“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
Cat #: 070TZM
This is the first 7″ single from Dear Eloise. The A Side “Castle” is take from their debut album The Words That Burnt on Maybe Mars/tenzenmen (2011).
DEAR ELOISE
Yang Haisong – Guitar / Drums
Sun Xia – Vocals
Produced by Dear Eloise
Recorded & Mixed by Dear Eloise at No. 13 studio
Released in conjunction with Genjing Records, Maybe Mars and Share in Obstacles
Layabozi, Duck Fight Goose, Zang Nan, Rainbow Danger Club, Rock In China, Jonathan Campbell, China Daily, D-22, Brian Offenther, Pangbianr, Trash A Go-Go, Andy Best, Michael Pettis, Maybe Mars, Zaza Zhang, Share In Obstacles, Eyes Behind, Yang Haisong, After Argument
Cat #: 030TZM
The second studio album from Carsick Cars is the long-awaited “You Can Listen, You Can Talk” from Carsick Cars,” following by nearly two years the explosive and almost joyful anger of their first CD, “Panda Noise”.
Produced by P.K.14 frontman Yang Haisong, their first CD threw out into the Chinese indie scene some of its most iconic songs, including “Zhongnanhai”, widely seen as the anthem of disenfranchised Chinese youth, and “Rock and Roll Hero”, a standard for younger bands.
Their new record was produced by legendary producer Wharton Tiers after New York composer John Myers caught a Carsick Cars show during his visit to Shanghai and was so struck by the band that he immediately began lobbying for Tiers to produce them. As might be expected, the second CD is much bleaker and more complex than the first, with delicate, shimmering songs side by side with powerful, rage-filled eruptions of noise and chaos.
But for all their differences both CDs are marked by the almost magical song-writing skill of frontman Shouwang, whose facility for combining complex harmonic structures with beautiful melodies and straight ahead guitar riffs make him one of he best songwriters in the world.
Cat #: 072TZM
Liu Kun, born in Zhelaizhai county after the 1980s, firmly believes that he is the descendent of a Roman soldier, who was besieged with his army during a war in Zhelaizhai two thousand years ago. He often dreams of himself being a soldier, raising his sword on a running horse, breaking open a way through brambles and thorns, however, wakes up to find his arms painful and aching, realizes that all was nothing but a dream. Anyway, he isn’t bothered by the mysteries of his DNA at all, because he finds art more fascinating. As a little boy in a town, he was never too eager to show himself by dancing, singing and playing drums and guitars, despite the rough stage of that little shabby theater. There he would feel like being in a dream once the lights were on. Years later, he went to Lanzhou for further education, and that was a university. He soon became a sincere and dedicated lover to drama, joining the school drama troupe, writing plays and acting on stage, he was full of energy to lead his company to success. And quite out of expectancy, a feature program was made for this energetic young man by the local TV station. Anyway, he isn’t bothered by this issue at all. It is the parents who were worried: Will you study ,study, or study?
When graduation time drew near, he encountered a life-long buddy: Rock. Moved by his braveness, purity, and persistence, he followed this buddy onto the road of music, and realized that music is connected with soul. He established the band ‘Rust on the lip’ in 2003, which then got the present name, ‘Low Wormwood’, and became the lead singer. Every year he leads his band for a tour around China and has made several albums: <The absinthe>, <Low Wormwood>, <Upstream of Yellow River>, and <We can’t help kissing each other>. He plays football during part time, meets friends and makes plan for art exhibitions. Cooperated with the Barn Gallery in Lanzhou, he held a modern art exhibition called ‘Replacement’ in 2007, in which his works ‘Sound field in Lanzhou’ and ‘Talk’ were displayed, together with the works of Wang Dong, a young artist. He also planned an art exhibition of sound and devices in 2009.
He met Michael, boss of Maybe Mars, on his tour in Beijing during October 2008. Their ideas on music are unbelievably alike, so he then joined Maybe Mars and co-founded with Xiao He the folk music brand ‘Maybe Horse under Maybe Mars. He published his first record <Hey, Young Man> in 2010.
