先说说The Psychic Paramount。 他们在那天晚上十点摸上了台，突然发出了一声巨响，令我们永远记住了这个名字。
此前半小时，我还在家中，只是顺手点开了当地演出网站上的一首试听曲目，然后就决定立刻提前出门去研究这支为Acid Mothers Temple暖场的乐队。虽然及时赶到了现场，但我最终还是没来得及准备好——吉他、贝司和鼓手懒懒散散地从三个方向走上台，很象是要调音，舞台周围也没有人，那天晚上本来就不多的观众都在酒吧台附近聊天。然后，轰的一声，四座皆惊。
也许有很多人和我一样， 顺其自然地把这支闻所未闻的乐队想象成和Acid Mothers Temple一样的大麻型迷幻乐队。但它是一支安非他命型实验乐队。它的出现，完满了一个东西方相会的夜晚——这应该是后话。
纽约三人乐队The Psychic Paramount两年前就在欧洲巡演（根据官方网站，那是乐队组建不到一周后发生的事件），发行现场专辑，摄制短片，如今，他们依然没有唱片公司和经纪人，正式发行的作品都刻在Ritek牌CD-R上，而且，根据乐队网站介绍，已经全部脱销。
还好，我在现场买到了乐队的Origins and Primitives Vol.1。这张专辑给人的第一印象，是温和的、纯粹的实验性。比如，第一首作品的名字叫Solo Electric Guitar with pre-recorded drums。这种命名方式，完全可以令你的脑海中闪过一串二十世纪先锋作曲家的大名。这首作品中预先录制的鼓声如同在空旷的火车车厢里听穿过隧道的回响，而音高连续变化的吉他则绵延着模拟电子乐器的旋律。
乐队显然是依赖于传统电声乐器的——这也是当晚两支乐队关键的共同点。Echoh Air 稳定的节奏，跳动的细密音符， 全是由多轨的电吉他叠加而成的，在高潮的时候听起来宛若老式风琴的即兴华彩。长达十多分钟的Microphone 2，也是依靠单电吉他的混响和环绕效果，营造出玲珑的、疾速的空间感。它们不是噪音，也并非舞曲，仅仅用声音的堆叠，就创造了属于流水线和高速路时代的迷幻。
在现场，这类作品往往在速度和力度上极尽狂暴。吉他/贝司/鼓威风凛凛、颠覆性十足的合奏，让我想起当年在北京见识的Sabot。不过，这支乐队的妙处是，有时你甚至不能确定乐队的演奏和他们的声音有什么关系。比如，专辑中暴戾的The Eyeglass/Sex Operation听起来象一支全力出击的乐队， 但音响洪水中的三件乐器是鼓，风琴和磁带机。在现场， 鼓手使用了装有放大器的接触式麦克风，另外两个阴谋家使用了loop effects 踏板，所以，即便没有磁带机， 但我却似乎听到了它造出的幻象，躲在一阵阵啸叫的声浪后面，是将要复活的机器。当时没来得及录音，但如今听他们2002年的欧洲现场专辑，还是被这种声响窒息。这支乐队在现场的能量是令人敬畏的，而且彻底离经叛道——和他们相比，后面上场的日本人简直就是在复古。
在现场，我还买了Sabers的唯一专辑Specter。这是鼓手Jeff Conway和Charlie Hines的乐队。录音师Martin Bisi也来自纽约，而且合作者名单有诸多名人：Sonic Youth， John Zorn，Keiji Haino，Swans， Bill Laswell, Golden Palominos，Fred Frith和Brian Eno等人。这是一张操作取代了演奏的实验CD。他们显然是在探索乐器、音箱和麦克风的开放式回路——一个天然而莫测的效果器。该乐队显然是在撰写一本声学应用的手册。没有吓人的引子，甚至没有节奏，在缓慢变化中令人迷醉或是颤栗。这就是传说中的Drone？
和这些来历不明的先锋相比，Acid Mothers Temple显然更容易了解。比如，研究一下他们目前签约的Alien8，就算是很好的入门。这家加拿大厂牌拥有安静的Shalabi Effect, Set Fire To Flames, 和Molasses（成员来自Shalabi Effect和在我国已经相当著名的Godspeed You! Black Emperor）, 这些西方乐队多少带有迷幻色彩，直接或间接地采用了东方的声音和意识。俨然是一个音乐群落。另一方面，该厂牌签下了Merzbow 和前两年在我国曾经火爆一时的Keiji Haino等日本噪音大拿， 在东方人看来，这些疯子带有西方的颠覆性，在西方人看来，他们体现了噪音的根源性。旗下其它人员，诸如屡次参加Sonar的中年作曲家Francisco Lopez ，和五月份曾经在此为Trans Am暖场的疯癫小子Les Georges Leningrad，把它的经营范围向实验和朋克继续延伸。
Acid Mothers Temple在这样一个厂牌落户是最合适的了。这支乐队的全名是Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.。U.F.O乃是Underground Freak Out的趣味缩写，但如果你已经将其理解为那种天外来客，乐队的灵魂吉他手Kawabata Makoto想必也不会反对——因为他声称自己小时候就听见过UFO发出的声音， “然后在听见塔布拉演奏之后立刻就认出了这种声音。”
AMT的现场便是由一阵环绕来自宇宙的飘忽合成器之声揭开序幕的。这种声音几乎是一个半小时现场中的标志性声音，而且也经常在AMT唱片中浮现。Kawabata从来不认为自己在演奏乐器，他认为我们被宇宙中无所不在永不止歇的音响环绕，他只是一架接收机，收到这些信号，然后转化为大家可以听见的声音。
