Monthly Archives: August 2020

Formative Years 嗨，人类！

August 31, 2020 2020年8月31日

“We want to discuss the urgency of now,” says Chen Sijiang, lead singer of Hiperson. Based in the southwest city of Chengdu amidst a growing population of 15-million people, the five-person band essentially evolved in a state of hyper-acceleration. On their third full-length album Bildungsroman, Hiperson’s incisive, kinetic reconstructions of post-punk, art rock, and noise manifest with bright, new sonic self-awareness.

Formed in early 2012, Hiperson’s story began at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and Chengdu Academy of Fine Arts in Xindu District—a bizarre clash of skyscraper-meets-farmland sprawl north of downtown, where cheap rent and lax rules gave students fertile ground to sow creative collaborations off-campus. “Xindu was a strange place back then,” says Chen, who moved to Chengdu from the weapons-turned-infrastructure boomtown of Deyang, “we felt we were exploring something new together in a completely unknown environment.”

成都位于中国西南部，拥有超过 1500 万人口总数。扎根于此的海朋森乐队五人正如同这座城市一样，保持高速运转的状态。“我们想讨论当下的紧迫”，乐队主唱陈思江说道。在他们第三张全长专辑《成长小说》中，海朋森采用朋克、艺术摇滚和噪音实验等元素进行了一次生动精辟的重构，在清澈明亮的音色中完成了一场自我意识的觉醒。

海朋森的故事要从 2012 年初说起，一切始于成都市中心北部新都区的两所艺术院校之间 —— 四川音乐学院和成都美术学院。在那里，高楼紧邻着荒野农田形成一幅奇特的景象。廉价的租金和宽松的规章制度，为学生在校外提供了创意与合作的契机。“当时觉得新都是一个神奇的地方。” 陈思江说道，她的老家德阳是重型机械和兵器重镇，2012 年她刚刚搬来新都区，“我们感觉身处于一个完全未知的环境，时刻都在探索新鲜的事物。”

Original members Ji Yinan—an ambitious guitarist obsessed with 4AD’s back catalog, Liu Zetong—a shy, military-academy kid with a knack for hypnotic riffs, and Chen Sijiang—an oil painting student with a peculiar reputation for drinking baijiu in class, first came together alongside a rhythm section of fellow classmates, later replaced by current drummer Wang Boqiang and bassist Wang Minghui a.k.a. Ming Ming, (formerly of electro-grrrl act The Hormones). Initially rendered as “Hi, person,” a sci-fi inspired greeting to the human race—the band quickly honed their dynamic sound of crisp, tightly packed guitars, percolating rhythms and gutsy, empowered Chinese lyrics—led by Chen’s rapid, staccato cries and Ji’s backing refrains.

乐队的初始成员有季一楠，一位沉迷于 4AD 厂牌早期音乐、踌躇满志的吉他手；刘泽同，一位有点害羞的军校学生，擅长催眠式的吉他 riff 演奏；以及陈思江，一位油画系学生，曾因为在课堂上痛饮白酒而小有名气。当时乐队其他成员由班上的同学担任，后来由现任的鼓手王博强和贝斯手王明慧 a.k.a. 王明明（也是荷尔蒙小姐乐队的现任贝斯手）顶替。海朋森最初以 “Hi, person”（嗨，人类）命名，是一句带有奇幻色彩的问候。很快，乐队打磨出自己的风格 —— 由清脆、立竿见影的吉他声效贯穿，交织着强有力的中文歌词，同时渗入犀利的律动与勇气。陈思江如赋诗般急切、顿挫的吟唱，以及季一楠等一众乐手层峦叠嶂式的铺陈，使聆听感受极为深刻。

 

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Unlike the NYC-inflected exclusivity of the Beijing experimental scene, Chengdu’s musical landscape was a delightful scramble—the band cut their teeth everywhere from dive bars that featured punk, rap, and psychedelia acts to late-night parties across the hedonistic club scene. “We didn’t necessarily fit in musically; it was more about the people,” says Ji, who grew up devouring the CDs his mother brought home from her archivist job at the local radio station. “Everyone was playing together and working out how to do a live show.”

与严肃、深邃的北京地下场景不同，成都的音乐景观呈现出另一番令人兴奋的活跃气氛 —— 从以朋克、说唱和迷幻等类型为主的音乐现场，到享乐主义盛行的俱乐部和深夜派对，到处都是年轻音乐人初试啼声的舞台。“音乐上我们不一定能融入，但更重要的是人。” 季一楠说，他从小就花大量时间在妈妈从当地电台带回家的 CD 上面，“大家平时都在一块儿琢磨怎么做现场才够牛逼。”

Alongside the NIN-inspired-techno stomp of university friends Stolen, Hiperson was soon scouted by Cai Ming, the booker of preeminent rock venue Little Bar to play support slots for touring acts like The Gar, Nova Heart, and P.K.14—the latter which would herald their signing to Beijing-based indie label Maybe Mars via frontman and label’s A&R manager, Yang Haisong, a big fan of the young band who went on to produce their first album.

和自己大学的同窗，深受工业乐队 Nine Inch Nails 启发的成都后朋克乐队 “秘密行动” 一样，海朋森也是 “小酒馆”（成都摇滚地标级 Livehouse）的常客。在筹划人蔡鸣发掘之下，他们曾多次担任嘎调、Nova Heart、P.K.14 等乐队的暖场嘉宾。P.K.14 主唱兼北京独立厂牌兵马司主理人杨海崧在听过海朋森乐队之后，果断将他们招致麾下，后来成为了他们第一张专辑的制作人。

 

It’s been over five years since the release of their stellar debut No Need for Another History—the record that launched the band on a pivotal, get-in-the-van tour of China and Europe and cemented a devoted fanbase from Beijing to Berlin. Now, following years of performance, experimentation, and self-produced records, including the lovely Dalston-tinged bedroom pop of Four Seasons EP released via London-based label Damnably last year, Hiperson has been connecting the dots for the story of Bildungsroman—a ten-track narrative opus that brings their sound of unwavering momentum into rich 20/20 focus.

 

距离海朋森首张专辑《我不要别的历史》发布至今已过去五年，这张专辑开启了乐队在中国和欧洲的巡回演出，并一路从北京到柏林积攒了不少欣赏他们的乐迷。如今，经历丰富的演出活动和风格尝试，乐队交出三张全长唱片和多张 EP 的答卷。去年，乐队在伦敦音乐厂牌 Damnably 下发行 EP《春夏秋冬》，这是乐队首次尝试英式梦幻和 Bedroom Pop 曲风。2020 年，海朋森的全新专辑《成长小说》推出，其中收录了十首叙事性质的作品，将他们铿锵的歌声再一次推向了瞩目的焦点。

Bildungsroman tells the story of a female protagonist on her journey to connect with the outside world following the fall-out from a breakup elucidated in the explosive introduction “Spring Breeze.” Vocals are spotlighted front and center, a key instrument and omniscient storyteller that shifts through musings on consumerism, indulgence and ambition, flourishing with the cassette sing-a-long “I Am in A Period of Desperation,” spoken and screamed words of “From Birth to Present” and lush, five-part harmonies on “Found It,” a triumphant standout that features the same string synthesizer Bowie used on “Heroes.” Ji supports throughout with smooth backing vocals and shouts of allyship to the female lead.

“When we decided to record, we started to see the songs as having something coherent,” says Chen, who penned the lyrics for “Xindu People” as early as 2013. “We had a lot of discussion about the character moving from one emotional state to another, experiencing the details of her life as she changed to a new one—even now we are still trying to picture the shape.”

《成长小说》讲述了一位女生试图向外界连结的旅程。故事以《春风》中极富冲击力的自白作为开场，以一段失败恋情的自述延伸开来。聚光灯下，主唱是站在上帝视角的叙事者，思忖着消费主义、放纵以及野心。伴随《我进入了绝望的时期》里失真的磁带声效、《从出生到现在》的狂躁呢喃、《找到了》的丰富和声，整张专辑的情绪起起伏伏。在歌曲《找到了》中，乐队采用了 David Bowie 在《Heroes》里相同的弦乐合成器，季一楠以流畅的合声融入其中，烘托整首歌曲的不凡力气。

“决定要录音时，我们才开始关注这十首歌曲的连贯性。” 早在 2013 年就为《新都人》写好歌词的陈思江说道，“关于角色情绪状态的变化，我们此前探讨了很多。其实主角在情绪切换的过程中，能够体验到许多新的生活细节。即使到现在，我们仍在尝试用音乐来描述这个过程。”

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Recorded over eight days at Hansa Tonstudio, the birthplace of Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, Bildungsroman is a “bounce back” to the abrasive 8-track tape distortion on their 2018 sophomore She Came Back from the Square, which was captured in live takes from their tiny sweatbox practice room in downtown Chengdu. “After recording the last album, we knew we wanted to do something more hi-fi,” says Chen. It’s a sentiment echoed by Ji—the pair recently returning from London to Chengdu after two years of sonic arts and painting study.

“I think the key influence [from my studies] was how to change myself to a listener of the sounds, not a producer or a creator of the sounds,” says Ji, whose fascination with the meditative teachings of composer Pauline Oliveros had a deep influence on the sonic structure of Bildungsroman—embellished with instruments from sunny-side-up celestas, to big-room timpani, to absolute silence.

专辑《成长小说》与 David Bowie 柏林三部曲诞生于同一个地方 —— 汉莎工作室（Hansa Tonstudio），录制时间持续了八天。此次 “卷土重来” 距离上一张失真质感质感的专辑《她从广场回来》仅两年的时间。不同的是，《她从广场回来》在成都市中心一间小练习室现场录制而成，“自从上一张专辑之后，我们尝试去做了一些高保真（hi-fi）的声音。” 陈思江说道，季一楠也表示认同。在伦敦进行了为期两年的声音艺术和绘画专业的学习，两人最近回到了成都。

“留学期间，我最大的启发是如何将音乐人的身份转变成声音的聆听者，而不是一味的制作或创造。” 季一楠说，他对美国作曲家 Pauline Oliveros 醍醐灌顶般的授课深深着迷，继而影响了《成长小说》的音质结构。专辑中出现了许多不同以往的声音要素，例如清脆明亮的钢片琴（celesta）点缀其中、营造大场面的定音鼓，甚至还有全然寂静的声音留白。

The listening experience is a rollercoaster of rising suspense and emotional catharsis, escalating notably on the motorik, call-to-arms “Daily March”—a near nine-minute build of impassioned cries (“fight, fight, fight!”) and ricocheting guitar spars, bolstered by a militant snare roll that bursts into soaring release with a joyous polyphony of synth swirls and shimmering solos. “[The song] is a response to what we feel in the urban environment,” says Chen, “how the body reacts to this living rhythm.”

“I Don’t Want Another Life” peaks in the epilogue, a powerful and melancholic denial of reincarnation that proves the band’s penchant for tearjerking, anthemic shoutalongs has not faded since the days of their first demo “You Don’t Sacrifice Your Innocence Here.”

整张专辑是一次过山车般的体验，翻过情绪的山脉，夹杂着各种悬念与不确定性。在歌曲《每天的行军》中，乐队采用 4/4 拍行军鼓点（Motorik），揉捏将近 9 分钟的呐喊（“战斗，战斗，战斗”）和摇摆不定的吉他扫弦，直至情绪上升至顶端，又在最终星光淋漓的吉他独奏和堆砌的合成器复调中痛快释放。“这首歌反映了我们置身于城市的感受。”陈思江说，“是我们的身体对这种生活节奏的反应。”

歌曲《我不愿再有来生》的高潮落在结尾处，唱出他们对现世的失望，甚至不再期待来世的忧伤。回望乐队成立后首次发行的单曲《乐园》，那些令人潸然泪下的、面对历史的、几近圣歌般高喊的独特色彩，似乎从未褪去。

While most Chinese artists choose to steer clear of any potentially sensitive content, Hiperson’s holistic artistic vision has birthed an alternate “new band power system” for the album to inhabit—donning dark-grey zhongshan suits and circulating their own coin currency ahead of the upcoming album release tour in September. “The ideas in these songs are not static,” says Ji. The band looks to historical signifiers as springboards for “continuous practice and discussion.”

