摇滚乐从20世纪中叶发展至今,想想也快近半个世纪了。然而摇滚乐到底是什么?或许到目前谁都还无法用任何的描述做一完整的定论;因为有人认为摇滚乐就是从当初的爵士、蓝调、民谣逐渐演化融合而成的混杂乐种;然而也有人认为摇滚乐当初就是禀着一种叛逆精神、生活态度或是一个观念而已。但不论如何,“Rock Music”在经过四十余年各种类型流派的萌芽与茁壮,才使得摇滚乐在今日得以呈现出这么多样的风格与类型出来。
Post-Rock名词的出现与争议
大约在95年,美国村声杂志刊载了一篇由英国乐评家西蒙·雷诺兹(Simon Reynolds)所写的文章,而文中,这位西蒙先生主要是企图想描绘出,在九十年代中期,一群以"Drag City"、"Trill Jockey"、"Too Pure"这几个厂牌为主的地下乐队的音乐,而他们不管是在乐风或观念上,主要是以酷派爵士(Cool Jazz)、即兴爵士(Free Jazz)、环境音乐 (Ambient)、雷鬼音乐的混音技术(Dub)再加上七十年代的前卫摇滚(ProgressiveRock)和Kraut-Rock等多重风格来做为他们在音乐创作实验的基本要素。而在此一大范畴下,恰好当时的芝加哥市、英美两国及欧洲各地,均有一堆当地的地下乐队符合西蒙先生的描述,而他在文中便首次以"Post-Rock"一词,暂时统称这些勇于突破现有摇滚乐定义的前卫团体。没想到,过没多久,一些音乐杂志便以"Post-Rock"来正式称呼这群致力于摇滚乐新美学的新生代乐队。
不过后摇滚(Post-Rock)虽然已经先有了一个较为正式的称呼,但其实在最初的时候,许多音乐杂志对这一群人所玩的音乐基本上都还是无法做一定论。像是滚石杂志当初在介绍这些团体时,还只是用"Instrument Rock"一词来称呼他们,其原因主要是这些乐队大部分都较偏向纯乐器演奏而且也没有主唱。但有的刊物又因针对其乐风或渊源,于是有人又称之为
"DroneRock"、"Space Rock"、"Out Rock"、"Neo-shoegazer-rock"或"Kraut-Rock"等各种名词。然而,"后摇滚"这个名称被正式采用,则还是后来英国《Wire》音乐杂志持续有系统的用"Post- Rock"一词做大幅度的介绍报导后,整个所谓的"后摇滚运动"才慢慢地传开来。只不过到现在为止,仍有许多乐评人或被贴上后摇滚乐队的团体都仍非常讨厌或否认"后摇滚"这一名词。因为他们认为这一名词卷标根本都不足以形容他们自己所玩的音乐风格;甚至被视为现今"后摇滚"大本营之一的芝加哥,在当初的时候,当地的另类音乐刊物或乐评也几乎不提"后摇滚"这个名词来形容当时刚崛起的代表乐队Tortoise或Sea And
Cake。更甚者,许多乐评家还认为所谓"后摇滚"这个观念根本早在七十年代就已出现,只是这些观念还只是蕴含在各种非主流的乐派及几个关键性乐队中,而且那时出现的还都只是零散的创作概念构想,而现在只不过经由西蒙先生的一番介绍,才这样由媒体的运作,就俨然成为新一代的音乐种类?
