Tag: indie music

Low Bow/Dinged Up – 1st February 2015

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Cat #: 170TZM

Bow low, my friends! The FAST SON’s coming and you don’t wanna lock eyes when he rises. Yes, it’s LOWBOW, and ooohhhhhh… “All of your future, stuck in your past / you still can’t work out why you’ll never last.” Baby. Sounds like these two rippers were cut fast & loose in ‘72, but no sirree, they got laid down last year right here in the P.R. of C, where time has ceased to be. LOOKOUT! You know the Fast Son moves quicker than the mutants on the bottom of the East China Sea, and “you can’t win with a draw.” LOWBOW, you see, rode from Dublin to D-22 on the wings of a faded dream and rebooted himself in the image of Bo Diddley’s ghost, putting his own grease on them post-proto-punk, gutter-oil-blues stompers we’ve come to need, all gold lamé and lightning speed. LOWBOW’s seen less than the Loch Ness ‘round these parts these days, but you know he’ll be back: that Fast Son won’t stay off the wagon for long. 

DINGED UP, on the other side, is just that. Their nearest metropole is Baltimore, for Poe’s sake! Their two tunes on this end of the slab won’t get you too down, but rest assured they are both “Made of Grief.” Recommended for fans of: six-note solos, suburban burnout blues, Saccharine Trust – Paganicons, 21st century garages (they no longer hold cars, just withering ennui and empty space, amps, drums). DINGED UP’s about to rain down on a city near you, USA ladies and dudes. They fly on the late summer winds like a trio of tumbleweeds. Dust off and suit up, Big Red, these two are for you.

LOW BOW 

All tracks conceived, written & performed by LOW BOW 
LOW BOW are Richard Doran (Electric Git & Vox) Michael Cupoli (Drum & Drum) 

Audio recording and final mastering by Mr. Yang Hai Song. Summer, 2013 in the People’s Republic Of China. 

LOW BOW hope that you find this recording to be of a professional standard. Served best via headphones or on A.M. radio. 

Thank you for purchasing this recording legally. Now, why not tell a friend that further LOW BOW recordings of HI fidelity standards can be found at  lowbow.bandcamp.com

For information or parenting tips,  lowbowband@gmail.com

DINGED UP 

All tracks written & performed by 
Joe Rankin 

Engineered by Jason Nicholls 
Produced & mixed by Joe Rankin & Jason Nicholls 
All recording, engineering & mixing took place Fall 2013 at Mutant Sun Studio in the U.S.A. 
Mastered by Chris Bentley in Fall 2013 at The Bunker studio, also in the U.S.A.  

dingedup.bandcamp.com
josephmrankin@gmail.com

Beijing photo by Richard Doran 
Western Maryland photo by Brad Reiter 
Additional artwork by Jason Nicholls 
Graphic Design by Jesse Davis 

GR029  
genjingrecords.com

Imported under license for Australia.

The Yours – Teenagarten – 27th January 2015

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Cat #: 168TZM

Hong Kong noise rock outfit The Yours return with their second full-length album, entitled “Teenagarten”. Recorded by Yang Haisong of P.K.14 at Psychic Kong in Beijing, the second album is rawer, darker and more intense than its predecessor, yet maintains the bandʼs rich melodic structures and teenage angst.

The album opens with its title track, which reveals the bandʼs attempt to explore its heavier roots and sets the tone for the remaining tracks. “Winonaʼs Tattoo”, “Distorted Kross” and “K” form the backbone of the album, delivering colossal dissonances and sprawling soundscape. Dynamic vocal interplay continues to be one of the most distinguishing characteristics of the band, most notably with “Bad JuJu” , featuring guest vocals by Fuhan from Beijing dance rockers Queen Sea Big Shark. “Valley Kids” , a nostalgic ballad filled with layers of shimmering distortion, sees a softer side of the album. But the occasional calm canʼt hide the rage underneath, the last three-song section, consisting of “Spunk”, “Death Rat” and “Pink Snoopy”, finds the band experimenting with more complex rhythms and structures.

The Yoursʼ sophomore release sees another linear step in their evolution; nevertheless, “Teenagarten” is by no means a progressive, sophisticated album. As the title suggests, the eleven-track album is meant to horrify adults and please teenagers. It is still very much a lo-fi collage dedicated to youth culture.