Dressing like austere state leaders and performing an interpretive dance in front of a washed-out orange curtain (see: the music video for “Our Ballad”) may seem subversive, or even satirical to the uninitiated, but for Hiperson, their motives are in earnest. Observant and aware, they work to show and not tell—more interested in exploring art as a dialogue, rather than a vehicle for any overt lyrical directives.

“We see ourselves as story starters,” says Chen, “we want to start the story, and let people write the rest themselves.”

 

Hiperson China Tour 2020

9/4 Guiyang | JIN
9/5 Chongqing | NUTS
9/12 Xi’an | Aperture
9/19 Shanghai | YuYinTang
9/20 Hangzhou | MAO
9/24 Guangzhou | TU 凸
9/25 Fuzhou | We·Maker
9/26 Xiamen | Realive
9/27 Shenzhen | B10
10/9 Nanjing | OLA
10/10 Beijing | Yue Space
10/17 Changsha | VOX
10/18 Wuhan | VOX
10/24 Chengdu | A Flame Art Center Hall 1

尽管大多数中国艺术家会选择避开任何潜在敏感的内容，但海朋森为专辑打造的整体视觉却显得特立独行。在即将到来的乐队巡演之前，深灰色中山套装、以及乐队纪念币等元素纷纷亮相，照片上的他们像是一支由音乐人组建而成的 “新思想派系”。季一楠说：“歌曲的概念和所表达的内容，都是流动的。”

穿得像个严肃的国家领导人，干净的橙红色幕布前翩翩起舞（见《我们的歌谣》音乐视频），这在外界看来可能颇有颠覆的含义、甚至是讽刺。但对海朋森来说，出发点却是无比认真。他们将历史符号作为 “持续讨论与实践” 的出发点，用音乐的方式去表达敏锐的察觉，而非挑明 —— 更多的，是去探索艺术与人的对话，而不让音乐成为刻意抒情的工具。

“我们是这个故事的起笔人。”陈思江说，“我们想要开启一个故事，让人们续写下去。”

 

海朋森乐队中国巡演 2020

9/4 贵阳 | 劲
9/5 重庆 | 坚果
9/12 西安 | 光圈
9/19 上海 | 育音堂音乐公园
9/20 杭州 | MAO
9/24 广州 | TU 凸空间
9/25 福州 | 唯美客
9/26 厦门 | Realive
9/27 深圳 | B10
10/9 南京 | 欧拉艺术空间
10/10 北京 | 乐空间
10/17 长沙 | VOX
10/18 武汉 | VOX
10/24 成都 | 正火艺术中心 1 号馆

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Instagram: @hiperson.band
Weibo: ~/hiperson
Bandcamp: Bildungsroman
YouTube: ~/hiperson

 

Contributor: Kristen Ng
Chinese Translation: Yang Yixuan
Images Courtesy of  Hiperson

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @hiperson.band
微博: ~/hiperson
Bandcamp: Bildungsroman
YouTube: ~/hiperson

 

供稿人: Kristen Ng
英译中: Yang Yixuan
图片由 海朋森 提供

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Young Rascal 新加坡视觉日记

August 28, 2020 2020年8月28日

SONG belongs to the current generation of graffiti writers in Singapore, and hopefully not the last. Singapore, with its harsh anti-vandalism laws, isn’t an ideal place for an aspiring graffiti artist, and its sparkling clean streets are a stark contrast to the derelict urban canvases often prized by graffiti bombers and taggers. Despite these challenges, the 25-year-old artist is more than determined to leave his mark on the city.

SONG 是目前一代新加坡涂鸦艺术家的一员，但愿他们不是最后一代 —— 当地实施严厉的反公物破坏法，这对于怀有抱负的涂鸦艺术家来说并不算什么特别理想的事。城市中光鲜锃亮的街道与被他们视为珍宝的废弃墙面形成强烈对比，尽管面临这些挑战，这位 25 岁的艺术家仍决心在这座城市留下属于自己的印记。

Unlike his predecessors, SONG began painting graffiti at a time when this form of urban expression was being discouraged. In the early 2000s, a large crackdown on the local underground graffiti scene led the community to come under increased scrutiny from law enforcement, forcing the culture to retreat from the streets, where it truly belongs.

“Before I was introduced to it I had no idea what graffiti was, and its existence never occurred to me,” SONG says. “Growing up here, it isn’t something you notice on the streets—walk around the city and you won’t see a single tag or a sticker.”

与他的前辈所处的时代不同， SONG 开始涂鸦的时期，这种艺术形式正在当地政府遭受压制。2000 年初左右，官方对地下涂鸦场景的大规模打击导致，不少地方社区面临愈演愈烈的彻查。管制迫使涂鸦从街头离去，而街头却是涂鸦文化的重要组成部分。

SONG 说：“在认识涂鸦之前我完全不知道它是什么，我甚至从未想过有这样一种艺术形式存在。”SONG 说，“从小在新加坡长大，涂鸦不会是你在马路上能看到的东西，甚至连涂鸦签名（Tag）和贴纸都难寻踪迹。”

Discovering graffiti while in art school marked the beginning of a new artistic journey, and the uninhibited nature of the medium began to reshape his visual vocabulary. “Fine art involves a lot of planning, constraints, and concepts that take up a lot of time, so for me, graffiti felt free,” he says. “Graffiti feels more meaningful as it involves a very raw process that I don’t often find in the studio. Every piece I paint on a wall always surprises me—sometimes I like it and sometimes I don’t, but ultimately it’s just a reflection of my headspace then and there.”

SONG 在艺术学校时期才开始接触涂鸦，就此开启了一段崭新的艺术旅程。那种狂放不羁的艺术形式重塑了他对视觉语言的理解，“纯艺术会受到很多概念、策划等方面的约束，占去大量的时间，而涂鸦对我来说就很自在。”他说，“涂鸦不会让人在工作室里沤着，它的创作过程非常原始，具有更多意义。我在墙上创作的每一幅作品都在自己的意料之外，有时我会觉得很满意，偶尔我也不是很喜欢。但最终，它们都成为了我内心彼时彼刻的倒影。”

 Traveling has been integral to SONG’s growth as a graffiti writer, as it has allowed him to take the art back to its street-side roots. “Painting overseas for the first time was where the addiction really set in for me, experiencing the adrenaline of putting up tags and throw-ups firsthand brought my attention to the graffiti fundamentals that I would have otherwise overlooked at home,” he grins.

One advantage of being based in Singapore is its close proximity to many other Southeast Asian countries—each with its own distinctive graffiti scene. In recent years, the internet has been a catalyst in fostering a community of graffiti practitioners in the region, linking up artists who are eager to connect with other like-minded individuals.

旅行对于 SONG 的艺术成长来说是不可或缺的养分，促使他将这门艺术带回街头。他咧嘴笑着说：“第一次在海外涂鸦的经历，让我对这门艺术上瘾。我亲身体验了墙上创作涂鸦签名和泡泡字（throw-ups）的刺激，那次经历带我回归涂鸦最为纯粹的文化根基。但如果我一直待在国内，很可能不会又这样的意识。”

以新加坡为根据地的一大优势是它的地理位置——毗邻其他东南亚国家，每个国家都拥有独一无二的涂鸦场景。近年来，互联网已成为维系这一带涂鸦艺术社区的催化剂，将渴望连结的志同道合者都拉拢在一起。

“In Asia, we go about graffiti in a different way,” SONG says. “For us it is something that we are passionate about that we do together, and we see graffiti as a way to connect and collaborate with one another.”

Collaboration has been an essential part of his stylistic development, and having the opportunity to paint together with some of the best has been a humbling and inspiring experience that has left a deep impression on his art. 

“It is a completely different experience to see things being done in real life as opposed to the internet,” he says. “By observing the process and attitude of other artists in person, you start to understand why some artists reach a certain level. It’s something that isn’t possible from just looking at the final product online.”

“在亚洲各地，涂鸦方式不尽相同。” SONG 说。“对我们来说，涂鸦是我们共同的热爱，是连接与合作的途径。”

合作，一直是 SONG 在创作中一个重要的部分。能有机会与业界最优秀的艺术家一起涂鸦，是鼓舞人心又使人谦逊的事情，为他的艺术创作留下了深刻的烙印。

“现实中的亲眼所见和在网络里是完全不同的体验。”他说，“通过亲自观察其他艺术家的作画过程和态度，你可以理解为什么有些人能够达到某种高度。这是你单单从网上看到成品不可能领会到的。”

Drawing from the multitude of influences that he has absorbed during his travels, his pieces are the culmination of his personal experiences—emotions and symbols come alive together under his spray can, offering audiences an overview of his graffiti journey in vibrant bursts of color.

“I painted a piece in Gardu House in Indonesia inspired by zipping around the busy streets on a scooter, with the letters intertwined with the sights and sounds of the city,” he says. “I see each of my pieces like a panel in a comic book, and together they come together to form a visual diary.”

旅行中，SONG 受到大量艺术家的影响，这让他的作品更像是个人经历的总结——情感和符号在他的喷罐下纷纷活跃起来，为观众概述了一个充满鲜明色彩的涂鸦之旅。

他说：“我在印尼的 Gardu House 的一副作品，其灵感来自街道上快速行驶的摩托车，尝试令字体与城市的声色融为一体。”他说，“我的每一件作品就像一格漫画，组合起来能形成一本视觉日记。”

SONG feels that the current generation of graffiti writers in Singapore has become bolder with their visual expressions. This attitude has led to the emergence of fresh graffiti styles that differentiate themselves from the work of Singapore’s pioneers.

“We have a lot of respect for those that came before us but I think each generation has an individual way of developing and for us it’s about daring to incorporate and experiment with styles and techniques that are new here,” he explains. “With limited space, we have shifted our focus to refining our craft.”

SONG 认为，新加坡当代涂鸦艺术家在视觉表达上变得更加大胆，催生出不同于前辈的新鲜风格。他解释说：“我们非常尊重前辈，但我认为每一代都有各自的发展方式。对我们来说，现在是要敢于融合、尝试在技术和风格上创新的时代。”他说，“我们需要在有限的空间里，将注意力转移在技艺的精进上面。”

Graffiti in Singapore has become more about developing your visual identity and to him, it is really up to each individual to push themselves and the local graffiti scene forward, and to proceed with mindfulness towards how misconceptions around the art form being lowbrow or illegal can be changed.

For him, the key to developing his art at home is in looking beyond the constraints of Singapore and embracing its culture: “Due to Singapore’s small size and hectic pace of life, it’s easy to get caught in the same patterns and routines without exploring much of your surroundings and to get stuck in a bubble,” he says. “Our society is made up of four main unique cultures—that’s four different ideas about life, and it is up to you to move out of your comfort zone and explore things from a different perspective.”

当前，新加坡的涂鸦圈子更注重个人的视觉语言。对 SONG 来说，推动场景的发展需要每一位艺术对自我的不懈坚持，从而改变旁人对涂鸦文化的误解，改变他们对涂鸦所谓 “低俗” 和 “违法” 的偏见。

在他看来，在新加坡国内发展涂鸦的关键，在于如何超越当地政府的局限，让大众去接受这种文化，SONG 说：“新加坡面积很小、且生活节奏繁忙，倘若你不去探索外面的世界，便很容易陷入按部就班的模式和套路。”他说，“我们的社会主要由四种特殊的文化构成，代表了四种不同的人生观。但要不要走出舒适圈、从不同的角度去看待事情，得由你自己来决定。”

For SONG, learning to adapt to the limitations and laws has given him the drive to move forward with his art. Beyond his studio and The Blackbook, finding commissioned spaces and public art projects allows him to share his work with the local community. One such project, Art Walk Little India, saw him beautifying the shophouse facades of the precinct with murals inspired by the distinctive motifs and sculptures of the surrounding architecture.

Right now, his biggest challenge is finding the bridge between his graffiti and fine-art work. “While they may look similar stylistically, I approach both of them in completely different ways,” he explains. “Graffiti is meditative, a spontaneous way to free my mind, whereas for my fine-art work, I enjoy putting more time and thought into each piece, so I’m still looking for a way to transcend and reconcile those differences.”

