不失者

在灰野敬二 (Keiji Haino) 所組成過或參與過的組合當(dāng)中，不失者 (Fushitsusha) 是最重要的一組。原因是，無論在音樂上或意念上，不失者都最能反映出灰野敬二的神秘聲響信仰。
 
這個(gè)世界，甚至整個(gè)宇宙，仍由聲響組成。有古老的宗教甚至認(rèn)為，宇宙萬物從聲響而誕生。當(dāng)然，大部分人會(huì)說，聲響乃由物質(zhì)而產(chǎn)生，聲響，只是宇宙萬物存在的副產(chǎn)品。實(shí)際上，何者是何者之始并不重要。重要的，是兩者間的關(guān)系。
 
行為與思想間的關(guān)系，應(yīng)該可以是個(gè)很好的比喻。行為學(xué)派 (Behaviorism) 認(rèn)為我們的思想由行為組成并受其影響，因此行為學(xué)派藉改變行為來改變思想。對(duì)他們而言，思想只是行為所產(chǎn)生的假象。而精神分析(Psychoanalysis) 卻以為，我們的行為乃心理狀況的外在展示，因此改變行為的方法是，先去改變我們的思想。
 
要了解事物的真象，我想我們必須退一步，退出西方哲學(xué)與科學(xué)的直線理解方式。
 
佛教學(xué)說中有這樣的一個(gè)故事。一位法師看見樹葉在風(fēng)中搖曳，于是他問他的徒弟：「究竟葉在動(dòng)還是風(fēng)在動(dòng)？」結(jié)果徒弟們都答錯(cuò)了。答案既不是葉也不是風(fēng)。
 
「在動(dòng)的，是你們的思想意識(shí)?！勾髱熑缡钦f。
 
「我的音樂目標(biāo)不是要超越迷幻音樂，而是將之深化?！?br />～灰野敬二
 
東京地下迷幻之音崛起之后，有一個(gè)令人爭(zhēng)議不休的課題。究竟我們應(yīng)該如果界定迷幻搖滾樂？灰野敬二、南條麻人等的音樂，究竟算不算真正的迷幻搖滾？很明顯九十年代日本迷幻之音與六十年代英美的迷幻搖滾有頗大的表現(xiàn)形態(tài)上差異。雖然我們還是將灰野敬二、南條麻人等的音樂，歸納入迷幻搖滾的范疇，但似乎私底下，我們都對(duì)此半信半疑。叫人猶豫的是，我們似乎無法在音樂形態(tài)的層面上論證出一致性解釋此歸納法之定論，但骨子里又覺得有某種「說不清」的理由作為依據(jù)。我們的矛盾在于，直覺給予肯定，但理性卻提出質(zhì)疑。
 
或者我們應(yīng)該將注意力從純粹的音樂造型，轉(zhuǎn)移到音樂的本質(zhì)方面。雖然東京迷幻之音帶明顯的六十年代迷幻音樂痕，但個(gè)人認(rèn)為，這不足以給我們支持論據(jù)，去將兩者拿來作對(duì)等式的相提并論。東京迷幻族之表現(xiàn)手法、演奏概念，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超越了迷幻音樂的單純搖滾規(guī)格。
 
東京迷幻之音與六十年代迷幻搖滾之間所存系的，是一種本質(zhì)性的共通——一種對(duì)于精神意識(shí)神秘性之追探。迷幻藥、東方宗教及部落民族宗教系統(tǒng)之發(fā)現(xiàn)，叫不少人開始接觸到人類精神意識(shí)不為人熟悉的神秘一面。而六十年代迷幻族、嬉皮士藉音樂所試圖仿真的，正是與此相關(guān)的，一種異于日常生活意識(shí)的「迷幻」?fàn)顟B(tài)。在某程度上，這可以說是一種流于片面，對(duì)「迷幻」意識(shí)的本質(zhì)未盡了解的表現(xiàn)。吸引這群迷幻族的，只是其表象而非其真象。來到九十年代，東京迷幻族所沉迷于的是相同的課題。但分別在于，東京迷幻族所追求的，再不是迷幻意識(shí)的表象而是其真象。他們將音樂歸還聲響的國(guó)度，復(fù)將聲響，演奏成一種覓道的過程。
 
