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“Mainstream”、“Underground”
“电子乐界舌战”的两个永恒关键词。
国外关于两者的口水战早已持续多年。而中国电子音乐市场在经历了十余年的发展之后,慢慢成长起来的新一代乐迷也开始了对“Mainstream”与“Underground”的频繁讨论;商业俱乐部对于偏小众音乐流派的尝试也开始变得更大胆,试图寻找未来市场品味究竟“路在何方”。
“你应当去研究历史与哲学”
与索罗斯(亚洲金融风暴的操盘者)一同创立量子对冲基金的金融大亨吉姆 · 罗杰斯在被问及如何能预测未来经济趋势进行投资的时候,如是地解释了自己的方法论。
如同中国那句老话:以史为鉴可以知兴替。历史总是在轮回,我们也或许能在回望历史的过程中领悟一二。
2016 年 10 月,John 00 Fleming,一个从上世纪 90 年代初至今一直活跃在电子音乐界的英国知名 Trance 制作人/DJ, 在自己的脸书上发表了一篇堪称业内“大瓜”的长文。用自己近 30 年职业生涯所见所感,来阐述 Trance 的起源、发展、商业化及 Mainstream/Underground Trance 两者之间的关系,并收获了将近一万的点赞量。
Trance, two very different parallel worlds.
After a slight lull in Blogs, I’m listening to your recent requests of where to focus my pen. A regular question I get asked, what is Trance? What should it really sound like?
Ask that question to ten people and you’ll get ten different answers. Out of all genres I think this question causes the most debate within fuelling constant arguments across social networks debating who is right, who is wrong and criticising artists work via their releases. This question gets aimed at me a lot because I was an active professional DJ when Trance was born in the early 90’s, so have first hand experience of the reasons behind why Trance was born and the ethos behind it. 
Earlier this year while being driven by a 25 year old driver from Luminosity festival in Holland he was trying to tell me that the Dutch invented Trance in 1999/2000 and that he was proud of his country creating such a great genre. When I showed him Youtube clips of early 90’s Trance parties in France, Germany, Goa, UK clearly showing the wording Trance he was traumatised, in a positive way, but also questioned the music playing saying it sounded more like Techno. This just goes to highlight that every individuals education process has been different and their perception of what Trance should sound like is different. To this guy Trance should be leaning more towards the pop world with vocals, big drops and screaming in your face melodies but to me and the people involved in creating this movement, it's very different. 
Back in the late 80’s early 90’s the scene was predominantly mainstream, groups of passionate music lovers created an underground movement to allow freedom of creative expression as opposed to the highly formulaic composition of commercial music. I was part of that rebellion. Myself and many others worked tirelessly putting on our own events often with no financial rewards, but the knowledge we’re offering an alternative. These events were attended by producers that stimulated a completely different part of their creative minds that in return rewards us with new forward thinking music. As a punter you got blown away by the new futuristic musical experience. 
My Trance journey began in the late 80’s very early 90’s, the rave hardcore breakbeat scene got tired being replaced by a 4/4 structure that became what we know as Techno. This sound was a little too aggressive for me and producers like the Frenchman Laurent Garnier and Germany’s Jam & Spoon created a more musical hypnotic version. These producers designed the music to create a state of hypnotism and heightened consciousness on the dance floor, something only a skilled musician or DJ could achieve. It was pure expression of art at work in clubs, that got tagged ‘Trance music’ due to it trancing people (as per Oxford dictionary). Trance was about experiencing music from the future, each track was unlike anything we had heard before, music producers thrived from being released from those conforms of mainstream, and spent hours sound designing on synthesisers giving them an outlet letting them explore the depths within their minds. Eventually there were no rules. From a DJ’s perspective I had a never ending supply of musical tools allowing me to embark on musical journeys like no other allowing me to take the dance floor on new musical adventures and journeys and to create those magical hypnotic Trance moments. Again a step into the future.
The next few years we saw Trance evolve into other sub genres, Goa/Psy Trance, Progressive Trance, Melodic, Hard Trance and so on, all of them keeping the same ethos of rebelling against the mainstream masses, that in return made Trance one of most credible forward thinking genres on the planet and saw it's popularity rise. Like all things great, the corporate machines circle wanting to cash in, it's then the dilution began. Commercial radio stations rarely play instrumental music. TV stations need videos. The big stages at festivals need to appeal to the masses. So in order to appeal to the mass corporate world some changed their style adapting to the commercial market place in return for finical rewards; pop trance vocal songs for radio. Pop videos for TV and play those big hits securing their slots on main stages. This all comes with a massive amount of corporate marketing that in return educates the next generation, their voice becomes a lot louder than the underground world that generally goes unheard, as per the education process from the driver from Luminosity, he only heard one side of the story. 