For SONG, while his roots will always be in graffiti, he sees it as an art form that is egocentric in nature. Ultimately, his artistic vision is to translate many of his experiences from the streets into something bigger than himself—the energy and attitude that graffiti has given him, however, won’t change.

对 SONG 来说，学会对新加坡管制和法条的应变能力，成为促使他持续创作的推动力。除了他的工作室和涂鸦创作基地 The Blackbook，寻求受委托场地和公共艺术项目，也为他带来更多施展自我的机会。例如他的作品《Art Walk Little India》，以当地建筑物上的精致图样和雕塑为灵感，用壁画为该区步行街店面装饰。

现在，他最大的挑战是在涂鸦和纯艺画作之间找到一座桥梁。他说：“虽然它们在风格上看起来或许相似，但创作过程却大不一样。”他解释道，“涂鸦几近于冥想，是一种自发的释放心灵的过程；而对于纯艺的创作，我更会在作品想法与理念上倾注大量时间。目前，我仍在寻找能克服和消弭两者创作上差异的办法。”

虽然涂鸦是 SONG 的根基，但他认为涂鸦本质上一种以自我为中心的艺术形式。在他长久以来的艺术愿景中，他希望过往的经历能换做超越自我的创造力 —— 涂鸦给予他的力量和态度，将永远不会改变。

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Instagram: @song.rscls

 

Contributor: Nicholas Leong
Photographer: Jufri Hazhar
Chinese Translation: Yang Yixuan
Additional Images Courtesy of SONG

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @song.rscls

 

供稿人: Nicholas Leong
摄影师: Jufri Hazhar
英译中: Yang Yixuan
附加图片由 SONG 提供

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Reaching for the Moon 听，情绪的声音

August 26, 2020 2020年8月26日

Some troubles may seem insurmountable, but if you never try to overcome them, then you’ll definitely fail. Kid Trunks is trying. And he wants you to try, too. The Vietnamese-American rapper’s new album, Moon, is his attempt at finding catharsis, and he hopes the sense of relief can extend to his listeners. “I went through a lot as a kid,” the 20-year-old artist says, “so I understand anxiety and depression. I want to help cure other people.”

Drawing from genres he grew up listening to, Moon cycles through rap, R&B, and rock. His pursuit of happiness, love, and progress are themes prevalent throughout the introspective project. Trunks, whose real name is Minh Nguyen, also acknowledges personal shortcomings, such as his tendency to make the same mistakes repeatedly.

 

有些困难是无法克服的，但如果你连尝试都不愿意，那你注定会失败。 Kid Trunks 正在尝试，而他希望你也能试试看。这位越南裔美国说唱歌手的新专辑《Moon》是他寻求宣泄的一次探索，希望音乐里的解脱也能传达给他的听众。“我小时候经历了很多。”这位 20 岁的音乐人说，“所以我理解焦虑和抑郁。我想去帮助治愈其他人。”

汲取自从小到大常听的音乐，《Moon》的曲风在说唱、R&B 和摇滚中循环。贯穿在这一张反思性专辑里的命题是他对幸福、爱与进步的追求。Kids Trunks 的真名是 Minh Nguyen，他也承认自己并不完美，缺点之一是他经常犯下同样的错误。

 

Trunks’s family moved to America when he was two years old. There, he and his two siblings were largely raised by their mother. “They were seeking the American dream,” he shrugs. “They sat through the Vietnam war and as a result of it a lot of people there were really poor.”

But as a single immigrant parent in the US, even a middle-class lifestyle proved elusive, and he spent the majority of his childhood in the low-income neighborhoods of Broward County, Florida. Despite the area’s troubles, Broward became home to a new crop of “Soundcloud rappers” that would make a global impact.

Kids Trunks 两岁时全家搬到美国，他和两个兄弟姐妹主要由母亲抚养长大。“他们在追求美国梦。”他耸耸肩，“他们经历了越战和战后的贫穷时期。”但作为一个美国移民单亲家长，即使是中产阶级的生活也难以为继。他大部分的童年都是在佛罗里达州布劳沃德（Broward County）的低收入社区度过，尽管该地区麻烦重重，但许多拥有国际声誉、在 Soundcloud 上发迹的新兴说唱歌手都是来自这里。

“Middle school was really rough,” Trunks says. “I got bullied every other day because I was the only Oriental kid in school. I was also the smallest kid. I’d get robbed for my lunch money or jumped for no reason.” Things changed for him in high school when he met the then still unknown XXXTentacion, who would ultimately go on to find platinum success before his murder in 2018. Trunks’ best friend at the time was X’s girlfriend, so they were always around each other and eventually became close. Once X started dropping him off at school, the other kids left him alone. “Everyone would see him and be like, we know who he is, we’re not gonna fuck with him.”

“我的中学真的过得很苦。”Kids Trunks 说。“每隔一两天我就会被霸凌，因为我是学校里唯一的亚洲小孩。我也是长得最小的，我常常因为午餐钱被抢、或无缘无故就被欺负。”但事情在他高中时迎来转机，他遇见了当时还不知名的 XXXTentacion，这位说唱歌手在 2018 年被谋杀前曾获得销量百万的举世成功。Kids Trunks 当时最好的朋友是 XXXTentacion 的女朋友，所以他们总是在一起，后来就走得很近。大家发现 XXXTentacion 开始送他去学校之后就不再找他麻烦了，“所有人看到他的想法都是，我们知道他是谁，没有人想惹他。”

Trunks soon became a part of the Members Only collective, led by X and Ski Mask The Slump God. At first, he dealt with promotion and drew up assignments for the other members. It was not easy: “If I didn’t get it right, I’d get beat up,” he says. “Shit was real. It was crazy. But I’m grateful to be in the crew.” X encouraged him to take rap seriously and Trunks took it to heart.

Kids Trunks 很快成为了由 XXXTentacion 和 Ski Mask The Slump God 创立的说唱团体 Members Only 的一员。起初他负责推广以及为其他成员拟定任务的工作，这并不容易。“如果我做得不好，下场会是挨揍。”他说，“这他妈是认真的，太疯狂了。但我非常感激能加入他们。” XXXTentacion 鼓励他更认真对待说唱， Kids Trunks 也将他的建议放在心上。

Before Moon, Trunks was mostly known for rap-centric, aggressive sounds. He’d been recording steadily for about a year before stepping into the spotlight in 2018 with the videos for “IDK” and “Love Never Blossoms” on WorldStarHipHop. Like the majority of music on the platform, those songs and videos were mainly about flexing his strength and style. But now, rather than looking outward towards his haters, he’s looking inward to himself and loved ones. “I already proved myself, now I just let my music do the speaking.” 

在发行专辑《Moon》之前， Kids Trunks 主要以饶舌为中心的激进音乐风格闻名。在 2018 年凭借《IDK》和《Love Never Blossoms》的视频在 WorldStarHipHop 走红之前，他已经稳定录制专辑大约一年的时间。就像平台上大多数的作品，这些歌曲和视频主要是为了展现他的力量和态度。但现在，他不再将目光放在外在的仇恨者身上，而是面向自己和所爱之人。“我已经证明过自己，现在就让音乐替我说话。”

 

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For all of Trunks’ positive goals, he doesn’t shy away from the pitfalls along his path. On lead single “Getaway,” which is guided by a mournful glass melody and languid percussion, he speaks directly to his internal demons: “Get away, get away, in my mind / I like to get away, far away / End all my thoughts I want to throw away, throw away.” 

The lyrics—delivered with a weary groan—reveal a true pain, and just recently, on the cusp of releasing the album, Trunks attempted to take his own life. “I wasn’t in a good place mentally and was going through a lot of bullshit; and I was taking a lot of drugs,” he explains. “I let the drugs get the best of me and they took me to the worst place I’ve ever been mentally. I just felt like I wasn’t good enough for the world or myself. I just felt like not being on the planet anymore.” Although he says he won’t seek professional help, he’s been relying on those close to him. “It’s mind over matter and I remind myself of that every day.”

虽然 Kid Trunks 的目标现在偏于积极的，他的歌词从不避开一路上遭遇的障碍。在主打单曲《Getaway》中，他用悲伤清脆的旋律和慵懒的打击乐来引导自己，直接对内心的恶魔说：“走开，走开，在我的脑海里走开（Get away, get away, in my mind）/我想要逃离，远远逃离（I like to get away, far away）/，结束我所有的思绪，我想扔掉，扔掉。（End all my thoughts I want to throw away, throw away.）”

这些歌词——带着疲倦的呻吟唱出来——展现出真真切切的痛苦。就在最近，在发行专辑的风口浪尖上，Kid Trunks 试图结束自己的生命。他解释说：“我的精神状况并不好，经历了很多狗屁事情，而且还嗑了很多药。” 他说，“我让毒品战胜了我，把我带到了精神上最糟糕的地方。我只是觉得我对这个世界和我自己都不够好，觉得我不在这个星球上了。”虽然他说他不会寻求专业的帮助，但他一直依赖身边的人。“是思想战胜了物质，我每天都在这么提醒自己。”

Although seeking professional help is the recommended route for those with suicidal tendencies and clinical psychological problems, music can be a much-needed salve, especially for people with financial or regional limitations that keep proper care out of reach. Having feelings validated in a song can be comforting, whether it’s just a listener having a bad day or someone working with a doctor on more serious issues. “I put so much love and pain and effort into this,” Kid says. “Anyone who’s feeling depressed or down, I hope they can just listen to this with an open mind, find help, and start healing.”

虽然对那些有自杀倾向和临床心理问题的人来说，寻求专业帮助是更推荐的途径，但音乐则可以是一个急需的良药，特别是对那些有经济或地区限制的人来说。无论是情绪低落的听众，或与医生一起处理更严重问题的患者，从歌曲找到情绪上的共鸣，都会让人感到安慰。“我把这么多的爱，痛苦和努力投入进去，”他说，“任何感到沮丧或沮丧的人，我希望他们能以开放的心态倾听，寻求帮助，并开始治愈的过程。”

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Instagram: @kidtrunks
Facebook: ~/yungboitrunkss
Soundcloud: ~/kid-trunksxxx

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Yang Yixuan
Images Courtesy of Kid Trunks

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @kidtrunks
脸书: ~/yungboitrunkss
Soundcloud: ~/kid-trunksxxx

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Yang Yixuan
图片由 Kid Trunks 提供

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Shintaro Kago is NSFW 性虐、嗜粪和五马分尸？？？

August 24, 2020 2020年8月24日

“If I weren’t an artist, I might have been a criminal.”

This candid confession from Japanese ero-guro maestro Shintaro Kago isn’t made in jest or meant to elicit a reaction—he’s simply making his thoughts known, no matter how odd or offputting it might be, just as he’s done with his art for the past 30 plus years. His contributions to the manga world have allowed the most perverse recesses of his imagination to take root in the real world, culminating in a body of work that teeters between the disturbing and the humorous.

“如果我不是艺术家，我可能会成为一个罪犯。”

这句来自日本 ero-guro 派大师驾笼真太郎（Shintaro Kago）的坦率自白并不是开玩笑，也不是刻意要激起人们反感——他只是在表明自己的想法，就像过去 30 多年所做的艺术一样。他之于漫画世界的贡献，因此允许他藏在脑海深处、那些最荒诞怪异的思想在现实落脚，伴随着在惊悚和诙谐之间徘徊不定的表现手法，最终走到极致。

Despite Kago’s fame now, his career started off rather quietly. In 1988, his first published work appeared in Japan’s Comic Box magazine, and it went largely unnoticed. “I was known to many readers about a decade after that debut,” he says. His creative convictions and disciplined work ethic paid off eventually.

尽管现在驾笼真太郎已经享负盛名，但他早先度过了一段默默无名的职业起步期。1988 年，他的作品第一次刊登在日本杂志《Comic Box》上，当时并没有引起太多注意。“大约是在那次发表十年之后，我才真正被读者认识。”他说。他的创新信念和严谨的职业操守，终究获得了回报。

With influences ranging from Katsuhiro Otomo and Fujiko Fujio to Salvador Dali, to films like the Monty Python series and the body horror of David Cronenberg, he began accumulating an oeuvre of illustrations, mangas, and one-shots (which are standalone, short-form comics made for manga magazines) with a highly grotesque slant. These works—filled with sexual depravity, scat play, and quartered human bodies—are designed to leave viewers shell shocked.