而過程中，他們將整個(gè)搖滾系統(tǒng)也連帶炸成粉碎。
 
「…我藉音樂所要嘗試表達(dá)的，是佛陀達(dá)至了但卻無法解釋的頓悟 (Satori)?！?br />～灰野敬二
 
西藏佛教有兩種截然不同的修道者。其中最普通的，是一般人最為熟悉，以嚴(yán)守戒律為修行主旨的僧侶。他們希望藉生生世世善行所累積的功德來擺脫輪回之苦以登佛界。另一種屬于極少數(shù)的，是一派專研「短途」佛法的法師，通過偏險(xiǎn)的急行道，意圖在短促的一生時(shí)間里登入原本須要生世輪回修行方可冀望接近的涅盤。以極端的修練方式去毀潰意志頑固的習(xí)性觀念，復(fù)超越善惡及眾生色相，從直線切入的角度頓悟萬物的虛無本質(zhì)。
 
灰野敬二是同樣的一位「短途」修行者。不同的，只在于他以聲響作為他的覓道媒體。這是了解灰野敬二那孤絕聲響演奏系統(tǒng)的唯一角度。
 
我這里所提出的并非一個(gè)假設(shè)性的比喻。我所要指出的，并非一種相類似的關(guān)系?；乙熬炊囊魳繁旧砭褪且环N充滿神秘主義元素的「短途」佛學(xué)。在這個(gè)課題上，沒有甚么比他的重型迷幻組合不失者 (Fushitsusha) 更具有重要的闡釋作用。單是組合的名字本身，已意味強(qiáng)烈的神秘宗教色彩。不失者的字面意思解作「一個(gè)沒有質(zhì)量的虛空個(gè)體」。雖然據(jù)灰野敬二表示，不失者一名乃出自他自己的想象，但其含義卻完全切合佛教心經(jīng)中所形容，那種在經(jīng)過深層冥想后所達(dá)至的「無我」?fàn)顟B(tài)。而不失者那種特異的演奏系統(tǒng)，亦是中心以這種「無我」概念而發(fā)展出來。
 
正確一點(diǎn)來說，不失者并不是一個(gè)正常的音樂演奏組合，而是一個(gè)以灰野敬二這位神秘祭司為首的聲響冥想集團(tuán)。
 
不失者的聲響演奏系統(tǒng)，是一套近乎神秘主義的冥想功法。樂隊(duì)所鉆研的，不是傳統(tǒng)音樂演奏的法則。相反地，樂隊(duì)以身體去進(jìn)行聲學(xué)上的思考，以直接的精神感應(yīng)去徹底取代所有有關(guān)于音樂的規(guī)條及理論。尤其特別的是由灰野敬二引入的那一套將呼吸吐納融會(huì)于聲響演奏的音樂功法。灰野敬二的歌詞，也彷佛是神秘主義修行者的詩詞。整個(gè)過程就像西藏「短途」法師的修練一樣，以強(qiáng)大的精神沖擊去摧毀人類根深蒂固的存在概念，從中以直接的方式啟悟到，眾生萬物都只是存在于我們意識(shí)里的精神活動(dòng)。不失者的音樂，正正是一種介乎物質(zhì)色相與涅盤之間的黑暗虛無，而灰野敬二所要做的，彷佛是將這種黑暗虛無，進(jìn)一步轉(zhuǎn)化成涅盤式的徹底解脫。
 
「我不是一個(gè)無政府主義者，我本身就是一種無政府主義狀態(tài)?！?br />～灰野敬二
 
Wire雜志的Biba Kapf形容灰野敬二的音樂為一種以華格納規(guī)模演奏的藍(lán)調(diào)音樂。而日本音樂專家Alan Cummings更形容灰野敬二的巨大音響輸出，像操控一個(gè)天氣系統(tǒng)多于結(jié)他演奏?；蛘邞?yīng)該說，灰野敬二本身就是一股聚合無限黑暗能量的巨大聲響團(tuán)。
 
印度教相信聲音就是神，而宇宙萬物，皆根源自聲音。因此一首演繹得法的Raga，被相信具有呼風(fēng)喚雨的能力。而大部分西藏喇嘛法師亦相信，那些參透得到聲響本質(zhì)的人，可以聲響毀滅人神萬物，也可以聲響起死回生。我相信，灰野敬二正是這樣的一種演唱家、演奏家。而要體會(huì)他那套足以呼風(fēng)雨，令鬼神泣號(hào)的音樂系統(tǒng)，除了他的個(gè)人作品外，首選莫過于他的黑暗迷幻樂團(tuán)不失者。
 
