Sherwood & Pinch / Late Night Endless

Release Date: January, 2015


未曽有のハイブリッド音楽

On-u Soundのオーナーであり、古くから欧米の音楽のトレンドにダブの息吹を吹き込んで来たAdrian Sherwoodとブリストルのダブステップの寵児、Pinchによるコラボ作。Pinchは2562を排出したTectonicの創立者で、最近では、更にハードコアな音楽を目指したCOLD Recordingsというレーベルも立ち上げている。彼自身は複数のアーティストとのコラボ作を多く出しており、ダブステップをテクノ、ミニマル、トライバル、レゲエ、ダンスホールといった様々な音楽に溶け込ませたような曲を多く発表している。そんなPinchと、これまでポストパンクやインダストリアルといった、あらゆるタイプの音楽を一貫してダブという解釈のもと、プロデュースして来たAdrian Sherwoodがタグを組むというのは、奇想天外な出来事であると同時に、ごく自然な流れで実現したことなのではないかと想像する。

まず、1曲目の「Shadowrun」からしてPinch流のトライバルな雰囲気でハードコアな世界が展開されるが、脳天をズッカーンと直撃するようなダブの一撃がAdrian Sherwoodの魔法の存在を確信させる。以降、Pinchならではのダブステップやベースミュージックの要素とルーツ・レゲエや、かつて、Adrian Sherwoodが参加していたTACK>>HEAD（80年代に活躍したインダストリアルなヒップホップグループ）にも通じる、戦場の爆音の中を這いずりまわるようなダブが融合した曲が並ぶ。「Bucketman」ではルーツ・レゲエの極太ベースにジャンキーなジャマイカ人がマリファナの歌を唄うが、それとは対照的にダブステのキラキラ・エレクトロニクス音も一緒に宙を舞う。「Precinct of Sound」も現代のエレクトロニクスにより再構築されたインダストリアル・ミュージックに呑み込まれたTACK>>HEADが更にダブと融合したような、ハイパー・ハイブリッドな曲に仕上がっている。また、アルバムの中盤では、瞑想的なスポークンワーズで始まるチルアウト系の「Wild Birds」や、アフロでありながら、優雅で爽やかな歌声が響く「Stand Strong」のような柔らかい印象の曲も登場する。その他、魔法のランプの煙が漂うようなエスニックさを持った「Different Eyes」、シャーマンの歌声とダブが共演するトランス感覚満載の「Africa 138」、ルーツ・レゲエとメランコリックなピアノとギターが溶け合う「Run Them Away」など、あらゆる要素がドロドロのスープの中で混ざったような曲が続く。また、日本版に添付されているライブ音源では、日本のアニメ「Darker Than Black -黒の契約者-」のセリフがダブの中に埋め込まれていて、まさに闇鍋のような音楽を展開している。これを聴くと、ライブでこそ、彼らが目指すドロドロに煮込んだスープのような、未曽有のハイブリッド音楽が生み出されるのかも知れないとも思ってしまう。興味のある方は、ぜひ、ライブでも確かめて欲しい。








Music of Phenomenal Hybridization

This is a collaboration album by Pinch, a Bristol’s wonder boy who plays around well with Dubstep and Adrian Sherwood, who runs On-u Sound and is well known as a producer who keeps pouring spirits of Dub in to various types of music trends in Europe and U.S. since some time ago. Pinch is the founder of Tectonic, the label which has released 2562’s debut record, and he recently has established a sublabel, COLD Recordings as to release more of Hardcore music. He himself has released few records collaborating with other artists, and has produced music that sound like a transformed Dubstep resulting from merging different types of music: Techno, Minimal, Tribal, Reggae, and Dancehall with his Dubstep. Thus, it may be said that it is quite a natural thing and at the same time, a fantastic phenomenon to have Pinch work with someone like Adrian Sherwood who has applied his Dub scheme consistently to rebuild various types of music including Post-punk and Industrial music.

Pinch’s Hardcore but Tribal world rolls out in the opener track, “Shadowrun”, but soon a strong shot of Dub blows your head off, and makes you realize that the magic of Adrian Sherwood indeed exists in this track. Followed by are tracks that sound like mixtures of Pinch’s Dubstep / Bass Music factors together with factors of Roots Reggae and Dub effects that remind me of TACK>>HEAD’s (an Industrial oriented Hip Hop group that has been most active during the 80’s and had Adrian Sherwood as their producer) music that sounds like crawling in a bombarding battlefield. In “Bucketman”, you will hear a Jamaican junkie singing a song of marijuana along with a heavy and fat bass sound, but twinkling electronic particles of Dubstep fly around at the same time in the track. “Precinct of Sound” is a hyper-hybrid track that sounds like Dub music merged with sounds of TACK>>HEAD being swallowed by an electronically rebuild Industrial music that we may find around us quite often these days. Interesting are the tracks that come in the midway of the track list. “Wild Birds” is a good chill-out track which starts with a meditational voice of a female, and “Stand Strong” is an Afro oriented track in which a bracing and elegant song is being sung. Followed by are “Different Eyes”, an ethnic track which makes you see smokes coming out from a magic lamp, “Africa 138”, the track which creates a Trance atmosphere by having a shaman sing in Dub music, and “Run Them Away”, the track in which Roots Reggae and melancholic sounds of a piano and a guitar melt together. This way, many tracks in the album sound like mishmashes of every various aspects of music all being cooked up to some soupy states. And what sounds more soupy is their live performance recording which could be heard in the extra CD attached to Japan version album. Here, you will hear Japanimation (the animation should be “Darker Than Black –Kuro no Keiyakusha-“) characters talking in the Dub stew of the live mix. If you listen to this, it becomes quite clear that the music which they are really up to is like a stewed up music resulting from multiples of phenomenal hybridizations that could only be created through their live performances. So let us check them do so in their sessions.