受到从大友克洋、藤子不二雄、萨尔瓦多·达利，再到巨蟒剧团、大卫·柯南伯格的肉体恐怖电影的影响，他累积一系列风格极度诡谲的插画、漫画、单篇（one-shots，指通常为杂志制作的非连载短篇漫画），充斥着性虐、嗜粪和五马分尸的奇观，旨在给人呈现触目惊心的冲击感。

For Kago, nothing is off-limits, nothing is sacred—not even Christmas. In a one-shot titled “Holy Night,” a town is terrorized by a Santa who rains down a maelstrom of gifts, inflicting injury and even crushing people to death. Those who aren’t harmed open the wrapped presents to discover a plethora of dildos, vibrators, and condoms that are put to prompt use. The pièces de résistance of the story is the final gift—a dead baby stuffed in a box. “There’s no taboo that I wouldn’t work with,” Kago admits.

对驾笼真太郎来说，无甚禁忌，更无所神圣——甚至连圣诞节也能揶揄一番。在名为《圣夜》（Holy Night）的单篇里，故事发生在一个被圣诞老人毁坏的小镇，数以万件礼物从天而降，造成无数伤害、甚至压死居民。而那些没有受伤的人打开包装好的礼物，发现意在被立即使用的大量假阳具、震动棒和避孕套。故事高潮落在最后一件礼物——装在盒子里的死去的婴儿。驾笼真太郎承认：“我的创作没有任何忌讳。”

A page from "Holy Night" 来自《Holy Night》
A page from "Holy Night" 来自《Holy Night》
A page from "Holy Night" 来自《Holy Night》
A page from "Holy Night" 来自《Holy Night》

In some one-shots, he enjoys pushing a visual motif to its absolute limit, such as “Labyrinth,” which begins with a girl lost in a maze. As she meets other individuals lost in the maze, the world around her—and even her own body—begin deteriorating into different maze-like arrangements. At one point, a rape scene and penis dismemberment are shown in four bizarre panels of unsolvable mazes, with only the dialogue giving context to the events unfolding. The comic concludes with the girl finding her way home, and ultimately accepting her assimilation with her maze-filled reality.

在一些作品中，他喜欢将视觉张力推向极限。例如《迷宫》（Labyrinth），故事始于迷宫里一个迷路的女孩，当她遇到其他迷路的人时，她周遭的世界——甚至她自己的身体——开始恶化变形成迷宫的形状。甚至有一段四面无解的诡异迷宫中展示着强奸的场景和肢解的阴茎，并只用对话带出事件背景。结局是女孩找到了回家的路，接受自己被迷宫同化的现实。

A page from “Labyrinth" 来自《Labyrinth》
A page from “Labyrinth" 来自《Labyrinth》
A panel from “Labyrinth" 来自《Labyrinth》

“I also used to draw a lot of comics with the theme of shit,” he says. The trope made Kago stand out from his peers, and he considers the encouragement of publications he was making material for as major catalysts. The compilation manga Hell Season featured an especially nasty shit-themed story by Kago titled “When All’s Said and Done” in which, an epidemic of constipation becomes a bloody quest of anal destruction and coprophagia to get the maggot-ridden turds out of different women.

His interest in both feces and film led to the creation of the Shit Film Festival, “I was very interested in what kind of images various filmmakers would make under the theme of shit,” he says.

His interest in filmmaking isn’t only limited to the festival. He’s also produced numerous short films and hopes to one day make a full-length feature in the absurd stylist of one of his early influences, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

“我也画过很多以粪便为主题的漫画。”他说。这猎奇的题材让驾笼真太郎从同侪中脱颖而出，他为出版品制作的素材也催生了后来书籍的出版。漫画合集《地狱季节》（Hell Season）里有一篇特别恶心、关于大便的故事，名为《When All’s Said and Done》。故事中流行着一种传染病，便秘成为破坏肛门和食粪的腥膻欲求，为的是从不同女人身上取出满是蛆虫的粪便。

他对粪便和电影的兴趣促成了大便电影节（Shit Film Festival）的诞生，“我对于不同电影人针对大便主题，会拍出什么样的画面非常感兴趣。”他说。

而他对电影的喜好也不仅限于创立电影节。他还制作了许多短片，并希望有一天能完成一部长片，向他早期的影响、邪典名片《巨蟒与圣杯》致敬。

Poster for the 6th annual Shit Film Festival Shit Film Festival 第六届海报
A page from “When All's Said and Done" 来自《When All's Said and Done》

With a steady output of unnerving, mind-bending content, he’s gained a cult fan-base which grew yearly in his native Japan. His repulsive works only began gaining an international audience in 2008, when one of his works was featured on the cover of VICE magazine. “That is when Americans became more interested in my work,” he recalls.

Since then, Kago has published many memorable full-length graphic novels in English, including his infamous murder mystery Fraction, the absurdly comedic The Princess of the Never-ending Castle,which, at 192 pages, is his lengthiest manga to date. While many of Kago’s most famous illustrations are rendered in vivid colors, his mangas are solely released in black and white. “Colors may be necessary or it may not be necessary,” he shrugs. “All I know is I often do not like to add color to mangas because it distracts from the story.”

随着他离奇怪诞的创作不断推陈出新，他在家乡日本拥有一个每年都在增长的粉丝群。一直到 2008 年作品登上《VICE》杂志封面，他让人坐立难安的作品才开始获得国际观众的青睐。“这时候美国人开始对我的创作展现更多兴趣。”他回忆道。

从那时起，驾笼真太郎用英语出版了许多令人难忘的长篇图像小说，包括臭名昭著的谋杀疑案《Fraction》、荒谬的喜剧《The Princess of the Never-ending Castle》，长达 192 页，是他迄今为止最长的漫画。虽然许多笔下著名的插图都是以生动的色彩去呈现，但驾笼真太郎的漫画却完全是黑白的。“颜色可能必要，也可能不是。”他耸耸肩，“我只知道我经常不喜欢给漫画加颜色，因为这会分散故事的注意力。”

A page from “Fraction" 来自《Fraction》
A page from “Fraction" 来自《Fraction》
A page from “Dementia 21" 来自《Dementia 21》
A page from “Dementia 21" 来自《Dementia 21》

Kago has also lent out his art for musicians, with his work serving as the album art for Flying Lotus’s You’re Dead!, and Offset’s upcoming LP Bent Benevolence. Despite his achievements, Kago remains humble about his growing status as a pop-culture icon, crediting his rising popularity not to himself, but to the genre he works in.

The release of The Shintaro Kago Art Book this year marks a new milestone for him. The 128 page, A4 sized book assembles 277 illustrations spanning his entire career, including colored paper works to posters, flyers, T-shirts, and works for CDs and DVDs. “I have published many comic books so far, but few books consist solely of illustrations,” he says. “I feel it is a new step in my career to put this out.”

驾笼真太郎的艺术还跨界到了音乐领域，他的作品成为飞莲之音（Flying Lotus）的专辑《你死定了！》（You’re Dead!）、以及 Offset 即将发行的黑胶《Bent Benevolence》的封面艺术。尽管成就显着，驾笼真太郎对自己日益成为流行文化指标的地位仍保持谦虚，将名气归功于他的艺术派别，而不是自己。

他于今年发行的《The Shintaro Kago Art Book》标志着一个新的里程碑。这本 128 页、A4 大小的书汇集了 277 幅贯穿他整个艺术生涯的插画作品，包括涂色插图、海报、传单、T恤，以及为音乐和电影做的创作。他说：“至今我出版了很多漫画书，但几乎没有只收录插图的书。”他说，“我觉得这是我职业生涯中的新一步。”

Album art for The Offset's Bent Benevolence The Offset《Bent Benevolence》专辑封面
Album art for Flying Lotus's You're Dead! Flying Lotus《You're Dead!》专辑封面

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Instagram: @shintarokago1969

 

Contributor: Ryan Dyer
Chinese Translation: Yang Yixuan
Images Courtesy of Shintaro Kago

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @shintarokago1969

 

供稿人: Ryan Dyer
英译中: Yang Yixuan
图片由 驾笼真太郎 提供

 

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Escapism Frequency Laughing Ears: “现实是我们的疾病“

August 21, 2020 2020年8月21日

 

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For some, nightclubs are more than they appear.

They’re not just places for drunken ragers or finding one-night stands—they’re sanctuaries where our loneliness and insecurities are forced to take a backseat as we dance into the late hours of the night. Electronic music producers are more attuned to this side of dance culture than many may give them credit for. Shanghai-based music producer Laughing Ears, whose given name is Li Jingping, is one such artist. With a penchant for avant-garde sounds, she creates riveting music based on her dreams, sadness, anger, and powerlessness. These emotions, framed by pounding rhythms and crisp melodies, whisk listeners off into sonic terrains far outside the bounds of reality. “People aren’t two-dimensional,” she says. “We’re the amalgamation of our emotions, and we’re all in search of an outlet to express them. My outlet of choice is music.”

地下俱乐部绝不仅仅是供人消遣的场所。舞客们在这里释放无处安放情绪，那些容易在夜里滋生的敏感与脆弱，被连续数个小时的汗水和舞步代替。与此同时，电子音乐人更希望将个人情感融入进作品，并抛掷在舞池里，用节奏和旋律诉说着内心的故事。

梦幻、哀伤、愤怒、无力，是 Laughing Ears 希望在音乐中表达的内容，这些个人情感被前卫的舞曲框架编织起来，在激动人心的律动中带听众窥破她的内心，去遥想到现实之外的世界，她说：“人不是平面的，各种情感交织在一起，需要窗口来进行表达，我选择的方式是音乐。”

Though Li was born in northern China and previously released several records under Beijing-based label RAN and Hangzhou-based label FunctionLab, setting up base in Shanghai was an obvious choice. Shanghai’s electronic music scene has developed a breakneck pace in the past decade and received global accolades following the rise of labels such as Genome 6.66 Mbp and SVBKVLT. Today, the city has become a thriving nucleus of Chinese electronic music. “Shanghai is an inclusive city, and the music scene here is diverse,” she says. “It’s influenced my music quite a lot.”

潮流讯息的快速更迭、传统文化的积淀、高速发展的科技等等诸多原因，让上海电子音乐场景愈发被看好。近些年来，Genome 6.66 Mbp、SVBKVLT 等一众先锋实验电子音乐厂牌在全球引起不小的关注，也让更多人对这座城市期待不已。虽然 Laughing Ears来自中国北方，也在北京的 RAN 和杭州的 FunctionLab 厂牌发行过作品，但是在毕业后还是选择留在了上海，她说：“上海对文化包容度高，也有一个多元化的音乐场景，对我影响确实挺大的。”

Listen to Laughing Ears’s Metamorphosis EP below:

点击即可试听 Laughing Ears 的 EP《形变》:

This influence has resulted in a musical output that’s difficult to define. Li’s soundscapes are everchanging, containing traces of IDM, Bass, Tribal, Footwork, Ambient, and more. Her open-minded mentality towards music is what’s helped her craft her distinctive sound, ones that unabashedly rearranges a myriad of influences to create music fitting for today’s globalized world.  “A sense of ‘fusion’ was my original intent,” she says. “My music feels unique because it doesn’t follow any particular style. I want my music to demonstrate the diverse possibilities of what ‘club music’ can sound like.”

Laughing Ears 的音乐并不会让你一下子反应上来属于哪种特定的风格，IDM、Bass、Tribal、Footwork、Ambient 等各种各样的舞曲元素被揉捏在一起，反倒让音乐富有极强的流动性。这种前卫的创作方式，让音乐人在庞大的电子音乐体系中组合属于自己的声音。其大量融合的特点也让这类音乐人在全球化背景下显得十分切题。Laughing Ears 说：“融合是我的初衷之一，没有特定的风格所以才显得独特。从听觉角度出发，我更希望在音乐中体现俱乐部音乐的多元与对抗。”

Listen to Laughing Ears’s Blue Dusk EP below:

点击即可试听 Laughing Ears 的 EP《Blue Dusk》:

Outside of her Laughing Ears persona, Li works full time as a video-game sound designer. Though she doesn’t believe her career bears an influence on her music, there is an obvious connection, in that both lines of work are facilitators of escapism. Her approach to music-making can often feel like a game in itself, she says, one in which she’s the all-powerful protagonist, and her quest is to collect an inventory of rare, disparate sounds. Despite this intimidating arsenal of sounds, it’s important to note that they’re only the foundation on which she can pile atop deeper concepts and raw emotions. She believes that these are essential ingredients making music sound more human.

