27 julio, 2011

Kurt Cobain & The Raincoats.



Me faltan manos para enumerar las bandas que he conocido gracias a Kurt Cobain, que dicho sea de paso, era un gran promotor de talentos que habían pasado bajo el radar del público común y de aquellos que habían sido populares en su momento pero habían sido olvidados. Ejemplos de bandas que conocí gracias a la explícita mención de Kurt Cobain en entrevistas, son: Fang, Daniel Johnston, Flipper, Kleenex, Os Mutantes, The Frogs, Beat Happening, Wipers, The Shaggs, Bay City Rollers, Melvins, The Vaselines, Meat Puppets y otros varios que se me olvidan. Supongo que la situación de ser un fan convertido en estrella de rock debe haberle parecido tan arbitraria que le pareció un deber moral mover la atención de su persona y su banda para iluminar a estos talentos que no habían recibido la atención merecida. Ayer encontré el primer disco de The Raincoats, un homónimo publicado en 1979, y descubrí que las notas incluidas en la reedición de 1994 fueron escritas por Kurt Cobain, las transcribo acá para ustedes y dejo el link para descargar el disco AQUÍ.

FROM A STOWAWAY IN AN ATTIC

I know a lot of coolies who suck and feed off the fact that they know about and (supposedly) enjoy unknown, obscure band of present and past. These coolies thrive on their own little discoveries like those tiny fish who attach themselves to bigger fish and parasitically feed off the hosts' droppings and burnt coffee.

The Raincoats were not very well known in the States - I don't know about the U.K. and Europe. In fact, I don't really know anything about The Raincoats except that they recorded some music that has affected me so much that, whenever I hear it I'm reminded of a particular time in my life when I was (shall we say) extremely unhappy, lonely, and bored. If it weren't for the luxury of putting that scratchy copy of The Raincoats' first record, I would have had very few moments of peace. I suppose I could have researched a bit of history about the band but I feel it's more important to delineated the way I feel and how they sound.

When I listen to The Raincoats I feel as if I'm a stowaway in an attic, violating and in the dark. Rather than listening to them I feel like I'm listening in on them. We're together in the same old house and I have to be completely still or they will hear me spying from above and, if I get caught - everything will be ruined because it's their thing.

They're playing their music for themselves. It's not as sacred as wire-tapping a Buddhist monk's telephone or something because if The Raincoats really did catch me, they would probably just ask me if I wanted some tea. I would comply, then they would finish playing their songs and I would say thank you very much for making me feel good.

- Kurt Cobain, June 1993.

1 comentario:

Anónimo dijo...

Yo tbn agradezco a Cobain, un amigo que no le gustaba para nada nirvana me dijo "pero el finado si que tenía buen gusto": meat puppets, black flag, vaselines, flipper, Pil, Kleenex/liliput, Leadbelly, saccharine trust, os mutantes, public enemy, young marble giants,wipers, etc...pasa algo parecido con los buenos artesanos, yo conocí un disco triple llamado anthology american folk music de Harry smith(vale la pena encontrarlo) leyendo a Dylan. en fin, saludos!