estridente Yoko
Ono queriendo sonar como John Gilmore.
Lagos Blues cierra este disco, con una mezcla de reduccionismo, música concreta y fieldrecordings,
en un tema en el que Mattin se acerca a los silencios, hace uso de
ellos y decide poner las acciones en el fondo y presentarnos una
indescifrable conversación, al tiempo que juega con los canales y poco a
poco la música va tomando el papel principal, escuchamos una batería
siendo golpeada brutalmente, por algo así como un tornado humano,
acompañada por unas lejanas guitarras que nunca alcanzan a mordernos del
todo.
Buildings From Bilbao es otro triunfo conceptual en la carrera de
Mattin, quien cada vez se aleja más del mundo de la música y cada vez se
acerca más al sonido puro, a algo que esta más allá de una mera
grabación, y algo que nos convierte en algo más que meros escuchas.
Il passaggio dal noise-rock idealmente in linea con il proprio passato
(post) hardcore ad un’improvvisazione bruitista figlia delle pratiche para-patchwork,lo si poteva intuire già col precedente album Urban Disease. Non che in quello vi fosse il medesimo piglio riscontrato invece nell’ultimo Buildings From Bilbao, in linea con una specie di delirio collagistico da doporock;
ma il cambio di rotta (espressione da prendere comunque con le molle)
era già evidente nei baschi Billy Bao, e senza considerare qui le
diverse anime del leader Mattin. È pur certo che il gusto per la
provocazione – di matrice ideologica marxista – resta sempre lo stesso, e
se nel geniale Accumulation ciò era del tutto lampante, in Buildings From Bilbao diventa il pretesto per un massacro metodico nei confronti di Fun House degli Stooges: sono sette infatti i brani omonimi del capolavoro proto-punk, tranne 2010 e LAGOS Blues, a sostituire idealmente 1970 e L.A. Blues.
Titoli a parte, ciò che resta degli originali è davvero poco, se non
praticamente nulla: quel che importa è piuttosto il tentativo di
saccheggio situazionista, pienamente riuscito, perpetrato con fare
postmoderno nei confronti di tutto quel che alla band capita fra le mani
frugando nella cultura contemporanea e filtrandolo con la loro
(in)sensibilità punk e rumorista. Grandi, di sicuro.
Ziemlicher Brocken der uns hier vor die Füße gerotzt wird. Stellt euch
vor ihr seid vollgedröhnt im Djungel und werdet von anderen zugedröhnten
Meschen, Eisbären und Monstern gescheucht - so ungefähr wie in Lost,
nur auf dem extremsten LSD-Tripp den ihr euch vorstellen könnt. Oder um
es in Musikalien zu fassen: Flipper, Swans, Throbbing Gristle, Atari
Teenage Riot, James Chance und Red Krayola prügleln sich zu immer wieder
auftauchenden Afrobeats. * Burka For Everybody
er en etterlengtet ny utgivelse fra Mattins noiserockensemble. Denne
gangen er gruppa mindre attackerende og mer varierte enn tidligere. Det
er solide saker, selv om jeg kjenner et lite savn ettter det ensporede
fanatiske. På Buildings from Bilbao løses attacket opp med
soundcollages, techno og annet. Dette gir et mindre fokusert Billy Bao,
men lytt selv. Bandet gruser fortsatt det meste av det som utgis av
rockmusikk.
With the birth of my first child forthcoming in the new year,
February to be exact, I can say that if only the staff at Babies R Us
were as friendly and knowledgeable about the products they sell as you
all are, impending parenthood would not be such a nerve-wracking
process! Thank you for some great recommendations throughout a prolific
year of music. All the best to you in 2013 and keep the reviews coming.
Favorite 25 records/cds of 2012
1. Fushitsusha- Hikari to Nazukeyo
2. Comus- Out of the Coma
3. Andrew Chalk- Forty Nine Views In Rhapsodies
4. Billy Bao-Buildings From Bilbao
5. Black Bug-Reflecting the Light
6. Scott Walker- Bisch Bosch
7. Jozef van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch- The Mystery of Heaven
8. FNU Ronnies-Saddle Up
9. Vatican Shadow- Kneel Before Religious Icons
10. X-TG- Desertshore/The Final Report
11. Lamps- Under The Ground Under The Water
12. Holly Herndon-Movement
13. Pye Corner Audio-Sleep Games
14. Gary War- Jareds Lot
15. Puffy Areolas- 1982: Dishonorable Discharge
16. Atom TM- Winterreise
17. Godspeed You! Black Emperor- Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
18. Non- Back To Mono
19. Richard Papiercuts- A Sudden Shift
20. Kim Phuc-Copsucker
21. Guinea Worms- Smiles
22. Mad Nanna- I Made Blood Better
23. Orcas-s/t
24. Hank Wood and the Hammerheads-Go Home
25. Cop City Chill Pillars- Hosed
As the years progressed, the way that sound artist Mattin used his
Billy Bao persona shifted from punk outrage to outraging punks, as the
music he created started to shift away from the persona it was created
by (a fictitious Nigerian punk in Bilbao, afflicted with AIDS). If
you’ve ever met Mattin, you may have taken umbrage with this
characterization; it gave a voice to the voiceless, but after a while it
stopped seeming like the same voice. The releases that followed
frustrated listeners with empty grooves, repetition of facile musical
concepts, and increasing interference in the conceptual interplay
between signal and output. I haven’t kept up with him in the past few
years, but Billy Bao came busting back through via the review pile with
this album-length re-imagining of the Stooges’ Fun House. The
results are, given this project’s history, what you’d expect: only
shreds and shards in common with the source material musically, though
you could certainly infer the political meaning to what the Stooges
created 40+ years ago. Plenty of noise, detuned rock, what sounds like
snippets of Mattin’s work with Drunkdriver, and the like. Lots of
messages, too, free for you to decode however you see fit. I’m gonna
guess that if your patience wouldn’t be tried by something like this, or
if you still have that 10” or Dialectics Of Shit hanging
around, you already know about it. There’s meaning (more like
well-meaning) here but it is so tangled up in caricature and impurity
that you may not find it easily, or at all. (http://burkaforeverybody.bandcamp.com)
(Burka for Everybody, 2012) runs the gamut from the chaotic Down On The Streets to the pounding freak-out Loose via conceptual pieces of abstract noise like Dirt and Fun House, but seems improvised on the fly.
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