我向来觉得,如果一个乐队没有在他们所存在的那个时代中体现出独特的风格,便没有太多介绍的必要。毕竟每天都会有无数个新乐队出现,如果每支乐队都能得到500字的介绍,那不仅是给我们本来就爆炸了的信息时代火上浇油,同时也会让音乐编辑们受不了稿费的开销。因此,在介绍与不介绍的选择之中,必然有一些没能唱出特色的乐队会遭到残酷的淘汰。
对于Kasabian,其实我四个月之前就想说了,但考虑到当时他们的名气尚未在与英国隔着八个时区的神州摇滚青年中间得到共识,便一直没有下笔。直到前些天,他们获得了英国音乐大奖的4项提名之后(最多的是Franz Ferdinand,5项提名),才觉得是时候了。
Kasabian的四位成员均成长于莱切斯特,17岁的时候,几个人就在一起玩音乐。他们的名字源自六十年代末的连环杀手影片《Charlie Manson/Manson Family》中的一名女司机Linda Kasabian,乐队希望透过其重复性的音乐元素,来表达出人们的疯狂与暴力。
乐队在接受采访的时候曾坦言,Primal Scream激发了他们组队的冲动,并且觉得PS的音乐路线将在未来成为一个乐队成功与否的蓝本。但这并不是说Kasabian就是另一队PS。事实上,PS对他们的影响更多是做音乐时的意识,而不是具体到某一首歌或某一段旋律。因此,在他们首张同名专辑中,你可能只会在《Club Foot》中直接听出《Xtrmntr》时期的PS,而更多体会到的则是与他们一样在音乐上的折衷与包容。
因此,在《Reason Is Treason》当中,你听到的不仅仅是Neu!的流畅曲式,还能从中段的合成器演奏中感觉到Giorgio Moroder的存在。而《Processed Beats》中的Funk节拍又让你觉得乐队主唱Tom Meighan在用跑调的方式翻唱Beck的《Loser》。到了《L.S.F(Lost Souls Forever)》,让人想起了前Verve主唱Richard Ashcroft为U.N.K.L.E献唱的《Lonely Soul》,与原曲不同的是,这首歌更加Funky。
此外,为了更好的表现出迷幻的一面,他们还特意在音乐中加入了西塔琴,如嗓音和节拍都同Placebo有许多神似之处的《Running Battle》、在倒播技巧的运用中,加入同早期Pink Floyd有着同样音色之吉他演奏的《Test Transmission》、在走迷幻民谣路线的同时带有异域色彩riff的《U Boat》和未来主义色彩合成器与重型Hip Hop节拍交相辉映的《I.D.》。
也许Kasabian并不是前无古人,但他们还是因为对元素巧妙的混合而变得格外突出,这正如PS贝斯手所说,“从Kasabian身上我确认到一些在英伦音乐上失踪了十年的东西”。
Finding the pop music around them dull and mannered, Kasabian mixed a bit of the Stones, Happy Mondays, and Primal Scream with DJ Shadow-influenced electronics to take the British press by storm. Named after Linda Kasabian, Charles Manson's getaway driver turned state witness, Leicester's Kasabian stole a page from Sun Ra and the Band, as the group's members moved into a remote old farmhouse to brew their music. Communal life and shelf after shelf filled with albums by their favorites (Neu!, the Beatles, DJ Shadow, Primal Scream, Blackalicious) produced a rocking sound that wasn't afraid of electronics and harked back to days of baggy pants and druggy dancing. With acerbic answers during interviews, swaggering lead singer Tom Meighan quickly became a darling of the press, and the band's revolutionary logos and sleeve art added to the excitement. Fold-out poster sleeves, 10& versions, and hand-stenciled covers accompanied 2004 singles like &Club Foot,& &L.S.F,& and &Processed Beats.& It all added up to Kasabian's self-titled debut going Top Five on the U.K's album chart in October of 2004. Two years later, while readying the release of their second album, Empire, founding guitarist Chris Karloff quit Kasabian due to creative differences.