Child’s play ambient + 25 years of Wang Wen
+ a renowned electronic group release their first LP in over a decade
Hello and welcome to Concrete Avalanche, a newsletter about music from China. Thanks very much for reading.
If you’d like to listen to lots of great music from China for free, all in one place, check out the Concrete Avalanche playlists here.
Recently, the good people at Good On Paper magazine invited me to make a spring Spotify playlist and I managed to refrain from making it all Chinese indie music (though there’s a bit of that too). Give it a listen and a like here.
I also have tip jar running on Ko-fi, which you can contribute to here if you’d like:
In this issue: outstanding ambient from Li Yilei, a new live album from Chinese post-rock pioneers Wang Wen, enjoyable jazz rap, “harsh as fuck” noise, New Order’s favourite Chinese band in Japan, a food-themed music video for a song about chicken, and more.
Y’know, for kids: ambient sound artist Li Yilei lets their hair down on new childhood-inspired LP
Two and a half years since Li Yilei released the excellent 之 to widespread, well deserved critical acclaim, the London-based sound artist is back with a new album, 垂髫 or NONAGE. In the last few years, Li has built a strong reputation as a fascinating performer, with shows at iconic UK venues such as The Barbican and Cafe OTO, as well as back in China, such as this piece in Aranya:
Described as “an introspective reflection on the journey through childhood,” Li’s new album “brings together samples from old Chinese TV shows, mechanical children’s toys and an array of acoustic and electronic instruments - some of which were designed and built by Li themselves,” according to Métron Records’ introduction. (Side note: you should absolutely explore Métron’s discography if you haven’t already — it’s a fantastic label with very fine taste.)
Where 之 dealt in sometimes abstract textures, 垂髫 is a little more playful, in line with its theme. There are more tangible melodies and graspable loops, but it’s just as complex and atmospheric as its predecessor, while those mechanical toys ensure it’s also still pleasingly off-kilter. And as with 之, 垂髫 demonstrates Li’s ability to create music that gradually reveals itself, that rewards repeat listens.
There’s also more to the Chinese title for the record than it may first appear, with 垂髫 meaning early childhood but more literally meaning dishevelled or drooping hair, a phrase used in ancient times to refer to children. It represents “the carefree phase of life when children let their hair down, both figuratively and literally” as the record’s introduction puts it. “For Li, nonage is a place that they always revisit - to learn about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.”
It’s another beautiful listen from an impressive artist.
NONAGE is out today.
Shut up and play: post-rock giants Wang Wen mark their 25th birthday with a special live album and European festival dates
Chinese post-rock titans Wang Wen are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Keeping a band together for a quarter of a century is a pretty massive achievement, but it’s a milestone especially worth marking when they produce music as good as this.
They were one of the first Chinese bands I got into after I came across their 2006 album Re:Re:Re and are an act that I’ve come back to time and again. Although post-rock has consistently underpinned their sound, they’ve not been afraid to introduce new elements or experiment with different directions along the way. Case in point: their excellent (and excellently named) 2022 album Painful Clown & Ninja Tiger, which saw their songs add significant vocals for the first time.
Just before the Lunar New Year, the band announced the release of a special compilation live album entitled All Yesterday’s Parties. It’s available as a double vinyl LP (released on their Bandcamp just as Lunar New Year’s Eve became New Year’s Day) and can be streamed via their official website.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice. Each time we play the same old songs, there are new feelings come out. The live versions were recorded and mixed by our sound engineer Deng Chenglong in 2020-2023. Those unforgettable moments were recorded in the music too.”
If you’re new to Wang Wen’s work, All Yesterday’s Parties is a great overview of the band’s back catalogue to date, a back catalogue that’s well worth diving into in depth. If you’re already familiar with the band, the record provides a fresh perspective on their studio discography thus far as well as perennial live favourites such as ‘Lonely God’.
As an aside, some of these recordings were made in Aranya on China’s eastern coast in 2020, the same location where Wang Wen played a special set to accompany the sunrise last year. You can watch a teaser from that performance below; hopefully they’ll release the full film soon:
A reminder that Wang Wen are touring Europe this May, with dates in Switzerland, France, the UK and more. For another taste of what they’re like live, check out the video further down in this newsletter of their Taiwan tour with Fazi.
All Yesterday’s Parties is out now.
In colour: electronic duo White+ release first album in 10+ years
Once upon a time, Carsick Cars were the great hope of Chinese rock ’n’ roll. Their mix of Sonic Youth-inspired guitar sounds and catchy hooks made them one of the first bands signed to Maybe Mars, the Michael Pettis-backed label that would come to define a whole generation of Chinese rock music. The trio’s early years saw them garner a wave of attention, both at home and abroad. They even supported Sonic Youth on a couple of dates in Europe after they were stopped from doing so in China at the last minute.
Yet while Carsick Cars continues to be the most famous band that its members have been involved in, it’s far from the only one. (This perhaps goes some way to explaining why the new Carsick Cars album, supposedly recorded about three years ago, is still yet to emerge.) Li Qing and Li Weisi have played as two-thirds of Snapline and as Soviet Pop, among numerous other guises; Zhang Shouwang’s “other” project has been a number of variations on White.
