Ben Lee

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风格: #独立流行　#独立摇滚　#欧美流行
地区: Australia 澳大利亚

艺人介绍

一位澳大利亚唱作人。年轻时曾在大学组建名叫 Noise Addict 的乐队，受到 Sonic Youth 的 Thurston Moore 青睐，并在后者自己的厂牌下发表专辑，从而成名。

还是在1993年，时年只有13岁的Bee Lee和他的两个同年的校友组建了一支名叫Noise Addict的乐队，并且用简陋的设备为自己录制了一盘小样。在乐队的第一场演出中，一位悉尼音乐圈的“大人物”对这个“童子军”产生了浓厚的兴趣，这就是最初将Nirvana介绍到澳洲的Steve Pavlovic，他同时也是独立唱片公司Fallaheen的老板。后来Steve Pavlovic成了Ben Lee的资助人，并且在他的介绍下这支少年乐队有机会把他们的音乐介绍到更远的地方。而在转过年的春天，十四岁的Ben Lee收到了来自纽约著名摇滚乐队Sonic Youth的吉他手Thurston Moore的回信，Thurston Moore说他很喜欢“孩子们”的摇滚作品，并且答应他们在自己的厂牌Ecstatic Peace为乐队发表一张EP专辑。在这张专辑中收录了Noise Addict的第一首正式主打单曲——《Wish I Was Him》，它歌唱了Ben Lee是多么想成为像自己的偶像——The Lemonheads乐队的主唱Evan Dando一样的人物，后来Evan Dando也听到了这首歌曲，他表示这是一份很有纪念意义的礼物，并且录制了翻唱版本并收录在他自己的专辑中。在Evan Dando的介绍下，Beastie Boys的成员Mike D听到了来自Noise Addict的样带，并且十分满意，于是Ben Lee正式来到了Beastie Boys的私人厂牌—Grand Royal。就这样，Ben Lee在Grand Royal一下子遍度过了4年的光景，从Noise Addict到他的个人事业，直到专辑《Something to Remember Me By》的发表他才离开。

Ben Lee一直就是个傻乎乎的只知道拿着吉他唱歌的阳光大男孩，在发表《Something to Remember Me By》的时候他也只有18岁，从他所歌唱的主题中我们就可以看出真实的年龄，因为那些阳光歌曲唱的全都是快乐和简单的情感。全部的乡村摇滚路线，全部的箱琴吉他，要说Ben Lee离开澳洲来到纽约之后的惟一变化，那就是他的歌曲更加清新和简单了。专辑中的很多歌曲都有着明显的Evan Dando式的创作模式，当然也许是受他的影响太多，Ben Lee无法逃脱那种迷人的纯美气息，在类如歌曲《Deep Talk In The Shallow End》的配器方面，那种在背景处点缀声音的手法太让人怀念90年代的另类摇滚风格了，这比时下那些以“乱”为美的新团体要强的多。

05年在澳大利亚音乐大奖中成为最大赢家，凭借专辑《Awake is The New Sleep》获得最佳男歌手奖、最佳独立创作奖，同时李还凭借专辑中的歌曲《Catch My Disease》获得本年度最佳单曲奖。

Ben Lee. His songs are melded visions of strict autobiography and megalomaniacal revolutionary escapism. Weaving fragile lines between melodic story telling, sharp songwriting and a developing self awareness, his tunes are portraits of ideas and emotions that often transcend the boundaries of their creator. Ben's songs exist in the world where a commitment to adventure and reckless ambition are the only recognizable landmarks, as he sings about his personal observations on Life, Love and the Universe.

Ben Lee made his auspicious stage debut in '93 fronting indie rockers Noise Addict, a foursome of Sydney school friends who's inaugural performance was a gig at a library book sale. Catching the eye of promoter and Fellaheen Records head Stephen Pavlovic, the band were quickly signed to the label that same year releasing the semi-controversied Evan Dando nod/poke 7& &I Wish I Was Him& when the average age of the group was a mere 14. Soon after, Sonic Youth guy Thurston Moore signed the band to his Ecstatic Peace label championing their work as &the best all time interpersonal fractured songwriting ever put on tape,& and released an EP entitled DEF.