平日里，Laughing Ears 还是一名游戏声音设计师，虽然她并不认为游戏与音乐有过多的联系，但两者都是通过幻想搭建脱离现实的路径。在这场由声音组成的 “游戏” 中，她扮演的玩家是一位狠角色，收集着黑暗、神秘、诡谲的 “装备”。而即便收集齐这些声音的 “武器” 库，Laughing Ears 也并不认为能组成一首完整的歌曲。她认为音乐需要具备主题和情绪，才会听上去 “有血有肉”。

Her two recent EPs, Metamorphosis and Blue Dusk, released on Chinabot and DECISIONS respectively, ambitiously interweave different emotions and themes. The former, across its six tracks, capture different states of interpersonal relationships; it’s also a demonstration of her instincts-led approach to songwriting, in which sounds organically collide and combine with one another in surprising ways. One of the best examples of this can be seen in the opening track “Unstable,” where bright saxophones spill out over the menacing synths.

Blue Dusk, on the other hand, is more cinematic than emotions-driven, designed to conjure imagery of a sprawling sci-fi universe. Across the four short tracks, her pulsating rhythms and futuristic textures infuse the EP with an undercurrent of mystery and danger. One of the most transfixing tracks is “The Smiling Mask,” which features woodwind flutters that pop out amidst the erratic arrangement of instruments.

2020 年，她先后在  Chinabot 和 DECISIONS 发行的两张 EP《Metamorphosis 形变》和《Blue Dusk》，皆由不同的主题和情绪贯穿始终。前者通过怪异的氛围音乐和节奏型，用六首歌曲营造人际关系中六种不同的状态，颇具东方神秘色彩；后者相对情绪而言，则更侧重画面感，突出声音设计所构建的科幻空间，四首歌曲以异域凶猛的节拍作为肌理，同时未来感的采样元素在其上点缀，冥冥中一股危险与神秘的气息冉冉升起。而前段时间不久，英国当代电子音乐先驱 Objekt 将《Blue Dusk》收录在自己的 DJ Set 中。

在音乐的制作过程中，Laughing Ears 习惯一切听从脑海中的想象行进，让元素的融合与 “对抗” 显得恰到好处，例如歌曲《Unstable》中轻盈的萨克斯风与阴暗的合成器旋律一涌而出；另一首《The Smiling Mask》中簧管器乐与深不可测的律动并驾齐驱。

Whether it’s her musings on interpersonal relationships or her barren visions of a cold dystopia, Li’s music thrusts viewers into the deep recesses of her imagination, a place where fantasies and emotions co-exist in an audible form. She believes being in touch with our emotions and indulging daydreams are crucial in modern times, and being overly stuck on life’s routines can strip away individuality and throttle the imagination. For today’s youth, dance music can be a much-welcomed escape from reality, and nightclubs may just be one of the last remaining places where people can be themselves and exist in the present moment. “Our disease is called reality,” she says. “Clubs may just be the panacea.”

You can catch Laughing Ears live at the upcoming Jungle Beach Festival in Tianjin, hosted by Zhaodai. The festival will kick off on August 28th and run until the 30th. Click here for details.

在她的音乐里，人际关系是多变的，而未来也带着神秘与冰冷的气息，唯独幻想和情绪显得纯粹且直观。当社会中的人们渐渐被现实磨去了自我，而这或许正是夜晚的俱乐部里年轻人们趋之若鹜的原因，去蹦迪，去留住自己的情绪。Laughing Ears 说：“现实就是我们的疾病，俱乐部则带给我们逃离现实的机会。”

马上的 8 月 28 至 30 日，Laughing Ears 将登临由北京招待所俱乐部举办的 “招待会” 丛林沙滩音乐节。届时，她的演出将会以一场罕见的氛围音乐展开，点击这里查看音乐节详情！

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Instagram: @laughing_ears
Bandcamp: laughingears.bandcamp.com
Soundcloud: ~/laughingears

 

供稿人: Pete Zhang
摄影师: David Yen
视频摄影师: Damien Louise, Paul Gardette

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Instagram: @laughing_ears
Bandcamp: laughingears.bandcamp.com
Soundcloud: ~/laughingears

 

供稿人: Pete Zhang
摄影师: David Yen
视频摄影师: Damien Louise, Paul Gardette

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Chinese Metal Uprising 中国金属狂潮，举起拳头制霸地下

August 19, 2020 2020年8月19日

Metal rock’s beginnings in China can be traced back to the late 80s, when these never-before-heard aggressive sounds arrived in Beijing by way of pioneering bands Black Panther and Tang Dynasty. As it was late in reaching China, the different subgenres of metal—established in Europe and America—became bedrocks on which Chinese bands constructed their own brand of metal. Many bands began looking to add a Chinese spin to metal through the inclusion of traditional Chinese instruments, vocal techniques, and folklore-inspired lyrics. Today, a diverse variety of metal subgenres is on offer throughout the Middle Kingdom. Depending on your open-mindedness and mood, you could be listening to a blues-inspired metal band one night and a pornogrind band spewing the raunchiest lyrics you’ve ever heard the next. No matter your taste, the burgeoning metal scene in China has something for everyone. In this edition of Neocha Roundups, we’re happy to present ten underground Chinese metal acts that we believe deserve some attention.

 

中国金属乐最早可以追溯至上世纪八十年代末，当时北京的黑豹和唐朝等一批乐队首次将这种激进的音乐形式灌入国内听众的耳蜗。但金属乐在中国起步相对较晚，这种源于欧美的地下音乐流派早已为中国乐队们打下了坚实根基。在那个时期，很多乐队还会尝试融入中国传统乐器、声乐和民俗歌词，打造属于自己的金属之声。现如今，各种金属流派在中国大放异彩，你既可以沉浸在布鲁斯金属的蓝色狂潮中，又可以在色情碾核乐队（Pornogrind）的淫荡词汇下触摸力量，演出的选择完全取决于你个人的心情与喜好。无论你的口味如何，你总能在今天中国新锐的金属摇滚圈子中找到合适的人选。本期 Neocha 精选集，我们挑选了 10 支值得关注的中国地下金属摇滚乐队，一起来看看！

 

Ready to Die
Old School Death Metal

Finding a quality old-school death metal band in China is something of a rarity, and Ready to Die is an even rarer breed, considering the talented female vocalist who drives their sound. Inspired by Floridian death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and Morbid Angel, Ready to Die was founded in Beijing in 2007 and hold the claim as the first band in the Middle Kingdom to utilize female vocals with a classic American death metal style. The band’s bludgeoning riffs and Chris Barnes-esque, guttural vocal style come together to create a massive, suffocating sound that would impress any death metal purist. While they frequently play festivals in and around the Beijing area, their internet presence, especially an English presence, is minimal. So if you spot their name on the bill, don’t miss out.

 

 

Ready to Die
老派死亡金属

高水准的老派死亡金属在国内可谓凤毛菱角，而 Ready to Die 乐队则以女声老式佛罗里达死亡金属风格著称，在圈内显得十分独特。乐队成立于 2007 年的北京，深受 Cannibal Corpse、Obituary 和 Morbid Angel 等乐队风格影响，也是中国第一支由女生担任主唱的佛罗里达死亡金属乐队。乐队的吉他 Riff 拳拳到肉，搭配 Chris Barnes 式的黑暗低吼，营造出令人窒息的现场氛围，令死亡金属爱好者们为之颤栗。虽然乐队经常在北京和周边地区进行音乐活动，但在网络上你却很少看到他们的名字。所以，如果在海报上碰到他们的演出，你可千万别错过了。

（注：吉他 Riff ，用吉他演奏而出的连续、重复的乐句，与鼓点、贝斯共同支撑起整支歌曲的框架。Riff 在摇滚乐，尤其是金属乐中有着大量运用——金属乐最重要的特点就是歌曲是由金属Riff 驱动的。）

 

The Dark Prison Massacre
Slam/Groove/Grind

Slam riffs and the heaviness of brutal death metal mixed with monstrous vocals and Pantera-esque grooves are the sonic foundations that The Dark Prison Massacre is built on. Formed in 2005, the Tianjin-based band creates songs across a variety of themes, ranging from oppression and brutality to animal cruelty. With venues in Tianjin packed with fans to go ballistic, nobody gets the pits going like these maniacs. Their latest EP Conviction, with the inclusion of Egypt-inspired sounds in their brutal soundscapes, marks a new creative milestone for the band.

 

 

暗狱戮尸
重摔/律动/碾核

暗狱戮尸拥有典型重摔金属（Slam Metal）的吉他 Riffs，如同重机枪喷射而出的炮弹，融入犹如泥浆的人声和 Pantera 式的律动气势，构成了这支乐队的间架结构。这支于 2005 年成立于天津的乐队，在音乐中探讨了压迫、野蛮残酷、虐待动物的议题，光从主题上便彰显出肆意的个性，让人群追随极富感染力的强劲音乐，时常带动整个场馆陷入疯狂。乐队最新 EP《Conviction》（缚断罪）在残酷金属摇滚中融入了埃及风格的元素；同时在歌曲《Overtreated Cause Opposited》中，你还会听到雷鬼旋律和 Trap 节奏的混搭，替代了传统金属中的 Breakdown 段落，这些元素是乐队曲风上的一次创新突破。

（注：Breakdown 专指金属歌曲中的桥段，在该段落，原本的音乐节奏被打破，通常以降速的形式演奏，在整首歌中起到承上启下的作用）

Scare the Children
Nu Metal/Shock Rock/Horror Metal

Every day is Halloween with Beijing’s Scare the Children. This mask-wearing quartet resembles American shock rock bands Mushroomhead or Slipknot in appearance, but the hard-hitting sounds they have concocted can be as cheery as they are disturbing. The horrific masks they wear pull listeners deeper into their nightmarish soundscapes. Check out their highly theatrical video for “The Seduction of Little Timmy” which according to them, was “inspired by a true story,” and listen to more of their songs below, but if you do, make sure you keep your night light on before going to bed.

 

 

吓死宝宝
新金属/休克摇滚/恐怖金属

对于北京的吓死宝宝乐队来说，每天都像万圣节。这支四人乐队平时喜欢带着面具，恐怖的造型像极了电影《万圣节》、《养鬼吃人》中的角色，令人联想到著名休克摇滚（Shock Rock）Mushroomhead 或 Slipknot 等乐队。他们的音乐在轻松与强硬的旋律中扭转，带给听众如影随形的不安感受，而恐怖面具则让人更容易沉浸于音乐所营造的噩梦气氛。歌曲《The Seduction of Little Timmy》的 MV 充满戏剧性，据说“由真实故事改编而成”。一起来听听他们的其他歌曲，不过听完之后，睡前记得把夜灯点亮。

Never Before
Stoner/Sludge Metal

Being that marijuana is illegal in China, stoner rock isn’t exactly a genre that’s thriving in the country. Nobody seemed to have told Never Before, a band that harkens back to the greats of the genre such as Electric Wizard, Monster Magnet, and Clutch. Still, not lighting up won’t affect the audience’s enjoyment of a Never Before live show. They recently rolled up a fat new EP titled Savage, and as the name implies, it’s a harder-edged version of the band’s sound, featuring chunky, sticky riffs that seem like the sonic equivalent of holding freshly harvested buds.

