Research and Other Investigations from China

Domus Mixtapes: The Sound of Beijing

Looking out on Beijing in the morning from my bedroom window.

I just completed a Domus Mixtape for Beijing. You can hear it over at Domus or on SoundCloud. I drew exclusively from Maybe Mars and Modern Sky for the music as well as a live recording of Zhang Shouwang/张守望 of White+ and Carsick Cars fame. There is a lot more music out there in China, of course, but this is definitely some of my favorite material. Sort of the soundtrack to my life over the past four years. Below is the accompanying text, track list and some portraits of the performers included on the mixtape from Sound Kapital:

The hardest part of the day in Beijing is getting out of bed. Gazing across a smoggy skyline and watching the hectic traffic below is reason enough to hide under the covers for a few more hours. It is a dystopia – maybe even a nightmare. That is why I embrace the night. The sky remains a muted black, and I can seek out sparks of life in the darker recesses of the city. Beijing’s mutating urban landscape can only be matched by its shifting artistic climate, especially in the realm of sound. Desperation breeds discontent, and voices are emerging to express it. Every weekend features full billings at a growing number of performance spaces across Beijing: dive bars near the universities, small coffee houses hidden amongst the hutongs, larger concert halls in defunct government buildings, or experimental enclaves adjoining fish farms on the outer edges of the city. Beijing’s erratic social landscape is now molded by the Internet and mobile phones instead of more closely controlled media channels such as television and radio. Those with idiosyncratic tastes readily connect with each other and access an exponentially broader realm of music from both home and abroad as they continue to pick apart the past fifty years of western pop, rock, jazz, punk, electronic, and experimental music with increased vigor. The performers on this mixtape constitute a formidable new wave of artists striving to expand their creative limits in an autonomous and compelling fashion. Even though it is too early to tell what may come of the innovative strides made by these musicians, there is no doubt that they will continue to break ground within Beijing’s nascent artistic landscape, helping to push the boundaries of an already expanding realm of independent thought and musical expression in China. In the end the city resists description. Outside the smoke-choked bars everything is layered in a fine coat of dust. Whole neighborhoods disappear and find their way deep into your lungs. That’s the problem. The city gets inside you – fills you to the brim – consumed by a monstrous flow of people and infrastructure. It’s savage but enticing. Six million people flocked here over the past ten years and half a million are expected each year for the foreseeable future. The implosion is just beginning. The nebulous heart of the middle kingdom skips along to ever irregular beats.

Tracks:

01. My Great Location – Rebuilding the Rights of Statues/重塑雕像的权利

02. Some Surprises Come Too Soon – P.K. 14

03. No. 6 Space Ship – AV Okubo/AV大久保

04. Sand Hammer – Hedgehog/刺猬

05. Sunday Girl – Ourself Beside Me

06. Flu – Snapline

07. You Can Listen You Can Talk – Carsick Cars

08. Golden Gate – Duck Fight Goose/鸭打鹅乐队

09. This Side Down – The Offset Spectacle/憬观:像同叠

10. To Die – Soviet Pop/苏维埃·波普

11. The Earthquake – 24 Hour/24小时

12. Hospital – Guai Li/怪力

13. Beijing is Not My Home – Demerit/过失

14. Intro/Outro/Transitions – Zhang Shouwang/张守望 live at D-22 on November 22, 2011

Sound Kapital Portraits: HedgehogSound Kapital Portraits: AV Okubo

Sound Kapital Portraits: Ourself Beside MeSound Kapital Portraits: Guai LiSound Kapital Portraits: 24 Hours

Sound Kapital Portraits: LiqingSound Kapital Portraits: Zhang ShouwangSound Kapital Portraits: Liweisi

Sound Kapital Portraits: P.K. 14Sound Kapital Portraits: Offset SpectaclesSound Kapital Portraits: Demerit

Sound Kapital Portraits: Snapline

Queen Sea Big Shark / 后海大鲨鱼 Making Waves

Fuhan, lead singer of Queen Sing Big Shark, strikes a pose in UCCA during The Creators Projects