不失者的音樂有好幾個(gè)特點(diǎn)。樂隊(duì)從演奏所發(fā)展出的，是一套完全別于正統(tǒng)搖滾音樂的聲響結(jié)構(gòu)和節(jié)奏系統(tǒng)。就連南條麻人亦為此而贊嘆，說世上再?zèng)]有另一個(gè)組合，比不失者將搖滾音樂破解得更加徹底。同時(shí)，不失者從來不會(huì)在他們的音樂會(huì)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)演奏中，重復(fù)他們的錄音室作品。而樂隊(duì)的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)演奏方法沒有一定法則，每次均會(huì)視場(chǎng)地環(huán)境的聲學(xué)質(zhì)素而改變。
 
至于灰野敬二于不失者的結(jié)他演奏，亦如他的個(gè)人結(jié)他獨(dú)奏，總括可分兩類。第一類是與各Avant-Garde及當(dāng)代新音樂作曲家相類的無韻調(diào)取向。第二類是類似中世紀(jì)音樂格律的歌德式黑暗迷幻噪音。在不失者的作品中，我們很容易察覺到此分野，而樂隊(duì)的近期雙碟專輯I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense...正屬于后者。
 
I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense...是不失者兩年來首輯全新錄音室作品。自98年于日本品牌Tokuma Japan Communications一連發(fā)表過兩張專輯后 (A Little Longer Thus及The Wisdom Prepared)，樂隊(duì)只于法國(guó)發(fā)表過一張音樂會(huì)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)收音專集Withdrawn, This Sable Disclosure ere Derot'd。
 
雖然不失者于過往的專輯中，從未間斷過其透過龐大迷幻結(jié)他噪音所展露的懾人音響魔力，然而于這套新專輯中，樂隊(duì)展示出是更具概念性的長(zhǎng)篇音響冥想。
 
A Reflecting Echo, My Soul Could Perhaps Become接近灰野敬二個(gè)人作品的詭異歌聲與扭曲結(jié)他的對(duì)唱。I Sink Down In Search Of Your Breath's Abode及Don't Be Afraid, Even If Your Nerves Snap, You Can Tie Them To A Fragment Of The Universe開始進(jìn)入以緩速燃燒的低回吟詠與黑暗迷幻結(jié)他噪音。而Staring At A Point In Time, Memorizing, Vowing Never To Return則是在登入絕對(duì)虛無國(guó)度前的沉靜反思。重要的時(shí)刻是橫跨兩張CD的長(zhǎng)篇迷幻音響演奏I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense...?；乙熬炊浅錾袢牖拿曰媒Y(jié)他演奏，以龐大的聲效扭曲變化，最幽深陰暗的靈魂碎片也被焚化成漫天幽藍(lán)的火舌。最后是有如經(jīng)文頌禱的后冥想作品Hasn't Something Like This Happened Before?
 
Japanese guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist Keiji Haino had been a prominent figure in the Tokyo underground since the mid-70s before forming this incredible group that stands as one of Japans most inventive and extraordinary and powerful groups of the era. Their work draws on noise,rock, free improvisation, and psychedelia, yet they sculpt their group sound in a fashion that their music is relative to few forms. In fact, the sound of Fushitsusha could best be described as contemporary Japanese music as some of their modalities and vigorous improvisational manner reflects the Japanese folk and traditional formulas. On the other hand, the electricity and refined indulgence of their feedback drenched albums and live concerts bares similarities to early Sonic Youth and the Swans, yet is as challenging as avant-garde improvisation. Sonny Sharrocks Black Woman and Peter Brötzmanns Machine Gun are good points of reference, as are Captain Beefheart, Guru Guru, or even Can.
 
Fushitsusha is part of a continuum in Japanese avant-garde music that was developing in the 60s with noisy improvisational groups such as Group Ongaku, Taj Mahal Travellers, and, most notably, New Direction Unit, who were versed in a free-form noise dialect that went beyond the free jazz movement to higher and more unsettling places. Where Fushitsusha fit into the spectrum of rock, noise, and avant-garde could be pondered for hours. The conclusion, in most cases, could only be that they are a phenomenon of an incredibly creative force in leader Keiji Haino, who has forged some of the most magnificent avant-garde recordings of the 90s seemingly out of blood, sweat, and tears. As a solo performer, he has such an extraordinary and singular approach one could only compare him to an artist like Cecil Taylor, as his work is all-consuming, brutally passionate, and individual.
 
