Lakipak: 音乐粒子的实验
When guitarist Nick Aliev asked a veteran Shanghai bassist if he wanted to jam to some of Aliev’s songs, he didn’t expect the answer to be yes. That’s how the backbone of Lakipak was founded in pre-pandemic China, with the group is slated to perform four nights at the Shanghai Lincoln Center jazz club starting in late April.
吉他手Nick Aliev在疫情前问资深上海贝斯手Fred要不要谈谈他写的歌的时候，“Yes”是出乎他预料的回答。如今Lakipak 会在4/30开始在上海Lincoln Center演出。
Aliev describes Lakipak as a musical experiment: Put experienced musicians together with the outline or “skeleton” of one of his songs, and pretty soon the mostly classical, jazz and gospel-trained members are going to fill out a bass line here or a hook there on their own. Aliev defines the genre solely as jazz/R&B, but listeners of Lakipak – of which there are thousands on Spotify – probably don’t need to pay much attention to labels to enjoy the show, and neither should you. Six singles so far – with more coming soon – feature a whopping four lead singers, which speaks to the inventiveness of the ensemble and its diverse styles, although Veronica will be the crooner taking the stage come April 30th along with keyboardist Chad Higgenbottom, bassist Francis Akwasi and drummer Pascal Naigom.
Lakipak是一个音乐的实验：把经验丰富的音乐家与Aliev的歌结合，原本受古典和爵士乐教育的成员顿时开始演唱Jazz/R&B这么一个东西。别担心-六个single马上会变多，但是四个主唱应该不会了，短时间内以后都由Veronica主唱。
“The goal is to surround myself with better musicians than I am,” Aliev laughed, noting that “there must be something in the water in Mauritius,” where bassist Fred is from, given how many good musicians come from there. Aliev’s own music background is a winning combination of classical and metal, and he describes Lakipak as not for the “casual listener,” due to the group’s music having complexity mixed with a little pop simplicity. The trained ear will hear complex breakdowns with countervailing but at times soaring melodies, bringing a fusion genre to bear in a process that Aliev describes as “just do stuff…it’s more valuable to experiment” at this point in the group’s formation than be tied to any particular style or formula.
“目的是要找一些比我厉害的乐手，” 包含毛里求斯来的Fred，又是一个那个国家来的音乐奇才。Aliev 自己是古典音乐和重金属的结合品，使得Lakipak在某种程度上不是随便听的音乐，颇有剧情和复杂度，时而反切时而高昂的旋律值得分析，也很值得听进它们的pop内容。这种制作过程被形容为“just do stuff”。
On Lakipak’s signature “Groovin’,” cozy visual cues from Silk Sonic’s pandemic-inspired in-studio music videos mix with decidedly jazzy chords in an R&B style. Anti-war “Without a Gun” reflects the Eastern European origins of some of Lakipak’s members, while the pandemic also saw some musicians stranded in exotic locales for a time or leaving China entirely, although without too much effect on the ultimate composition of the band.
虽然有乐手在国外待了一阵子，甚至离开中国，疫情并没有重度影响Lakipak的进度，推出视觉上虽受Silk Sonic影响的”Groovin’”，音乐上确属于完全不同的阵地。
“Shanghai is still the capital of Eastern music, with the possible exception of Jakarta or Tokyo – definitely for the Chinese scene, which is starting to get into the spotlight with new performances and artists going abroad,” Aliev describes. Many of the new generation of musicians were trained by a previous generation, which goes to show how Shanghai’s music scene in particular is very welcoming, with people being largely non-judgmental and willing to greet and help out newcomers.
“上海仍是东方音乐的首都之一，特别是对于中国本土音乐，新上演及出国巡演的艺人多的是，” Aliev说。很多当代的音乐人是被上一代教导的，大家都是互相鼓励的一群人，上海就是这种音乐人人情味特别重的一个地方，对于新手也是。
He has an additional message for readers, delivered with his classic deadpan and laugh: “Come to our show!”
”来看我们的演出吧！“