Queen Sea Big Shark/后海大鲨鱼 is so, like, HOT right now. I mean, for real. This past year they were featured in both V Magazine and the Vogue September issue where Mario Testino cued up on them for a big spread. Lead singer, Fu Han/付菡, is now the electronic dance rock fashion diva of China. During her packed show at Tango in Beijing earlier this month, she went through at least four different outfits in the course of the evening. More power to her. I still have a big soft spot for Queen Sea Big Shark, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the haute couture pop direction she is taking with the band. They still rock it out, and their early surf rock influences make an appearance here and there. I luckily caught Fuhan at UCCA during the Creators Project where I took a few photos and video footage for fun. Check the video below for some recent concert material as well. They are getting into very elaborate stage setups for the big concerts. Otherwise, here are some recent music videos for Let’s Play, Glow in the Dark and an awesome promotional video for their sophomore album Wave.

China Vogue Music Feature: Bringing Rock to the Masses

A portrait of Cui Jian/崔健 at D-22

Thanks to my new friend Alex Chao, who just arrived in Beijing to take over art direction at China Vogue, I was able to contribute for the first time to China Vogue this month. It was also a perfect match since the magazine was running a big music issue and decided to let me cue up on some of the old school rockers in China including Cui Jian/崔健 (the godfather of Chinese rock), Shen Lihui/沈黎辉 (general rocker and founder of Modern Sky) and Zhang Youdai/张有待 (the DJ who introduced rock to the masses). First of all, I was very excited to get a chance to shoot Cui Jian on the D-22 red wall. He really is a pillar in the history of Chinese rock and greatly influenced a whole generation of China with his anthem “Nothing to My Name” which became a rallying song for students in China during the 1980s. Although I might not be the biggest fan of some of Shen Lihui’s music, his importance as the founder of the Modern Sky music label and festival production company is undisputed. When other record companies refused to release his music in 1997, he went his own way and founded Modern Sky to support a new generation of Chinese rockers and then continued to take this music to larger audiences with the Modern Sky Music Festival and Strawberry Music Festival. Shen Lihui will undoubtably be a force in the future of alternative music in China for some time to come. Although I had never heard of Zhang Youdai before, he seems to be an instrumental character in the history of rock in China as well. He became a DJ and host on Beijing Music Radio back in 1993 and introduced a wide range of music to youth across China. He is a true shaker in China’s emerging entertainment market and is rocking out to an Eric Clapton LP in the China Vogue portrait. Mad respect.

A China Vogue clipping of Zhang Youdai/张有待

A China Vogue clipping of Cui Jian/崔健

A China Vogue clipping of Shen Lihui/沈黎辉

D-22 Survives Fifth Year of General Mayhem

Fans of Carsisk Cars pack into D-22 for its fifth anniversary

The beginning of May is always the busiest time of year for music in Beijing. Bands flock from all over China, and increasingly the world, to perform at a growing number of festivals (see MIDI, Strawberry and CMV) and then rock out local venues late into the night. This May Day also marked the fifth anniversary of D-22, the now notorious dive bar featuring live music that pulled me into the underground/alternative concert scene back in 2007. My uninhibited relationship with the establishment and the musicians that called it home yielded my first monograph, Sound Kapital, and was one of the main reasons for my continued stay here in Beijing. Although I have directed the focus of my documentation to a growing number of music scenes in China, hip hop in particular, I always end up at D-22 for the anniversary shows as it showcases some of the best bands in China and becomes a reunion of sorts for musicians and other hardcore fans. Rowdy evenings are assured and the music goes late into the night. The following videos are highlights from the D-22 fifth anniversary including Carsick Cars, AV Okubo, The Offset: Spectacles, Snapline and selections from the experimental evening including White+, Birdstriking and Chuiwan. You should also check out the brief retrospective made in honor of D-22’s fifth anniversary put together by the Pangbianr crew. Enjoy.