这一点，在AMT的上一张专辑Electric Heavyland中得到了体现。这个名字自然让人想到了Jimi Hendrix，而内容，从迷幻的意境，到对宇宙的感知，都发展了那位神仙的思路。自然，这宇宙必然充满了吉他，然而却没有大师——吉他虽然用尽了回授，延时，摇把等等十八般武艺，但纯粹是功能性的，只为了叠加出致密的白噪音漩涡。那些水波和抛物线式的电子音响提醒我们：女士和先生们，我们正漂浮在太空中；而这些无法无天的吉他表明：我们正在被吸进一个黑洞。在鬼魅般的人声飘散后，专辑几乎是在一场流星雨式的纷繁景色中收场。这是AMT最暴躁的作品， 但也是Kawabata听到的宇宙——他显然把宇宙深处的混沌理解为它的和谐。他信仰宇宙的基本规律而不是佛教，于是就可以把极乐世界搞得喧闹无比。
Electric Heavyland忘记调性和结构，拒绝旋律和歌词，但请不要把它归入纯噪音范畴——之所以期待AMT的现场，原因在于它的精华是演奏，这种音乐很大程度上是由演奏者的想象力和体能决定的，而不是其他自动化方式，更不是随机的。The Psychic Paramount使用了磁带录音机，便是对体能/乐器的极限和时基概念的突破，是实验性的典型象征。和学生模样的他们相比，AMT的概念老得象The Grateful Dead，而且确实头发胡子一大把。
Electric Heavyland也令我想起自己听见过的AMT最早的作品之一，New Geocentric World Of Acid Mothers Temple。那首“Psycho Buddah”中扫荡一切的飓风长达二十一分钟堪称经典。不落俗套之处在于，它高速旋转中的每一个瞬间，还是浮现着很多微妙的细节。这类作品，完全就是濒死体验的失真版配乐，身体受到抑制，但想象力却八方飞散。
当然，AMT有他们的另一面。现场的第二首作品便充满了苍劲的迷幻吉他和不断反复的主旋律，更有颤抖的声音和古老的吟唱。这算得上是他们的又一种标志性声音了。在现场，这类作品显然占据了主流。毕竟，这次巡演是为乐队的新专辑作宣传。
这张不久前发行的Mantra of Love和Electric Heavyland有天壤之别。如其名，这是一个抒情的世界。从技术上说，它是一个调性的世界，拥有反复演绎的主题，拥有间奏，拥有能够在自由演化中表现峰回路转的速度和强度，拥有狂暴和清澈。专辑照例由两首长达二十多分钟的作品组成，“La Le Lo"是欧洲近地中海区域的民歌（相关的历史照片也成了专辑的封面），洋溢着古老的民谣气质；第二首“L’ambition dans le miroir”中，流星的电子音效，Cotton Casino的女声，都像是在遥远的背景里，穿梭着星际的缠绵讯息。
在现场，乐队演绎了另一首民谣化的旧作La Novia。这首作品的录音室版本长达40分钟，是一首拥有各种变化但几乎没有失真吉他的罕见作品，而且，民谣化的歌唱显然加上了效果尾音。现场他们由清唱和合唱开始，把它压缩到了十分钟以内。显然，和他们日本现场录音的41分钟版比较，即便是这类歌唱式作品，即兴仍然可以令其每次都面目全非。
现场的结尾是一首三十分钟的作品。它虽然长，听起来象是很常规的英式摇滚作品，几个简单的和弦在宇宙声的陪伴下以非常缓慢的加速度演进。在一阵湍流之后几乎是重新演奏了一遍，但加入了人声和不断solo的吉他——其实他们并没有主音的定义。他们信仰阻挡一切的声墙，能逃脱的，只有那些奇幻眩目的合成声音。至于主题，结尾的这一曲显然是一个从有序到无序之间不断循环的概念。
AMT的很多手法其实并不新鲜，他们只是拾起了一些不那么摇滚的东西。Kawabata早期接触音乐时，受到的是古典音乐和印度音乐的影响，他对The Beatles并不感冒， 真正使他震惊的是具象音乐和斯托克豪森。而令他着迷的是电子音乐。
在最初组队的时候，Kawabata的梦想是一支“深紫”式硬摇滚乐队和一支斯托克豪森式电子乐队的组合体。现在看来，他并没有实现这个梦想。你可以说他们是摇滚的，因为他们也甩着拖把式头发， 自我陶醉的快感取代了冒险的紧张和新奇。你可以说他们是实验的，因为他们做出来的东西不是可以翻唱的。他们与摇滚和实验好像都有距离，但显然不在两者之间的某一点。好象是到了天上，因为他们喜欢宇宙；也可能到了地下，因为他们体现着深厚的根源性。
不过，Kawabata倒是成功地活在了六七十年代，因为他的乐队和八十年代以后的事物都没有什么关系。而The Psychic Paramount，则进一步指出了电声和电子的区别。两支属于二十一世纪的乐队，从东方和西方走来，把便宜的合成器和效果器变成了洪水猛兽，横行在这个笔记本电脑缺席的夜晚。
(The Psychic Paramount live pictures photographed by Marylene Mey, courtesy of Drew St. Ivany)
(The Acid Mothers Temples live pictures photographed by Technofolk, courtesy of Technofolk)
看了
Comment 由 王凡 — 09/02/04 @ 10:54 pm
好文一篇
Comment 由 bigdada — 09/07/04 @ 1:34 am
