A Wuhan punk classic turns 20 + Ghostmass
+ post-punks Lonely Leary return + a dystopian take on surveillance culture
Hello and welcome to Concrete Avalanche, a newsletter about music from China. Thanks very much for reading.
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🎃 For those who observe ‘spooky season’, you can find a special, recently refreshed Halloween playlist as part of that collection. 👻
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In this issue: a post-punk ode to Beijing, a classic record from one of China’s most outspoken bands turns 20, a Chinese folk act in the New York Times, a load of great noise and experimental releases, an update on the availability of those Kind of Shoegaze compilations, and a music video that tackles security cameras’ intrusion of personal space.
Chinese noise supergroup Ghostmass unleash two new records
Ghostmass have not one but two new records out on November 1. They may be arriving ever so slightly late for Halloween, but fortunately these releases are not just for ‘spooky season’.
Even if you don’t know the who’s who of Ghostmass, surely that band name alone should pique your interest. But I’m going to give you the who’s who anyway, because it’s a key part of the picture.
Ghostmass are comprised of pioneering noise artist Yan Jun (for whom my go-to anecdote is that I once watched him eat sunflower seeds mic’ed up for 10-15 minutes as part of a sound art show) along with Li Weisi and Li Qing. The latter two also operate together as Soviet Pop, were in revered post-punk act Snapline, and are founding members of one of China’s biggest rock acts, Carsick Cars.
Together, they make febrile, fascinating sounds, as evidenced by their two latest releases, put out collaboratively by WV Sorcerer and Dusty Ballz.
The first time I listened to these records I put them on back to back. I jotted down something about ‘Hu’, the second of the two 20-ish minute pieces that comprise Ghost Meditations, reaching a gloriously unhinged crescendo. But a few minutes later that comment suddenly felt inappropriate given the levels reached in ‘Ghostbomb’, which opens the collection of improvisations released at the same time. Known as ‘Ghostburger’ in Chinese, the track is seven and a half minutes of brilliant chaos.
Where Ghost Meditations offers two longer slabs of sound, Improvisation for Dusty Ballz gives the listener shorter chunks; neither is particularly straightforward to digest (complimentary).
Bursts of noise and scattered percussion are joined by yelps and shouts that sound like they’re straight from a comic book asylum-bound character across the two records. It’s perhaps not surprising to find the vocal parts breaking into coughs and splutters part-way through ‘Ghost Cavern’, even though it’s a relatively ‘lighter’ track. ‘Om’ is perhaps the closest thing the listener really gets to relief, with a relatively more sedate undercurrent of noise accompanied by throat-singing-like drone-ish vocals.
Maybe that all sounds terrifying or like a massive turn-off to you. That’s fine. Ghostmass are not on the outer extreme of China’s noise and sound art scene, but I can’t tell you that these are easy, conventional records. For those who like to be challenged however, the double release is a gift.
Ghost Meditations and Improvisation for Dusty Ballz are both out on November 1.
Just briefly: more noise and experimental releases
If experimental music isn’t your thing, bear with me; or rather, scroll down. But there’s been a load of significant releases from China in this realm lately, so here’s a quick run-down for those who are interested:
Self-taught musician, Zoomin’ Night founder, and all-round lynchpin of Beijing’s experimental scene Zhu Wenbo recently put out a trio of recordings entitled Harmonica Works employing (you guessed it) harmonica, along with a four track tape recorder and endless looptape:
Free Music Collective of Shanghai, who previously gave us such gems as Polystyrene Box Quartet and a performance of a George Brecht piece, have released a string of new recordings. Music for Emptying features the group (something of a who’s who of experimental musicians in Shanghai) performing on bottles, Dots and Lines features more conventional instruments, while Social Acapella is a 40-ish minute piece featuring different speakers accompanied by claps and minimal backing vocals.
Lao Dan’s been busy. One of China’s foremost experimental musicians, the multi-instrumentalist undertook a tour of North America earlier this year, one result of which is a new release recorded live in Boston and featuring Greg Kelley on trumpet and Glynis Lomon on waterphone, cello, and vocals. Lao Dan plays dizi, tenor sax, suona, and “DIY flute”.
What’s notable about the release — other than that it comes with a set of balloons and badges if you buy the cassette version — is that it marks the launch of Lao Dan’s own label, TOTT Records. TOTT, like Lao Dan himself, will focus on “Free improvisation, free jazz, avant-garde [and] experimental music.”
Once upon a time in Beijing: post-punks Lonely Leary release third LP
Last time Shandong-formed post-punks Lonely Leary featured in this newsletter it was due to their excellent unplugged album The Last Quartet, which included a cover of Ennio Morricone’s For a Few Dollars More theme. Would I be hearing echoes of a spaghetti Western in their new album if they hadn’t chosen to do a version of that classic theme? Hard to say, but LP Inter Ice Age now seems to have a kind of Clint Eastwood swagger to it, to my ears at least.
That said, the band have always had a something of an anti-hero attitude about them. Their live shows have often been uncompromising, energetic affairs — and lots of fun.