Fushitsusha recorded their debut album in 1989; however, it is rumored that the group existed in various incarnations from as early as 1980. A self-titled double album that vanished from the market very quickly, it certainly made an impact on an influential level and was a quintessential recording in the Tokyo psychedelic rock revival and noise rock scenes born in and around the PSF labels Tokyo Flashback compilation series. The following album, commonly known not by title but by its catalog number (PSF 15/16), was a double CD of live recordings released 1991 in a stark black-on-black cover that would become their standard album housing aesthetic with few exceptions. At 13 tracks and 147 minutes, the trio of Keiji Hainoguitar and voice, Yasushi Ozawa bass, and Jun Kosugi on drums delivered an album that shook the avant-rock world and was pivotal in putting all ears toward Japan for noise and improvisation aficionados. The swelling feedback arcs of Hainos guitar collide with clustered abrasive fits of noise and the rhythm section sublimely balanced off-kilter pulse flow and jagged angular explosions. The groups improvisation often comes to a crest when they grab on to an abrasive and turgid riff driving it incessantly into a blitz of noise. Other moments see tendrils of feedback and percussion cascading into haunting ambience, infused with an electrical hum and Hainos banshee vocal making the calm incredibly unnerving. Hainos admirers included Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore, who was a protagonist of the group from the start. Clearly he could relate to the approach of Fushitsusha as the tone pallet of feedback and noise of their first two albums parallel the work of Bad Moon Rising, though are considerably more abstract. Another New York musician and avatar of noise, John Zorn, had collaborated and promoted Haino throughout the 80s. He invited the group to record for his Avant label in 1993. Allegorical Misunderstanding was their first recording released on a label other than PSF and the work is probably the strangest in their discography. All due respect, Zorns production aesthetic was clean and clear, though the signature of Fushitsusha is most often in the raw ambience of their recording situations. While their early releases sound as though they were taped from an adjacent building or down a long corridor, the Airplane hangar recording environment optimized the intensity of their group sound. Reputedly a hardworking group that practiced emphatically, it wasnt for the sake of developing songs as such as for devising strategies in which Haino could conduct the group. He directs the music using a set of codes ranging from wielding a baton to almost butoh dance gestures. The titles Magic one through ten revealed the mysticism on which the work is based.
 
The group certainly used rock language and Haino was always quick to state the influence of West Coast psychedelic rock group Blue Cheer in his rare interviews. The most stunning display of raw and powerful garage rock came with the 1994 album Pathetique with its four extended tracks of deconstructed riffs and fractured beats. Its origins are in Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band or even the Stooges, which should not lead the uninitiated to believe that Fushitsusha is an average garage revival band, though they somehow combine the 60s garage aesthetic with free improvisation sensibilities. Suffice it to say, at any given second the album can call to mind John Coltrane, 70s Miles Davis, Xenakis, Derek Bailey, Howlin Wolf, Borbetomagus, the Music Machine, and Merzbow while remaining as far from pastiche as its does tradition. Released in 1994, this album marked the beginning of a highly prolific period for the group, its closing untitled track clocks in at 44 minutes and is one of the most blissful and self-defining pieces the group recorded.
 
Haino was producing a vast amount of solo recordings and collaborations and touring concurrently. Live appearances outside Japan with Fushitsusha were few and far between. By 1995, this changed and the group began to gain a higher profile on the European and American scenes with the abrasive album The Caution Appears on the French label Les Disques du Soleil appearing 1995. Its ten tracks were shorter, sharper statements than the sprawling extended psychedelia of the previous albums and marked a significant change in the groups sound. Another European release came out the same year on Blast First under the title Purple Trap, which also became an umbrella title as a sort of sister group to Fushitsusha. Releases under this name came in the form of a rare four-CD box set and an album of Haino with Bill Laswell and Rashied Ali released on Tzadik. This creates a little confusion as Purple Trap was an album title, a group name, and a label that published the Haino box set officially known as The Souls True Love. The box included one untitled CD by Fushitsusha and three solo discs from Haino. The Blast First CD is subtitled The Wound That Was Given Birth to Must Be Bigger Than the Wound That Gave Birth; also known as Purple Trap, it is a double CD of extremely aggressive and noisy tracks that are no less enigmatic and somewhat humorously packaged in blazing Crimson artwork that defies the all-black uniform of Hainos artwork.Fushitsusha had worked with the independent PSF label loyally and had become synonymous with the avant-garde labels sound. Additionally, all of the groups members were working in splinter groups for the label. However, the association changed in 1997 when the Japanese major label Tokuma signed Fushitsusha for a series of four albums. Giving the group total artistic freedom, this was an exceptionally liberal phase in the Japanese music industry to put such an outward-bound group in mainstream distribution. Evidently, this project did not result gaining a higher profile and the collaboration with Tokuma dissolved after a stunning set of albums.
 