The Psychic Paramount想得到一份此文的英文版。那位老师愿意帮忙？我是没时间了。
也许可以要求他们给翻译者一张CD?
Comment 由 胡凌云 — 09/15/04 @ 12:30 am
The Universe is a Cloud of High-Decibel Chaos
Translated by Ann Xiang
Original writing by Lingyun Hu
Let’s talk about The Psychic Paramount first, they landed on the stage on 10pm that night, let out a loud sound suddenly, and made us remembered this name ever since.
Half an hour prior to this moment, I was still at home, clicking open a sample tune on the website with local gig listing by chance, and decided to head out earlier to investigate this band who’s warming up for the Acid Mothers Temple show. Even though I rush to the venue on time, I was not prepared for this after all, –the guitarist, bassist and drummer sneaked onto the stage from three different directions, it looked like they were about to tune their instrument. And there were no one around the stage, the few audience who came for the night were all chatting around the bar. Then, there was a big thump, the whole room was shocked.
Maybe a lot of people, like me, thought that this unknown band were the same kind of psychedelic band as Acid Mothers Temple, psychedelic like weed that is. Instead, this band is psychedelic like amphetamine, its appearance has completed a night in which the orient meets the western. This is another story.
The Psychic Paramount is a three-piece New Yorker band, two years ago they have already toured Europe (according to their official website, the tour happened less than a week after the band was born), released a live album and a short film as companion. Yet to this day, they still have neither a record label nor an agent, all their released albums were burned on Ritek brand CD-Rs, which are all sold out according to the band’s website.
Luckily, I bought “Origins and Primitives Vol.1″ by the band on the show, the first impression from this album was mellow and pure experimentalism. The first track was named “Solo Electric Guitar with Pre-recorded Drums", such naming scheme can make a whole list of twentieth century avant-garde composer flashing through one’s mind. The pre-recorded drumbeat sounded like echos from a empty train passing through tunnels, whereas the guitar sound with continuously varying pitch propagated the rhythm from the synthesizer.
