My Wandering Days Are Over

Over.

里斯本第一日

飛機穿越雲層，緩慢的降落，轉個彎，長長的一整片沙灘從我地下飛過。在機上俯瞰里斯本，已經令我不由得驚嘆她的美麗（坐飛機時聽得正好是 The Walkmen 上一張專輯 - 里斯本）。因為，習慣旅行不做功課，寫下來的地址在地圖上卻找不到。叫了計程車，司機繞路帶我逛了市區一圈，原來我上計程車的地方離旅社不到三分鐘的走路的路程，司機卻開了快十分鐘。不過我並不抱怨，里斯本城市就像迷宮一樣，高高低低，拐拐彎彎，你根本不知道下一個路口轉彎會遇見甚麼。雖然，我另外一個旅遊習慣是迷失在陌生的城市中，不看地圖，沒有目標，到處亂走。但這次，我有葡萄牙詩人佩索亞所撰寫的里斯本旅遊指南（可免費下載）。跟著他寫的順序，跟著地標一個一個地走，同時還有他還詳細地介紹了每個地標的歷史和背景，第一天完成了四頁，整本有四十頁。亂晃到了一家出版社的書店，買了兩本他寫的詩集（英文和葡萄牙文同步）。走在里斯本，到處都有佩索亞的蹤影。想想，會想要來里斯本的遊客其實不算多（比起哥本哈根和阿姆斯特丹，我實在很不喜歡遊客爆滿的地方），會因為佩索亞來的更少，但我喜歡這感覺，像是一個少人知道的祕密基地。而我在里斯本正執行著一個秘密任務，一個有詳細指示但沒有明確目標的任務。不，我的目標是跟著我的導遊認真當一個遊客。夜深了，是該出去遊蕩了。

Home

"But it had come to that point where I was looking for something like a home-- I didn't have a home in the world, so I wanted a home in someone else, in a person."

I don't know when it all started... but I've developed this desperate longing for a home. I really don't have a home in this world, not here, not there, not anywhere. Now I'm living off my backpack, hopping from this bed to that bed, and it's gonna last for the next 3 months, which means I won't be able to settle down anytime soon. Being constantly on the move, how could I possibly find a home in a person? I'm lost. I wanna go home, but I don't know where it is yet. If the price is to give up my freedom, I'm willing to pay.

Note: David Byrne likes the topic of home. The movie "This Must Be The Place" is also about home (of course!). I feel like Senn Penn in the movie... traveling from places to places, except I'm not even on a mission for revenge. On the album which he collaborates with Brian Eno (a great album), there's a song called "Home" - Where home, comes to life from out of the blue... 

Before Sunrise, 2012

Seven days in Paris... my life has a whole new chapter.

PressPausePlay

PressPausePlay from House of Radon on Vimeo.

A very good attempt to depict our digital/creative world (music, book, films, design). There are two sides of argument, "technology is great, allows more people to access, and talents have platforms to reach their audience" and "cheap technology leads to democratized culture, art becomes everyone's playground, eventually a mess." I agree with the second one... I don't care where technology can take us to, and I don't care if there's any great new music, I just wanna go on Internet exile for like 5 years, and see if I miss out anything. Probably not.

記錄人生

從台北飛到倫敦，要飛十四個小時．通常坐飛機都會超頭痛難過的我，這次帶了鎮定劑．上飛機喝了紅酒，服了鎮定劑後，開始看電影「賽德克巴萊」的第一部。看著看著就得到了我想要的效果－睡著。說是台灣第一部史詩電影，但看起來真的挺沒感的。睡了五六個小時後起來，精神果然有好一點，飛機上如果一直昏睡，真的是件很痛苦的事。但如果真的有睡，精神上真的有差．起來吃完晚餐後，沒興趣再看賽德克巴萊．就開始看起了紀錄片，一連看了兩部。

Hej

 

Going there tomorrow, and I don't know exactly what I'm feeling. But, I'm not too terribly worried about not knowing how I'm feeling. As long as I know, I'm going somewhere I wanna be, it's good, good enough for me. Now, I'll start daydreaming about my life in Sweden until the time I get there.

I'm rich. I'm an aristocrat. I live in my solitary kingdom with books and music. But I can already see myself, in ten years time, I'll become a middle class. Money will enslave me.