A Death Never to Be Complete appeared in April 1997 and was recorded in London in a high-end studio that captured Fushitsusha more successfully than ever. The album mixed shorter tracks — Just As I Told You, the sub-three-minute opener is a fine example of the concise reduction the group was going for at this point — while other tracks extend into improvisational labyrinths in the classic early style. The next installment was The Time Is Nigh recorded and released at the same time so the production style is identical. It is curious that this pair of albums was not released as a double CD. The four tracks Just Before, My Precious Thing, Black Cluster, and The Time Is Nigh display some of the more developed and edgy sides of the group, as if they are further abstracting their already advanced metamorphosis as it is one of the more challenging recordings of the group.
 
For the fact that live concerts of the group were highly disciplined, ritualistic, spontaneous and intense their greater albums are often those captured on stage such as Gold Blood taped live at San Franciscos Great American Music Hall during a November 7, 1996, gig that was broadcast on KFJC FM. One of the few recordings released on a U.S. label, the dark noise specialists Charnel House put this out in 1998. The recording is exceptionally high-quality for a live date and often, the sprawl into chaos is one of the most exciting aspects of their music that shows the group navigating through such stormy territory. Incidentally, this recording is the last to feature drummer Jun Kosugi, who left the group on good terms in pursuit of a more tranquil life. The elaborately titled The Halation Born Between You and I Who Were Doomed to Appear in Form and his parting track This Trembling in My Core, With Which of Your Cells Couldnt It Hold Hands! display some of his most agile drumming with the group, somewhere between Sunny Murray and Charles Hayward.
 
A Little Longer Thus was released on Tokuma on June 24, 1998. Its nine tracks debut new drummer Ikuro Takahashi, who had evidently worked with the group for a considerable length of time in training to become an inside component of the Fushitsusha voice. The titles Not That Way, Repel, Charged With Fever, Head-First, and No Second Chance may be telling of where things were headed with the newly configured group. A more frantic and somewhat harder sound was developed with the inspired energy of this fearless ongoing experiment. Recorded during the same session and concurrently released was the awesome The Wisdom Prepared, which goes back to the original long form improvisation; one 74-minute track indefinitely closed the relationship with Tokuma whether or not for the fact that a Metal Machine Music-like gesture of such a statement remains unknown. It is entirely instrumental and a mammoth suit that runs the entire Fushitsusha gamut sans Hainos voice.
 
Often put on the avant-garde jazzand free improvisation stage for want of a better categorization,Fushitsusha appeared in front of a crowd of new music and free jazz fans on May 16, 1997, for the Festival International de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Canada. The performance that became the album Withdrawe, This Sable Disclosure ere Devotd was released the following year on Les Disques Victo. The energy of the group was at an all-time chaotic high on this night. The record features a track listing that implies they performed versions of songs from previous recordings, although they are completely unrecognizable adaptations. The pieces Pathetique Vertigo evoke images of the group wrestling with an overpowering electric force, not to mention a full house of Canadian jazz fans with mouths agape. Fushitsusha released I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense on the U.K label Paratactile in 2000 as a double-CD set. This sprawling work would be their last as a trio. Haino was infamous in his dogmatism surrounding the practice and strategies of the group. The degree to which they developed their own musical language within the rock format is exemplified on the extended workouts Staring At a Point in Time, Memorizing, Vowing Never to Return and the drifting, two-part jam I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense, part one a mere 29 minutes while part two clocks in at 54. This stunning album was also the parting shot for drummer Ikuro Takahashi, whose departure led to one of the most peculiar diversions in the groups progression. The album Origins Hesitation was released in November 2001 after an extended leave while Haino produced more solo work. The twist to this release is that the overloaded guitar noise and feedback that was centrifugal to the Fushitsusha sound is gone entirely with Haino opting to replace the fleeting drummers himself taking to the kit and vocals with Yasushi Ozawas bass out front. This extraordinary move in the Fushitsusha/Haino legacy could be interpreted as either the crumbling of one of the most fascinating and powerful groups in 90s Japanese music or perhaps as Haino himself saw it: as the optimum deconstruction in the name of invention.