While there are still bursts of that original spirit (‘Thunderous Riverside’ and ‘Homecoming Drunkard’ in particular), some of the jagged freneticism that dominated Lonely Leary’s earlier material has dissipated, replaced on their new record with more laidback moments.
They’ve not lost their knack for meaningful lyrics however, with sharp observations and intriguing metaphors on display from opener ‘The Sound’ (dedicated to The Sound frontman Adrian Borland) onwards. And while Passenger on the Eve, their last studio album, felt like something of a transition record for them as they explored new styles, Inter Ice Age feels more cohesive.
Lonely Leary’s previous LPs have been released on Maybe Mars, but for this effort — their third studio album — they appear to have gone it alone. Yet it’s still a very Beijing affair, with the band regularly referencing their adopted home city and bringing in a number of individuals from the capital’s music scene over the course of its 11 tracks.
Another influence I feel like I can hear on this new record, though maybe it’s just because I read her name in the credits: Yang Fan. The former Hang on the Box member recorded, mixed, produced and occasionally performed on this album, and some of the off-kilter guitar sounds that punctuate her work seem to be at play here. (Other guests on the record include Sleeping Dogs multi-instrumentalist Li Zichao and Run Run Run drummer Li Xueqing.)
All of which is good, not bad nor ugly. It’s a solid album from a solid band — and it can be yours for a fistful of dollars.
Inter Ice Age is out now.
China Dream: SMZB’s Chinese punk classic turns 20
These days, when most people hear the name ‘Wuhan’, they probably think ‘Covid’. That’s fair enough. But ideally, they should also be thinking ‘re gan mian’, or ‘Chinese Football’, or dozens of other things. There is, of course, so much more to the central Chinese city than just being ground zero for the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the main words that still pops into my head when I hear ‘Wuhan’ is ‘punk’. The city has a rich punk heritage, and lays claims to being the birthplace of the genre in China (though you should be careful repeating such claims around Beijing punks). At the heart of Wuhan punk history are Wuhan Prison, a brilliant dive venue that’s still going strong today, and SMZB, a pioneering, outspoken band who are unlikely to be able to play in the country again any time soon.
Founded in 1996 and led by Wu Wei, SMZB were one of the first punk bands in China. If you’ve not had the chance before, you should absolutely watch Never Release My Fist, which documents memories of the early scene.
In late September this year, SMZB’s China Dream album turned 20.
Around the same time, the band’s A Letter From China album marked its tenth birthday.
As well as an opportunity to celebrate the band, their music, and their unrelenting spirit, the anniversaries are also a reminder of how much things have changed.
SMZB haven’t played an official show in China in quite some time, but it wasn’t that long ago that their music was being put out by Beijing-based label Maybe Mars and state media-backed outlets such as Sixth Tone were still calling on Wu Wei for interviews as part of videos about Wuhan punk.
In ‘A Letter from the UK’ in May of this year, posted to a punk WeChat account and since removed, Wu Wei talked about the difficulty of him performing in China. He also noted that it had become essentially impossible to find a label in the country who would release a new album from the band, noting that their relationship with Maybe Mars had been forced to end, a situation he was typically magnanimous about.
The climate for such releases is clearly not what it was. But you’d be a fool to bet against Wu Wei and co getting their music out, somehow. For now, enjoy the two albums mentioned above, and don’t skip their 2016 record The Chinese are Coming.
For more English language background on the Wuhan punk scene, explore Nathanel Amar’s site and his archive of articles like this.
“The land gets to rest, and I get to play”: Varihnaz in the NYT
The New York Times just published a nice profile of Varihnaz, the farmer-led folk group from southern China who went viral on The Big Band TV show. I particular like this detail from one of their gigs:
“Halfway through the performance, Ba Nong clicked through a slide show, teaching the audience of around 450 people about natural farming techniques. He and Shi Ba had brought bags of their rice for purchase.”
Read the full article here. And read more about The Big Band here:
Chinese shoegaze update: Kind of Shoegaze compilations are now on Bandcamp
I’ve written about the Kind of Shoegaze compilations in this newsletter before, most recently noting that they were frustratingly difficult to find outside of China. Thankfully, they’re now more readily available to listeners beyond the country’s borders. Both compilations have made it onto iTunes and Bandcamp, while 哲学思潮, one of the young bands featured, have also put their album Dazedtrek up:
Exit music
In addition to putting out a new EP themed around AI, Chengdu electro post-punk act Stolen recently unveiled a reworked version of their song ‘Invaders’. The band, who as I’ve noted before can count New Order among their fans, say that,
“Because of that post-covid context we decided to reconstruct our original "Space intruders" song into that "Intruders (A Space Intruders Remix) » making it more deep and charged with the sadness of that difficult era which will become a song about personal space… but… we’ve let intruders (personified by security cameras) eating it bit by bit under a global passivity.”
The accompanying video — directed by Formol — takes the theme of ubiquitous surveillance and runs with it.
any idea on where to find information about upcoming shows? visiting wuhan the weekend of nov 8th and would love to check out
some live music