Leslie Winer was, in the words of Jean-Paul Gaultier, “the first androgynous model.” In the 1980s, her angular features landed her campaigns for Valentino and Miss Dior; covers of The Face and European editions of Vogue; and shoots with legendary photographers like Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and Pierre et Gilles. She fell into fashion by happenstance after moving to New York City from Massachusetts to attend the School of Visual Arts. There, she became a protégé of William Burroughs, partied hard and ran with the downtown demimonde of the era, dating Jean-Michel Basquiat for a time. Modeling, however, was just a job; music and writing were her true passions. “The fashion world was much smaller and less mainstream then than it is now,” she says. “No one outside of fashion had any idea who you were. There wasn’t the big money or the celebrity that occurred later.”Modeling also brought Winer to London, where she became part of the orbit around Leigh Bowery’s mid-’80s club night Taboo. The city’s thriving post-punk and New Wave music scenes provided her with a circle of like-minded musicians, including Jah Wobble, the co-founder of John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols outfit Public Image Limited and Kevin Mooney, the bass player for Adam and the Ants. With them, she recorded the cult 1990 LP “Witch,” which she released under the name ©. The album is now enjoying a second life, thanks to its release earlier this summer on the San Francisco-based reissue label Superior Viaduct.
用让-保罗·高缇耶(Jean-Paul Gaultier)的话说，莱斯利·维纳(Leslie Winer)是“第一个雌雄同体的模特”。在20世纪80年代，棱角分明的容貌让她成为华伦天奴(Valentino)和迪奥小姐(Miss Dior)的广告代言人；登上了《The Face》和《Vogue》欧洲版的封面；与赫尔穆特·牛顿(Helmut Newton)、欧文·佩恩(Irving Penn)、皮埃尔和吉勒斯(Pierre et Gilles)等传奇摄影师合作。她从马萨诸塞州搬到纽约市上视觉艺术学校(School of Visual Arts)后偶然进入了时尚界。在那里，她成了威廉姆·巴勒斯(William Burroughs)的门客，经常参加派对，混迹于那个时代的市中心风月场，与让-米切尔·巴斯奎特(Jean-Michel Basquiat)交往过一段时间。不过对她来说，当模特只是个工作，音乐和写作才是她真正的爱好。“当时的时尚界比现在要小得多，没这么主流，”她说，“时尚圈外没人知道你是谁。不像后来，当模特能挣大钱，成为名人。” 模特工作还把维纳带到了伦敦，成为利·鲍厄里(Leigh Bowery)80年代中期的俱乐部禁忌(Taboo)的常客。这座城市蒸蒸日上的后朋克和新浪潮音乐，给她提供了一群志同道合的音乐人朋友，包括约翰·林敦(John Lydon)在性手枪乐队(Sex Pistols)之后的公共形象有限公司乐队(Public Image Limited)的联合创始人贾赫·沃伯(Jah Wobble)，以及亚当和蚂蚁乐队(Adam and the Ants)的贝斯手凯文·穆尼(Kevin Mooney)。1990年，她和他们一起录制了密纹唱片《女巫》(Witch)，她以©的名字发布。这张唱片现在迎来了第二春，今年夏天早些时候旧金山的旧唱片重发厂牌“优越高架桥”(Superior Viaduct)再次发行了它。
A compelling mix of sampled and programmed musical fragments and beats, breathy spoken word and ethereal singing, “Witch” still sounds fresh today. “I saw and listened to a lot of early hip-hop when I lived in New York,” Winer recalls. The influence is apparent, along with reggae and dancehall elements that reflect her proximity to London’s Caribbean community. There are echoes of “Witch” in the work of later ’90s artists like Massive Attack and Portishead; the music journal NME once called Winer the “grandmother of trip-hop,” though she says she’s “not even sure what trip-hop is.” The breezily transcendent “John Says,” one of the album’s highlights, appears here.
《女巫》混和了经过采样和编程的音乐片段和节奏、气声低语和空灵的演唱，如今听起来仍然很新鲜，令人叹服。“我住在纽约时看过、听过很多早期嘻哈音乐，”维纳回忆说。嘻哈音乐对这张唱片的影响很明显，另外它也受到了雷鬼和舞厅雷鬼(dacehall)元素的影响，反映出她与伦敦的加勒比社区关系密切。90年代末的大举进攻乐队(Massive Attack)和Portishead乐队等艺术团体的作品与《女巫》相似。音乐杂志《新音乐快报》(NME)曾称维纳为“trip-hop的祖母”，不过她说她自己“甚至不确定trip-hop是什么”。轻松活泼、出类拔萃的《约翰常说》(John Says)是这张专辑中最精彩的歌曲之一。
Although “Witch” was a favorite of the legendary English radio DJ John Peel, and Winer went on to collaborate with Sinead O’Connor and Grace Jones, the album’s release was greeted with near silence. In the late ’90s, Winer settled in France, where she has raised five daughters and recorded and performed sporadically. She released a second album, 1999’s “Spider,” in an extremely limited edition with the help of her friend Helmut Lang.
虽然《女巫》是英国传奇电台DJ约翰·皮尔(John Peel)最喜欢的专辑之一，维纳后来又和西尼德·奥康纳(Sinead O’Connor)、格蕾丝·琼斯(Grace Jones)合作过，但是这张专辑反响平平。90年代末，维纳在法国定居，养了五个女儿，偶尔录专辑、表演。1999年在朋友海尔姆特·朗(Helmut Lang)的帮助下发行了第二张专辑《蜘蛛》(Spider)，发行数量非常有限。
The reissue of “Witch” prompted Winer to reconnect with the producer Fachtna O’Ceallaigh, another of the album’s original supporters, to work on new music. She has also recently published a volume of poetry, and serves as the executor of the Beat writer Herbert Huncke’s literary estate. And she’s even returned to modeling as the face of Vivienne Westwood’s spring/summer 2014 campaign, shot by Juergen Teller. Like her music, Winer’s life continues to write itself in unexpected ways.
《女巫》的再次发行让维纳和那张专辑最初的另一位支持者、制作人法切纳·奥西莱(Fachtna O’Ceallaigh)再次联系上，继续创作新的音乐。她最近还出版了一本诗集。她是垮掉派作家赫伯特·亨克尔(Herbert Huncke)的文学遗产执行人。她甚至回归到模特界，担任薇薇安·韦斯特伍德(Vivienne Westwood)2014春夏广告的代言人，摄影师是尤尔根·泰勒(Juergen Teller)。和她的音乐一样，维纳的生活继续以不可预测的方式前行。
“Witch” is available on vinyl at superiorviaduct.com and digitally at lesliewiner.com.
《女巫》的黑胶唱片可以在superiorviaduct.com买到，数字版可以在lesliewiner.com买到。
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