Every so often, there comes an album that seems almost too fragile to evaluate, as if even looking in its direction would shatter it, destroying its very existence. So it is with Scott Herren's latest work as Savath & Savalas. Herren, the pioneer behind Prefuse 73's One Word Extinguisher -- Prefix's choice for best album of 2003 -- takes a turn here that not even fans of Savath & Savalas's 2000 debut, Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey, would expect.

Recording with his friend Eva Puyuelo Muns in Barcelona, the city he now calls home, Apropa't exposes so much about the trajectory of the relationship that it becomes a fascinating look at an artist at the top of his game suddenly transformed. It would be easy to either ignore or expect at least hints of Prefuse 73, but once you invest in this album, it's clear the acknowledgment is more important than any actual similarities when it comes to understanding the shift in focus.

In Herren's work as Prefuse 73, passion constantly shines through the cacophonous machinery. The cut-up abstract vocals he uses exude a feeling of humanity trapped under the surface, but instead of being resigned to its prison, it's bursting at the seams. How ironic, then, that Apropa't seems so devoid of humanity. The warmth has been replaced by preciousness, but none of this beauty seems organic or even earthly. Perhaps that comes largely from the feeling that what we're listening to is not culled from interpersonal relations, but from deep within the soul. Whereas One Word Extinguisher was a constant human symphony being played out over beats, Apropa't leaves us with our own minds.

Much has been written about this album in relation to Herren's other work. The reason for this -- aside from the fact that it is simply impossible to ignore such important albums in any artist's career -- is that the album itself is so hard to pin down. Vocals from the two rookie singers (which is not to say bad) float in and out of the mix, faint electronics give way to echoing guitars give way to sloping drums. The mild indication of the Warp label that so improbably released the album is lost before you can grab onto it to examine, and songs blend into songs until you can barely remember when the album started or when it will end.

My lack of comprehension of Spanish, not to mention my full ignorance of Catalan, the other language spoken here, seems beside the point. Herren's work has never been focused around vocals (if it ever featured them to begin with), and this is not different. Apropa't could technically be considered Spanish folk music, but it's really neither, and any comparisons to other work in similar genres seems lacking. Perhaps the best comparison would be to the classic Gil e Jorge, but that album's simple musical improvisation by two of the best Brazilian folk singers of all time relates to the subtly-but-throughly-produced feel of Apropa't only in its lack of structure and its strong, introspective emotional pull.

The structure here is extremely inaccessible. "Um Girassol Da Cor De Seu Cabelo," the only cover of the album's fourteen tracks, is also basically the only true (pop) song on the album. Stuck right in the middle of the record, it seems upon initial listens as if the rest of the album is just trying to give exposure to such a beautiful song, building up to it and leading out with grace.

But listen to Apropa't more. Listen to it while you sleep, while you write, while you fuck. This isn't your average background music and it isn't your average folk. What so many albums depend on in criticism is not only classification but analysis. What is this and why does it succeed/fail? Apropa't demands neither of these things; it rejects them. Instead, Herren and Muns are asking you to turn back to your own minds. This album will mean a lot of different things to different people, but its beauty is intended to be that way: fleeting, personal and timeless.

　　在“迷星”(Mazzy Star)、“莫哈韦3”(Mojave 3)等乐队逐渐衰颓后，迷幻流行乐(Psych-pop)鲜有能被众人称赞的的代表乐队了。然而去年，首次发片的“埃斯颇斯”(Espers)却惊动了国外乐评人：“迷幻流行乐没有死！”

　　几年前，费城一个名叫“埃斯颇豪斯”(Esperhaus)的住处里聚集了一批音乐人，随后有人陆续离开。留下来的人里有格雷格·威克斯(Greg Weeks)、玛格·贝尔德(Meg Baird)和布鲁克·塞汀桑斯(Brooke Sietinsons)3位唱作人(singer/songwriter)，他们组了支乐队。在3人眼里，这乐队的组建如同后院野草地里长出的花一样珍贵，也是为了纪念“埃斯颇豪斯”，他们为它取名“埃斯颇斯”(Espers)。

