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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 the Taiwan's Golden Melody Award for best album packaging design
• Golden Pin Design Award 2014
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。
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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