by boyethAn@破報
人生中最接近Primal Scream的一次是兩年前的【重灌80三部曲】,到頭來還是被Primal Scream給晃點了,雖難免有怨卻無損這支80年代蘇格蘭迷幻樂隊於自己心目中的地位,硬是買下了《Screamadelica》這套盒裝經典重發;可自己內心知道、Primal Scram的真正地位,其實是《Sonic Flower Groove》時期所建立的,在各方技術尚未成熟之際便被NME拱上台來反抗龐克音樂宰制的局面,對Bobby Gillespie(即PS主唱)而言,無疑是個沉重的挑戰。
若以千禧年為分界點,《Sonic Flower Groove》面世於13年前,剛好是C86運動的後一年、並接續著Acid House的爆發與90初Britpop的大鳴大放;而本文的主角、里茲樂隊Hookworms的處男專輯《Pearl Mystic》則誕生於13年後(以千禧計算),換了時空背景、Hookworms肩上無需背負著力抗龐克(或後龐克)音樂的事實,迷幻音樂亦早已發展出成熟的脈絡,對年輕後進而言,踩著前人屍體前進不是難事,難就難在回頭望去、自己的步履究竟已走前了多遠的距離。
有人因復刻Beatles而走紅、如Tama Impala,也有人食德國酸泡菜成功轉型、如The Horrors/Toy,Hookworms界於兩者之間,被寄予厚望能成為另一支Spiritualized、又一支Primal Scream,再一支完美揉和Krautrock/Neo-Psychelic的救命劑。大碟《Pearl Mystic》甫發行以來,成功壓倒Drowned In Sound、NME等英國媒體,歌曲<Away/Towards>、<What We Talk About>如暴風襲擊,吹的那些稚嫩瞪鞋、還在觀望的新迷幻客目瞪口呆;唱片亦被拿來與Kraftwerk的《Autobahn》以及Manic Street Preachers的《The Holy Bible》相提並論,其幕後龐大製作野心昭然若揭。
Not until two minutes into eight-minute opener ‘Away Towards’ does the mist start to lift. Then: whoosh! A swirl of Primal Scream psychedelia played by five men from Leeds, over which singer MJ (Hookworms like to be known by their initials) gives it the full Bobby Gillespie. This record is not the sunburnt wooze of Tame Impala: it’s angrier, colder. ‘Form And Function’ is a furious fuzz; ‘Preservation’ plain irritated by the world. Sensing the album is perhaps too intense, the band’s debut also features lyric-free, sort-of-ambient tracks ‘i’, ‘ii’ and ‘iii’, dotted throughout to provide brief moments of serenity.