Noise Addict would, soon afterwards, release their Young & Jaded EP in June '94 on the, then fledgling Grand Royal label under the auspices of Beastie Boy Mike D. Mike, like Moore, recognized greatness when he saw it. The EP would get nothing less than a hero's welcome here in the States culling favorable reviews from many crits, but stateside opportunities to see the band's dynamo live shows would be lost to burgeoning school schedules, etc...

Ben's solo debut Grandpaw Would would come soon after. Produced by Chicago luminary Brad Wood, the long player earned Ben high praise from his peers, press and radio, garnering a top spot on the college charts for several weeks. Released on Grand Royal in March '95, Grandpaw Would proved to be an evocative debut release. The record showcased an accomplished songwriter at the ripe old age of 16 and incited Aussie journos to quip &Ben Lee is the greatest Australian songwriter of all time.&

A new Noise Addict offering would then be released in January of the following year. Entitled Meet The Real You, the debut (and swan song) long player by the band saw helmsman Brad Wood trek it to Sydney to meet up with Ben and friends Romy Hoffman, Saul Smith and Daniel Kohn. The record would, like previous releases, tear up the college charts and find the rock press throwing their arms around the band. It would also prompt a stateside tour displaying a flourishing mandate to rock. But alas, Noise Addict would soon go the way of many a power pop group and disband blaming scheduling conflicts and varying interests. Young Ben would carry on though, ever-grasping for the musical brass ring proclaiming to Paper Magazine in March '96, &I'm gonna bungee jump into territory that hasn't been covered since Hootie did a duet with Bjork, with Exodus as the backing band.&

And bungee jump he did. While fans anticipated a slick commercial pop record, Ben took a left at the crossroads and delivered a rich and complex collection of acoustically wrought songs. He recorded the folk-tinged Something To Remember Me By in Spring '97 which saw Brad Wood at the board once again, this time choosing Los Angeles as his home base. The production partnership of Ben and Brad turned what was essentially 18 simple acoustic ditties into an engaging album of ideas. This record allowed Ben to explore his roots as a singer/songwriter having been inspired by artists such as Bob Dylan and Loudon Wainwright III, among others. &I've seen the future of rock and roll... and it's name is Ben Lee,& quipped Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins.

Now on the eve of the release of Ben's brand new album Breathing Tornados, it is clear that the curve balls Ben has thrown his fans throughout his short career have all been part of a master plan leading to this new creation. Breathing Tornados is his most accomplished work to date. The record was tracked at a Los Angeles apartment owned by a curious figure named One Arm Joe. The apartment, adequately dubbed One Arm Joe's Orgy Pad seemed a perfect setting for the creative process although recording would be often interrupted by Joe's appearing naked and drunk in the morning smashing his own glass windows.

However, despite the turbulent environment, Ben and producer Ed Buller (Suede, Pulp, Spiritualized) managed to put together a highly cohesive body of work. Described by Ben as &a lush, organic, synthesized pop record,& Breathing Tornados mixes his unique songwriting style with textures not yet heard in his records. Additionally, Ben and Ed recorded the album entirely on computers using mostly synthesized sounds. However, this was more out of the necessity to experiment unencumbered by human emotion rather than an attempt to embrace techno-fashion.

Ironically, the result is a warm and vibrant album of songs spanning many moods but with an undoubtedly pre-millennium vibe. Ben's lyrics on Breathing Tornados are in keeping with this dichotomy, dealing for the most part with the concept of detaching from one's environment and creating and dictating a more customized fantasy/reality. While &Ship My Body Home& deals with the idea of dying away from the safety of your birthplace, &I Am A Sunflower& touches upon the aforementioned idea of detachment, opening with the line &Today, a boy becomes a man.&

Although largely written by Ben, the album also features selected collaborative contributions from Gummo director/Kids screenwriter Harmony Korine who co-wrote &Tornados.& In addition, &Sandpaperback& was co-written by Buller and That Dog's Petra Hayden takes co-writing credit on &Nothing Much Happens& and &Nighttime.& Other guest artists include Sean Lennon and Donovan Leitch, who contribute backing vocals on more than one track.

For a closing reflection on Breathing Tornados, Ben says, &It's sexy. It sounds like Lou Reed buying drinks for Marvin Gaye.&

Breathing Tornados was released on Grand Royal/Capitol Records on March 9th, 1999.

Ben Lee

艺人介绍

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