【搬运】【译】叉婊Pitchfork评Frank Ocean 2011年首张Mixtape《Nostalgia, Ultra.》

搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整） 

翻译：junjie

排版：SpencerC

Frank Ocean is a 23-year-old New Orleans-born, Beverly Hills-based singer who's in the gleefully hedonistic hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. Frank Ocean is also known as Christopher "Lonny" Breaux, a songwriter who has helped pen tracks for Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Brandy over the last few years. He's the latest example of why the major label system is crumbling at the knees of Twitter and Tumblr, too. After getting signed to Island Def Jam about a year ago, the label proceeded to ignore him. Until February 16, that is. That's when Ocean decided to give away his debut album, Nostalgia, Ultra, for free on his Tumblr.

FrankOcean是一位出生于新奥尔良，生活在贝弗利山庄的23岁的歌手，同时是享乐主义嘻哈组合“OddFuture Wolf Gang Kill Them All”的一员。Frank Ocean也叫Christopher“Lonny”Breaux，是近年来为Justin Bieber，John Legend和Brandy写过歌的词曲作者。他也成了为什么大厂牌机制败给Twitter和Tumblr等社交网络平台的最新案例。在大约一年前签约Island Def Jam之后，唱片公司却一直忽视他。直到2月16日，Ocean决定在他的Tumblr上免费发行他的首张专辑《Nostalgia, Ultra.（终极怀旧）》。

Venting about his decision to drop the record his own way, he took to Twitter on March 1: "i. did. this. not ISLAND DEF JAM. that's why you see no label logo on the artwork that I DID. guess its my fault for trusting my dumbass lawyer and signing my career over to a failing company. Fuck Def Jam & any company that goes the length of signing a kid with dreams & talent w/ no intention of following through. Fuck em. now back to my day. i want some oatmeal and toast. brunch swag."

对于用自己的方式发行唱片的决定，3月1日，他在Twitter上发泄了愤怒：“我做的专辑，而不是ISLAND DEF JAM。这也是为什么你们在我做的专辑封面上看不到厂牌标志。我猜这是我自己的过错：相信了我的傻逼律师，并且把我的音乐生涯签给一个失败的公司。操Def Jam以及任何签约一个有梦想和才华的孩子却无意培养的公司。操他们。现在回到我原来的生活。我想要燕麦粥和烤面包。拽拽地吃brunch。”

The mini-rant sums up this singer's demeanor well-- openly passionate and heartfelt, but also attractively off-center and humble. Nostalgia, Ultra finds Ocean singing over a mix of original pop-leaning R&B beats courtesy of big-ticket producers like Tricky Stewart (Rihanna's "Umbrella", Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)") and Midi Mafia (50 Cent's "21 Questions", Justin Bieber's "Down to Earth") as well as some eclectic remakes of songs including Coldplay's underrated 2009 single "Strawberry Swing", MGMT's "Electric Feel", and, most surprisingly, the Eagles' "Hotel California". Ocean's experience within the major-label hit machine comes through-- his casually hook-y voice is akin to Usher or Jamie Foxx's, and at least three of the album's songs could (and should) slot in comfortably on a R&B or even Top 40 radio station near you any day now. There are distinct elements of Drake's melancholic paranoia and The-Dream's high melodrama, too. But there's also a heady surreality surrounding Nostalgia, Ultra that makes it unique. The cover-- showing a bright orange 1980s BMW (Ocean's "dream car") hidden in plain sight amidst lush greenery-- is perfectly indicative of what's inside.

简短的咆哮显得他的举止是多么公开诚挚，充满激情，同时又带有迷人的自省与谦虚。《Nostalgia, Ultra.（终极怀旧）》里的Ocean融合早期流行乐与偏向R&B节奏，承蒙大牌制作人如Tricky Stewart（Rihanna“Umbrella”，Beyonce“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”）和Midi Mafia（50 Cent的“21 Questions”，Justin Bieber“Down to Earth”）的帮助。专辑里还有一些风格迥异的翻唱包括Coldplay的2009年被低估的单曲“Strawberry Swing”，MGMT的“Electric Feel”，甚至最令人诧异的the Eagles的“Hotel California”。Ocean与大厂牌热单制造机器合作的经历也造就了他——那类似Usher和Jamie Foxx随性而勾魂的嗓音，而且专辑里至少有三首歌可能（或者说应该）能够轻松地上R&B或者甚至是当下电台Top 40的榜单。专辑整体带有明显的Drake式的抑郁、多疑、妄想的元素，也有The Dream式的情景剧风格。除此之外，还有一种浓烈的超现实主义包裹着《Nostalgia, Ultra.（终极怀旧）》，让它显得格外独特。专辑封面是一辆80年代的亮橙色的宝马（Ocean的理想车型）隐藏在一眼就能看出来的葱翠的绿林之中——完美地表明了里面藏着什么东西。

The record is held together by tiny interludes named after 1990s video games in which the unmistakable sounds of a cassette player rewinding, fast-forwarding, and stopping are heard. The old-school touch lends Nostalgia, Ultra the feel of a personal, friend-to-friend mixtape rather than one made by a name-dropping hip-hop DJ. The impressionistic, fingerprint details don't stop there. On the brief segue "Bitches Talkin'", a loving snippet of Radiohead's "Optimistic" is heard while Ocean sincerely laments how "all Bitches want is Jodeci, what the Fuck?"-- not exactly the type of sentiment you'd expect to hear on any sort of R&B album.

