Description : | Tracce (1999), the first compilation of Wallace Records by Mirko Spino, is a collection that over time has acquired the status of a true (small) generational manifesto of the Italian underground. Inside there are names that have bravely faced the 2000s (historical period in which the Internet definitively enters the scene, it must be specified), with the awareness of those who knew the Nineties well: the One Dimensional Man of Capovilla and Favero, trio that - without hiding the obvious influence of the Jesus Lizard - the Jinx, practically our Unsane, literally made sparks, the round of temporary (and non-temporary) defectors from the Afterhours, for example A Short Apnea and Six Minute War Madness, the Under-pressure , the darlings of Thurston Moore My Cat Is An Alien, and finally the Starfuckers, the latter of true champions. It seems that the proposals that had left their mark on these musicians were mainly American: we talk about labels like Touch And Go, Quarterstick, Skin Graft, Load Records, and the inevitable Fugazi. Later on, Wallace developed a very peculiar discourse, ending up publishing very different bands: X-Mary, but also Tasaday, then Madrigali Magri, Fuzz Orchestra, Anatrofobia, Rollerball, Bron Y Aur, Bologna Violenta, Uncode Duel, Bugo ... Discounted today reiterate that thanks to these records we have made the history of the best rock music in Italy. Another fact that can serve to better understand the phenomenon: commendable, small publishing initiatives such as Equilibrio Precario, Itself, Succoacido, Freakout and Trippa Shake have given a big contribution to make these bands known, not least the Tuscan happening TagoFest.
What remains then twenty years from that publication? Certainly many memories, a catalog that has grown visibly, a clear underlying coherence, certainly bands that know each other and are esteemed. Some of them, along with more recent names, are involved in this celebratory Traces XX. The Gerda dances open, with their visceral hardcore that smacks of passionate assault, then it's up to the revived Anatrofobia: their 'Garden Song' is a sort of free song, shattered and fascinating, and I'm no less the tribal noise ride by Paolo Cantù (Makhno), the alien test of the Quasiviri, the bet The Rambo with the psych-rock of 'Mustafuck', the always crazy Shipwreck Bag Show with the childlike voice of Roberto Bertacchini, drummer of Starfuckers, the strict noise a-symmetries of Hysm Duo, the nocturnal free-punk tears of the Masche, the rock-robot between Klaus Nomi and the Devo of Uomoman, not to forget Meteor and 3Tons.
Twenty years have passed, and in this period so many things have happened that to speak of a technological revolution is perhaps too little. Wallace Records, however, is still here, and we can only acknowledge it and continue to celebrate with them, listening exclusively to Traces XX.
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