White started out in the mid-’00s around the time of the No Beijing experimental movement, and initially saw Zhang collaborate with Hang On the Box’s Shenggy and enlist the production services of Einstürzende Neubauten founder Blixa Bargeld. But it’s the 2010 iteration of White — formed with The Gar drummer Wang Xu through the experimental Beijing showcase Zoomin’ Nights and named White+ — that has endured.
Influenced by “German avant-garde music” and “minimalism”, White+ dropped their first album in 2012:
They’ve performed live off and on at a number of clubs around China in the years since, but it’s been a long wait for their second LP. That wait finally ended in late February with the release of II:
Perhaps I’ve dwelled so much on the background here because I’m still a little unsure exactly what to make of the record. When Zhang was asked recently as part of an interview with Maybe Mars to describe the new album, he answered simply “entering into a loop”. This is the basic idea that the record is built around, but the trouble with loops is that sometimes there can be a fine line between trance-inducing or momentum building and… monotony. It’s a delicate balance that II doesn’t always pull off, based on my initial listens.
It starts strong, but begins to meander a bit around ‘Tangier’ and the two ‘Blue Town’ pieces. The closing couple of minutes of ‘Tarantism’ are interesting, but — while I’ve normally nothing against a long track — it takes too long to get there.
There’s a return to form toward the end, especially the last two tracks, and the LP is growing on me, but there are times when it feels a bit like a compilation album rather than a cohesive work.
Anyway, that’s probably enough meandering of my own. Give it a listen and let me know how you feel about it in the comments. I reserve the right to completely change my mind about it once I’ve listened to it more.
II is out now.
Right on time: another fresh serving of jazz rap from Seafood Market Records
After releasing 17-year-old rap prodigy BoomHan’s remarkable debut LP last year, Tianjin’s Seafood Market Records are back with another jazz rap banger. Xiamen native Bohan Qiu has been releasing music since 2019, but this is his first full-length after a string of features, mixtapes and EPs. It’s another soulful experience with some smart lyrics and a record crate-load of enjoyable samples that help you forgive some of the more generic tracks (such as ‘Dawn Cruising’).
The LP’s title, Han’s Time, carries a couple of meanings, the rapper explains. The first is to do with the period shortly after he graduated.
“I experienced the longest vacation in my life and had a lot of time at my disposal. Driving to the beach to watch the sunrise, flying to a strange city to perform live house, having fun and chatting drunkenly with friends late at night... These wonderful moments have accumulated in my memory and turned into the source of the creation of this album.”
The second meaning is related to his increasing appreciation for the importance of time.
“I understand more and more that every year, every day, and every moment is unique. Rather than missing the filtered beauty in my memory or worrying about the future, I prefer to cherish the present and devote myself to everything in front of me and around me. Life is like a dream, and I am still looking for answers in the ever-changing dreams.”
It may not hit quite as hard as BoomHan’s record, but it’s still well worth a listen and certainly marks Seafood Market Records out as a label to keep an eye on.
Han’s Time is out now.
Know your chicken: Guangdong group delivers more tasty hip hop
Here’s some more jazzy, alternative hip hop for you, this time a bit more off-the-wall. Mdprl & GitBu$y Trio are gearing up to release their new album on one of my favourite Chinese labels Space Fruity Records, and recently put out this playful video for the track ‘Chicken’ (don’t watch on an empty stomach):
On the road: here’s a bunch of videos of Chinese bands touring overseas
Pleasingly, updates on Chinese bands abroad are becoming something of a regular feature in this newsletter.
New Order-endorsed Chengdu band Stolen have recently released a short film tracking some of their exploits in Japan:
If the album mentioned above isn’t enough Wang Wen live for you, here’s a newly-released video featuring highlights from their 2023 tour of Taiwan with Xi’an post-punks Fazi. A reminder that if you like what you see of the latter here, they’re at SXSW next week and then playing a series of dates across the USA.
Meanwhile, Beijing-based Mongolian band Hanggai have recently been in Canada where they’ve played a handful of shows in between recording a new album with Garth Richardson (whose CV features engineering / production for the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine and, err, Nickelback). Here they are performing in Vancouver:
“Harsh as fuck” noisemonger Torturing Nurse is not only celebrating two decades in existence this spring, he’s also set to terrorise the eardrums of the Indonesian public in early May. Here’s a little taste of what Jakarta might be in for:
Exit music
Voision Xi, the Shanghai-based jazz singer-turned-lo-fi electronic music producer who featured in the very first Concrete Avalanche has a beautiful new single out that feels perfect for spring (if you’re headed that way in your hemisphere).
Above, you can immerse yourself in the animated video made by Haomin Peng to accompany the song. Below, you can support the artist by buying it on Bandcamp:
I want this on a t-shirt: “I reserve the right to completely change my mind about it once I’ve listened to it more.”
I’ve been looking forward to your thoughts on the White+ album! I share your sense of it as a compilation (an impression supported by the duo referring to it as an audio record of a period of time). The one unifying factor, I guess, is that it’s easy to envision practically all of it going really hard live in an amped-up dance club. There’s something appealing about the drums on this one — it feels physical and organic, compared to the previous album’s bloopy mind candy. I do think I prefer the more ambient tracks to the ones that could be an evolution of You Can Listen-era Carsick Cars. (As an aside, my first reaction to “Tarantism” was that it came off an alternate-universe Orbus Terrarum with rock percussion swapped in for house beats.... Maybe it’d be better sprinkled with weird, chopped-up samples?)