This band obviously relies on more traditional electronic equipments, –this is the key similarity between the two bands who performed on that night. The steady rhythm and vibrating notes in Echoh Air resulted from composition of multi-track electric guitars, which almost sounded like cadenza played on organ piano at the highlighting moment of the track. The over ten minute long track “Microphone 2″ also relied on the mixing and surrounding effects of electric guitars, they built up a delicate and speedy sense of space. They are not noise or dance music, they created the psychedelic state that belongs to the era of automated production line and expressway.
Performed live, this kind of music can push the limit in speed and strength. The powerful and revolutionary symphony of guitar, bass, and drum, reminded me of a performance by Sabot I watched many years ago in Beijing. The subtle delight with that band was, sometimes you can’t even determine the relationship between the performance of the band and the sound they produced. One example was the violent track “The Eyeglass / Sex Operation” in the album, it sounded like a band striking with all its force, and three instruments one can recognize from the flood of sound were drum, organ, and tape drive. In the live performance, the drummer used a contact microphone with an amplifier, and the two other conspiring members used loop effect pedals, so even without the tape drive, I was able to feel the illusion made by it, hidden behind tides of shrieking sonic waves, was the machine waiting to be resurrected. I didn’t have the chance to bootleg that performance, but listening to their European tour today, the sound was still suffocating. The energy of this band during live shows is awe-inspiring, and compared to their nonconforming style, the Japanese band that followed almost sounded traditional.
During that live show, I bought the only album by Sabers, “Specter". Sabers was a band consisted of drummer Jeff Conway and Charlie Hines, its recording technician Martin Bisi was also from New York City, among his collaborator were famous icons such as Sonic Youth, John Zorn, Keiji Haino, Swans, Bill Laswell, Golden Palominos, Fred Frith and Brian Eno. The album itself was an experiment that replaces performance with operation. They were playing with an open feedback loop made by instruments, speakers and microphones, – a natural and unpredictable sampler in its own. This band must be writing a handbook on acoustic applications. There was no shocking prelude, not even rhythm, only the slow variations in which one feels enchanted or thrilled, is this the mythical DRONE?
Compared to these unheard-of trendsetters, it’s much easier to gain some insights on Acid Mother Temple. A good introduction to their music style would be some brief study of their current label, Alien8. This Canadian label has signed with mellow bands like Shalabi Effect, Set Fire To Flames, and Mollasses (whose members are from the band that is now famous in China, Godspeed You! Black Emperor), these western band are all more or less psychedelic, directly or indirectly sampling oriental sounds and senses, musically they are a tribe of their own. On the other hand, this label has signed Japanese noise bands such as Merzbow and the prominent Keiji Haino that were all the rage in China two years back. In the ears of eastern audience, these crazy bands came with the destruction from the western world, while westerners think that they signify the origin of noise. Other members under its flag, such as the middle-aged composer Francisco Lopez, who has attended Sonar many times, and the crazy circus Les Georges Leningrad, who was here in May warming up for Tran Am, extend the label’s commercial realm further into experimental and punk.
It is most fitting that Acid Mother Temple setup home in a label like this one. The full name of this band is Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., with U.F.O. being an acronym of Underground Freak Out. But the guitarist Kawabata Makoto won’t protest if you read it as that type of alien visitor, since he claimed to have heard of sound from the UFO in that sense, “I recognized the sound right way after hearing a tabula.”
The live stage of AMT unveiled by a surreal sound of synthesizer which seems to have surrounded the universe. This kind of sound was the signature sound during the hour-and-half performance and is also floating in other tracks on AMT albums. Kawabata never considers himself performer of any instrument, he thinks that we are surrounded by the eternal and omnipresent sound in the universe, he acts only as a receiver, who processes these signals and turn them into music everyone can hear.
This concept was instilled by the last album from AMT, Electric Heavyland, the name of the album reminded people of Jimi Hendrix, and its content, from the psychedelic ambience, to the interpretation of the universe, are all extending the philosophy of the deceased guru. The universe is certainly filled with guitar sounds, but there is no master, –the numerous techniques in guitar playing, feedback, trill, vibrato, are only functional, to compose the tight swirl of white noise. The sinusoidal and parabola trajectories of electric noise remind us: ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space, and we are being sucked into a blackhole. After the surreal human voice faded away, the album concluded with a meteor shower like scenery. This is the most violent work produced by AMT, it is also the universe heard by Kawabata, –he has obviously understood the chaos deep in the universe as its harmony. He believes in the basic laws of the universe but not Buddhism, and can thus make the land of nirvana noisy like hell.
