Chinese Medicine 草乙术, by Lao Dan 老丹

Chinese Medicine 草乙术

by Lao Dan 老丹

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1.	鹤虱 Crane Lice 12:53	info
2.	鹅不食草 Goose-no-eat Herb 06:56	info
3.	淫羊藿 Horny Goat Weed 17:25	info

about

A classically trained Chinese bamboo flautist, Lao Dan picked up the saxophone again around 2013 as he went wildly astray in the world of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. While demonstrating an ever-growing ability to deliver explosive force and intensity in his free playing, Lao Dan keeps a brutal honesty in his approach to the instrument. He plays ‘jazz’ as what it is, not what it’s supposed to be. Navigating constantly between the East and the West, Lao Dan embraces a unique aesthetic which fuses all his past influences into a voice of glorious mayhem and sheer zaniness.

Recorded in June 2019, this is a solo set in which two instruments – tenor saxophone and Zheng, also known as the Chinese zither – were played successively and simultaneously by hands and feet. The recording was made in one go with no overdub or effect added. Lao Dan never learned to play the Zheng properly before this very first attempt. As a result, he didn’t struggle at all to play it in an awkward way, while with the saxophone he did, as always, try very hard to do that.

The cover art, created by Shenzhen-based artist Tiemei, is a portrait of Shennong, the Deity of medicine and agriculture in ancient Chinese mythology. The three tracks in Chinese Medicine are named after three species of herb each believed to have unique medicinal properties. It is our responsibility to remind you to take them with extra caution. In Chinese medicine, after all, every drug is a thirty-percent poison.

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在《草乙术》中，老丹演奏了次中音萨克斯和古筝。这是一次兴之所至的独奏尝试，用老丹自己的话说：“我试图一个人同时演奏两种乐器，因为我想让独奏更丰富些，我没选择使用效果器，因为我想要它们原汁原味的交流，那样显得更亲切。”

“草乙术”三字原本无关药理。基于一个误译，磁带中的三首曲目最终由一名北京中医师执笔开方，以三味气质各异的中草药命名。现居深圳的铁梅画龙点睛，用一幅血肉丰实的神农木刻收束了整张专辑的神采。

作为一名学院出身的中国竹笛手，对于前卫爵士的沉迷即使算不得离经叛道，也并不是一件多么光彩的事，何况老丹从未学过古筝。因此，《草乙术》既是两种乐器之间的交流，更是两种“业余”之间的切磋，异教徒与门外汉顾影相对，踏歌而游，共饮一场伪艺术的交杯苦酒。而不论是作为对话还是自言自语，它都忠实地贯注了老丹式的朴素音乐哲学：只要目的与手段形影浑然，演奏便可以是怡然自得的手忙脚乱。

就让独奏再丰富些吧，画蛇添足，说不定有死而不僵的灵效。

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Dusty Ballz is a London-based label that releases Chinese underground music on cassette tapes. The term originates in an old Soviet joke, which somehow still speaks to the situation today.

在历史悠久的长沙方言中，“蛋蛋沾灰”一词形容儿童玩伴之间亲密与共的珍贵情谊。Dusty Ballz致力于通过磁带介质呈现中国地下之声，在欣欣向荣的新常态下描画人类命运共同体的美好愿景。

credits

released May 1, 2020

录制于2019年6月，杭州
Recorded in June 2019, Hangzhou

萨克斯、古筝：老丹
Saxophone & Zheng by Lao Dan
混音：邓博宇
Mixed by Deng Boyu
木刻：铁梅
Woodcut by Tiemei
书法：林鉴才中医师
Calligraphy by Doctor Lin Jiancai
感谢：夏逸康
Special thanks to Xia Yikang

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dusty sound from the Chinese underground

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