 

 

Never Before
石人/泥浆金属

大麻在中国非法，所以石人金属（Stoner Rock）在中国也相对冷门，似乎并没有太多人提醒过 Never Before 乐队。在这支乐队身上，可以看到诸如 Electric Wizard、Monster Magnet 和 Clutch 等出色石人金属乐队的影子。不过，没有了大麻，也不会影响观众欣赏 Never Before 的现场表演。他们最近推出了新专辑《Savage》，一如其名，这张专辑相比以往展现了更为狂野的音乐风格。沉浸在 Never Before 乐队泥浆般的吉他 Riff，让人如同进入吸食大麻后的迷幻境界。

（注：石人金属，取名自俚语 “Stoner” 意为 “大麻消费者”，同样是以布鲁斯为根基的一种重型音乐风格。其深受六十至八十年代经典重金属的影响，大多以降速的特点为主，同时为吉他加入大量的失真效果，营造出抽离、迷幻的氛围。该风格于九十年代创立，以 Kyuss 等一众乐队将其传播开来。）

 

 

  • Photographer / 摄影师: Douzi

Los Crasher
Glam/Hard Rock/Heavy Blues

The Beijing equivalent of LA’s Sunset Strip is perhaps Nanluoguxiang, a series of winding backstreets dotted by bars and live music venues. Here is where you’ll probably find the members of Los Crasher, clad in leather or denim, downing shots of tequila, and flirting with girls. The 80s style of teased hair, bandanas, and tight leather pants as seen in glam-metal bands like Guns and Roses, Motley Crue or Skid Row have returned with Los Crasher, who live by the rebellious mentalities of the genre’s predecessors. They’ve created hard-rocking, harmonica-tinged anthems such as “Tricky Boys Back in Town” and “Smoking Hot Baby” as well as ballads that inspire female fans to throw their bras and scraps of paper with their WeChat IDs onstage. If you catch a show, hang onto your girlfriends.

 

 

不速之客
华丽摇滚/硬摇滚/重型布鲁斯

洛杉矶的日落大道，北京的南锣鼓巷。蜿蜒的小巷后街，布满了酒吧和音乐现场。你很有可能会在这里遇到 Los Crasher —— 一帮身着皮衣和牛仔服的家伙们，他们不是正将龙舌兰酒一饮而尽，就是在与姑娘调情。造型上，Los Crasher 重现了八十年代 Guns and Roses、Motley Crue、Skid Row 等一众硬摇滚乐队——蓬松发型、头巾和紧身皮裤。同时音乐上也延续了前辈们反叛的态度们，《Tricky Boys in Town》或《Smoking Hot Baby》等歌曲的强烈摇滚旋律与口琴伴奏，引得女歌迷纷纷往舞台丢下内衣与联系方式，现场记得要看紧你的女朋友！

 

 

Borrow the Sound
Industrial Metal/Electronic

Borrow the Sound is a mad scientist cooking up an avant-garde style of industrial metal. Donning a lab coat on stage, his live performances are backed by ear-grating electronic sounds, explosive guitar riffs, and unhinged vocalizations. He is routinely booked with metal bands to mixed results: at times, audience members may seem less than enthused, but others, they dance and scream along with his experimental take on metal.

 

 

借走声音
工业金属/电音

舞台上，“借走声音” 总是一位身穿白大褂的科学怪人，他狂乱地调制出前卫与工业并重的金属气息，往往以刺耳的电子声效、爆炸式的吉他 Riff、古怪的人声征服台下观众。“借走声音” 常邀请金属乐队参与他的演出，每次的表演气氛也不太一样：有时观众们不为所动，有时又会跟着他的实验性音乐一起狂舞、呐喊。

 

 

Dream Spirit
Folk Metal

With 5,000 years of history, musicians have a lot to draw from when incorporating ancient Chinese culture into their musical output. Dream Spirit is one of the best examples of a band that takes the finer points of Chinese history and puts it to exciting use, resulting in a distinctive sound that’s struck a chord with metalheads across the country. Routinely booked as headliners for the annual 330 Metal Fest in Beijing, Dream Spirit gets the crowd singing along with five albums’ worth of folklore-inspired melodies. Their latest, Warriors of Heaven’s Descend, is similarly filled with anthems that fans can shout along with.

 

 

梦灵乐队
民谣金属

对许多音乐创作者而言，中国五千年历史为他们提供了许多音乐创作的元素。梦灵乐队是在这方面做得相当出色的乐队之一，他们将中国鼓点元素融入摇滚旋律，形成别具特色的音乐风格，引起众多中国金属摇滚爱好者的共鸣。梦灵乐队至今已经发行 5 张专辑，并经常受邀作为北京 330 金属音乐节的压轴阵容。现场表演时，总能引发台下观众大合唱的场面。他们的最新单曲《神兵》同样如此，充满大量的中国民乐色彩，碰撞出朗朗上口的旋律。

 

 

  • Images Courtesy of Rectal Wench / 图片由 Rectal Wench 提供

Rectal Wench
Goregrind

Wearing butcher’s aprons and luchador masks, Rectal Wench flies the flag of goregrind. Inspired by bands like Gut and named after a song by Lividity, the band thrives on repugnance, mashing together nasty lyrics and dissonant sounds to make something devastatingly heavy and aesthetically revolting. With their live shows, the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” has never been truer.

 

 

䐈腸荡婦
血碾

屠夫围裙和摔角手面具，单听到这个造型就令人不寒而栗。䐈腸荡婦乐队就和他们的名字一样，血腥又带有几分情色，挥舞着血碾音乐（Goregrind）的旗帜。乐队深受 Gut 等情色碾前辈启发，取名自著名金属核乐队 Lividity 的同名歌名。他们风格粗暴恶俗，将大胆的歌词与不和谐的声音相结合，形成极具毁灭性的音乐，打造令人反感的美学主义。“情人眼里出西施”或许是对他们现场乐迷的最佳诠释。

 

 

Punisher
Thrash Metal

The thrash scene in China is something fierce, with several beer-guzzling, fast-tempo bands instigating audiences to do laps until they vomit in the circle pit. A band such as Jinzhou’s Punisher—with its speedy instrumentation, shrieked vocals, and buzzsaw riffs—does just as their name indicates: punish the listener. This band takes a no-nonsense, gimmick-less approach to the style, taking cues from classic 80s thrash acts like Annihilator or Kreator. When the instruments break down and the monstrous crescendo hits, audience members lock arms and swing their hair in unison, headbanging with enough force to seemingly power a small wind turbine.

 

 

判官乐队
激流金属

中国激流金属摇滚场景异常凶猛，大伙儿用啤酒灌注狂欢，在乐队的煽动下围成一圈，直到呕吐才肯罢休，于是“判官”驾到，预惩戒在场所有人的耳膜。像那些经典的激流金属乐队一样，这支来自辽宁锦州的乐队拥有超高速的乐器演奏、尖叫的人声和电锯一般的吉他 Riff，激流味儿纯正。因此，你会听到像  Annihilator 和 Kreator 等 80 年代经典的声音。当他们的音乐进入 Breakdown 段落，乐器再度将巨大声场层层垒砌，乐迷们手挽手，整齐划一地扑甩着头发，整幅画面就像一座小型的风力发电装置。

 

 

Black Kirin
Blackened Folk Metal

Black Kirin, with the addition of a new vocalist, has evolved into a blackened metal band while still maintaining the Chinese folk influences that fans have come to know them for. Their songs often deal with Chinese history: an entire album was even devoted to the brutal Nanking Massacre of WWII. Their latest single, Qinhuai, being their most musically complex work so far, is a 12-minute-long track with no repeating chord progressions. On stage, they pile on the theatrics that’s expected of black metal: corpse paint, capes and cowls are all par for the course. Black Kirin is a spellbinding band made for fans of Cradle of Filth, Emperor, and Dark Funeral.

 

 

黑麒麟
民谣黑金属

加入新主唱的黑麒麟已然成为一支黑金属乐队，但最为人熟知的中国民乐元素仍然被保留下来。他们的音乐常常与中国历史文化有关，其中包括一张以第二次世界大战的南京大屠杀为主题创作的专辑。最新单曲《秦淮》是他们迄今为止最复杂的作品，歌曲长达 12 分钟，全程无重复的和弦行进。舞台上，他们穿着戏剧性造型：屍装、斗篷和头罩，以中国传统方式诠释黑金属的舞台作派。如果你是 Cradle of Filth、Emperor 和 Dark Funeral 的粉丝，绝对不能错过黑麒麟乐队！

 

 

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Contributor & Photographer: Ryan Dyer
Additional Images Courtesy of 海淀阑尾, 耿由然, 陈悦湘, & Douzi

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供稿人与摄影师: Ryan Dyer
附加图片由 海淀阑尾、耿由然、陈悦湘 与 豆子扁扁 提供

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Feel It in My Bones 脱皮，骨相

August 17, 2020 2020年8月17日

Students and skeletons, coffins and masks, houseplants and gilded furniture. Enter the mind of Kiv Bui, a Vietnamese illustrator whose fantasies come in shades of grays, golds, and greens. Her work, often accompanied by a simple caption, centers on the joys of simplicity and expressing oneself.

学生和骷髅，棺材与面具，盆栽与镀金家具——这是越南插画家 Kiv Bui 以灰色、金色和绿色调勾画的幻想世界。她喜欢在作品中添加一些文字，传达简单的快乐和表达自我的主题。

Bui believes in the power of speaking through illustration. Art is an effective tool for inspiring others and an even more effective means of non-verbal communication. “When I talk about my problems, my emotions get in the way which affects my voice and the way I speak,” she says. “Not everyone can speak well, and not everyone listens well.”

One issue she’s felt the need to speak out about recently is the discrimination that many Asians in the West have faced due the pandemic. Bui moved to the US a few years ago to study and has encountered racism there firsthand. Through art, she hopes to bring more awareness to the prevalence of racism at large. “It’s our job as artists to create content to help people deal with such situations,” she says.

Kiv 相信，插图可以帮助人们表达想法。艺术既能鼓舞人心，也是一种有效的非语言交流手段。她说：“当我谈论自己的问题时，声音和说话的方式总会受到情绪的影响。不是每个人都有很好的表达能力，也不是每个人都懂得聆听。”

最近，她最渴望叙述的一个问题是疫情以来亚裔在西方国家遭受的歧视。Bui几年前移居美国学习，也曾亲身经历过种族歧视。她希望通过艺术来提醒人们种族主义的普遍存在。她说：“作为艺术家，我们的使命就是通过创作，帮助人们去应对这样的境遇。”

While she isn’t shy about confronting tougher issues, her illustrations are, at times, also a means of escapism: “I can build my own world, create the things I want to see, and be free doing what I want within it,” she says. “My viewers can live in my world, too.” Sometimes, she’s just happy to unwind with a simple drawing of a cup of matcha latte.

尽管不畏惧直面棘手的问题，但对她来说，插图有时也是一种逃避现实的方法。她说：“我可以创造一个自己的世界，画我想看到的事物，在里面自由自在，想做什么就做什么。当然，我的观众也可以在我的世界生活。”而有时候，简单地画一杯抹茶拿铁也是她放松的方式。

Growing up, Bui had to wear uniforms to school, and unlike many of her peers, it was something she loved. This fondness is clear in her art, where nearly every character is seen in white button-ups, sweater vests, schoolgirl skirts, or dress pants. “Uniforms united us and helped avoid distractions,” she explains. “I always thought that was a brilliant idea, so I make all of my characters wear uniforms;  this also helps direct attention to the story.” This focus on storytelling also explains the prominent greys of her work. “Grey is neutral and calming, so it also doesn’t distract.”

之前在校念书时，Kiv 的学校规定必须穿校服上学，虽然许多同学都不乐意，她却乐在其中。这种爱好也清晰体现在她的作品中，她笔下的许多角色都穿着白色的纽扣式上衣、毛衣背心，标准的女学生裙或裤装。她解释说：“穿校服可以让我们统一起来，也避免不必要的分心。我一直觉得这个想法很棒，所以我画的角色也常常穿着制服；这样有助于观众更关注插画要表达的故事。”正是出于对故事性的强调，她在作品中常常用大片的灰色创作，“灰色是中性色调，看上去令人心境平静，所以不会分散观众的注意力。”

The ever-present skeletons are meant to be something of a neutral idea as well, speaking to the fact that everyone is the same on the inside. Despite your gender, background, orientation, or race, you’re still just flesh and bones. “I also like the idea of treating the dead as lively and active,” Bui laughs.

She’s always found skeletons and skulls beautiful, but their associations with death make them taboo in Vietnamese culture. After moving to the US, she’s felt increasingly free to use them. “My goal this year is to be true to myself as much as I can,” she says.