• 2003 formed the band Low Wormwood in Lanzhou
• 2007-2009 modern art exhibition “Replacement” held in Lanzhou
• 2009 formed Maybe Horse as a unit of Maybe Mars Records
• 2010 debut album released Hey, Young Man
Trash a Go Go, Shanghai 24/7, Andy Best, Kungfuology, Monkey Shoes, Color4, Chaile, Punkcast.com, Xiao He, Carsick Cars, P.K.14, Zhang Shouwang, He Fan, GetItLouder.com, Rock In China, Pangbianr, Old What Bar, Hedgehog, Beijing Gig Guide, Jake Newby, Latabozi, Maybe Mars, Proximity Butterfly, Chengdu, CNNGo, ArtSpace China, Beijing Daze
Cat #: 056TZM
It’s not surprising if you haven’t heard of Dear Eloise. They are a mysterious band known by very few people. But once you have listened to their songs, they will be branded into your heart.
The band came out around 2007, no definite date. It’s just an extension from a simple idea. Dear Eloise are Yang Haisong (P.K.14’s vocal) and his wife Sun Xia (P.K.14’s former bassist). No more words are needed, you will know how fantastic they are.
In their new debut album, 8 songs, like 8 journals, are the monologue of frail, words that were burnt. Not only is the melody as pure and beautiful as a childish rhythm, but also the background is as noisy as an aged guitar factory. However, the songs have delicate fluctuations and layers similar to a possessed river, the water of which keeps flowing without stop, while rumbling in marvelous dark and light colors. After silence is demolished by noise within a second, a sweet but defenseless angel appears on the ruins with a peaceful and merciful look. She has a voice like a beam of light. Besides, her white feet moving in the darkness not only seem to be a piece of poem flowing in summer, they also sound like mumbling in cool well water or under large shades. In addition, the noise is performed magically and mysteriously appears to build up like looming rain drops. In this aural atmosphere of dimness, the swinging lights bring discomfort and anxiety .
For most people, it is a brilliant album. What is rare is that it attracts people with its’ innocence and purity. Let’s imagine a picture in which the stars scald the sky and we crouch down on the lawn, stretching out our necks putting pressure on our knees. We look up to the dim but exciting glimmer, which hurts our eyes. Will we then cry?
The world you imagine is very far away. It resembles a fading cigarette end or a scar… If you can find meaning to my voice, then you can comprehend this fairy tale. Get out of the fluttering dream, dear Eloise. I am going to take you to a lively and awesome place where there are castles and festivals and days go by with a roar.
Cat #: 052TZM
Hot & Cold was born in 2005 in New Delhi, India, the brainchild of Joshua and Simon Frank. Sparsely pairing lo-fi bass and megaphone vocals, the Frank brothers’ single Delhi performance incorporated a bedraggled Yamaha keyboard, and involved throwing candy at small children from above.
In 2006, Joshua (20) and Simon (18) relocated to China’s chaotic, industrial capital – a city far better suited to their dirty robotic clangour. At the encouragement of internationally-acclaimed composer Shouwang, they began to accumulate an arsenal of effects pedals, quite literally launching themselves at Beijing audiences in frenzied 20-minute sets.
Even in Beijing – one of the most exciting cities for new music today – Hot & Cold have proudly stuck out. Rather than gradually descending into chaos, their notoriously frenetic performances explode from the get- go. Their debut, Any Monkey is Dangerous captures the band’s shambolic grooves with all the vitality of their live performances. Hot & Cold channel their penchant for obliterating noise through a deep love for the fuzzy anthems of Pavement and Pixies. Their angular riffs and keyboard jabs have drawn comparison to New York no wave and Cabaret Voltaire, while lo-fi drums loops, rollicking basslines, and irreverent vocals evoke the Fall in both sound and attitude. Crystalline melodies emerge from their pulsing sonic chaos, and touches of yesteryear Bollywood hits pierce through the melee.
Cat #: 049TZM
18th Mar 2021: Looks like I’d given up writing press releases by this point!
Cat #: 048TZM
(((10))) formed on October 10th, 2005. Korean new wave avant-garde musician Itta and Japanese noise creator Marqido are the members. 10 got 1 from Itta’s existence, 0 from Marqido’s Maru.
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.
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