P.K. 14 – City Weather Sailing – 1st February 2009

Cat #: 019TZM

P.K.14 occupies a space in Chinese music that might be analogous to that of Talking Heads or Television in the New York of the 1970s. They are among the most thoughtful and self-referential of bands, with an enormous curiosity about music coupled with a complete inability to care about musical fashion. Among the astonishing group of young musicians that has emerged in Beijing over the last four years, they are almost unanimously cited as the band that has most influenced the young Beijing music scene with their eclectic approach to music. But although they are at the heart of the Beijing scene, at the same time they are wholly unique and seem to be traveling in their own scene – one which consists of only one band. 

The subject of numerous articles, interviews and critical pieces on Chinese, US, German, Austrian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and Australian television, as well as dozens of newspapers and magazines from around the world. Most recently, TIME magazine chose P.K.14 as one of Asia’s five best bands and one to watch in 2008, a list also including Cornelius. 

City Weather Sailing, the fourth full-length album from P.K.14, is the band’s most cross-pollinated and exciting recording so far. In the credits we find Dennis Lyxzén, Torbjörn Näsbom, Dimitri Daniloff, Greg Calbi and Sterling Sound. A collaborative journey born in Beijing, given shape in Sweden and with a stop-over in New York before returning to China.


From Facebook:

…is going to pierce his gf this afternoon!

18th Feb 2024 – Of course, the English language is great for its ambiguity sometimes. It wasn’t me actually doing the piercing, and pierce was not a double entendre either. I’m guessing I took Amy to Polymorph where she either got her tongue, nose, lip or belly button pierced. She still has her nose and lip piercings but the others have gone now.

Club Consolador De Dos Caras – 19th November 2008

war all the time (uk)
“….War all the time are the purest hardcore hit I’ve heard in years. Stripped-down and to the fucking point, they really show how much can be done with so few ingredients. So utterly simple, so brutally direct, this is exactly what hardcore should be like. Plus is there a song about Thatcher in there? Jesus. Further proof that no one under the age of 30 (or should that be 40?!?!) should be in a band.”

crux
sydney hi-intensity dark crust hardcore

athol

do not resuscitate

Demerit – Bastards of the Nation – 8th August 2008

Cat #: 016TZM

Originally formed in Qingdao in 2004, Beijing-based Demerit are one of the more forward-thinking Chinese punk bands, and their latest album “Bastards of a Nation” (2008) shows them mimicking the direction of the newly popular third (or fourth or fifth or sixth) generation of the oi / “streepunk” genre in the US — diversified style and more complex song arrangements, but a return to the performing intensity of earlier hardcore and Oi movements of the early 80s. And, of course, a return to the 70’s UK punk uniform: leather G.B.H. jackets, dyed Mohawks, ripped t-shirts, bullet belts, bondage pants, etc. 

An earnest, anthemic, and hyper-political hardcore album, “Bastards of a Nation” is, on first listen, pretty much in the realm of the current representatives of hardcore to the masses in the US — A Global Threat, The Unseen, and The Casualties. Demerit keep it dense and heavy with metalish riff here and there, and break it up with melodic breaks, choral backing vocals, and even some clapping action in there (“Fight Your Apathy”). The arrangements were well-conceived and varied, and the musicianship is great — particularly the guitar work — and there’s some interesting changes in there. Throughout the album I had the feeling that the guitarist learned his stuff doing Iron Maiden licks and then switched up when the singer lent him a Choking Victim album. I enjoyed it overall, and bits and pieces reminded me of Leftover Crack, particularity “TZ Generation,” and “Fuck the Schemers.” Fans of that band’s many variations — INDK et. al. — and fans of the newer US east coast hardcore, won’t be disappointed. 

The song “Beijing is Not My Home” — my favourite song on the album — echoes the sentiments of displacement and marginalisation many bands feel living in Beijing (or so I hear) and is a really powerful answer to another punk band’s song “Come Down to Beijing” by Brain Failure. 

8th August 2023 – As 8 is a lucky number in China this album was deliberately released on 8/8/08. I think perhaps the Beijing Olympics started on this day too. This release also was the start of an attempt to work a little within the music industry with an official distributor, hiring a publicist and taking out ads. Ultimately I found that this wasn’t worthwhile but I was glad to give it a shot.

Pimping – 21st July 2008

I’m pimping Chinese street punk this afternoon.

4th Nov 2023 – This involved working with a distribution and production company, pushing the first releases of Chinese music on tenzenmen. In particular, Demerit’s album Bastards of the Nation which I wanted to be released on the 8th of August 2008 (the opening of the Olympics in Beijing and an auspicious date in China due to it being 8/8/08). I can’t remember the name of the distribution company now but they operated as part of TITLE Music in Surry Hills. A quick search leads me to believe it was Inertia. The guy I dealt with there was called Ian, I remember that. He was pleasant and helpful for me though I didn’t feel he was particularly enthused about what I was doing. Especially when he compared The Gar to Boston!

Is this the default D-22 website and forum these days?

4th Nov 2023 – The tenzenmen and my personal Facebook pages were busy with discussions about Chinese independent music around this time. This was also a slight dig at Charles at Maybe Mars to get his act together with official sites for D-22 and Maybe Mars which weren’t yet available.