Cola Ren is the real thing + Re-TROS on KEXP
+ Chinese Football announce North America tour + a major post-rock act is resurrected
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. Keep an eye out later this week for a mix of some of my favourite songs from the year so far released via ChinaTalk.
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In this issue: Guangdong-based electronic producer Cola Ren garners deserved international attention, Chinese Football prepare to tour North America, Beijing’s Sleeping Dogs join forces with bands from across Asia, KEXP release their Re-TROS sessions, a major Chinese post-rock act is resurrected, and more.
Bubbling up: Cola Ren’s refreshing new EP passes international taste tests
Guangzhou-based producer Cola Ren’s new EP for German label Qeone is very enjoyable. Fortunately, you don’t need to take my word for it. Here’s
, who if you don’t know writes one of the most authoritative music newsletters anywhere on the internet, First Floor:“Considering that China has more than 1.4 billion people, it’s ridiculous that so few of its electronic music offerings seem to get noticed by Western audiences, and after hearing something like COLA REN’s new Forest Drone EP, it immediately becomes clear that those of us in Europe, North America and pretty much everywhere that isn’t China are collectively missing out on some top-notch stuff.”
Released a few days after Forest Drone on the Bandcamp page for Chinese label Amwav (of which Ren is Music Director) was this collection of remixes of her first EP, Hailu, “a fulsome ambient, balearic, and downtempo brew with a gorgeous sense of melody and spirituality that offers a soothing escape.” Seoul-based duo Salamanda, Xiamen producer Knopha, and London artist Will Hofbauer are among the remixers.
Again, it’s very enjoyable. Again, you don’t have to take my word for it:
who also writes one of the most authoritative music newsletters anywhere on the internet (the indispensable Futurism Restated) said it was “love at first listen” in his write-up.The Reynaldo-Sherburne one-two? Seriously, that’s the dream. And Ren’s work is certainly worthy of such attention.
Forest Drone is out now, as is Hailu Remixes.
You win: Chinese Football announce tour of US and Canada
Eagle-eyed Concrete Avalanche readers will have seen this hinted at in the last issue, but brilliant Wuhan band Chinese Football have officially confirmed their first ever tour of North America.
This is the Chinese act about which renowned music writer
said: “I rarely hear rock bands that play with this kind of vital, in-the-pocket rhythmic cohesion.”Tell your friends and go support them if you can. They’re a great band.
Here’s a free playlist featuring a bunch of Chinese Football tracks to celebrate.
Sleep no more: Guruguru Brain showcase the sound of Beijing’s Sleeping Dogs
Founded by two members of Japanese psych band Kikagaku Moyo, the label Guruguru Brain has been turning out interesting musical oddities for a decade now. Their latest compilation, released on “mystic pond coloured vinyl” (and digitally on Bandcamp), is an attempt “to update current sounds from across Asia including Taiwan, India, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia” — even better, it features the brilliant Sleeping Dogs.
The track, ‘Golden Seed’ — not to be confused with ‘Golden Tree’ on their debut album Blunt Razor — is a lovely example of what this band does so well. As I’ve written of them before:
“There’s an intricacy to Sleeping Dogs’ musicianship, but a beautiful simplicity to their energy, their vibe. These are musicians who have largely done the experimental and challenging art thing and are now happily focused on making music that just makes you feel good.”
Update: The legendary Gilles Peterson just played this Sleeping Dogs track on his BBC 6 Music, so you know it must be good.
You can listen to the full Guruguru Brain Wash 2 compilation here, and enjoy Sleeping Dogs’ debut album below:
Videos: Re-TROS on KEXP in the USA, Wu Zhuoling live, new Dream Can MV, and more
When Re-TROS toured across the US with Liars recently, they stopped in at listener-supported Seattle radio station KEXP to record a few tracks. Cue me refreshing the KEXP YouTube page for the next month or so. Those clicks finally bore fruit the other week, with Re-TROS’s set appearing alongside other recent invitees such as Otoboke Beaver, Mong Tong, Arlo Parks, and M83:
More on Rebuilding the Rights of Statues:
Update: Shout out to Diana R, the host in the above video, who says that Re-TROS wound up on KEXP in part thanks to this very newsletter (see the comments on this post). Amazing!
Here’s a video of excellent Chengdu-based downbeat electronic producer Wu Zhuoling performing live in Shanghai last month:
Maybe Mars have put out a new music video for Shanghai psych-rockers Dream Can (or maybe Canned Dream now), a year and a bit after their latest album was released. Accompanying the song ‘Daddy’, the video is full of home video footage and was presumably made for Children’s Day:
More on Dream Can / Canned Dream here:
Shengjian Records (the indie pop label named after a dumpling and who once released records with accompanying scents) have gone on an uploading spree recently, adding music videos for Schoolgirl Byebye and cutesy young band Puppy’s Bone (shot in Shanghai’s Fuxing Park, maybe?):
Exit music
The first exit music of 2024 was a bit of a sad one: it marked the end of Zhaoze, a great band from Guangdong who for 25 years had been fusing post-rock with the sounds of an electrified version of the guqin (a traditional Chinese string instrument). It wasn’t clear quite what had happened, but the band had unfortunately decided to call it a day.
But six months on, they’re back!
“We did meet problem, but it was settled; There're still difficulties, but we'll carry them on the road. Today, we're starting off again.
“All the way to go, cutting through thorns and thistles, overcoming one obstacle after another, the four of us have gone through 26 years, always together.
“Along the road, there were tears and laughter, and we're so grateful to you.”
Aww. To celebrate their return, the band have released their 2018 track ‘To Tomorrow’ as a single. It was made for the international award-winning film Mosaic Portrait, which was never able to secure a release in China.
If you like what you hear, do yourself a favour and take a look through their back catalogue. Here’s some more on the band and their music:
Was waiting for the release of the Re-TROS KEXP performance since they filmed it. Finally saw it yesterday. Great stuff. Although, did the DJ mispronounce the band name on the intro?