Musician and entrepreneur Tom Vek is building a digital music player, but don’t call it retro
Musician and entrepreneur Tom Vek is building a digital music player, but don’t call it retro
音乐人兼企业家 Tom Vek 正在打造一款数字音乐播放器，但别叫它“复古”
Tom Vek burst onto the scene in 2005 with his album We Have Sound, which garnered a solid 7.6 from the tastemakers of the day over at Pitchfork. His undeniably catchy brand of dancy indietronica landed him an appearance on The OC and placement on the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack. His follow-up, Leisure Seizure, had a lengthy gestation period, but arrived in 2011 to similar success, reaching No. 79 on the UK charts.
2005 年，Tom Vek 凭借专辑《We Have Sound》横空出世，该专辑在当时的潮流风向标 Pitchfork 上获得了 7.6 分的扎实评价。他那极具感染力的舞曲风格独立电子乐让他登上了美剧《橘子郡男孩》（The OC），并被收录进《侠盗猎车手 IV》的原声带中。他的后续作品《Leisure Seizure》经历了漫长的酝酿期，于 2011 年发布并取得了同样的成功，最高排名达到英国排行榜第 79 位。
Vek has continued to release music at regular intervals over the last 15 years, dropping Newer Symbols in 2022. But in 2020 he started toying with this idea he had for a music player called Sleevenote. Inspired by vinyl packaging, it was his way of trying to bring some of the beauty and magic of cover art and liner notes to your digital audio. Securing parts, like square screens, proved difficult. Plus, the original prototype was enormous — roughly the size of a 7-inch single, just thicker and heavier.
在过去的 15 年里，Vek 一直保持着稳定的音乐产出，并于 2022 年发布了《Newer Symbols》。但在 2020 年，他开始构思一款名为“Sleevenote”的音乐播放器。受黑胶唱片包装的启发，他试图通过这种方式将封面艺术和内页说明书的美感与魔力带入数字音频中。寻找零件（如方形屏幕）的过程非常困难。此外，最初的原型机非常巨大——大约相当于一张 7 英寸单曲唱片的大小，只是更厚、更重。
Now Vek is back with a new version of Sleevenote that’s smaller, cheaper, and, for a little while longer, available to purchase. The last handful of the Day One Editions are available now for $349. As he turns his attention to the next chapter for his media player passion project, he told us about the essentials, his obsessions, and pet peeves as a musician-turned-entrepreneur.
如今，Vek 带着新版 Sleevenote 回归了，它体积更小、价格更低，并且在短时间内仍可购买。最后一批“首日版”（Day One Editions）现正以 349 美元的价格发售。随着他将注意力转向这个媒体播放器项目的下一个篇章，他向我们分享了作为一名转型企业家的音乐人，他眼中的必需品、痴迷的事物以及他所厌恶的事情。
What is your most indispensable tool (analog or digital, app or hardware)? 你最不可或缺的工具是什么（模拟或数字，应用程序或硬件）？
As much as I’d love to say my GMT wristwatch, because of all the communication we do with our friends in Seattle, and my love of wristwatches, the real answer has to be a MacBook. I’m either designing UI, designing graphics, retouching photos, or making videos, discussing ideas, implementing ideas, or hearing how my ideas go down. It truly is the motorbike for my mind. I have to see ideas to know whether I like them or not. I’m very fickle regarding industrial design of the tech I use and a big fan of the current “M” MacBooks, Apple kinda lost it for a bit.
虽然我很想说是我的 GMT 腕表（因为我们需要与西雅图的朋友频繁沟通，而且我热爱腕表），但真正的答案必须是 MacBook。我不是在设计 UI、图形、修图，就是在制作视频、讨论想法、实现想法，或者听取别人对我的想法的反馈。它确实是我思维的“摩托车”。我必须亲眼看到想法才能知道自己是否喜欢。我对所用科技产品的工业设计非常挑剔，我是目前“M”系列芯片 MacBook 的忠实粉丝，苹果之前有一段时间确实有点迷失方向。
How many tabs do you have open right now? 你现在打开了多少个标签页？
I get a lot of shit from Sleevenote co-founder Chris for how many tabs I have open, also in multiple Chrome profiles, you know, to the point the tabs get so narrow that you have to remember what it is from the favicon. I like coming back to things, as well as having a selection of regularly used things in a row. I find it useful for remembering all the social apps I’m meant to be posting my latest Sleevenote graphic to.
