Asia Argento Total Entropy

[NUUN; 2013]

Styles: sexual thirst, “I don’t give a fuck,” adult contemporary, unadulterated miasma
Others: Farrah Abraham, Royalize, Anton Newcombe, Serge Gainsbourg, Lindsay Lohan

Unless you’re Italian, a film writer, or have a penchant for wacky 80s Italian horror films (Gatekeeper/Umberto fans, I’m looking at you), you may not have come across Dario Argento, a powerhouse in Italian giallo cinema and an essential player in establishing the mythos of his daughter and our subject, Asia (Ah-ze-a). Reportedly a lonely and depressed individual, Dario’s directorial habit of brutally ravaging and murdering his characters (primarily Asia’s mother) via monsters and slashers in his movies marked him out as a distantly violent figure to the impressionable Asia. Acting in his films was an uncomfortable but necessary method to gain his attention, and this in turn perhaps led to formulating a disposition toward alluring, ultra-feminine performance, something that has come to define Asia’s career.

Asia Argento is commonly named one of the most beautiful women in Italy, sometimes referred to as the Italian Angelina Jolie. Regardless of individual opinion, through her social inheritance and (perhaps unintentional) vocational path, she has a venerable cultural significance to live up to, and her efforts to imbue her celebrity persona with a modern sexy chic-appeal, rough and punk-ish — while building a powerful following and influence in Italian popular culture — have a habit of unfolding as contrived and unconvincing over-the-top public stunts.

It’s well-publicized that Argento has forayed into a variety of creative disciplines; her well-received directing, photography, and painting have occupied many galleries and many cinemas, and Total Entropy isn’t even her first outing as a singer, tackling the front woman role with a variety of Italian bands in the 80s and 90s, including the overtly anti-romantic Royalize. What differs Total Entropy from her previous ventures is Argento’s real persona revealing itself in an unintentional, non-traditional way — and perhaps this is the sole reason for listening to this very strange yet boring album, which carries a glimmer of the analyst’s favorite medium, “outsider-art.”

In over 75 minutes of material collated from 10 years of recording, Argento manages to squeeze in, deconstruct, and heavy-handedly thrash out a myriad of sexual devices that could (but not necessarily should) be communicated through music, alongside numerous aggravating lyrical clichés. These efforts are not helped by occasional dips in musical ability that establish a singer and lyricist who lacks the intent or power of punk that she is so often labelled with.

Track-wise, it’s apparent the dull electro and techno of “Cheeseandeggs,” “Someone,” and “Sexodrome” is aimed at expressing some sensual, Euro club environment, but it comes across as a poorly produced and unimaginative early-2000s pop beat of the variety that Hype Williams tease and rearrange, without a similar characteristic charm apparent. At the other end of the genre-spectrum, still attempting the seductress role, Argento constructs a weary and faded imitation of Bardot on Gainsbourg’s “Je t’aime, moi non plus,” while managing to capture none of the eroticism of the original. Continuing this bland appropriation, Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt is dissected, with excerpts from this masterpiece being spun to generate lyrical content for “Double Jeu” — a nod in an interesting direction that is unfortunately not fleshed out convincingly.

It’s worth noting that all of the tracks on this album are collaborative efforts, and while those with Tim Burgess (of The Charlatans) stand out as slightly more considered and developed, the opening track “Ours” sees Argento flail awkwardly and fall flat against Burgess’ somewhat lackluster backing track. It’s this combination of so-so production/composition juxtaposed with Argento’s inconsistent delivery that dominates the album, leaving the listener disaffected and confused.

With the under-average musical quality of this album laid bare, it’s easy to see similarities between Total Entropy and last year’s My Teenage Dream Ended from Farrah Abraham — an artist whose public stunts appear more like unaware calls for help and release from her absurd reality. These celebrities find themselves in the center of supposed musical odysseys, which could be read as carefully constructed PR devices that add to their overall cultural influence: slaves to consumer-driven drama — Abraham’s domain that of the reality show/daytime TV and Argento’s the hyper-sensitive tabloid world of red-carpet pseudo-royalty. Ultimately, what one is inclined to feel is less irritation and more a vague lingering sadness — “a product of circumstance.” The final track “La tua lingua sul mio cuore” seems to perfectly capture this odd cultural icon and the mess of this release, in some twisted and unintentional parody of Argento’s constructed character, that of the siren, an enticing enchantress deemed lust-worthy and mad with sexual passion:

” I am going crazy/ I am sick/ Soothe my mind/ Break my heart/ Hurt my guts/ I am going crazy.”

Mind you, this is quite the departure from the lyrical content of “Cheeseandeggs”:

“Cheeseandeggs/ Chicken and a sausage/ Cheeseandeggs/ Is what I’m gonna have.”

Asia Argento’s rise to fame in Italy is fascinating for the outsider to observe, because in some ways it’s revealing of the failures of a celebrity culture she was unfortunate enough to get caught up in — one that is extreme, unforgiving, and sex-centric; one that pushes unfair expectations upon what are otherwise “normal” people. Alongside making for a bizarre listening experience, Total Entropy provokes the listener to question just who this mesmerizing (and perhaps inadvertently), hyper-sexualized figure really is.

Links: Asia Argento - NUUN

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