黑暗堡垒催生的新音乐革命计划 ---- The Rising Tied 火线同盟
「The Rising Tied」--- 一张最令人期待,来自由麦克组成Fort Minor的首张专辑,将会在2005年11月22号,由Machine Shop Recordings/Warner Bros发行。由杰斯担任执行製作人(在2004「衝击理论」专辑当中,和联合公园有精采的对撞火花)。整张专辑由麦克担任製作人,并亲自操刀混音,专辑里的每一首歌,也都是由麦克亲自撰写,几乎所有的乐器都由他下海弹奏,亲自监控专辑里的每个细节。
麦克选择Fort Minor(黑暗堡垒)这具有绝对衝突感的名字发表此张音乐作品,是希望呈现极端元素并置时所可能激盪衍生出的动能与创作力量。(浩大强劲与渺小微弱的2 方元素对峙时产出的衝击力,”渺小微弱/ minor”在音乐上有晦暗悲伤的含意。)。专辑名称The Rising Tied同样地也在字里行间里嗅出饶富哲学思想的意义.。麦克表示所有参与这次专辑演出的朋友,都是来自於音乐世界的一群好手。包括Machine Shop 旗下的艺人 Styles of Beyond 、Holly Brook, 凡夫俗子(Common),约翰传奇(John Legend), Kenna和来自扎根合唱团的Black Thought 。
以最贴近灵魂的方式向外发声 在黑暗中被注目的发光体
身为联合公园首脑之一的麦克,对於创作音乐的渴望,驱动他骨髓里深藏的嘻哈/MC细胞,他在创作出来的音乐里,加入大量的酷炫元素。当这些元素匯集出足够能量时,就代表着麦克的即将释放出爆炸性的音乐火花,也象徵着他的全新音乐之旅也随即展开。忠於自己嘻哈细胞的麦克,在创作这张专辑时,一切都以”有机化” 方式调製。所谓”有机化”,就是专辑中所用到的乐器演奏音效,都是以真正乐器弹奏,而不以人工的电子合成乐来代替。「The Rising Tied」完整地释放出麦克身上的创作动能,以最贴近麦克的方式,向嘻哈世界最严酷的考验宣战。
首支祭出的单曲 “Believe Me”,在摇摇欲墬的薄弱关係里,以剧烈跳动的拍子为基底,注入拉丁节奏,伴随大提琴的低音声线,反映麦可体内的热血对经典摇滚的狂爱。“High Road”弹跳着有如钢琴大师比利乔手中流泄的音符,以幽默的声调,流转着兴奋的节奏。在“Remember The Name”里,麦克以第三人称的方式,将一般街头饶舌里的那种吹嘘、自夸口吻,转化成精细且微妙的文字节奏。” 5%欢愉、50%痛苦、还有100%的理由 牢记这个名字”这就是一小段来自“Remember The Name”里文字游戏。另外一首歌“Where’d You Go?,算是麦克从没尝试过的抒情曲风。以轻轻悲嘆的口吻,唱给那些曾经迷失方向的你和我,麦克还说,每次放这首歌时,老婆都会有感而发而落泪。
单曲“Right Now”,这首歌的创作灵感,来自於导演劳勃阿特曼(Robert Altman) 的电影【Short Cuts(银色性男女)】。麦克、Black Thought和 S.O.B,共同打造这首有着不同层次的街头音乐诗篇,以碎烈的钢琴音符为衬底低声呼唤,将本来分散的曲子紧紧缝合在一起。“Back Home”一曲,麦克回归自我,描述洛杉磯的生活点滴。“Petrified”以讽刺的口吻,描述这个时代人们一些不负责任的行为,整首歌有着不安的、危险的、恐惧的气氛,可说是自帮派饶舌大哥Ice Cube(冰块酷八)10年前发表的经典作 “Wicked”以来另一首晦暗沉重的歌曲。* Wicked是gangsta rap经典代表作之一。
在这张专辑当中,或是说在所有专辑当中,最特别的一首歌就是“Kenji,这首饶舌回忆录纪录着於第二次大战期间,在美国拘留所里,日本公民被囚禁的故事。在这首歌里,麦克的阿姨和父亲也献声演出。曾在1940年被拘留在美国的他们,以音乐的力量,勾勒出一幅幅苍白的图像,描绘当时在拘留所里失去一切的人们,他们的无言,他们的哀泣。麦克表示,去年他曾拜访位於洛杉磯的日美国家博物馆(Japanese-American National Museum),造访之后让他想起家人告诉他的那些故事,那些有关於麦克家人如何被关在居留所里的故事。当时他的家人并没有做任何错事,只因他们的身分在那个时空下,在那个情境里,必须面对那样的对待。麦克欣慰地表示:我必须以Fort Minor/黑暗堡垒的这个特殊角色,来为这个事件写一首歌。我非常感谢有了这另一个身份,让我可以创作在联合公园里我无法触及的议题。
Breaking off into his own hip-hop universe, Linkin Park's rapper and in-house producer Mike Shinoda presents Fort Minor, a loose side project with a steady stream of guests, yet a surprisingly personal project too that sometimes puts the listeners right in Shinoda's shoes. On The Rising Tied, Fort Minor can strike the baller pose a little too hard and sometimes the club-minded tracks shout loud while saying nothing. Softening the blow of these standard rock-dude-doing-rap clichés is the production, with constructions that are like House of Pain meets the Crystal Method and a whole synthetic orchestra in tow. As executive producer, Jay-Z calls it during the album's intro, it's a "big sound," and as he focuses on "richness of the sound" he knows this is "something serious." Serious is something Shinoda excels at and The Rising Tied slays when it goes epic. "Right Now" connects the hood, to the 'burbs, to Iraq effortlessly while rapidly introducing a series of lonely people that are all as stuck as Eleanor Rigby. "Where'd You Go" tugs at the heart even harder while suggesting it doesn't matter if it's war or constant business trips are keeping loved ones away from home, it just plain hurts. There's also the bleak and bitter "Kenji" which focuses on the Japanese-American internees during World War II with believable venom. Empty headed numbers like "In Stereo" ("Oh-oh/Ready for it here we go/We got the block rocking in stereo") are the kind of tracks you wouldn't want to be caught dead representing as street hip-hop when in the hood, but if it's filler when compared to the soul-searching highlights, it's damn catchy filler with lyrics innocuous enough for everyday suburban partying. On the other hand, the following "Back Home" finds Shinoda holding his own next to hip-hop hero Common and a little while later "High Road" nails the "all you haters stop playin'" track perfectly and nearly at Twista speed. Even if the album is more TRL than 106 & Park, it's only an easy target for cynical folks who haven't really listened to it. The Rising Tied is brilliant in parts, "Dre Day" here and there, but mostly unique and just as "big" as Jay-Z says it is.