As we fast forward to today, Trance has become the polar opposite of it's original purpose. Thousands of people fought against the formulaic composition of commercial music, yet this is what the perceived image of Trance has become today and there’s no hiding the fact that Trance has had a tarnished reputation over the last few years of being very commercial, hence why the credible names stay well clear. Yes I admit I’ve done some rants in the past, but my personal story may spread some light on why, especially after all the hard work and sacrifices I made being apart of this rebellion to create Trance. 
The natural world is a truly astonishing place, full of micro systems that constantly repair themselves. When I cut my finger, amazingly it repairs itself after a few days. Trance is no different. Music genres need these incentives in order to keep moving forward. If it wasn’t for the commercialisation of Trance music it wouldn’t have created the mass underground movement we are seeing today that has pushed me back to that magic happy place that I experienced in the early 90’s.
History is repeating itself. Trance has an army of dedicated producers, DJ’s, promoters and Trancefamilies around the world that are building those new underground movements rebelling against that tide of commercialism that in return has created this mass resurgence that we’re seeing today. 
It’s an uncomfortable eco system, two parallel worlds of Trance with two very different sounds and purposes, yet we need each other and fuel from each other. The underground world will continue to move things forward, the commercial world then capitalise on this and push to the masses. 
There’s a general assumption that theses two world dislike each other, for me they couldn’t be more wrong. I respect people like Armin Van Buuren that have pushed Trance to the masses. Many of my fans got introduced to Trance via Armin, Above & Beyond (and others), they created an accessible gateway into the Trance world that eventually leads them to my Trance world. They also give a lot back to the Trance scene in the form of the acts they book at their events, radio support and releases on their labels. 
I highly respect Tiesto, he publicly announced he had moved away from Trance making sure his new sound didn’t dilute Trance, unlike others that get frowned upon that jump from fad genre to fad genre chasing the corporate cash machines tarnishing Trances great name in the process. Chameleon DJ’s we call them. Sure many disrespect these guys as they see what they are doing and see through their reasons why they are ‘returning back to trance’. While they were gone many stayed back to clean things up and make the genre great again, anyone welcomes producers/DJ’s coming back but leave your ugly marketing tricks in the corporate world, this takes Trance two steps back at a point when we’re moving forward. 
A very long complicated answer to such a simple question. I know. But the Trance micro system is also very complex but something that continues to fascinate me 26 years on and the reason myself and many dedicate their careers to it. Trance is completely unique to any other genre offering a multitude styles within; uplifting, hard, acid, vocal, psy, progressive, tech, euphoric the list goes on. Something for everyone. There should be no rules nor barriers that the forum warriors create, I’m proud of everyone involved in the Trance scene, from the forefathers that created it, to the current stars that have pushed it to the masses, and the next generation that are currently rebelling driving the underground forward.
(上下滑动可阅读原帖全文)

作为从 90 年代到 21 世纪初盛极一时的电子音乐流派,Trance 的发展史在“Mainstream vs. Underground”的这个议题上是再适合不过的案例。我们将此文进行了全文翻译,内容略长,请耐心阅读。
Trance
两个截然不同的平行世界
我的 Blog 停更了一段时间后,就一直在聆听诸位最近希望我写些什么。被问到最多的问题便是:“何为 Trance?Trance 听起来究竟应该是个什么样子?
