Willie Peyote, the elusive
At the registry office in Turin, where he was born on 28 August 1985, he is registered as William Brownto sign his songs he chose to be known as Willie Peyote. He has been known under that pseudonym for over fifteen years. He has five solo albums to his credit. The first “It’s not my kind, the human kind” in 2013, the last one “Pornostalgia” in 2022. It is with our review of his latest effort that we wish him a happy birthday.
Ironic, sharp, bitter, cheerful. In a word: elusive. Like a salmon swimming upstream that cannot be caught with bare hands. “Pornostalgia”, the fifth album in Willie Peyote’s career, the first after having graced the stage of the Ariston in Sanremo in 2021 with the song “Mai dire mai (la locura)”, is a rap and personal album in which, however, it is possible to identify with the various themes addressed.
The album, starting from the cover that comes from the poster of a film from the 70s, immediately presents itself as the continuation, but also the counterpart of the previous “Iodegradabile” as Willie Peyote said in our interview. “In these years, in which everything has stopped, we found ourselves looking back at old films and books, with nostalgia. It’s a moment in which it seems to me that the concept of nostalgia is very present. Perhaps, having less certainty about the future we seek reassurance from the past”, says the rapper.
It is a free album, that does not respond to market logic and above all imbued with independent thought and analysis. A lucid gaze always balanced between public narration and private dimension. One of the symbolic tracks, it is no coincidence, is “Robespierre”: a song that tells what Willie has experienced in these two years. “I am not the spokesperson of anyone, I do not take the responsibility of speaking for others. I say my things, if you agree or not it is fine all the same”, with these words he introduces the piece. There is the desire to explore new sound territories, but also that of returning to a more raw rap and made on electronic bases.
The album opens with “Ufo”, a tight slap in which the artist dives head first into social and political issues: “yesterday it was the pandemic, today it’s about war, everyone says everything without ultimately saying anything, I’m talking about performative activism, multinationals that change the color of their logo based on the topic of the moment”, says Willie.
The second track, “Fare schifo”, is an alternative anthem: “it’s been going round in my head since Aimone Romizi on the Primo Maggio stage (where we performed together singing Skiantos) said that being disgusting is a moral imperative. In the performance society there is a race for results, to be good, beautiful, self-confident. Being disgusting, accepting not being perfect, not wanting to, being sad and pissed off even without a real reason, could really be a revolutionary path”, underlines the rapper.
A successful song is certainly “All you can hit”, a rap track where the rapper from Turin talks about his relationship with the music market which he sees as an “all you can eat sushi”, where the important thing is that there is a lot to eat at a low price, regardless of the true value of what is consumed.
“For me, music is more of a tavern, the taste of tradition, something more real,” says Willie. “Il rubato della passione” is another song that works: the football metaphor is applied to personal relationships. Emanuela Fanelli in “Risarcimento skit” responds to Willie’s words. The track that closes the album, “Sempre lo medesimo film”, is a letter, an outburst to a friend: “who unfortunately I will no longer have the chance to speak to because he is no longer with me. It was two difficult years, where every day seemed like a repeat of the previous one, always the same film, even if the film I am referring to is one of the films I am most attached to, for many reasons,” concludes Willie.