Post-Rock的基本概念
那么到底当初西蒙先生的定义到底是怎么一回事?而所谓的"后摇滚"到底又是什么?它和所谓一般的"摇滚乐"又有何区别?如果说"后摇滚"音乐便如同"后现代主义"相对于"现代主义"的反动,那么它主要便是企图颠覆摇滚乐的基本概念与传统架构,或是甚至针对整个所谓音乐工业的运作做一消极的反抗。譬如说,同样是玩电吉他、鼓及贝斯的摇滚团体,但换到玩"后摇滚"的乐手中,却可能完全转变成另一种完全不同的创作观念。简略地说,所谓"后摇滚"其实就是一种由概念或理论去颠覆传统摇滚音乐创作的模式(如主旋律-桥段-主旋律-桥段)。而如果你听过一点"后摇滚"的音乐的话,你或许就会发现,他们所引用的理论则大都是援用所谓"解构主义"或西洋文学理论里头的"后现代主义"或者"后结构主义"的观念。也因此,就像十年前南辕北辙的"解构主义"作品一样,现在你若去找寻所有的 "后摇滚"乐队,那你可能会发觉他们听起来没有一个乐队是相近或相类似的风格(或许在他们的脑中,风格早已被 打破或不存在了)。
所以,当初西蒙先生心里所想的定义应该是很广泛的,因为当94年芝加哥乐队Tortoise和Sea And Cake发表同名专辑时,这两张专辑便已呈现出两种颇为不同的风格:Tortoise深受七十年代前卫摇滚乐队Can及电子乐实验乐队Kraftwerk 的理念影响,但有的作品又直承现代音乐、极简主义(如Philip Glass)或是Free Jazz大师Miles Davis、Ornette Coleman 及Sun Ra的影响;至于Sea And Cake,则反而专注于营造漂浮低调的情感;甚至在"后摇滚"领域较为知名的Stereolab则是大量运用流行音乐的基调,然后再加以解构重组而成另一种风貌的。
音乐特点
在90年代兴起的深受电声器乐摇滚影响的实验摇滚运动中,后摇滚无疑是占有统治地位的音乐类型。后摇滚音乐中集结了一大堆实验流派-Krauft-Rock、氛围音乐(Ambient)、激进摇滚(Progressive Rock)、Space Rock、Math Rock、Tape Music、简约古典(Minimalist Classical)、British IDM, Jazz (both Avant-Garde and Cool), 和 Dub Reggae,一句话简言之就是:音乐大部分架构在摇滚音乐上,但是它实质上不是摇滚音乐。
后摇滚给听众的音乐感受是与传统意义上的摇滚乐激励情感是完全相反的,它的音乐富于使人催眠和声响低沉单调(尤见于一些以吉他为主的乐队),即使相对亮色的音乐也使人感到镇定和醒脑。之所以如此是因为后摇滚当初就是反对摇滚的一种回应,尤其是当主流乐界对另类音乐的同化后更加如此,很多后摇滚乐队是在一个相同的意识下建立起来的,这种意识就是:摇滚乐已经丧失了自身的真正的反叛意识,并且很难从自身的陈旧模式和空洞姿态的窠穴中自拔。所以后摇滚拒绝一切与传统摇滚乐相关的东西。
后摇滚音乐着力于纯粹声响和音色远甚于对旋律和歌曲结构的沉迷,其大部分作品倾向于器乐,即使作品中有人声出现,也仅仅是作为整体音乐效果的一种附属。
后摇滚音乐基架的建立是在1991年两部竭然不同的里程碑作品的发表:Talk Talk乐队的《Laughing Stock》和Slint乐队的《Spiderland》。《Laughing Stock》是Talk Talk乐队从合成器流行乐转型后的顶峰之作,其音乐是对情境音乐(Ambient)、爵士乐(Jazz)以及简约室内乐(Minimalist Chamber Music)进行情绪化的、精巧的融合;而《Spiderland》的音乐则是充满深思的、bass-driven grooves、喃喃的诗化歌词、晦涩的结构以及极度的音量切换。这两部作品对很多后来的后摇滚乐队都产生过影响。
后摇滚一词则是由评论家所创造的。Post Rock一词最初是由Simon Reynolds在描述Bark Psychosis受到Talk Talk乐队影响的氛围音乐实验时使用,结果该词被应用于称呼那些不曾归类的从勇于打破既定传统的乐队(如Gastr del Sol, Cul de Sac, Main)到像Stereolab, Laika和the Sea and Cake这样的Indie Rock乐队(注:这其中不包括Slint乐队的仿效者)。后摇滚被公众承认是在来自芝加哥的Tortoise乐队1996年发表的第二张专辑《Millions Now Living Will Never Die》之后,这部作品也许是后摇滚各种实验元素所达到的最极至的融合。这样,后摇滚瞬间就为评论界提供了区分各种此类型下不同乐队(艺人)及其前辈们的方法,之后后摇滚迅速成为了同时代的独立摇滚(Indie Rock)的堂兄弟,集中在Thrill Jockey, Kranky, Drag City, 和Too Pure这些厂牌之下。
具有讽刺意味的是在90年代末,后摇滚获得了千篇一律的名声,一些人发现这种音乐缺乏感情令人生厌,另一些人认为后摇滚已经没有了当初的激进融合而变得众所周知,这其中部分原因应归咎于许多后摇滚乐队在他们的最初音乐理念上甚少变化。然而即使在这种倒退的情况下,新一轮的乐队(the Dirty Three, Rachel's, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Ros)以其独特的声音获得了较为广泛的赞许,暗示着后摇滚这种音乐类型毕竟还未走到尽头。
Post-rock was the dominant form of experimental rock during the '90s, a loose movement that drew from greatly varied influences and nearly always combined standard rock instrumentation with electronics. Post-rock brought together a host of mostly experimental genres -- Kraut-rock, ambient, prog-rock, space rock, math rock, tape music, minimalist classical, British IDM, jazz (both avant-garde and cool), and dub reggae, to name the most prevalent -- with results that were largely based in rock, but didn't rock per se. Post-rock was hypnotic and often droning (especially the guitar-oriented bands), and the brighter-sounding groups were still