After Argument – This Is Not Your Game – 4th January 2015

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Cat #: 165TZM

Following in the footsteps of their critically acclaimed 2013 debut LP Furs of Time [Share the Obstacles], After Argument continue further down an even more refined sonic path, combining avant-garde experimentalism and post punk sensibilities that hint at the gut-level thrust, heft and swing of Television as much as the restless, hook laden fury of early Fugazi, Slint and Mexican psych band Los Dug Dug’s. The band, comprised of legendary P.K.14 vocalist/poet Yang Haisong and Beijing musical luminary Zaza [Eyes Behind] have quickly established themselves as one of China’s foremost punk rooted explorers, filling venues of all shapes and sizes throughout the PRC with a sound, arguably unrivaled and most certainly celebrated by their peers behind the Bamboo Curtain and beyond.

This Is Not Your Game, After Argument’s debut full length for Genjing Records, finds the duo capturing the explosive rush and emotional power of their live shows, where they range from mathy arpeggious interludes through headlong, thunderous charges. Recorded and produced by Yang Haisong at Psychic Kong Studios deep in the heart of the Chinese capital, This Is Not Your Game is an immediate, visceral record. On it, After Argument use riff, repetition, incremental layerings of distortion, bursts of noise and sudden changes in pace and volume – all shot through with a strong sense of poetic melody to provide new ways of seeing and feeling guitar-based rock.

But, more importantly than all that, After Argument manage to infuse emotionally complicated music with a sense of fun. What they offer and the source of their appeal is more a full-bore sensory thrill-ride than anything else. After Argument want to take you to faraway places and show you exciting things through musical algorithms both foreign and familiar to the listener. And This Is Not Your Game is just the key you’ll need to get started on that adventure. So, buckle up, strap on some headphones and enjoy the ride – it’s a one of a kind. 

All songs written by After Argument
Recorded at Psychic Kong, Beijing
Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studio, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

After Argument are:
Zaza and Yang Haisong

Visit them at www.afterargument.com, and also at storecords.bandcamp.com

Cover photo taken by Tanara Stuermer in Tavares Bastos, Rio, Brazil
www.tanarastuermer.com

Artwork by NOHOHONO

Wang Wen – Eight Horses – 3rd January 2015

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Cat #: 163TZM

Wistful, dreamy, romantic, visceral and truly eclectic, Wang Wen, is the diamond in the rough. If there was ever a Chinese language inflected band that proves western-influenced post-rock is spreading throughout the world like wild fire, it is this quintet from the unlikeliest of locals, the heart of PRC shipping mecca, Dalian. Led by singer/ principal songwriter/ guitarist/ laptop maestro/ antiquated electronics aficionado Xie Yugang, Wang Wen formed in 1999. Six albums and one EP later, they haven’t looked back since.

The Eight Horses double LP, Wang Wen’s first for Genjing Records, runs like thick melancholic molasses peppered with progressive indie-rock sensibilities, while consistently flowing and soaring with the beauty of a dream. “There is a Chinese saying, which goes, ‘When I start to move, I can be faster than a rabbit: when I come to a rest I am like a sleeping baby,” elaborates Xie Yugang. “Our music is like this. We want to make fast music that wakes people up, that moves people. Yet again, we want to make calm music that makes people dream like a newborn child.” Sung in contemporary Mandarin with an extremely modern twist, Xie Yugang is true to his word. Check out the drawn-out, melancholic rock eruption that is “Escape From Mother Earth ” and the cathartically concise melancholy of opener “Northern North”.

Is it odd that a band from China could appeal to western audiences? Not according to Xie Yugang, “We all have the same longings and desires,” he says. “Music is the one thing that transcends cultural boundaries. It’s a language that can be understood all over the world.” 

Written and Performed by Wang Wen

Recorded by An Jiguo at Echo Library, Dalian, China in March 2014

Mixed by
Wouter Vlaeminck (The Last Journey, Welcome to Utopia)
Yang Haisong (Sky of Dalian, Ten Thousand Buddhas, Dionysus)
Wang Yanan (Northern North, Escape from Mother Universe)
An Jiguo (The Eight Layer of Hell)

Wang Wen are
Xie Yugang – Guitar & Vocals
Geng Xin – Guitar
Xu Zengzheng – Bass
Zhang Yanfeng – Piano, Strings Arrangement, Melodica
Zhou Lianjiang – Drums
Huang Kai – Trumpet & Alto Horn

Additional Musicians
Qu Ruining and Wang Yanan from Which Park

汤姆克鲁斯和凯蒂霍尔姆斯 Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes – 你不爱我 – 7th August 2014

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Cat #: 160TZM

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. What happened with those two? Why name your band after them? Are they a totem of the 21st-century relationship? The infuriating alienation and slow-burning pain of failed love? Nah. Maybe. “You Don’t Love Me (你不爱我)” rails against the inevitable for about four minutes before yielding to the feral chaos underlying human nature, love, celebrity, the sounds of the words themselves. After the heart’s fires burn out there’s just swirling ash, granules too small to be individually seen but jagged enough to sting your eyes long after the light and warmth are gone.

