The Muddy Basin Ramblers - Formosa Medicine Show

The Muddy Basin Ramblers is a jug band from Taipei. They play music from the turn of the century such as old-time Jazz, blues, and ragtime. The Formosa Medicine Show is a 23-song CD that is packaged to look like a vintage medicine container from the 1920s. The fold-open cardstock package is the size of an old 45 rpm record sleeve and includes fold-out liner notes modeled on early 20th-century medicine boxes. Most remarkably, the design elements manage to fuse styles from the US, Taiwan and Taiwan’s colonial master of the early 20th century, Japan. The album is a visual distillation of the Muddy Basin Ramblers trans-cultural project. The physical copy of "Formosa Medicine Show" comes wrapped in a 45-RPM record sleeve, complete with lyrics, in English with translation in Mandarin Chinese, printed on vintage newspaper-style broadsheets.
Nominated for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Best Recording Packaging
Nominated for Taiwan's Golden Melody Award for best album packaging design
Golden Pin Design Award 2014

Nominated for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Best Recording Packaging
Nominated for the Taiwan's Golden Melody Award for best album packaging design
Golden Pin Design Award 2014
You can buy the physical CD at cdbaby.com


泥灘地浪人  -  寶島賣藥秀

誰是「泥灘地浪人」?什麼是 Jug Band (陶罐樂團,瓶罐樂團)?
有些人聽到藍調,有些人聽到爵士,有些人聽到鄉村,有些人稱之為「鄉巴佬 swing」。泥灘地浪人們什麼都愛演奏。他們的音樂來自於 1920 至 1930 年代的 Jug Band 與 Swing 樂團,在表演的同時浪人們也在鄉村藍調,ragtime,與 ragtime 灌注新鮮的態度。 

它敘述著 1900 至 1950 年間在台灣與亞洲流浪的小販、游民、江湖樂手們的故事。在創作的過程中,泥灘地浪人團長 David Chen 將歷史奇想混搭復古樂聲,譜出各個離奇、動心、逗趣的逸聞軼事,並且加上難以抗拒的旋律節奏,以一個專輯走訪爵士、swing、ragtime、藍調、鄉巴佬弦樂、以及航海小調等多種音樂形式。所謂「賣藥秀」指的則是美國 19 世紀中至 20 世紀初所流行的一種普及的熱門巡迴娛樂秀。許多當年著名的藝人都曾經經歷過賣藥秀的歷練。這類賣藥秀多由自稱「郎中」或「博士」的主持人主導,並且販售各種特效靈藥。當然,這些郎中不外乎是演員或樂手,而靈藥仙丹也只是唬弄愚民的玩意。機靈的觀眾早知「郎中」是個蒙古大夫,但是遇上了賣藥秀仍照看不誤。賣藥秀經常利用熱門樂曲吸引觀眾,並且可能在一個場次中搬出鄉村弦樂、爵士、原住民舞團等等多樣化的娛樂。「寶島賣藥秀」同時以 swing 版本的「望春風」對台灣經典樂曲致意。

入圍第 57 屆葛萊美獎「最佳唱片包裝」
入圍 2014 金曲獎最佳唱片封套設計

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