My Bloody Valentine盯鞋迷幻复兴 　　迷濛歌声＋白色音牆＝青春曾有的失落与癫狂? 　　AMG ★★★★☆、MusicOHM ★★★★、Entertainment Weekly A、Stylus Magazine A、Prefix Magazine 8.5高评赞誉 　　2006年至今，英国传奇厂牌4AD经历一场令人惊喜的复兴，旗下TV On The Radio的《Return to Cookie Mountain》、 Beirut的《The Gulag Orkestar》、Scott Walker的《The Drift》都获得极高评价，而这波复兴的最高潮，就是纽约乐队Blonde Redhead的《23》。 　　这个令人印象深刻的三人组合由日籍女主唱Kazu Makino（吉他手／主唱）、义大利孪生兄弟Amedeo Pace（吉他手／主唱）与Simone Pace（鼓手）组成，1993年受Sonic Youth鼓手Steve Shelley赏识，纳入Smells Like Records厂牌发行首张专辑《Blonde Redhead》，几波转折，在芝加哥独立厂牌Touch And Go发表了代表作品《Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons》（2000），再签入英国传奇厂牌4AD旗下，推出令人迷醉的杰作《Misery Is A Butterfly》（2004）至今，已整整过了十四个年头，这段岁月，已足够让蹒跚学步的婴孩出落成楚楚动人的少女，从深受Sonic Youth影响的扭曲实验噪音，逐步蜕变为旋律流畅、清幽美丽的迷幻之声，相较于之前的作品，他们变得更容易接近了，《23》已是Blonde Redhead的第七张专辑，4AD厂提供了最坚强的后勤支援，製作班底可谓一时之选，录音工程师Chris Coady（Yeah Yeah Yeahs、TV On The Radio） ，溷音师Alan Moulder （My Bloody Valentine、Killers、Nine Inch Nails）和Rich Costey（Franz Ferdinand、Muse、Bloc Party），整张专辑没有低点，每首歌曲都有作为单曲发行的品质，一气呵成听下来，令人回想起九０年代Shoegaze与Britpop辉煌年代，那初次遇见My Bloody Valentine、Radiohead时，内心被撞开，情感被释放的强烈感动。 　　首波主打歌〈23〉神似My Bloody Valentine的吉他声线和迷濛女声，迴盪着绚丽而迷乱的青春气息。〈Dr. Strangeluv〉也是一首目眩神迷的佳作，狂放不羁，满怀激情，震耳欲聋的声响包裹着蜜糖旋律，让人难以抗拒。〈SW〉以及〈Publisher〉裡男主唱Amedeo Pace的唱腔，则是勾勒起Radiohead在《The Bends》时期的身影，濒临绝望的悲伤，形单影隻，默默于宁静的角落疗伤止痛。〈The Dress〉可以比拟Lush与Swallow这些4AD仙乐美声。〈Silently〉轻快悦耳，贝斯声线如New Order般清脆雀跃，〈Top Ranking〉更宛如瑞典乐团The Cardigans，让消沉的心绪得以振奋起来，经过几张专辑淬练，Kazu Makino嗓音已有曲折于悲凉、狂喜、苦涩与甜蜜的情绪深度。〈My Impure Hair〉重新感受着荡漾与迷醉，微妙而难以言明。 　　尽管我们已经变得不是当初期待的模样，依然确信音乐有召唤青春热度的神奇魔力，曾几何时，重听盯鞋迷幻与英摇已是一种永志不忘的仪式，每次吉他弹奏起，迷濛歌声飘出，你我都在寻觅这些声音，不知不觉，23遍过去了，我们确信，多年之后，仍会反覆聆听Blonde Redhead的《23》。不管独自细听或是在人群偶然遇见Blonde Redhead，她们的音乐总像凌空飞舞的火炬，从再熟悉不过的痛调与亲密氛围中，再一次映照出消逝的梦想、年少时光的苦涩、日后难以重回的认真与狂热、青春曾有的失落与癫狂。 　　by Heather Phares 　　With each album since Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, Blonde Redhead has made huge strides forward with their sound. Misery Is a Butterfly pitted fragile melodies against dark, swirling arrangements, and its tragic glamour turned the album into a cult favorite. On 23, the band trades the cloistered chamber rock of Butterfly for tone-bending dream pop and subtle electronics; while the wide open spaces sound a little bare at first, this streamlined approach ends up making this Blonde Redhead's loveliest and most accessible work yet. The group begins each album with a bold statement of purpose, and 23 is no different. The epic title track's delicate electronic rhythms, swooping, shimmering guitars, and majestically bittersweet melody pitch it somewhere between My Bloody Valentine and Asobi Seksu, showing how a more restrained Blonde Redhead can still sound lush and haunting. "Spring and Summer by Fall"'s streaming, comet-tail guitars and "Silently"'s thorny melody hark back to Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, while "Heroine"'s vocoders sound surprisingly fresh, giving the song a fairy tale-meets-sci-fi vibe. This more whimsical, if not exactly lighthearted, feel flows through much of 23, especially on "Dr. Strangeluv," which boasts playful percussion and sparkling synths, and "Top Ranking," which layers Kazu Makino's vocals into futuristic girl group harmonies. However, Blonde Redhead hasn't ditched the brooding beauty of Misery Is a Butterfly entirely. "The Dress" is just as darkly stunning as any song on that album, with looping gasps and insistent guitars circling lyrics like "the fear starts creeping up when you have so much to lose," while "SW"'s melody and psychedelic brass interlude have a Butterfly-esque intensity. And as always, Blonde Redhead has a flair for haunting melodies, particularly on "Publisher," the chorus of which sounds peculiarly like Aerosmith's "Dream On." 23 is stunning -- in fact, its only flaw might be that its track listing is a little top-heavy, resulting in an album with an amazing first half and a flip side that is only very good. Nitpicking aside, 23 is mysterious and modern, with an artfully strange beauty that is more memorable than perfection.