May 22, 2011 | Counterfeit Paradises, Development, Society
As new cities continue to spring up across China almost overnight, real estate developers are taking architecture and urban design in wildly different directions to tap into the lucrative luxury housing market. Tianducheng/天都城 was one of those hopelessly trying to set a bold new precedent for modern and cultured living with it’s fake Eiffel Tower overlooking Parisian townhouses. The knockoff of the 13th arrondissement, however, remains sparsely populated and only draws well-heeled clientele to its adjacent resort and villas modeled after Fontainebleau Palace. For now, many of the apartments are occupied by groups of migrant laborers working on surrounding megablocks, while other locals have gone so far as to appropriate the green space surrounding the Eiffel Tower for private ad hoc farming plots. Otherwise Tianducheng along with the attached French-themed village park is mainly used as a backdrop for wedding photography companies hoping to give young Chinese couples a taste of The City of Light while balancing their desire for traditional nuptial observances.
May 16, 2011 | Music, Youth
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.
Apr 24, 2011 | Architecture, Clippings
As many of you may know, I am a huge fan of the CCTV Tower in Beijing’s Central Business District. In my excitement that they finally turned on the lights in the soaring loop of a skyscraper, I scouted out locations and posted shots of it igniting the skyline. A few months later, as fortune would have it, I received an assignment to photograph Ole Scheeren, the former parter of Rem Koolhaas at OMA and mastermind behind the design and construction of the CCTV Tower. Basically I got to sneak around the new offices of Ole Scheeren in Jianwai Soho and then pose him in front of his awesome edifice. In the end, I used the same locations from the night shoot to photograph Ole Scheeren with the CCTV Tower. Unfortunately I was not allowed to photograph any models of his upcoming projects which were amazing. Ole himself was very affable during the shoot and is no stranger to the camera thanks to his high-profile, paparazzi-trailed relationship with actress Maggie Cheung. A looker and dresser, Ole made sure he was properly attired for the occasion and rocked a formidable Blue Steel. The clippings are from the article in the newly minted Port Magazine out of London.
Apr 20, 2011 | Music
Xiao He/小河 is one of China’s true musical luminaries. A key musician at River, the legendary Beijing folk music bar, he then went on to be a singer and guitarist for the Dadaesque performance group Glamorous Pharmacy. Xiao He now mainly plays improvised solo shows that need to be seen to be believed. Using his guitar and a MIDI controller, Xiao He is able to recreate sounds from a wide variety of instruments both traditional and contemporary. He then loops them together along with his own chanting, throat singing and Peking opera voices to create an unbelievable musical soundscape. The following video recording was made at the opening of the Ephemeral Festival earlier this month. It is really a tour de force of some of his newer material including his voice-controlled flute instrumentation. Really crazy stuff. Also, the photo above was taken in Philadelphia in 2009 during the first Maybe Mars tour of the United States which coincided with my launch of Sound Kapital. I got to travel with Xiao He along with P.K. 14 and Carsick Cars up and down the east coast for two weeks and share beds with him in crappy interstate motels. For the record, Xiao He does not snore or kick. From his Maybe Mars artist profile:
“Xiao He first attracted serious attention in the late 90s with his experimental band, Glamorous Pharmacy, a fluid ensemble that mixed folk, jazz, experimentation, improvised performances and action art to create a strangely surreal sound that never seemed to settle anywhere before turning around and heading of in a different direction. At the time China’s musical underground was small and fairly homogenous, but the playful and anarchic spirit of the members of Glamorous Pharmacy suggested several new doors into various styles that were eagerly opened and pursued by other musicians. Glorious Pharmacy glorified in the creation of new ‘branches’ of Chinese underground music, variously called among other things ‘introverted’, ‘weird’, and ‘malicious’ 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 humor of the avant garde. Complementing his stylistic creativity is a unique way of playing acoustic guitar, loops, synthesizers and any other instrument that catches his fancy.”
Apr 5, 2011 | Music
Zoomin Night is an ongoing experimental music series that first proffered its eclectic sounds at D-22 on August 11, 2009. Organized by Zhu “Raindog” Wenbo, every Tuesday at D-22 since then has witnessed offbeat performances of every ilk, exploring the outer rim of musical composition and noise making. In many ways it took up the mantle of the now defunct Waterland Kwanyin, the longest ongoing experimental music series in Beijing that held court at 2 Kolegas – the biggest difference being the more post-punk/noise-rock sound of many of the performers at Zoomin’ Night. Because of my recent heavy travel schedule, I have not been able to attend as many evenings as I would like. I did manage to sneak up a few weeks ago to capture some engaging solo performances by Xiaolong/闫玉龙 and Lijianhong/李剑鸿. Xiaolong is an young electric violinist who experiments with a wide variety of delays, loops and pedals to create a mesmerizing aura of sound, while Lijianghong is one of the most respected and longstanding members of China’s experimental music community. Born in Zhejiang in 1975, he is an incredible guitarist and founder of 2pi Records. I have seen him play a few times before with his other projects such as D!O!D!O!D!, but this was the first time I got to see him really lay into it by himself. The attached video will better justify my statements. Also, check out this excellent article by Pete DeMola for a more detailed introduction to Zoomin Night as well as more recent updates from the astute Pangbianr blog. Lastly, Zoomin Night has set up a SoundCloud account for more noisy treats, or you can still catch live performances every Tuesday at D-22.