Tag: Chinese music

The Performance of Identity​ and One Man’s Orchestra – 1st March 2011

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Cat #: 050TZM

He Guoheng, known in the world of music as Xiao He, is one of the most creative and influential artists in the Beijing music scene. Besides his recordings and his solo and ensemble music performances, he is active in drama, writes incidental music, and is a creative force in the underground movie industry. He is also the head of Maybe Horse, a Maybe Mars sub- label dedicated to supporting and developing Beijing’s and China’s most innovative folk and ethnic musicians. 

At the same time Xiao He, which is the alias he settled on for his folk and improvised music performances, played guitar, drum and accordion at River, a legendary old Beijing folk bar. Between these two projects Xiao He quickly developed a serious following among artists and music fans in the China music scene. In 2003, Modern Sky, China’s largest independent label, released his first CD, a live recording called “The Bird that Can Fly High Landed on the Cow that Can Run Fast”. Almost immediately this was received as one of the most important recordings in contemporary Chinese music. 

Except for a very few special performances with Glorious Pharmacy, today Xiao He only plays solo performances. Calling these multi-faceted improvised performances “Free Folk”, as much to express his anarchic playfulness as to suggest the total freedom which he approaches musical instrumentation, vocal performances and stylistic experimentation, he has become the inventor of a deeply weird and immensely moving style of music, mystical and surreal, which abruptly veers from the plaintive cries of Mongolian or Western Chinese music to the barbed and sometimes childlike humour of the avant garde. Complementing his stylistic creativity is a wholly unique way of playing acoustic guitar, loops, synthesizers and any other instrument that catches his fancy. 

After his 2009 European tour, Xiao He released his second album in China with Maybe Mars. Consisting of improvised live and studio performances and two separate CDs the new album is a milestone for Xiao He. The live CD is based on 30 hours of recordings going back three years, which he has assembled as his “Personal Symphony” and, selected from six different shows, focuses on the irreversible and unrepeatable character of live performance. The other CD was recorded in his studio and focuses on the quality of the sounds and experimentation with the recording process and juxtaposes thousands of ways of combining vocal sounds with the sound of his guitar as he wrestles with and reinterprets his understanding of Minimalism. 

Guai Li – Flight of Delusion – 1st March 2011

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Cat #: 051TZM

Taken from a well-known Confucian saying, “Guaili luanshen”, the band’s name refers to weird forces and unexplainable supernatural phenomena. Though Confucius never advised the public to blindly believe in unexplainable weirdness, the band certainly does – they have created sufficient levels of oddity and discomfort in their music and sing highly of it. 

In their much-anticipated debut album, Flight of Delusion, this twisted sense is heard not just in the grammatical chaos but also in the complex music arrangements. 

As a double-guitar band, Guaili is renowned for its daring spirit in musical structure and in this album, they’ve proven a maturing ambition to master the tools of their trade by playing multiple guitars and drums in a single piece. To top that off, they have also shaken up a stunning mixture of celesta, electronic keyboard and artificial industrial noises. But there is more depth than even critics will be aware of. A 20-Hertz sound wave, lower than the frequency that humans can hear, has been added into the tracks to provoke alpha brainwaves and stimulate creativity.

Joyside – Maybe Tonight – 28th February 2011

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047TZM

After a short break Joyside have released their final e.p. – a double disk with 6 new songs and a dvd – a documentary of their 2007 Europe tour.

Beer, cigarettes, hormones, pogo, restless, out of control, sorry…these words have appeared more and more often in the dictionary of cult youths. Vintage guys are everywhere in Gulou street and the girls who come to watch the show keep changing but Joyside still cannot be copied. 

Neon, polka dot, gorgeous peony, aurora over the city – the design of the new e.p. shows perfectly the temperament of the new Joyside – romantic, psychedelic, enchanting, beautiful with sorrow. Joyside desperately prays for the nice things in this new e.p. but sometimes, the dreams are disillusionment.

Joyside has really changed. Their music is no longer the weapon for resistance but the media to convey emotions. As a result, the melody is more fluent and the composing is more fruitful. 