她的插画中经常出现的骷髅也是源于同样的理念，旨在说明所有人本质上都是一样的。不管什么性别、背景、性取向或种族，归根到底，都不过是血肉骨头而已。“我喜欢以活泼愉快的风格来描绘死者。” Bui 笑说。

她一直都觉得骷髅和头骨很漂亮，但因为与死亡有关，在越南文化中向来被视为禁忌。移居美国后，她可以更加自由地将它们用于创作中。她说：“我今年的目标是尽可能地忠于真实的自己。”

The idea of death is important to Bui though, it’s just a very delicate subject. She often felt that there was too much negativity in her art, and in recent years, she’s become more mindful of what she depicts in her illustrations. As an example, she points to an artist whose work was meant to raise awareness about suicide but instead attracted overwhelming amounts of comments glorifying the act, and it scared her. “You have to be responsible for your art,” she says. “Each work is like a public speech. I plan my work carefully so I can express myself without harming or provoking anyone.”

虽然死亡的观念对 Kiv 有重要意义，但这毕竟是一个非常微妙的话题。她经常担忧自己的作品是否过于消极，近年来也越来越注意自己在插图中表现的内容。她说曾经有一位艺术家希望通过作品提高人们对自杀的认识，结果却吸引了无数人留言来赞美自杀的行为，这使她感到害怕。她说：“你必须对自己的艺术负责。每件作品都像一场公开演讲。所以我在创作时会认真思考，以使得在表达自我的同时，不会伤害或激怒其他人。”

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Website: www.kivbui.com
Instagram: @kivbui

 

Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

Website: www.kivbui.com
Instagram: @kivbui

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
英译中: Olivia Li

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Rites & Rituals 向神借点美

August 14, 2020 2020年8月14日

The Catholic church has long understood the power of beauty. The use of ritual, music, art, and design are central parts of their worship. Norberto Roldan also recognizes beauty’s power. The Filipino artist transfers religious vestments and liturgical objects to gallery settings, using them to spark discussion on their meaning and place in the context of a post-colonial society ruled by the church for hundreds of years. These spiritual objects are repurposed in the pursuit of empirical truths.

说起天主教堂对美学力量的领悟，可能要追溯到很久以前。无论仪式、音乐、艺术还是设计，这些都属于天主教崇拜核心的一部分。来自菲律宾的 Norberto Roldan 也同样认知到美的力量。在教会统治数百年的后殖民社会背景之下，这位艺术家将祭服和礼仪用品搬到画廊里，利用这种手法引发关于其意义和地位的讨论。这些具有宗教精神象征的物件，在追寻经验真理的过程中被重新定义。

In one installation, a confessional is outfitted with a wooden saint statue in a glass case, a goat skull, and a bottle of pampa regla, which is an illegal abortion cocktail used in the Philippines, where abortion in any form is illegal. In another pair of pieces, twin cases hold vestments and are outfitted with warm neon lights that spell out the words “salvation” and “heretic” in Tagalog. “The church has long used rituals and objects to conquer people; this is my way of reverting that power back to the people,” Roldan explains. “I’m giving the church a taste of their own medicine. If you’ve used this against us, maybe we can use it against you.”

他的一件装置作品，用一间告解室放有一个装在玻璃盒里的木制圣像、一具山羊头骨和一瓶“人流用鸡尾酒”（pampa regla）——这是一种当地人会使用的非法堕胎酒饮，因为在菲律宾，任何形式的堕胎都是不合法的。在另一件作品中，成对的箱子里装有祭衣，并打上塔加洛语的“救赎”和“异端”两个词语的温暖霓虹灯光。“教会长期以来用仪式和物品来让人民臣服，这是我将权力返还人民的方式。”罗丹解释道：“以其人之道还治其人之身。如果你用此对付我们，也许我也可以用此对付你。”

Roldan has thought deeply about power imbalances and religion in his many former lives over the 67 years he’s been around. He studied in a seminary for eight years beginning at 11 years old, ultimately deciding against priesthood. He also helped run a farm that his wife inherited, where he was exposed to labor and land rights issues. As a result of this hands-on education, he dedicated the next part of his life to leftist activist movements during the late period of martial law in the 1980s, necessitating a self-exile in Australia for a couple of years. 

在过往 67 年中，罗丹始终在深思权力失衡和宗教议题。他从 11 岁开始在神学院学习了 8 年，最终决定不当神父。他帮助妻子经营一个继承下来的农场，在那里直面了劳工和土地权利争议。受到这种际遇的影响，他将下半生献给了1980年代戒严后期的左派激进主义运动，还因此必须在澳大利亚自我流放好几年。

Although he still identifies as Catholic, Roldan no longer practices. He argues that criticism of the church is different from attacking it. “Even the pope has been critical of the Catholic church,” he says. “If you realize that poor people here have been conditioned to accept that they were meant to be poor, then religion has done nothing to help them better their lives.”

尽管罗丹仍然认为自己是天主教徒，但他已不再执行教会的义务。他认为批评教会与抨击教会是不一样的。“即使是教皇也会批评天主教会。”他说，“如果你意识到这里的穷人已经习惯接受自己本应贫穷的现实，而宗教却没有做到任何事来帮助他们改善生活。”

The Philippines was colonized by Spain in the 1500s and was under its control for 300 years. They introduced Catholicism to the country and it was an integral part of maintaining their power structure from the start. Today, around 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholic. But Roldan argues that it’s more complicated than that simple statistic, with many rural Filipinos practicing dual faiths. The animism common among indigenous populations worldwide retains a foothold alongside Catholicism in the Philippines to this day.

菲律宾在十六世纪被西班牙殖民，并受其控制长达 300 年。打从一开始西班牙人就将天主教传入该国，以成为当权者维持权力结构不可或缺的一环。如今，约80％的菲律宾人都信奉天主教。但罗丹认为情况远比单单的统计数字更为复杂，因为有许多菲律宾农村居民都奉行双重信仰。普遍存在于世界各地土著居民的万物有灵论，至今仍与天主教一起在菲律宾稳固立足。

Since he uses actual religious objects in his artwork, Roldan acknowledges there may be ethical concerns in repurposing them. Many of them were inherited from his uncle, who was a priest. Although Roldan never became a priest himself, his family gave him permission to use them. Many of the other objects were sourced from thrift stores, which he cleared out as quickly as possible. “I found a couple of shops with them and bought everything. But how were they able to acquire them? They might have been stolen.”

由于罗丹在艺术作品中使用实际的宗教物品，他也承认挪用它们可能存在伦理问题。其中许多是他从曾经当过神父的叔叔那里继承而来，尽管罗丹本人从未成为神父，但他的家人允许他使用这些物价。其余也有许多来自二手商店，一旦发现这些物品，罗丹便迅速扫光全部。“我找到几家有宗教物品商店，买下了所有东西。但商店是怎么得来的呢？也许是偷的。 ”

He says that these objects of worship are inherently beautiful, which loans them a lot of their power, so only minimal alterations are required. “All of them were imported from Italy and they’re not being manufactured anymore; you don’t need to do anything to make them more beautiful,” he says. “But you need to change the context to subvert the original purpose of the object and make it your own. I’m very, very careful not to bastardize them.”

他说这些宗教供奉物品本身就很美丽，承载了很大的神力，因此只需要再稍作改动即可。“所有物件都是从意大利进口，且现在已经绝版了，你不需要多做任何事将它们变得更美了。”他说，“但你必须改变这些物品的语言场域，颠覆它们原始的用意、并将其纳入自己的语境里。我非常非常谨慎以让它们不被误用。”

Roldan’s artwork doesn’t stop at criticisms of the church. He often denounces the American colonization of the Philippines, which lasted for a century, ending with World War II. Most of the country’s institutions are modeled on American ones. In Crazy Horse and White Love, he highlights historical violence against Filipinos by Americans and questions its continued pursuit of military dominance beyond its borders. As the world enters a new age with new global powers and tensions, Roldan plans on addressing them as they unfold: “It’s the artist’s responsibility to be a part of society,” he says. “We’re not here just to create art but also to provide help to the less fortunate. If you work in isolation, what good is that? What is your art for? What are you for?”

罗丹的艺术作品没有止步于对教会的批评，他也经常谴责美国对于菲律宾持续一个世纪、直到第二次世界大战才结束的殖民统治，菲律宾多数建设机构都是以美国为蓝本。在《Crazy Horse and White Love》里，他强调了美国人对菲律宾人的历史暴力，并质疑美国在超越其国界的地方不断寻求军事主导的野心。随着世界进入新时代，全球新势力和紧张局势不断升温发展，罗丹计划在问题揭露的当下就指出：“将自己置身在社会中是艺术家的责任。”他说，“我们不只是为了创造艺术而生，而是为了向那些不幸的人伸出援手。如果你孤立地创作，那有什么好处？你的艺术为何存在？你又为何存在？”

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Contributor: Mike Steyels
Photographer: Jilson Tiu
Chinese Translation: Yang Yixuan
Additional Images Courtesy of Norberto Roldan

喜欢我们的故事？欢迎关注我们 Neocha 的微博与微信。

 

供稿人: Mike Steyels
摄影师: Jilson Tiu
英译中: Yang Yixuan
附加图片由 Norberto Roldan 提供

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Transmuting Light 有一束光，叫小确幸

August 12, 2020 2020年8月12日

If you were asked to capture the color spectrums of light, how would you go about it?

Hattern, a Korean design atelier established by Kyungsun Hwang, Hajin Yoon, and Minah Kim, has found the answer in a series of imaginative vases. Their translucent vessels, seemingly able to transmute light into kaleidoscopic gradients, play with luminosity and color to whimsical effect.

如果说让你设计一种花瓶，去捕捉光的颜色，你会怎么设计？

来自韩国首尔的设计团队 Hattern 设计制作了一系列多色渲染的花瓶，将光线与颜色玩转到极致。鲜艳而柔和的色彩，通过透明或半透明的容器壁折射出来，颜色与光影奇妙融合，碰撞出干净透彻又意想不到的色彩线条。

Hattern is a portmanteau of “happy” and “pattern,” and it reflects the designer trio’s belief in spreading joy through design. Their Mellow Collection, a series inspired by 19th-century impressionist art, perhaps best exemplifies this mission. Using acrylic resin as the base material, they designed a line of transparent flower holders that thrive on the interplay of light, shadow, and colors. Six different colors appear throughout the collection, with two or more often dissolving into one another on a single vessel. These vases are also available in different finishes—frosted opaque and glossy smooth—which render the textural qualities of light into a visible format.

Hattern 的本意是 Happy（快乐）与 Pattern（图案）的两相结合。这个由3位设计师组成的团队，致力于探索色彩与材料之间的和谐。作为创始团队，Kyungsun Hwang 主攻品牌，而 Hajin Yoon 主攻产品设计，Minah Kim 则专注于平面。他们表示 Hattern 希望设计出一些产品，可以使人们在生活中感受到那些真实存在的“小确幸”。

感受到光的微妙色彩就是其一。《Mellow Collection》这个系列灵感来自于 19 世纪后期的印象派版画，并以印象派画家所运用的极简主义来诠释这系列的花瓶。为了捕捉瞬息多变的自然光，Hattern 使用透明的丙烯酸树脂材质作为载体，以展现光影变幻途中色彩的交融，他们对每个花瓶都用了 6 种颜色来染色，就好像一枚枚光棱镜，会折射出彩虹的光耀。为呈现光在不同质地下的变化，Hattern 用了磨砂和光滑两种花瓶的质感去诠释。

Considering the number of designs and products the trio has churned out over the years, Kim says their joint creative approach is now fairly straightforward. Once they’ve agreed on a specific concept, they’ll search for references on their own. After everyone has gathered enough material, they’ll regroup. “We share everything we came up with found, offering critique in the process; this is where some of our best ideas are born,” he says. “After this stage, we’ll then start on sketches, 3-D models, and so on. Our final designs are built off the best prototypes.”

Color, often the most important element of their work, is decided last. “We’re constantly thinking about different possibilities,” Kim says. “The right colors can touch people’s hearts. The goal of the design and whether or not it’ll put a smile on people’s faces are some of the most important factors we consider when we decide on colors. To find the right color, we often look for inspiration in other product designs, illustrative works, photography, or even fashion.”