　　听“埃斯颇斯”去年的同名专辑，“贝尔与塞巴斯蒂安”(Belle & Sebastian)式的清新感扑面而来，然而《埃斯颇斯》以民谣为内核，更冰冷，更优雅，更迷幻，可谓一张优秀的冷色调迷幻民谣(Psych-folk)专辑。以原声吉他(Acoustic Guitar)为乐器主干，洋琴、竖琴、小提琴、大提琴、打击乐器、古典合成器以及一些民间乐器为辅助，营造出空间感、层次感强烈的器乐网络来，细剖让人眼花缭乱，组合起来却是浑然一体。女主唱玛格·贝尔德的嗓音有着中世纪音乐与仙乐派的气质，飘渺脱俗，乐队首脑、男主唱格雷格·威克斯声音的质感也是恰倒好处，这使得那些大段的轻声哼吟与器乐配合得无可挑剔。“埃斯颇斯”迅速受到当地听众的欢迎，他们与圣布里奇特·约翰(Bridget John)及迈克尔·赫尔利(Michael Hurley)等人同台表演，参加大型音乐节。观众描述道：“他们的音乐如此沉静，现场表演却让人眼花缭乱，他们有催眠人的本事。”《埃斯颇斯》名列各媒体的2004年50大唱片名单中，获得了评论界和听众的一致好评。

　　于今年年末发行的EP《杂草树》(The Weed Tree)的封面与《埃斯颇斯》异曲同工，然而内容的变化却十分明显，7首歌曲中的6首为翻唱作品。人声和流行旋律是经典歌曲的要素，而“埃斯颇斯”则是以器乐为中心，这次他们试图平衡两者。于是我们听到，玛格·贝尔德和格雷格·威克斯的人声成为歌曲的主导，乐器演绎则退为点缀，甚至还加入了前所未有的电吉他失真音效，歌曲也透出阵阵暖意。“埃斯颇斯”以自己的品味、功力让赫尔利(Hurley)、尼可(Nico)、“杜鲁提兵团”(Durutti Column)、“蓝色牡蛎教派”(Blue Oyster Cult)等人/乐队的歌曲别具风味，但不可避免地，他们最吸引人的气质削弱了很多，更像是在表演旋律动听、中规中矩的英国民谣。唯一一首原创作品《死去的国王》(Dead King)虽然优美十足，却也没能展现他们的最佳水平。总的说来，这张EP会让喜爱《埃斯颇斯》的歌迷感到失望，但对于没有“迷幻民谣情结”的听众来说，《杂草树》则更受欢迎，它确实更加动听、更加流行。

In 2001-02, the iconoclastic experimental duo of Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis armed themselves with laptops and a bewildering array of sound files to undertake an ambitious (particularly by the standards of abstract electronic improvisation) world tour. Along the way they apparently recorded their every stray whirr and blip, and now-- after what must have been a mind-boggling editing process-- they've whittled nearly 18 hours of live audio footage down to the relatively succinct 45-minute compilation Yearlong.

Due to this nomadic recording process, Whitman and Davis have understandably put little emphasis on continuity here, choosing instead to offer Yearlong as something of a representative cross-section of their various joint creations. This has resulted in a sampler with an astonishing constantly evolving pool of noises and textures, but one that unfortunately doesn't generate the momentum necessary for these pieces to cohere into a gratifying whole.

As composers both Whitman and Davis possess a restless streak of invention, so it doesn't feel entirely accurate to label this album as a departure for either artist. Nevertheless, Yearlong consists predominantly of pieces that are considerably freer and more dissonant than what I've previously associated with either performer.

Thanks to their chosen equipment and methods, it'd be virtually impossible to identify which musician is actually responsible for generating which noises. However, Whitman in particular seems to be really stretching his legs here, as most of these pieces bear little resemblance to either the fractured IDM of his Hrvatski recordings or the rigorous dronescapes of past albums like 2002's Playthroughs. Tracks like the opener, recorded in Cambridge, Mass., in May 2002, immediately thrust the listener into an inhospitable electronic dust-bowl, with loose, jarring fragments of sound flying from every direction. Other performances, such as the first of two recorded at the Knitting Factory in June 2002, are studded with random, percussive scraps that stubbornly refuse to assemble themselves into recognizable rhythms. (One can only hope that the audiences who witnessed some of these live events had somewhere comfy to sit.)

Elsewhere, snatches of piano or orchestral samples briefly bubble and surface before being dashed against the duo's rugged electronic coastline. The most vibrantly constructed piece, recorded at the 2002 Impakt festival in Holland, finds the two sounding as if they are conducting a distant symphony from within a gentle meteor shower, and draws Yearlong to a tranquil yet appropriately diffuse close.

-Matthew Murphy, March 30, 2005

唱片名：yamasuki singers - le monde fabuleux des yamasuki
出版年份：1971
厂牌： Finders Keepers 
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