A Conversation With Myself

I'm so utterly lazy, to do anything. I can not even be bothered to write down my thoughts. When I am actually typing in front of the computer screen, I'm squeezing my brain for words to come out. It ain't right. I know my thoughts can be interesting, maybe even worth reading, but I chose to let them flew by. Nobody ever knows what goes on in my brain. It's a grave for creativity. Well, I just think I am patient. I can wait till the day that my thoughts are clear and my motives require actions. I think it'd be easier then. For all I know, imagination is my greatest advantage beyond life and my greatest enemy in life. There are still plenty of things to learn, from life and from books. You know, I think we're living in the age of greatest despair and anxiety, it's a mystery why we have not killed ourself. The earth is baking. The place is getting crowded. People are getting dumber. The gap between is getting wider. The information is numbing us. Perhaps the world we're in right now has too much distractions to keep us from questioning the way we live, we have too many answers for everything. But do we? It feels rather strange to be alive in this day and age, but I gotta admit it is interesting to observe this phenomena. At the same time, you could just pick up a book and travel back to "the golden age" (i'm reading F. Scott Fitzgerald at the moment), or any time in past. We have so many options. It is really up to you, to lead your own life or follow others. I guess, we can all be thankful to this proposition, right?

Happy Being A Consumer

After seeing these videos, I just want to go back to record stores, and bring home some more records. So, I did. And I love record stores, flipping through vinyls. Sadly, they are closing down one by one. Rockinghorse is   the iconic independent record store in Brisbane, and it's closing down due to strong competition from chain stores and online shops. Last time, I went there, there was nothing I want to buy, except a Hope Sandoval poster. Everything else was either too expensive, or not for my interests. Anyway, I went to another record store today, called Egg Records. It's probably my favourite store here, as their taste is similar to mine. I found heaps of record I want to buy, lots of 4AD stuff like Pixies, This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins. And there are plenty of Factory records, primarily Joy Division and New Order singles. If I had a lot of money, I would buy them all... but I don't. Back to reality, I bought these...

My New Room

has

- a king single bed
- a desk and chair
- a sink with a mirror cabinet
- a coffee machine
- a reading lamp
- a fridge
- a fan
- a tv which doesn't have channels
- no wireless internet connection

condition perfect.

Let's Go Sailing

It was a hot May day. Sun was high. Sea was cold. I was sick.
Why do you travel? I do, so I can sleep in a bed I never sleep before.

Is it possible to listen too much music, read too many books, watch too many movies, dream too much about future, think too much about life?

菸

fusion

如果看我網誌一陣子的人應該知道，fuse 這名字來自於 New Order 的 Regret。在歌裡的意思，是名詞－導火線，burning all the time。最近在看書發現，fuse的動詞的意思是融合為一，這也可以拿來形容我聽的音樂，甚麼都聽... 現在的音樂實在太多了，除了大多數沒新意無趣又不耐聽的作品外，還是能找到有很多令人興奮的聲音。

關於上面那兩張封面，右邊是義大利演奏家 Ludovico Einaudi 灌錄的演奏專輯。左邊是張相當後現代的 Mixtape。兩張都是最近聽到比較可以整張持續聆聽的專輯。

另外貼上這讓人驚艷(嚇)的嘻哈現場演出...
OFWGKTA, Tyler the Creator and Hodgy Beats - Sandwiches

My Taste-makers

Ben Watt

從他的個人專輯，到 EBTG，到現在的職業 DJ。有一件事是沒有改變的，那就是他超凡的品味。早期個人專輯，可以聽得出來受民謠很大，甚至翻唱了 Bob Dylan 的歌。之後在 EBTG 的 Acoustic 專輯裡，更是翻唱了一堆我愛的團和愛歌，包括 Boss，Elvis Costello，Tom Waits 和 Simon & Garfunkel。在他們做的合輯 Back To Mine 裡玩得更凶。把 Trip-Hop，Rap，House全都融為一爐超級好聽的合輯。雖然，他後來的 DJ 專輯沒有聽。但從八零年代到兩千年，二十個年頭裡他的品味真的是沒得挑剔。

Radio Dept.

他們已經從瞪鞋的曲風慢慢的轉變成了最近瑞典很夯的 Synth-Pop 了。原因不是因為他們隨波逐流，看著一樣來自瑞典的 TTA 和 Embassy 紅的程度，所以也要搶一分粥。而是他們真的愛 The Embassy，Johan就說過他們最愛的樂團就是 The Embassy。另外，就從他們的 Interview 裡也可以發覺，他們對不同類型的音樂保持著非常開放的態度。其中，嘻哈也是他們愛的音樂類型。所以，在他們最近這幾年發行的音樂可以聽到噪音吉他成分越來越少，貝斯和拍子越來越重。對我來說，這改變是好的，他們的音樂越做越棒。他們的歌跟他們的品味一樣都是一絕。

Jens Lekman

這位先生呢，他的品味實在是令我摸不透。先從基本的開始說，根據維基上的資訊，影響他的人有 Jonathan Richman，Stephin Merritt，David Byrne，Dan Treacy 跟 Stuart Murdoch。除了 B&S 我本來就有聽以外，其他這些人的樂團作品還真都是因為他的關係跑去聽，然後聽的愛不釋手。然後從他翻唱的作品，也認識了 Arthur Russell，這奇特的電子樂先鋒。不過要從他做的 Mixtape 去了解他的品味，真的太艱深了。有時候覺得，他放了一些奇怪（但是好聽）的歌純粹只是為了搞笑。另外，也會在有些地方看到他貼的歌單，或是在他網站上貼的音樂，全是些沒見過的團，所以我也懶得每個團去找來聽。儘管如此，他的歌和做的 Mixtape 是絕對不能錯過的好音樂。