每个人面对这个问题会有着不同的答案。相比其他电子音乐流派,这个问题似乎在 Trance 界存在着最多的争论。各方在社交媒体上争得你死我活,互相抨击,不分胜负。之所以我会在这个问题上被问及很多,或许是因为我在 Trance 诞生的九十年代初便已活跃在了 DJ 台上,亲身体验到了 Trance 的诞生之因及背后的文化思潮。
今年(当时的 2016 年)早些时候从荷兰 Luminosity 海滩音乐节回来的路上( 纯 Trance 乐迷的朝圣之地 ),一位搭载我的 25 岁司机自豪地告诉我:荷兰人在 1999/2000 年创造了这样一个伟大的流派。然而当我播放了一些 YouTube 上 90 年代初法国、德国、印度果阿邦、英国的 Trance 派对录像之后,他似乎很受伤,不过这给他带来的影响应该是积极的。但他觉得这些听起来更像 Techno。每个人在音乐上的认知和被教育方式的不同,决定了每个人对“Trance 听起来该是什么样”这个问题的不同理解。对于这位小哥来说,Trance 应当更倾向于流行音乐世界那样,有着丰富的人声、情绪猛烈的燃点以及更为嘹亮明显的旋律。而对于我和其余在早期推动这场音乐运动的人们来说,Trance 却是另一副模样。
上世纪八九十年代之交,音乐界完全被主流音乐统治着。而一群群充满激情的音乐爱好者们则发起了一场“Underground Movement”,以自由的创造力来对抗编曲刻板且格式化的商业音乐。而我也是当年叛逆大军中的一员。我们不知疲惫地举办着各种音乐活动,通常也都不太指望这些活动能带来多少收入。但这些活动参与者中,众多的制作人却在这些活动中,激发出了自己意想不到的创造力。因此一种带着超前思维的音乐,成为了对我们努力的回报。而乐迷们也顺道得到了这种全新的未来主义音乐体验。
我的 Trance 之旅始于八九十年代更替之时。当时 Hardcore Breakbeat 已经被派对界所厌倦,4/4 拍结构的舞曲取而代之成为了我们所知的 Techno。但我个人感觉 Techno 过于凶狠,之后法国人 Laurent Garnier 和德国的 Jam & Spoon 便开创了一种音乐性和沉浸感更强的流派。这些制作人设计这种音乐用来营造一种沉浸的状态,连带着更强的舞池意识,这些只有极具技巧的音乐家或者 DJ 才可以做到。它是一种跳舞俱乐部表演艺术的纯粹表现。而它之后被命名为 Trance 也正是因为它的特性(解释来源于牛津大词典)。Trance 的本质精神曾是体验来自未来的音乐,当时的每一首曲目都不同于我们在那个时代之前所听过的音乐。众多 Trance 制作人在这样的思潮中让自己的创造力从对主流的顺从中解脱并繁荣生长。与合成器/声音设计作伴的无数个小时,对于他们来说犹如一个释放点,让他们可以尽情的探索自己心灵的深度。最终音乐创作的条条框框被逐一打破。从一个职业 DJ 的角度来讲,我也收获了一个取之不尽的音乐弹药库,让我得以带着舞池中的派对参与者们踏上一次次音乐之旅,创造一个个神奇的、“精神出神”的瞬间。这是迈向未来的一步。
之后的岁月里,我们见证了 Trance 进化出各种子流派:Goa/Psy Trance、Progressive Trance、Melodic Trance、Hard Trance 等等。所有的子流派都坚持着对抗主流的初衷,而这也使得 Trance 成为了当时最具超前思维的流派,受欢迎度与日俱增。就像其他优质的产物,这个潜力巨大的流派也引发了商业机器的关注,而对 Trance 的稀释便由此开始了。由于商业电台极少播放纯器乐音乐,电视台又都需要MTV,而音乐节的大舞台需要讨好大众口味,因此为了迎合巨大的商业市场,一些制作人开始改变自己的风格以获取更大的财务回报。于是出现了服务音乐电台的“流行音乐化”的人声 Trance、服务于电视台的 MTV、以及专注于播放自己打榜名曲来锁定大音乐节表演时间的 DJ 们。伴随这一切的是大规模的市场营销。于是,新一代乐迷受到了“商业 Trance”的熏陶,传统 Trance 则被取代了。这也解释了文章开头那位从 Luminosity 音乐节载我回程的年轻司机,为何会对 Trance 的认知会有那么大的偏差。
如今的“主流 Trance”已经完全站在了创始初衷的对立面。数千人曾在那个年代对抗着“模式化”的商业音乐创作,但这种“模式化”却最终成为了 Trance 现在的样子。而无可否认的事实是,Trance 的名声也因为过于的商业化而被“玷污”了。这也解释了为什么 Trance 界一些曾经公认知名的艺人开始对这个流派保持距离。我承认,我曾经有过一些牢骚,但那也只是因为我在替当初 Trance 革新大军所做的努力与牺牲感到不值。
大自然是一个很神奇的事物,无时不刻都充斥着自我修复的微系统。当我割破手指,它自己会在几日内恢复。而 Trance 也是一样。音乐流派需要的就是在不断试错中,通过自我调整来向前发展。若不是因为 Trance 曾经的过度商业化,我们也看不到近些年让我感到梦回九十年代初的大规模“Underground Movement”再度兴起。
相似的历史剧情正在重新上演。如今的 Trance 已经拥有了一支来自全世界的专业制作人、DJ、活动主办方、乐迷的大军。他们推动这一股新的“Underground Movement”对抗着商业主义,引领着我们眼下的这场新一轮复兴。
这并不是一个会令每个人都很舒服的生态系统。同一个名称下,存在着两个音色和宗旨都截然不同的平行世界。然而我们依旧需要两个世界的互相滋养。Underground Trance 会一直向前发展,而商业 Trance 在套现的同时也将 Trance 推向了更广阔的受众群体。