Singer Bian Yuan keeps saying that life is meaningless. Humanity is meaningless. No light, no hope, cold, hard…..these are his usual expressions. But on the other hand, maybe these mean he has a shy and anxious desire for the warmth, light and love! The philosophy of Joyside is contradictory and repeating. They express love by chaos and break, or express despair by sweet and romantic. ‘The Last Song for the Endless Party’ will make you consider what a scene it could be? The last song for the endless party, the last kiss for the endless love. Life is short. We don’t know whether to live happily or to die sadly. 

We Can’t Help Kissing Each Other – Low Wormwood – 1st February 2011

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Cat #: 046TZM

The band Low Wormwood (Di Ku Ai), which in the corner of Lanzhou, has got the unique pride and mind to view themselves and the world. Picking a wisp of wind from the Yellow River, scooping up a handful of snow from the Qilian Mountain, collecting a piece of sand from loess plateau, then mix them as a kind of style that is impassioned and forceful but not artificial, close to heart but not compromise. They use this kind of independent attitude to compose their music. Independent and psychedelic, based on simple ballad style with multiple instruments and variety samplings, together made their music strong experimental and national colour. They has won high popularity as they published an album and take around tour each year which not only makes them one of the most active and excellent domestic bands but also one of the representative bands of Lanzhou and northwest of China . 

We can’t help keep kissing each other, originally released in China in 2008. The poetic lyrics were blue and sensitive. Absolutely, lyrics were always the important part that they valued. Some more mature composed passages made their expressions more powerful and beautiful, but not deliberately luxuriant. The whole album focused on the individuals’ feelings in the changing environment, about some hope and despair, loss and obtaining, when the music developed as movies, you may feel familiar with some plots or have been experienced before. When the once radical angry rock’n roll music intends to become some consumer goods for idealism, their faltering monologue under emotions would enter your heart as an outstanding one among them. 

The new album had taken 6 months from choosing songs, recording in studio and to downmix. The former part was done by the experienced sound engineer Yuan Tianfeng from Lanzhou. And the latter part was firstly made by him then the more experienced mixer Dou Tiemin dealt with the post production and mix of the master tape.

It was particularly important to deal with the unique samplings and effects. It was also because of the contemplation of the band and sound engineer, they decided to deepen the integral atmosphere of the songs that appear in the record. The harmonica and harmony were all played by friends, who had tried their best. They made the album more excellent. It can be said that the whole album was elaborate produced by all the people who take a part in. 

I used to receive these one-sheets from Maybe Mars in Beijing and have to rewrite them from the Chinglish versions into something a little more comprehensible. But I opted not to even bother with this one, wondering perhaps if it would add some authenticity and make it more obviously Chinese.

SMZB – Ten Years Rebellion – 1st February 2011

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Cat #: 045TZM

Founded in 1996, SMZB was one of the first punk bands to form in China and the first to originate from Wuhan, one of cities at the heart of China’s burgeoning underground music scene. Drawing their own influences from Celtic-inspired bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, and transforming these influences in response to the massive and out of control social transformations taking place in their hometown and throughout China, SMZB is widely recognised as one of China’s most influential bands, whose fans include musicians from many of the most important punk and underground rock bands throughout China. Although they have produced five CDs to date, only the first one, released by Scream, was approved for sale in China, the rest were released only in Europe and North America. 

Originally a trio when they first began playing smoky clubs and small performance spaces in their home town, SMZB has subsequently gone through several member changes and, by the end of 2002, had evolved into a quartet. During the early years the band kept up a rigorous schedule of shows and tours throughout China and eventually abroad. In 2004 SMZB toured across Southeast Asia and in 2005 they completed their first European tour with the help of Norway’s October Party Records. In 2006 the band changed their line-up yet again replacing their guitar and bass players and adding a flute & tin whistle to complete the current five member line-up. Through these changes SMZB has grown and developed, smashing together in their music a mélange of Chinese influences, Celtic noise, and straight punk fury which has resulted in a unique style that is instantly recognisable. 

It is not just as musicians that SMZB has helped create the explosion in music that China is currently experiencing. Since the very beginnings of China’s underground rock scene founding members Wu Wei and Hu Juan have been active promoting shows, booking tours for foreign bands, and helping younger punk bands gain a foothold in the scene. Shortly after they were formed they founded the Wuhan Riot Group, a collective of Wuhan punk bands that was instrumental in forging the Wuhan underground music scene. SMZB continues to serve as role models for a whole generation of Chinese punk rockers and after ten years are considered one of the key bands in the explosive Chinese music scene. 

tenzenmen is proud to present SMZB’s sixth CD release, Ten Years Rebellion, which was recorded in Wuhan and mixed in Norway and is only their second CD to be released by an independent label in China (Maybe Mars). 