“Electric Heavyland” ignores harmony and structure, denies melody and lyric, but please don’t categorize it into the field of pure noise, –the reason behind such high expectation to the live performance of AMT was because the essence of its music is the performance. Such music is determined to a great extend by the imagination and physical state of the performers, and not the other automated techniques, or randomness. The Psychic Paramount used the tape machine, such things were a breakthrough to the limitation of body-instrument limitation and rebellion against time dimension, all typical symbols of experimentalism. Compared to the student-like band members of The Psychic Paramount, the concept of AMT is as old as The Grateful Dead, indeed their age were amplified by the band members’ facial hair.
Of course there is another side to AMT, the second piece in the show was filled with vigorous psychedelic guitar and repeating theme melody, complete with shivering vocal and ancient chanting. This can be considered another symbolic sound of theirs. Such works have dominated the show, after all, this tour is to promote the band’s latest album.
“Mantra of Love", which was released shortly before the show is a far cry from “Electric Heavyland". This is a sentimental work like its name. In terms of technique, it is a melodic work with a repeated theme, interlude, the speed and strength which can change the mood completely, the violence and the pureness. The album consists of two twenty minutes pieces as usual, “La Le Lo” comes from a Mediterranean folk song, (the related historical picture became the album cover), it is full of style from an ancient folk song, in the second track “L’ambition dans le miroir", the meteor-like electronic sound effect, the female vocal of Cotton Casino, were all like intimate messages the weave their interstellar paths in the distance.
During the show, the band performed another folk-style older piece of theirs, La Novia, the studio version of this piece is forty minutes long, a rare piece of work that contains all kind of variations but not much guitar effect. And there were noticeable distortion effect added to the folk vocal. In the show the song started with chanting and choral, and was compressed to ten minutes. Obviously, compared to the forty-one minutes version of the live recording they made in Japan, even with this kind of vocal pieces, the improvisation can still make it sound like nothing they played before.
The show concluded with a thirty-minute piece. Although lengthy in duration, it sounds like a regular British acid instrumental, several simple chords speeding up slowly accompanied by the sound of universe. After a torrent of climax it was almost repeated, this time with vocal and solo guitar added in, –in fact they have no definition of a main theme. They believe in an overwhelming Wall of Sound, the only thing that can penetrate were those blindingly magnificent synthesizer sounds. As for the theme, this piece that ends the show is obviously a concept that circulates forever from the ordered to chaos.
Many techniques of AMT are not brand new, but they have picked up some concepts that were not “Rock ‘n Roll", when Kawabata was first introduced to music, he was influenced by classical music and Indian music. Instead of being mad about The Beatles, he was shocked by musique concrete and Stockhausen, and mesmerized by electronics music.
When he began to set up the band, Kawabata dreamt of the combination of a hard rock band in the style of Deep Purple and a electronics band in the style of Stockhausen. Looking back at it today, this dream didn’t come true. You can say that they’re Rock ‘n Roll, because they too are shaking their long hair around, self-indulgence has obscured the thrill of adventure. You can say they’re experimental, because their work cannot be covered, they seem to be distant from both rock and experimental, but obviously not in between. As if in the sky because they like the universe, but might also be underground because they’re deeply rooted.
Kawabata revives the sixties and seventies successfully, as his band is in no way related to things born after the eighties. While The Psychic Paramount has advanced, and demonstrated the difference between electronic and electrical. These two bands that belong to the twenty-first century, coming from the east and the west, turning budget synthesizers and pedals into wild beasts and floods of music, they reign in this night in which the laptops are absent.
Comment 由 胡凌云 — 09/19/04 @ 2:16 pm
我怎麼就不太會欣賞呢??教我怎樣入手,如何??^-^
Comment 由 peony — 09/30/04 @ 2:32 pm
The Psychic Paramount主页最近更新，新闻里有本文的链接。
看来我们也终于和国际接轨了？
Comment 由 胡凌云 — 11/27/04 @ 11:01 pm