寫這文的重點就是，我喜歡(幾乎)所有這些人做的音樂，也覺得我們的品味很像。

Lysandre

我喜歡 Girls，單純的因為他們的音樂好聽，對於媒體的炒作，對於特別的身世，我都沒有興趣。而且我只喜歡 Girls 的慢歌，因為主唱 Christopher Owen 的聲音很適合這種悲慘的第一人稱歌曲。要唱快歌，像他們的主打 Lust For Life，就會聽起來很娘炮。我還記得，他們剛出第一張新專輯，我看過主打的音樂影片後完全沒有想要聽這個團。這種歌完完全全就是給硬地雅痞跳舞用的歌。不過真的讓我去找這張專輯來聽，是在一場演唱會中場時間無意聽到了 Hellhole Ratrace（那時候也不知道是他們的歌）。從聽到第一句話 "I'm sick and tired of the way that I feel"，我馬上就認定這是一首好歌。我想真的 brilliant 的 song-writing 應該都是要這樣的，在你第一次聽就能揪住你的心，不，不只是你的心。聽了專輯後，有點失望，並沒有期望中那麼多好聽的歌。新發的 EP 也是。他們好歌的比率就以目前的產量，差不多是 30%。

上面的影片是新 EP 特別不收錄的歌曲－名叫 Lysandre 3，應該會留在專輯吧。又是另一首一聽鍾情的歌曲，還有另外一首 Lysandre 8。兩手都是在拉斯維加斯的高級飯店裡的浴缸錄的。為什麼他唱起歌來會這麼楚楚可憐？至於他會在那，是因為參加 Matador 二十一周年慶在那辦的音樂祭。眾星拱照，包括 Sonic Youth 跟 Pavement。如果有興趣的話，去 Pitchfork 看他們拍的影片。

今天晚上 Girls 會來我的城市演唱，在離我家不到兩百公尺的地方演唱，而我沒有買票。我打算待在陽台，聆聽穿越兩百公尺空氣的音響和掌聲。比起要去和硬地雅痞一起跳舞，我還是寧願待在家。

今天下午

今天去逛唱片行，去了一家平常常去看的二手唱片行，印象中他被我歸類為老舊的唱片行。這是一家很妙的店，裡面甚麼都賣，卡帶，海報，衣服，黑膠，書籍，雜誌，賣一大堆亂七八糟的東西。不過我平常都是去逛黑膠，他黑膠收藏的量之多，不過大多都是很舊的唱片。像是 The Everly Brothers，或是 Donna Summer 這類的唱片。今天去看，主要是想要找 Françoise Hardy 或是 Singles Soundtrack 的黑膠唱片。結果兩個都沒找到，卻讓我找到一間密室，充滿寶藏的密室。裡面也是一大堆唱片，我先在 Joy Division/New Order 區看了一下，居然有 "Ceremony" 的十二吋黑膠，我看到整個大嗨！雖然不是我夢想中那白色和淺藍色的封面，但是卻是原版深綠色的。接著，在其他區翻翻，又找到 The Replacements 的 Stink 黑膠，跟 Don't Tell A Soul 黑膠。看到時真的是超級無敵的爽。接著在 J區，又找到了 JAMC "April Skies" 的十二吋黑膠。在 S 區，有 The Smiths A面是"Sheila Take A Bow"，B面是 "Is It Really So Strange"/"Sweet and Tender Hooligan"還有 Stone Roses "Sally Cinnamon" 的十二吋。也找到我之前找都找不到的 Tom Waits 黑膠唱盤。在那間小小的密室裡，我隨便翻翻就拿了五張黑膠我真的很想買的，如果隨便拿的話，應該可以拿個四五十張吧。因為上面都沒標價錢，我拿去櫃檯問，準備打算把這幾張黑膠帶回家。結果問了一下，十二吋單曲一張要 AU$30，專輯則要一張 AU$40，算成台幣差不多一張黑膠一千塊左右。這個價錢，我實在是買不下手。而且店員告訴我，那間平常是不能進去的。也是阿，這些唱片如果隨便擺在外面早就被人家買走了，還輪的到我。唉，是白開心了一場。不過，真的，我好想買 "Ceremony" 跟 "April Skies" 這兩張單曲黑膠...

音樂問卷

Horses

i love horses. they are such a beautiful creature. i hope one day i will live in the country in a wooden house, a little lake with some ducks and chicken, a tall tree nearby, and two horses, a mother and a child, eating grass quietly, everything in peace.