cool and cerebral -- overall, the antithesis of rock's visceral power. In fact, post-rock was something of a reaction against rock, particularly the mainstream's co-opting of alternative rock; much post-rock was united by a sense that rock & roll had lost its capacity for real rebellion, that it would never break away from tired formulas or empty, macho posturing. Thus, post-rock rejected (or subverted) any elements it associated with rock tradition. It was far more concerned with pure sound and texture than melodic hooks or song structure; it was also usually instrumental, and if it did employ vocals, they were often incidental to the overall effect. The musical foundation for post-rock crystallized in 1991, with the release of two very different landmarks: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock and Slint's Spiderland. Laughing Stock was the culmination of Talk Talk's move away from synth-pop toward a moody, delicate fusion of ambient, jazz, and minimalist chamber music; Spiderland, meanwhile, was full of deliberate, bass-driven grooves, mumbled poetry, oblique structures, and extreme volume shifts. While those two albums would influence many future post-rock bands, the term itself didn't appear until critic Simon Reynolds coined it as a way to describe the Talk Talk-inspired ambient experiments of Bark Psychosis. The term was later applied to everything from unclassifiable iconoclasts (Gastr del Sol, Cul de Sac, Main) to more tuneful indie-rock experimenters like Stereolab, Laika, and the Sea and Cake (not to mention a raft of Slint imitators). Post-rock came into its own as a recognizable trend with the Chicago band Tortoise's second album, 1996's Millions Now Living Will Never Die, perhaps the farthest-reaching fusion of post-rock's myriad touchstones. Suddenly there was a way for critics to classify artists as diverse as Labradford, Trans Am, Ui, Flying Saucer Attack, Mogwai, Jim O'Rourke, and their predecessors (though most hated the label). Post-rock quickly became an accepted, challenging cousin of indie rock, centered around the Thrill Jockey, Kranky, Drag City, and Too Pure labels. Ironically, by the end of the decade, post-rock had itself acquired a reputation for sameness; some found the style's dispassionate intellectuality boring, while others felt that its formerly radical fusions had become predictable, partly because many artists were offering only slight variations on their original ideas. However, even as the backlash set in, a newer wave of bands (the Dirty Three, Rachel's, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Rós) gained wider recognition for their distinctive sounds, suggesting that the style wasn't exhausted after all.
# | 歌曲 | 艺人 | 时长 |
---|---|---|---|
01 | Conversation | The Silent League | 03:33 |
02 | It's Dark, It's Cold, It's Winter | Sleepmakeswaves | 04:45 |
03 | 醉忘川 | 惘闻 | 08:20 |
04 | Breathe | The Silent League | 03:46 |
05 | III | Athletics | 06:10 |