Tractor Academy 拖拉机学院 by Deng Boyu 邓博宇

Simultaneously casual and sincere, Deng Boyu’s latest output on cassette, Tractor Academy, is both a tongue-in-cheek teaser and a wildly romantic postscript to his upcoming solo LP, Chimney Complex. The eight songs here unveil the instinctual id beneath the electronic alter ego of Deng Boyu, known primarily as the ever-present drummer in China’s young and vibrant scene of free jazz and improvisation.

This is one of a kind Northern Chinese IDM lit up by a whimsical touch of nostalgia. The sound textures – created by a toolkit comprised of a vibrator, a gong, and various metal objects – are distinctively dumb and dusty; the compositions are freewheeling in form, but heavily loaded with noise and personal history. It is a misfunctioning time capsule, what you'll get travelling back to a Disco dancehall of early ‘90s Inner Mongolia – where Deng Boyu first felt the thrill of the groove in his troubled adolescence – and doing a lavish Autechre dakou DJ set in it.

So please sit back and relax, now that IDM has long lost its association with human intelligence, let’s hear Deng Boyu tell that old joke again.

*You will find the first half of “Transmission Pt. 2” (Track 1) in Deng Boyu’s new LP, Chimney Complex, released by Chinese label Badhead in 2021.

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作为近年来中国本土即兴音乐场景中最为活跃的鼓手之一，邓博宇同时是一名低调而个人色彩张扬的电子乐创作者。在前作《旷野密码》问世近十年后，他的第二张电子乐LP《烟囱效应》终于竣工，将由Badhead厂牌在年内出版。就此而言，以磁带形式后发先至的《拖拉机学院》既是一档巧言令色的宣传片花，也是一卷吐胆倾心的浪漫附言。区别于正式专辑中力求精当的作曲和编配，磁带内的八首作品多在即兴中成型，且对噪音的洋溢泼洒几无约束。不妨说，如果电子音乐人是鼓手邓博宇的第二重自我，那么《拖拉机学院》中呼之欲出的便是这层自我之下暗流涌动的本我之声。

这是在世纪末中国北方的生活经验中土法炼就的变种IDM，它愣头愣脑，灰头土脸，却自有一套闭门造车的章法。锣鼓铁盒震动棒，不入流的响器会聚一堂，音色中仿佛处处有机事，而又全不存机心。它也是一枚乱码频出的时光胶囊：包头舞厅里自称DJ的律动启蒙者，岗顶档口中Autechre显灵的打口垃圾堆，放任自流的噪响随拖拉机迎面呛来，在充满羁绊的私人聆听史中被赋予重量。

那就请坐稳扶好，打起精神，在聪明舞曲早已被聪明人远远抛在身后的今天，听邓博宇把那个笑话再讲一遍。

dusty sound from the Chinese underground

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