Joyside – Booze at Neptune’s Dawn – 1st February 2011

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Cat #: 044TZM

Considered by many to be China’s greatest underground band, Joyside was formed by Xinzhiang refugee Bian Yuan in 2001, in a dark dank basement in the north of Beijing. After three years of playing small clubs in Beijing, literally for beer and cigarette money, they lazily released their debut album, Drunk is Beautiful, whose name comes as close to expressing Joyside’s ferociously decadent aesthetic as any three words can – they consider themselves to be bitches of rock ‘n’ roll, addicted to the music and the mad posturing of the pre-punk New York scene. 

The band consists of Bian Yuan on lead vocals, Liu Hao on Bass, Guan Zheng on percussion, and on guitar an astonishing young guitarist, Hong Wei, who was featured in a 2007 Rolling Stone article as one of the four most important guitarists in China. Along with their work in Joyside, the band members are actively involved in other projects. Both Bian Yuan and Liu Hao are members of Johnny’s Teeth, and Liu Hao also plays for Dog 13. Guan Zheng performs regularly with Linga and Believers, while Hong Wei has performed in number of one-off and experimental shows throughout Beijing. Bian Yuan’s acoustic performances are a mainstay at the famous Wednesday night Punk on Wood series at Beijing’s D22 club. 

It is hard to go to a Joyside show without ending up drenched in sweat – they rock ferociously and in the great tradition of outlaw rock they turn every audience into frenzy, especially as Hong Wei’s intelligent, subtle guitar playing suddenly breaks into a nasty, ugly crunch and twists around Bian Yuan’s singing. There are influenced by the full gamut of rock and roll history, completely at home with the early American rockers, the Mods, or the seventies punk scene, with particular influences being the Dead Boys, New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Sex Pistols, and the Stooges. 

Yang Haisong interview by Bob Blunt at pangbianr – 11th January 2011

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If 2010 on a local front seemed a quiet year for the P.K.14 camp with just 3-4 shows, then there sure was some momentum built abroad. The band very much became internationalists last year with welcomed invitations to two internationally renowned music festivals: South by Southwest in March in Texas USA, and the Melbourne Festival in Australia in October. As we all know, part of supposedly cutting your teeth on the global stage requires being hauled into a festival or two, alongside bands from all over the world, and if that means getting a chance to heat the boards for Low from the States, or The Drones from Australia, it’s an invitation to not shrug your shoulders at. I reflected on that and other stuff with the band’s front person Yang Haisong over a coffee recently.

Yang Haisong: It has been amazing for us to have a chance to travel to different parts of the world. Touring has become this new exciting thing and it is something we love doing. In the States, our label manager Michael Pettis (Maybe Mars) has a great network of support and that has really helped us. We have done two tours there now and met many of our personal heroes – the guys from Fugazi and Sonic Youth were really helpful. In Australia, we supported the Drones at the Forum Theatre, one of the most beautiful places we have ever played. We also met guys like Shaun from our support label Tenzenmen who does a great job for Chinese bands there. He ended up coming down from Sydney and staying with us for the whole week, which was a lot of fun. We just hung out on the blocks of Smith and Brunswick Street and saw some great local bands like Eagle and the Worm and of course The Drones.

Full interview at pangbianr here

Alternative China – 7th December 2010

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Alternative China tumblr

Time Out, Guai Li, Boys Climbing Ropes, Hang Gai, Queen Sea Big Shark, Wang Wen, Noughts and Exes, Pairs, Duck Fight Goose, Liu Kun, Beijing Daze, 24 Hours, 2 Kolegas, Lazy Camels, Dama Llamas, Cipher, D-22, Maybe Mars, City Weekend, Birdstriking, Carsick Cars, F Yeah Chinese Indie, Zoomin’ Night, Archie Hamilton, Split Works, China Music Radar, Smart Shanghai, Morgan Short, Pairs, Rustic, Layabozi, Xiao Pengke, Little Punk, Qu Records, Trash A Go-Go, The Instigation, Beat Bandits, Jake Newby