Thanks for the tip on Dizkar, great stuff! Sad to hear Loopy has closed, I had heard of it but never made it there. With quite a few alt-clubs across the country shutting down over the past few years, I’d love to see you do a rundown of the top alternative clubs in China that remain.
Yeah you’re right, there’ve been a fair few closures in recent years. I suppose it’s always (and always has been) a bit of a struggle with non-mainstream venues.
ALL and Oil are still going at least; not sure DADA will ever be resurrected in Shanghai but the Beijing and Kunming branches are surviving for now which is good to see; .TAG still lives, hidden away in Chengdu’s PolyCenter, which still blows my mind a little, ha; AXIS also still stands in Chengdu. So yeah, there are a few stalwarts still around.
Maybe I’ll do a proper round-up some time, will keep the suggestion in mind — thanks!
Such an exploratory piece! Great work. I think out of all of the artists here, Junkyard has the most aggressively memorable impact on me. I'm also happy to see Bandcamp being a common platform a lot of these projects are landing on for further distribution.
I never comment on these, but you have introduced me to so much incredible Chinese music -- thank you! As I am sure you know, it is prohibitively difficult to find a lot of Chinese music in America. Besides you, my sole resource is The Rap of China!!
Newly re-released ! https://hualun.bandcamp.com/album/an-elephant-sitting-still-an-elephant-sitting-stillsoundtrack
Ah yeah, there you go. That’s the version I was talking about – glad it’s now up on Bandcamp
Thanks for the tip on Dizkar, great stuff! Sad to hear Loopy has closed, I had heard of it but never made it there. With quite a few alt-clubs across the country shutting down over the past few years, I’d love to see you do a rundown of the top alternative clubs in China that remain.
Glad you’re enjoying the Dizkar record.
Yeah you’re right, there’ve been a fair few closures in recent years. I suppose it’s always (and always has been) a bit of a struggle with non-mainstream venues.
ALL and Oil are still going at least; not sure DADA will ever be resurrected in Shanghai but the Beijing and Kunming branches are surviving for now which is good to see; .TAG still lives, hidden away in Chengdu’s PolyCenter, which still blows my mind a little, ha; AXIS also still stands in Chengdu. So yeah, there are a few stalwarts still around.
Maybe I’ll do a proper round-up some time, will keep the suggestion in mind — thanks!
System in Shanghai, however, just held their ‘last party’ last night. Another one gone…
Dang that soul music album is great. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, listening, and commenting!
Such an exploratory piece! Great work. I think out of all of the artists here, Junkyard has the most aggressively memorable impact on me. I'm also happy to see Bandcamp being a common platform a lot of these projects are landing on for further distribution.
Thanks Stanley. I feel like Junkyard would be quietly quite happy with being thought of as “aggressively memorable”.
And yes, it’s pleasing to see a number of labels ramping up their Bandcamp presence given it’s technically blocked in China
I never comment on these, but you have introduced me to so much incredible Chinese music -- thank you! As I am sure you know, it is prohibitively difficult to find a lot of Chinese music in America. Besides you, my sole resource is The Rap of China!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and for reading. Very happy to be of service!
Thank you so much for you postings, you enhance my life! I live in china, but it is hard for me to find good info about contemporary Chinese art...
ah thank you, that’s great to hear. I appreciate you reading, and posting this comment