有一个广泛的猜疑是,这两个世界互不喜欢对方。而对我来说,这其实错得很离谱。我非常尊重如 Armin 这般将 Trance 推向大众的人。我很多的粉丝原本就是被 Armin、Above&Beyond 等人们带入的 Trance 世界。他们建立起来的通道让很多新听众能更容易的进入到我的 Trance 世界。他们也以各种形式回馈着 Trance。比如签订艺人在他们的厂牌或活动演出、在他们各自的电台支持其他艺人的作品。
我相当敬重 Tiësto。因为他当时公开表示了他将离开 Trance,以确保自己的新音乐不会如同一些跟风派 DJ 一般,在时兴的流派中来回跳转,稀释 Trance 的正统的风格特征、“扭曲” Trance 的本质。我们称这类 DJ 为“变色龙 DJ”。当然很多人并不耻这些变色龙行为,因为他们能看清这些艺人所谓“回归 Trance”的本质。当初这些艺人抛弃 Trance 时,也有很多人选择了留下以保持 Trance 界的纯正而进行着努力,力争让 Trance 再一次伟大起来。制作人和 DJ 的回归当然是欢迎的,不过那些丑陋的商业操作手段就请不要再带回来了,这些东西只会让我们推动 Trance 向前发展的努力举步维艰。
一个简单的问题,我却给了你们这样一个繁长的答案。然而 Trance 的微系统着实太复杂,其中很多东西依旧不断地令我和其他那些一生都专注在这个领域里的人着迷。Trance 完全不同于其他任何的流派,它各有特色的子流派多到列不完。它是一种普世的音乐,一种人人皆可享受的音乐。我们不需要键盘侠来设置规则和障碍。从起初的开拓者们,到当代将其推向大众的明星 DJ 们,再到当下正在将“Underground Movement”向前推进的后来之人,我为每一个人都感到自豪。

(译文终)
文章发布的前后,相继有部分曾经舍弃 Trance 走上 Bigroom 的艺人开始宣布回归 Trance,而关于“变色龙 DJ“的抨击箭头则是直接指向这一部分艺人,例如 Gareth Emery、W&W 等,因此引发了一系列的争论,例如 Gareth Emery 的妹妹 Roxanne Emery 在社交媒体上进行回击等。
而 Armin 旗下的 ASOT 音乐节则从 2018 年的 ASOT 850 开始增设 Progressive 舞台,并邀请文章作者 John 00 Fleming 来主持这个舞台。
考虑到“卖瓜”并不是我们的专业所在,所以关于艺术家们个人的创作分歧与矛盾,在这里我们不做继续讨论。
但不得不承认早期的商业推广让更多人接受了 Trance,很多乐迷由此开始探索更广阔的电子音乐世界,壮大了整个电子音乐界的受众群体。同时明星 DJ 们开始出现,他们可观的经济回报也鼓励了更多制作人的创作热情。另一边,Underground 音乐界多年的技术和艺术创新,为整个流派提供了源源不断的灵感和新意。推广和创新,Mainstream 与 Underground,二者的微妙平衡成就了 Trance 在世纪交替前后十多年的高光岁月。
但走过了那些年辉煌的 Trance,却在千禧后头十年的末尾慢慢开始走下了神坛。我们仔细回想,是否确实是因为 Trance 走向了平衡的另一端,从而丧失了那份前卫舞曲的内核?
如今,Mainstream 与 Underground 的争论已经远不只存在于 Trance 中。狭义 EDM、Bounce 先后成为商业化成功的典型案例,并引发新一轮起了关于 Mainstream 与 Underground 的争论;而 Techno/Melodic Techno/Progressive 等偏 Underground 流派近年在欧美的重新崛起,也更让争论愈渐白热化。
David Guetta、Will Sparks、Oliver Heldens、Tiësto 等其他流派的知名百大艺人开始用本名或小号开始制作 Techno/Progressive House 或类似于这两个流派的作品; Trance & House 都在 Tech 化,在 Techno 的影响下向前演进;Charlotte De Witte、Amelie Lens、Nina Kraviz 等 Techno 艺人也成为了社交媒体上的超级流量巨星。这一切,是否意味着 Mainstream 与 Underground 的平衡点就是对于更深层次审美的探索?
(Amelie Lens & Charlotte De Witte 成名之路)
“Techno is the new Trance” 这句圈内玩笑话也反应了:近些年 Trance 史上经典曲目的 Techno remix 和带老派 Trance 曲风的原创新曲频繁出现。这些作品兼顾 Techno 固有的丰富鼓点结构却带着比以往 Techno 相比更多的宏大旋律。这是否也意味着人们一直苦寻的平衡点,其实近在咫尺?
Trance 经典: Push - Strange World (2000 REMAKE)



Techno remix: Push - Strange World  (Joyhauser remix)
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未来一切皆未知
让未来证明一切
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