chaile 拆了 - United States

Reflector on PBS's Foreign Exchange

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 23:42:36 -0400

Fareed Zakaria's new show, Foreign Exchange on PBS in the US, is, from what I understand, a well made, serious news program on foreign policy and world news. Last week, they also took a little side trip to a punk show in Beijing.

In Focus: Anarchy in the PRC

They are part of China’s first generation to grow up with both prosperity and exposure to Western pop culture. Members of Reflector, a Chinese punk rock band, have adopted expressions of dissent that not long ago would have cost musicians their lives. But today, punk rock is Beijing chic

Jesus. It's like every single reporter's first "article" about China. Oh my! Chinese people like rock music and some fans in one of the richest cities have mohawks! CHINA IS CHANGING!!1!

Bullshit story aside, they follow Reflector to their underground practice space, have a chat with Tian Jianhua (in English), and spy on some people waiting for a show outside of 13 Club. The whole show can be streamed from that link, or check the sidebar for just the "Anarchy in the PRC" clip.

This week: Mayday fun

Tue, 03 May 2005 04:16:38 -0400

The carnival of bad sound that is the Chaoyang International POP Music Festival is in progress. Dancing Maoris and Swedish tuba players are making up the bulk of the international contingent, but American punks The Urinals are also in town for the event. They're chronicling their trip on their blog, Just Like Aquanuts! (Link for inside China), with photos on their flickr account. I feel a bit sorry for them - they've got a handler and everything, when bands like Dogshit Sandwich roamed freely.

They've already played a couple times, including at the opening ceremony, but according to the schedule they'll also play on Friday (2005-05-06) between 9:30 and 11:00. I'll try to get some more confirmation.

The Chaoyang Pop festival is in Chaoyang park every day this week, all day.

Tonight (short notice, sorry!), Shanghai's 冷酷仙境 (Lengku Xianjing - Cold Fairyland) is at Nameless Highland. That's Beijing calls them slightly sappy, but I haven't heard them yet. The show also features Subs, so that's reason enough for me to go. Also playing are Ziyo and 碎星 (Broken Star).

Nameless Highland, Tonight (2005-05-03) 9:30, RMB30/20 Students. Cold Fairyland also plays the next night at New Get Lucky (via That's Beijing).

Tomorrow is ChinaPunx' fifth year anniversary, and they're celebrating with a night of punk fucking rock at Nameless Highland. 挂在盒子上 (Hang on the Box), 反光镜 (Reflector), Joyside, Laowai ska End of the World, and The Dirty Powers (hardcore) are on the lineup. Should be a good show.

Nameless Highland, Wednesday (2005-05-04), RMB30

Prefuse 73 with Ghostface and El-P

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 10:44:26 -0500

Look, it says at the top that this is about Beijing music. Or at least music in China. But some things are too cool to pass up, this being one of them. Prefuse 73's new track, "Hideyaface," features Ghostface and El-p:

With his track "Hideyaface" already in rotation on New York's Hot 97, the biggest hip-hop station in the country, it looks as though Prefuse 73's Scott Herren is poised to infiltrate mainstream hip-hop, sneaking in shielded by the considerable brawn of Ghostface. That's a thrill, because Herren's glitchy, IDM-ish, sometimes just this side of incomprehensibly abstract beats are like nothing else out there.

I agree. To this day, Vocal Studies + Up-rock Narratives is one of my most listened to albums, and his work as Savath + Savalas is excellent, too. Now Herren's getting recognition, and his new album has collaborations with Books, Beans, and other greats. So what are you waiting for? Yeah, you've got to watch a little commercial or click through some ad about how great a credit card is, but this MP3 is worth it.

Waiguo Yinyue Monday: Bedroom Beats

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:25:08 -0500

This past Saturday I ventured out to the New Get Lucky to see Rebuilding the Rights of Statues. I try not to miss their shows; the band is consistenly good, and they seem to draw a slightly larger crowd each time. This show was a bit different from the norm. Instead of being placed with Ourself Beside Me or own of Beijing's punk bands, they shared the billing with Convenience Store, Midnight Flight, and a duo I had never heard before, 牛奶和咖啡 (Milk & Coffee).

A young woman sang pop music KTV-style, while a dour Robert Smith lookalike provided beats and keyboard lines. They only played three songs, and while the music didn't affect me greatly, I wanted to run up and tell the boy that he didn't need to be so sad. "Other people have been through this," I'd say, "take this Her Space Holiday CD."

One of the sidelines to the ascendancy of PC culture and the growth of indie rock and punk to emo and beyond is the proliferation of bedroom producers. Instead of weeping over their acoustic guitars and four tracks, they weep over their Powerbooks and Pro Tools instances. And just like the lo-fi rockers that came before, and despite all of the easy jokes, many of these solitary producer/musicians have made some incredible music.

And despite the loner pedigree, what many of them have made is pop music, in the most expansive meaning of the word. Marc Bianchi is one of the prime examples. Under the name Her Space Holiday he's produced some of the most accessibly melancholy music of the last few years. The production is layered with strings, synths, and electric guitars, while Bianchi's limited, yet appropriate voice tells stories of heartache and longing.

And few artists have had the success of Jimmy Tamborello, a.k.a. DNTEL, much less in the crossroads of American indie rock and electronica. But after the release of Life Is Full of Possibilities, featuring the absolutely incredible "The Dream of Evan and Chan." Tamborello also collaborated with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard in The Postal Service, which is perhaps the most succesfully nerdy album ever in the history of nerds and music.

When I saw Milk & Coffee, I wanted to tell the keyboardist that there was more beyond what he'd heard; I wanted to tell him that there was something beyond pop music ready for him. But as I this this, I wonder how much is musical goodwill, and how much is a form of imperialism? What do I know of these kids or their fans? Perhaps they genuinely like what I deride as KTV pop. And after all, this guy has some talent, and is actually playing music while I just drink beer and write about it.

Her Space Holiday have a few albums out. The last was The Young Machines, but my favorite was Manic Expressive.
You can download mp3s from Her Space Holiday at the offical site (flash + music).
DNTEL is involved in many projects. DNTEL mp3s are avialable at Epitonic, as are songs from another project, Figurine, and Sub Pop Records has a few downloads for The Postal Service.

Massive MP3 torrent from SXSW

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 23:25:26 -0500

Every year in Austin, Texas, an enormous number of bands arrive for five days of music for the South By Southwest festival. We're in Beijing, so we'll never know the glory of SXSW, right? Perhaps, but we can get close. This year SXSW has provided a bittorrent of 750 high quality mp3s of the bands that will play next week.

Yeah, 750 songs. 2.6 freaking gigabytes.

I'm glad I have DSL.