专辑由几首以90年代电子游戏命名的小插曲串连在一起，清楚地可以听到磁带播放机倒回、快进、停止的声音。复古的点缀让《Nostalgia, Ultra.（终极怀旧）》成为一张带有私人以及朋友之间倾诉感觉的混音带，而不是来自一个借别人之名自抬身价的嘻哈DJ的作品。印象派和极具个人风格的细节不止这些。在简短的衔接曲“Bitches Talkin”里可以听到Radiohead的“Optimistic”片段，同时Ocean真诚地抱怨道“所有的婊子都想要Jodeci（美国90年代R&B四重唱组合成员之一），什么鬼？”——并不是一个你能从任何R&B专辑里能够听到的观点。

Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman's adulterous bedroom soliloquy from Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut can be heard underneath the murderous "Lovecrimes", adding a sense of manic dread. The film is once again referenced on the nightmarish, Stewart-produced "Novacane", which has Ocean losing his senses in the company of a wannabe dentist/porn star he met at Coachella. And if that sounds kind of ridiculous, that's probably the point; the atmospheric track almost reads like a knowing parody of Kid Cudi's fame-as-drug diatribes. The shout outs to Kubrick's mysterious and lusty final masterpiece aren't just artsy braggadocio-- they make sense within Ocean's trickily complex world, too. Like on brooding highlight "Swim Good", where he steers his Lincoln Town Car straight into California's crashing waves. "I'm about to drive in the ocean," he sings, heart-battered. "I'ma try to swim from something bigger than me." He lightens up on the self-reflexive pop winner "Songs for Women" and the MGMT-sampling Garden of Eden Fuck ode "Nature Feels", but, no matter the mood, this songwriter is always quick to add fine particulars that make his songs his songs.

与此同时，Nicole Kidman（妮可·基德曼）在Stanley Kubrick（斯坦利·库布里克）的电影作品《EyesWide Shut（大开眼界）》里的一段卧室奸情独白被Ocean采样放入歌曲“Lovecrimes”里作为背景音，增添了癫狂恐惧的氛围。这部电影又一次被引用在Stewart制作的如噩梦般的歌曲“Novacane”，里面讲述了Coachella音乐节期间，Ocean在一个想要成为牙医的女艳星的陪伴下逐渐失去知觉的故事。这听起来有些荒唐，但这就是他想要表达的；这首歌几乎像是对Kid Cudi式的抨击名誉与毒*的一种刻意模仿。对Kubrick神秘又激昂的遗作（库布里克在完成最后一部作品《大开眼界》四天后去世）的致敬可不是艺术吹嘘——这与Ocean艰难复杂的生活世界有关。比如听起来充斥着阴森感的“Swim Good”，说的是他驾驶着他那辆经典的林肯汽车直入加利福尼亚猛烈碰撞的海浪之中。“我就要开进海洋（Ocean）里了”，他唱着，心遭受着重击；“我在试着游出比我更巨大的东西”。接着，他又在有自我反思意味的的流行杰作“Songs for Women”和采样自流行摇滚乐队MGMT关于伊甸园的性爱颂歌“Nature Feels”当中放松歌唱。但是，无论何种心境，Ocean作为词曲作者，总是能够恰当地增加精妙的细节使他的歌成为“他的歌”。

At 23, Ocean is a few years older than his mostly-teenage friends in Odd Future. And his maturity is apparent not only in his vastly more laid-back style but also in how he deals with the underlying sense of abandonment and rejection that ignites much of Odd Future's bloody, cuss-laden vengeance. "Fuck a deal, I just want my father's e-mail so I can tell him how much I hate him in detail," seethes crew leader Tyler, the Creator on the title track of his album Bastard. Ocean grew up fatherless too, according to his wrenching revamp of Mr. Hudson's "There Will Be Tears", but he handles his feelings differently. "My friend said it wasn't so bad/ You can't miss what you ain't had/ Well, I can-- I'm sad," he wails, letting his guard down completely. And the fact that Tyler and Frank are smart enough to see their thematic kinship beneath all the aesthetic disparities bodes well for both.

23岁的Ocean只比他在Odd Future的青年朋友大几岁。他的成熟感不仅仅体现于悠闲自在的风格，而且在他如何处理深层次的被遗弃和拒绝的感受，点燃了Odd Future血腥的满载诅咒的复仇之心。Odd Future的队长Tyler, the Creator在他的专辑同名主打“Bastard”中愤怒地唱道：“操他妈的合约，我只想要我父亲的邮箱，详细地告诉他我有多么恨他”。根据那首翻唱自Mr. Hudson的“There Will Be Tears”中的悲伤诉说，Ocean也在没有父亲的陪伴中长大，但他处理情感的方式不同。“我的朋友说这也没那么糟糕/你不能想念你从未拥有过的东西/喔，我可以——我很难过”他号啕大哭，完全卸下了防备。实际上Tyler和Frank都足够聪明地看到了：这样的亲属关系，在所有审美差异之下，对他们来说是一个吉兆。

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一直觉得法海是一只迷人的独角兽。鲜有的街拍，近乎无的新闻，时不时地在IG上发一些奇奇怪怪的照片，或者出现在某些杂志采访：（记者问）嗨Frank，2019你过的怎么样？（他答）一切都还行啊～一切都还好啊，保持忙碌。从他发行正式专辑之前2011年的mixtape可以看到：一个喜欢Radiohead，Coldplay和库布里克电影的黑人文艺青年的崛起。挺有趣的。