Sleevenote 的联合创始人 Chris 经常因为我打开太多标签页而吐槽我，而且我还在多个 Chrome 配置文件中同时开启，标签页窄到你只能通过网站图标（favicon）来辨认它们。我喜欢回头查看之前的内容，也喜欢把常用的东西排成一排。这对我来说很有用，能提醒我应该把最新的 Sleevenote 图形发布到哪些社交应用上。
Which tech trend do you wish would go away? 你希望哪种科技趋势消失？
This is a bit salty, but the trend for new retro-style CD players and cassette players. It is a great sign that people want offline dedicated music experiences, but I want to see new ideas. I’m specifically interested in ideas that push for digital music purchasing because it’s far better for musicians than buying that second-hand CD. I want my kids’ generation not to be stuck in a retro cycle, or a doomed big tech cycle. I want to see thoughtfully created indie tech products that could not have existed at any other time. Plus, I remember cassettes, they sound awful.
这话可能有点刻薄，但我希望那种复古风格的 CD 播放器和磁带播放器趋势消失。人们渴望离线、专注的音乐体验是一个好迹象，但我更想看到新的创意。我特别关注那些推动数字音乐购买的创意，因为这对音乐人来说远比购买二手 CD 要好得多。我不希望我孩子这一代人陷入复古循环，或者陷入注定失败的大科技公司循环中。我想看到那些精心打造的、在任何其他时代都无法存在的独立科技产品。另外，我记得磁带，它们的声音太糟糕了。
What is one thing you wish you had created? 你希望自己创造的一样东西是什么？
I will answer this with a song: three years after my debut album, when I should have had my second album together, I heard “Jump In The Pool” by Friendly Fires, featuring one of the most stunning synth solos of all time. I would have loved to have created that song at that time. Especially since I’d pushed myself and my then manager fully-clothed into a pool around that time and hadn’t even thought to write a song about it.
我用一首歌来回答这个问题：在我首张专辑发布三年后，本该完成第二张专辑的时候，我听到了 Friendly Fires 的《Jump In The Pool》，其中包含了我听过最令人惊叹的合成器独奏之一。我真希望当时能创作出那首歌。尤其是因为在那段时间，我曾把自己和当时的经纪人连衣服一起推进了游泳池，却甚至没想过要为此写首歌。
What is your current obsession? 你目前痴迷于什么？
Been an obsession for quite a while but it’s still: carports in architecture. I’m a car guy, I’m a very visually-focused car guy. I’m not really fussed about performance or track racing or anything. My real love is the design of the automobile and how it’s an emotive expression of movement. The perfect abode to me has car(s) on show, not hidden away in a garage, but still protected, so the carport becomes this perfect idea. I’m obsessed with mid-century desert architecture which incorporated the automobile so well into the language of the house, but even in the rainy UK, being able to get in and out of your car without getting wet would just make me so happy, I think haha.
这已经让我痴迷很久了，但依然是：建筑中的车棚（carport）。我是一个爱车的人，一个非常注重视觉的爱车人。我并不太在意性能、赛道竞速之类的东西。我真正热爱的是汽车的设计，以及它是如何成为一种运动的情感表达。对我来说，完美的住所应该展示汽车，而不是把它藏在车库里，但同时又要受到保护，所以车棚就成了这个完美的构想。我痴迷于世纪中叶的沙漠建筑，它们将汽车很好地融入了房屋的语言中。即使在多雨的英国，能不用淋雨就进出汽车也会让我非常开心，我想哈哈。
What’s the last piece of physical media you bought? 你最后购买的实体媒介是什么？
I buy lots of fiction books. I love a small paperback. I just picked up a book called The Cowards based purely on the cover. I’ve just finished a load of Steinbeck, so looking for something else. It’s funny that I often use the shortest elevator pitch “Sleevenote is a Kindle for music”, but I’ve never liked the idea of a digital book. Most people read one book at a time, but having all your music accessible at any one time is much more of a reason for a digitisation of a collection, it seems to me.
我买了很多小说。我喜欢小开本的平装书。我刚买了一本叫《The Cowards》的书，完全是因为它的封面。我刚读完一堆斯坦贝克的作品，所以正在寻找其他读物。有趣的是，我经常用最简短的电梯演讲来推销：“Sleevenote 是音乐界的 Kindle”，但我从来不喜欢数字书的概念。大多数人一次只读一本书，但在我看来，能够随时随地获取你所有的音乐，这才是收藏数字化的更有力的理由。
What do you think is worth splurging on? 你认为什么值得挥霍？
Digital music downloads are worth splurging on. We’ve been led to believe there’s no point in buying anything digitally, but it’s standing in plain sight as the best thing to do with things like music. Not only does it send far greater support for artists, but it gives us music fans offline and time-stamped access to great art, and being encouraged to spend some time with a curated selection of art, we all know is good for the mind.
数字音乐下载是值得挥霍的。我们一直被灌输一种观念，认为购买数字产品毫无意义，但实际上，对于音乐这类东西来说，这显然是最好的做法。它不仅能为艺术家提供更大的支持，还让我们这些乐迷能够离线、随时地接触到伟大的艺术。鼓励自己花点时间去欣赏精心挑选的艺术作品，我们都知道这对心灵是有益的。