Tag: China

Fat City/Lu Xin Pei – Super Split – 20th November 2012

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Cat #: 117TZM

Fat City and LuXinPei are noise and alternative rock bands. Because two bands share each other’s player or idea and been a longtime friends, they make this SUPER SPLIT together. This split is a collection of the bands’ early songs and soundtrack. Though you can find many music genres here the two bands still keep their love to experiment with various sounds and structures in their songs.
CD version is factory made CD-r.
Imported under license in Australia from Zhu Wenbo by tenzenmen.
And thanks to Nisky to provide the cover picture.

All Songs’ Instruments and Vocal by Fat City and Lu Xin Pei
Record & Mix & Mastering by G.B.J.D. Records
Studio : Kill the Poor, Beijing , China
Date: Apr.-Jun. 2011
Album Cover Picture by Nisky, Shanghai, China

X is Y – Never Sever/LP – 18th August 2012

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Cat #: 111TZM

In transferring their powerful live act to disc on their latest recordings — “Never Sever” and “LP” — X is Y have taken a self-consciously pious DIY approach, endeavoring to capture and convey the honest minutiae of recorded performance with the intensity of emotional surrender.

The four tracks here are the Never Sever EP. Buy the CD package to also receive the first album on CD.

Never Sever was originally released thru our great pals at miniless – mini019.

Automating/Torturing Nurse – Contest to Kill 100 People – 10th August 2012

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Cat #: 095TZM

The contest to kill 100 people using a sword (百人斬り競争 hyakunin-giri kyōsō) is a wartime account of a “contest” between two Japanese Army officers during the Japanese invasion of China over which of them could first kill 100 people with his sword. The two officers were later executed on war crimes charges for their involvement. Since that time, the historicity of the event has been hotly contested, often by Japanese nationalists or revisionist historians seeking to invalidate the historiography of the Nanjing Massacre.

The issue first emerged from a series of wartime Japanese-language newspaper articles, which celebrated the “heroic” killing of Chinese by two Japanese officers, who were engaged in a competition to see who could kill the most first.The issue was revived in the 1970s and sparked a larger controversy over Japanese war crimes in China, and in particular the Nanking Massacre.

The original newspaper accounts described the killings as hand-to-hand combat; historians have suggested that they were more likely just another part of the widespread mass killings of defenseless prisoners.

for more details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_To_Cut_Down_100_People

Dear Eloise – Beauty in Strangers – 15th July 2012

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Cat #: 099TZM

Dear Eloise is the side project of P.K.14 frontman Yang Haisong together with his wife Sun Xia.

Connoisseurs of DIY and lo-fi bedroom recordings the pair create beautiful melodies amongst layers of distortion. Playing all the parts themselves while recording and editing in their home studio they experiment with song structures and recording techniques their songs are interesting and layered while still maintaining a simple innocence.

Even though they do not perform live and have released their recordings rather inconspicuously, Dear Eloise has still managed to gain a loyal following in the Chinese scene.

Low Wormwood – Lanzhou Lanzhou – 8th July 2012

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Cat #: 098TZM

The cliché goes that some geographical areas are synonymous with certain sounds: Merseybeat from Liverpool, for example, or grunge from Seattle. But it’s also the case that certain bands define their locales. Here, one tends to think of such acts as Arcade Fire, who did just that for Montreal with Funeral and The Suburbs. Such is the case with Low Wormwood, whose latest album, Lanzhou Lanzhou (their second licensed to tenzenmen) is perhaps a defining moment for both the band and the city of the title.

Unlike many bands from Lanzhou, this quartet don’t practise harmony- driven guitar folk. The metrics of this album depart from their early grunge and shoot for a less fiery but more coherent structure, coupling string-soaked flourishes of folk-rock with mundane lyrics about day-to-day living in Lanzhou. It borders on being a concept album, but the catchy rhythms manage to dilute the anthropological solemnity and make this something special.

‘Recording this album is almost like being in a relationship,’ explains lead singer Liu Kun. ‘When you love each other, it really burns. When you hate each other… well, it also burns.’

Boyz and Girl – 8th July 2012

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Cat #: 096TZM

This four-piece shoegaze outfit quickly raced to the forefront of Taipei’s fast growing independent music scene – and for good reason. The completion of their warmly received eponymous freshman album has cemented their place in the hearts of an ever-growing fan base.

Though Shoegaze is hardly a new phenomenon, Boyz & Girl has found a contemporary home in the genre, due largely in part to their fresh sounds and mature songwriting. The raucous yet dreamy guitars of Jon, pieced masterfully with Sonoko’s artistic drumming and Guo Guo’s steady basslines, creates an impeccable balance with the juvenile youth and innocence discovered through BenBen’s vocals.

Duck Fight Goose – Sports – 1st July 2012

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Cat #: 097TZM

Sports is the first full-length from widely touted Shanghai artists Duck Fight Goose, fresh from their invite to SXSW and History 7” release earlier this year.

The eleven-track album combines elements of ambient post-rock and math-rock, with heavily textured songs that build layers upon layers before blooming into complex psychedelic mosaics.

Sports represents a creative leap from Duck Fight Goose’s first release, the straightforward math-rock EP, Flow, and has been roundly acclaimed in the Chinese press as one of the best albums of 2012.

Torturing Nurse – Survive/Life – 20th April 2012

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Cat #: 094TZM

At the end of 2011 contact was made with specialist lathe press label Bubutz Records in Italy to issue a Torturing Nurse recording on one-sided clear vinyl with a light wooden back. The process was derailed slightly as the very hard highband frequencies supplied by Torturing Nurse were damaging the cutting system! The initial run of 30 was reduced to just the 9 requested by Torturing Nurse and tenzenmen as Bubutz didn’t want to risk any further damage to their equipment! 

Update 23/9/2012: New versions now available but very limited due to the high cost involved in manufacture. These items made in the USA and only 2 copies of each were ever produced.

Photography: Contiero & Diacci 
Design: Antonio Contiero