The flip side is an extended remix of another Tom & Katie tearjerker,
“After Leaving (离开后),” by Huashun Unit. H.U. is one of many aliases for one-man Shanghai doom drone crusader Nahash, née Laura Ingalls (not his real name), and his partner in crime, Clement Pony. In this studio trip, he basically takes one open guitar chord and a few disembodied vocal fragments from Tom and Kate respectively and transmutes them into a lush gestalt that sounds like it was written and performed by Enya’s evil twin for some kind of nefarious ritual. If you’ve never been to Shanghai, let me tell you: this track sounds exactly like how it feels to walk into a bomb shelter dance club choked with cut-rate cigarette smoke and the stink of unmoored pheromones at 5 in the morning. Love blinds.

Recorded and mixed by The Horses at Studio Poney, Shanghai China.
Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios

汤姆克鲁斯和凯蒂霍尔姆斯 are:
Cee Q – vocals, keyboards
小中 – guitar, keyboards
tomlovedkatie@gmail.com
tcakh.bandcamp.com
huashanrecords.bandcamp.com

Licensed from Genjing Records for release in Australia.

The Fallacy – Painkiller – 5th August 2014

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Cat #: 162TZM

Take everything you know about the burgeoning “underground” Chinese punk scene, put it in an ornate, hand crafted box, lock that box and throw it into the deepest pool of the 68o Yangfu Mountain Hot Spring! This is the beer soaked sound of the Henan suburbs circa 2014: three young men from Xinxiang relaying their day-to-day experiences via the medium of tightly wound hooks, post-punk exhibitionism and the drive time ferocity of ’77 punk, all filtered through the lens of (producer/PK 14 frontman) Yang Haisong’s Psychic Kong studio. Handsomely packaged, featuring cover art by up and coming visual artist extraordinaire Xu Jiacun, the Painkiller 7″ is a third tier city curio you’re definitely going to want in your ever expanding collection of China-centric wax platters.

THE FALLACY are:

Wang Xubo – Vocals / Guitar
Zhang Nan – Bass
Da Li – Drums

Recorded by Yang Haisong at Psychic Kong, Beijing 2013
Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios, USA
Paintings by Xu Jiacun
Designed by Ksama of Dooo Design Studio

Licensed from Genjing Records for release in Australia

Carsick Cars – 3 LP – 20th April 2014

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Cat #: 159TZM

NOTE: CD has alternate language versions to the vinyl and different bonus tracks in the download!

After five restless years, Carsick Cars, China’s most influential and dynamic indie-rock band, return with their most mature and exciting release to date.

Available in April 2014, ‘3’ is the aptly titled third album for the Beijing based trio. ‘3’ sees vocalist, guitarist and founding member Zhang Shouwang return with his signature sound, seamlessly combining drone with shimmering pop melodies. The result is assured to please established fans and new listeners alike.

Carsick Cars/Flavor Crystals – 19th April 2014

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Cat #: 150TZM

On the flip side, Minneapolis psych-rock vets, Flavor Crystals, offer up Mirror in My Mind, a drone smeared, carefully considered, morotik ripper that mines the depths of exploratory shoegaze with aplomb, not unlike an auditory visage of one of Frederik van Eeden’s exercises in lucid dreaming. The band’s most recent full length release, a triple LP psych monster, coincidentally titled Three [Mpls. Ltd.], may well be one of the more criminally overlooked wax platters of the past couple years – self-engineered and produced by the band following a lengthy US tour in support of like-minded sonic sojourners, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Three captures Flavor Crystals in a vulnerable, metacognitive state and the results are nothing short of staggering! 

Flavor Crystals are:
Josh Richardson
Nat Stensland
Vince Caro
Jon Menke

Special guests on this recording:
Ricky Maymi: drums, blender guitar
Stephen Lawrie: percussion, oscillations

Produced by Ricky Maymi
Recorded by Nat Stensland
Nov-Dec 2013 in Minneapolis
Mixed with Neil Weir at Old Blackberry Way
Mastered by Bruce Templeton

Copyright 2014 Flavor Crystals
ASCAP/Sterling Songs

Special thanks to Christian Fritz/mpls ltd, Nevin Domer/Genjing, Ricky and Stephen

——————–

Carsick Cars are:
Shouwang Zhang
Fan He
Heting Sun

Produced by Sonic Boom (Pete Kember) & Hamish Kilgour
Recorded by Matt Boynton
April 2013 in Vacation Island Recording Studio, NYC
Mixed by Ping Li at Busy Bee, Beijing
Mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound

Special thanks to Nevin Domer and Ricky Maymi