制作的过程不算复杂，Minah 告诉我们，通常如果决定了项目的主题以后，每个人就会先分头研究再相互分享，“比如我发现了哪些材料，从中又获取了哪些见解？好的想法都在这个过程中碰撞产生的。再然后我们会设计很多草图，进行三维建模和渲染。最后我们开发了几个最漂亮的设计和制作模型。”

虽然颜色是重中之重，但选择和确定颜色的使用，反而是他们项目的最后一步。“我们一直在深入探索‘颜色’。”Minah 说，“因为我们相信‘色彩可以启发人’。当我们需要决定颜色的时候，我们试着去思考什么样的颜色可以呈现我们的设计目的，什么样的颜色让人们感到快乐。因此我们研究了很多东西。例如，产品、绘画、照片甚至是时尚设计。”

In Merge Vase, a later collection that builds on the creative bedrocks of Mellow Collection, their flower holders are stripped down into even more minimal forms. Circular shapes, inspired by Venn diagrams, have replaced the rectangular forms of the previous designs, and different colored pieces could be mixed and matched together to form unexpected pairings. It’s a delightfully imaginative take on how people could interact with their design in meaningful ways that very much reflects the studio’s commitment to spreading happiness.

As for what lies ahead, Kim says they’re keen on creating sustainable designs that can raise awareness on the importance of environmentalism, and do it with the same sense of jubilance and optimism their studio is known for. “We truly believe in our hearts that good design and beautiful colors are able to inspire happiness,” she says. “Even if our work can only bring about a tiny spark of joy in a single person, that’s enough.”

在《Mellow Collection》之后，《Merge Vase》也运用到光影与颜色。相较之下，花器变得更为简洁，而设计感却更为突出了。它的设计来源于平时做表格时的“芬恩图”，每个色块颜色各异，而集合相交的部分，却会呈现出令人惊喜的新颜色。这就是 Hattern 一直想传达的“幸福感”。Minah 表示，未来的 Hattern 涉猎到零废物设计产品，把美好而环保的设计理念传达出去。“我们坚信我们的设计和色彩让人们感到幸福。即使是很微小的幸福，也没关系。”

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Website: hattern.com
Instagram: @hattern


Contributor: Chen Yuan

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网站: hattern.com
Instagram: @hattern

 

供稿人: Chen Yuan

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Unspoken Lies O Ma Cassé: 昨夜你去哪儿了

August 10, 2020 2020年8月10日

With the proliferation of social media, people are sharing more about themselves and their lives than ever before. There’s just one problem—it’s all on a superficial level. Our digitized existence has trained us to curate our online lives with a polished sheen, priming us to believe that only the highlights should be allowed to see the light of day. Shanghai-based producer and songwriter O Ma Cassé, whose real name is Gregory Williams, believes that the normalization of these online habits is making us lose touch with other people. “The internet offers people a sense of detachment from human relationships,” he says. “It’s led to a decreased sense of responsibility, a decreased sense of repercussions. . . This explains much of the behavior we see play out in social media. When you’ve got to go and share something to somebody’s face, its a much more emotional experience. It’s much harder to do. There’s more at stake.”

与日激增的线上社交方式，让更多人愿意在互联网分享生活。但唯一的问题是，这些分享往往都只停留在事物的表面。在数字化时代，人们的光鲜一面被精心打磨，似乎只有最精彩的片刻才肯被我们拿出来分享。在上海生活的唱作兼制作人 O Ma Cassé（原名 Gregory Williams）看来，所谓 “网络生活” 的普及化让人与人之间的关系渐行渐远。他说：“互联网让人际关系脱节，导致我们的责任感以及对外界的感知也被削弱……因此，互联网上许多不好的现象正在发生。当人与人面对面交流，你可以体会到更多情感，但这在如今变得愈发困难，人际关系的形势不容乐观。”

Our codependence on the internet, as he sees it, has also made people forget how to be honest to themselves, especially on an emotional level. “In order to be emotionally honest to the people around us, we first have to be honest and connected to our inner selves,” Williams says. “This is my mission. . . to inspire people to acknowledge their true feelings about difficult subjects and to consider being more open and emotionally honest with the people closest to them.”

在他看来，人们对网络的依赖，甚至让我们忘记如何坦诚面对自己，尤其是在情感方面。Gregory 说：“要在感情上与他人坦诚相待，我们首先要与内心建立起联系。这是我在作品中希望表达的内容，激发人们在一些敏感话题上表达真实想法，努力向亲近的人分享自己的感受。”

His debut album, Unspoken Lies, is a narrative EP that explores the consequences of dishonesty through a fictional story of two scorned lovers. The concept for the album was inspired by the topic of emotional infidelity, a matter that Williams and many of his friends have shared countless conversations over. Across the project’s four tracks, he shows no hesitance in embracing the discomfort of his past experiences. “Creativity is a great way to connect with my feelings,” he says. “It brings self-understanding. Even if I’m grappling with difficult memories, the process of reflecting, writing, and producing is positive. It’s cathartic.”

他的首张专辑《Unspoken Lies》具有很强的叙事性，通过恋人之间的对质，探讨欺骗的苦果。“情感不忠” 是 Gregory 与朋友经常讨论的话题，这一话题同时也贯穿了整张专辑的主题。在专辑的四首曲目中，自己对过去一些不快的经历直言不讳。他说：“创作是我和自己的情感建立联系的好方法，可以让我更好地了解我自己。即使是一些不太愉快的回忆，反思、写作和创作的过程也能带来积极的方面，对我来说是一种情感宣泄的方式。”

 

The eponymous intro track—featuring English vocals by Williams and Chinese vocals by Madame Gao—sets the scene for the entire album. The story begins with a man who isn’t ready to own up to his mistakes, and as distrust mounts between him and his lover, their relationship appears to be in rapid freefall. Aside from the emotional duet, the skittering percussions and growling synths that dot the track contribute to the sense of tension that seems to be nearing the point of no return.

The second track, “Alter Ego,” rappels listeners down into the male narrator’s psyche where a skirmish with his inner demons is playing out. The track bounces between paranoia-inducing dissonance and moments of tranquility, with the latter coming in the form of ethereal vocalizations that evoke whiffs of James Blake and Thom Yorke. But these moments of respite are brief, and listeners are repeatedly reintroduced to the cacophonous sounds—ominous basslines, siren-like screeching, and fractured rhythms—that dominate the track. The harrowing sonic terrain that Williams has vividly constructed paints a clear picture: this is a losing battle.

 

与专辑同名的序曲结合了 Gregory 的英语和 Madame Gao 的中文演唱部分，为整张专辑铺垫了一层都市肌理。故事开篇遍描述了一个不愿承认错误的男人，当恋人之间的信任渐渐缺失，两人的关系也迅速崩塌。除了两位演唱者倾注情感的嗓音之外，跳跃的节拍和轰鸣的电音穿插其中，加剧着音乐的紧张气氛，达到无路可退的地步。

专辑第二首歌《Alter Ego》袒露了男主角的内心世界，讲述了他与心中恶魔搏斗的故事。偏执的不和谐音与间歇性的冷静情绪交相替换，飘渺的旋律弥漫在歌曲的后半段，裹挟着几分 James Blake 和 Thom Yorke 的神秘与不确定性。音乐的间奏时间很短，反而不和谐音不断响起，主导着整首歌曲 —— 时而是令人不安的低音线条、时而是警笛般刺耳的嚎叫、还有破碎的旋律和节奏散散落其中。Gregory 用音乐生动地勾画出痛苦的情绪，清晰地传达出：这是一场注定失败的求索。

The mood swivels around on “Burn,” and Madame Gao takes the reins. The dark intonations of the previous track have carried over into this track, but it’s mutated into an infectious energy that the female protagonist happily wields. Over heady electro synths and a pulsating rhythm, Madame Gao sings of the female protagonist’s revenge by way of a one-night stand while Nanjing-based rapper Tingting boasts of her own role in the payback. Williams’s track design—with the click-clacking of staccato heels on linoleum and its thumping low-ends—transports listeners into the seamy corridors of a Berlin nightclub, a place where such erotic debauchery is par for the course.

情绪在《Burn》中发生了变化，由 Madame Gao 接手演绎。暗黑系的声调沿袭了上一首歌曲，不过突如其来的女声极具感染力，带听众进入喜乐的境地——在扑面而来的合成器旋律里，Madame Gao 讲述了女主角通过一夜情来实现的复仇计划。歌曲携手了南京说唱女歌手 Tingting ，招摇的情绪让她成为整场故事的主角。Gregory 在创作歌曲时，特意加入了高跟鞋踩在地砖上的采样，让听众仿佛置身于柏林夜店的黑暗走廊，四周充满了诱惑的情欲氛围。

TingTing
Madame Gao

“Crazy Talk,” the album’s final track, is a remarkably drastic shift in tone. The emotional tempest that’s been brewing throughout the album has culminated in this closing salvo. Despite it being the most melodic song of the EP, the dark motifs of the album aren’t quite ready to relent—it’s simply arrived in the form of black humor. On the track, Madame Gao celebrates her misdeeds from the previous night with a jubilant nonchalance. Williams’s character is resentful to how things turned out, but the measured delivery suggests that he’s more or less resigned with it. Despite the not-so-happy turnout, the bright synth stabs and pop vocals that end the song propose that there’s an unmistakable joy to be found in closure. But more importantly, the stark contrast between the musicality of this track and the earlier tracks is meant to be a reminder: a bit of open honesty at the beginning would’ve led to a much different outcome.

专辑最后的曲目《Crazy Talk》在风格上突然转变。整张专辑中不断蕴酿的情感在这里达至高潮。尽管这首歌的曲风在整张专辑中最为悦耳，但依然在讲述专辑沉重的主题，只不过现在以黑色幽默的形式出现。歌中，Madame Gao 以蛮不在乎的语调道出前夜出轨的事实，而由 Gregory 演绎的男性角色则表达对她所做一切的愤怒但却克制的情绪，暗示他或多或少接受事实的无奈。故事的结果虽不尽人意，而整首歌曲在合成器与人声间交织的快乐气氛，却引人陷入思考。Gregory 仿佛在用与之前截然不同的曲风阐明观点：如果从一开始能坦诚相待，结果可能没有那么糟糕。

Williams believes this call to action for people to open honest dialogues with one another is especially relevant now. Even though the album is only a micro-level look at the consequences of deception, the cautionary tale was created with a bigger picture in mind. “It takes time to develop one’s worldview, and mine has matured as I evolved as a producer,” he says. “I now feel in a place where I have a lot to say and value to bring to the world. Art has always played a big role in showing people a new angle on the things they struggle with. So I hope this project can be that start point for some people.”

Silence and lies only widen the divide between people, and with the way this year has unraveled, being truthful and communicative can be a meaningful first step in changing the state of affairs. Though it may not always seem like it, our actions (and inactions) as individuals can have a rippling impact on the world at large, and so, now is perhaps as good a time as any to ask ourselves, “What are our unspoken lies?”

Gregory 在此张专辑中呼吁人与人之间的坦诚，这个理念在当下尤其重要。尽管专辑只是从微观层面探讨了欺骗的后果，但故事背后蕴含着一个更大的愿景。他说：“每个人的世界观都是长年累月建立起来的，而就我而言，我是在成为一名制作人后才有了更成熟的世界观。现在的我有很多想法想和别人分享，也想为世界带来一点自己的价值观。艺术能为苦苦挣扎的人们带来启发，让他们从新的角度看待事物。我也希望这张专辑可以对一些人有所启发。”

沉默和谎言只会拉大人与人之间的隔阂，特别是今年的形势下，诚实和坦诚交流是我们改变现状的最重要的第一步。我们每个人的作为（或不作为）都有可能对整个世界产生蝴蝶效应。就趁现在，问问自己：“我们还有哪些尚未说出口的谎言？”

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Website: www.omacasse.com
Instagram: @o_ma_casse_music
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Contributor: David Yen
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li

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网站: www.omacasse.com
Instagram: @o_ma_casse_music
微信: O_Ma_Casse_Music

 

供稿人: David Yen
英译中: Olivia Li

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