Beijing riot grrrls Xiao Wang + Hiperson to tour Asia
+ a new LP from psych-rockers Backspace + Li Jianhong on garden hose
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In this issue: Backspace’s back alright, beloved Beijing punks Xiao Wang belatedly burst onto Bandcamp, superb post-punks Hiperson head out on an international tour, a cherry tree in the Beijing ’burbs, China’s answer to Yuck, the Buddha Machine pioneers chilling on a Chengdu rooftop, and more.
Won’t delete later: Backspace beguile on latest psych-rock LP
It’s late spring in the northern hemisphere and those looking for an upbeat soundtrack to the summer are in luck: Beijing-based psych-rockers Backspace are… well, back. Maybe it’s the time of year, maybe I was sitting in the sun too long just before I wrote this, maybe I’m reading too much into the band’s roots in the subtropical southern city of Yulin, Guangxi, but new album Outside of Change feels imbued with bright, bouncy energy.
That’s not to say that the group’s work is just “vibes” — far from it. There’s a darker core to the record. Dig a little deeper and underpinning the shimmering, synthy, psych-tinged rock tunes are lyrics about self doubt and inferiority, about drifting through life. ‘World of One’ is initially filled with summery imagery, but it’s all fake — the palms are manufactured, the protagonist is wearing VR glasses; the track takes its place in the growing canon of Chinese indie rock tunes to grapple with the pandemic.
(Some interesting cover art there...)
This is Backspace’s third studio album and was recorded “semi-improvisationally” in early 2023, as China emerged from the Zero Covid era. The band laid down the bulk of the tracks at Yiwu’s temple-turned-studio and gig venue Gebi, adding further instrumentation at Beijing’s DDC (Dusk Dawn Club) venue. There’s a looseness and freedom to the music, a confidence that comes from musicians who have been playing together for the best part of a decade.
It’s admittedly been a while since I listened to Backspace’s back catalogue, but this feels like a step forward for them. Go give it a listen.
Outside of Change is out now.
Beloved Beijing punks Xiao Wang finally put their debut album on Bandcamp
Way back in November 2022, this newsletter spotlighted Kachakacha, the debut full-length from Beijing band Xiao Wang, saying that, “the 10-track LP’s garage punk sound bristles with attitude and cements Xiao Wang’s status as the spiritual successors to Hang on the Box and Subs.”
At the time, I had to link to Chinese streaming platform NetEase and make do with a handful of YouTube embeds. I’d asked the band about whether they’d add the record to their Bandcamp and they told me they were in discussions with Damnably, the British-based label who count Otoboke Beaver and Drinking Girls and Boys Choir among their signees and who have also released records by Shonen Knife and David Boring.
Anywho, Damnably have finally found time in between touring Otoboke Beaver (the hugely entertaining Japanese act are set to open for Red Hot Chili Peppers in July, incidentally) and DGBC, and Kachakacha is finally available on Bandcamp. It’s a lot of fun.
They’ve also put out a video for the song ‘Steal’:
Kachakacha is available to pre-order now; it’s out June 12th. Read a full write-up of the album here.
Pursuing and awaiting: Hiperson to tour Asia, Chen Sijiang releases solo recordings
Regular readers of this newsletter will know that there’s been a bunch of Chinese bands heading overseas since China’s Zero Covid policies ended.
Of course, almost every band in the country has a story about how their careers and lives were impacted by Covid. Hiperson are one act who sticks in my mind in that regard, given they were set to head to the US in early 2020 on the back of their outstanding album Bildungsroman. When it became clear that wouldn’t happen, they went out on tour across China instead, cementing their status as one of the best bands in the country. Now, they’re finally heading overseas again, with a string of dates across Asia in the next month or so:
As I said on Notes the other day: Don’t be fooled by the poster, Hiperson are a serious post-punk act.
Speaking of Hiperson, a big tip of the hat to
, whose recent Note alerted me to two records from the band’s frontwoman Chen Sijiang appearing on Bandcamp earlier this year.Comprised of three tracks each, the releases blend field recordings, electronics and Chen’s unmistakable vocals. They’re experimental, whimsical, understandably different from Hiperson’s material, and at times rather lovely. “The expectation of the maker,” Chen writes, was “first, to spread the fun; second, to gain three observation objects; third, to get gently pushed by the ripples.”
I particularly like the exchange that happens at the beginning of ‘Sound Shoes’ on BJYY, simply because of how normal it sounds as a reaction to someone appearing with a field recorder / mic:
“What are you doing?” someone asks. “I’m recording,” Chen replies. “Why?” “Because I want to use the sound of someone speaking at one point.”
“A spacious listen”: Mind Fiber’s “environment improvisation”
Another field recording-based release here. And whew, Seippelabel is really on a roll. It’s only been just over a month since the Beijing imprint’s return, but in that short time span they’ve released records from Sun Yizhou, Sheng Jie aka gogoj and Li Qing, and now Mind Fiber, the experimental project from Li Jianhong and Wei Wei.
An accompaniment of sorts to their “environment improvisation” record Ya Cha Ban, which saw the duo experiment with sounds in concert with their surroundings in Li’s hometown, this new release focuses on recordings made around a cherry tree in a small village on the edge of Beijing, where the couple rented a house.
“Li Jianhong was on guitar, but eventually switched to garden hose towards the end. Wei Wei aka Vavabond is generating all kinds of delicate noise through her software MAX while their two kids run around the courtyard,” producer Brad Seippel told me. “It’s a very spacious listen.”
明年，再来樱桃树下坐一坐 is out now.
Great Times Club: Wutiaoren in the big leagues, Fazi release US tour documentary
Fazi’s recent tour of the US had some ups and downs — they performed some fun-looking shows as part of SXSW, but apparently had to cancel some of their tour dates after lacklustre ticket sales. How much of that will feature in their US tour documentary remains to be seen, but the full version should be out on their YouTube channel today. Here’s a trailer:
UPDATE: Here’s the full thing…
One of The Big Band effects on China’s music scene was how it catapulted a band like Re-TROS from performing at ~1,200 capacity gig venues (and admittedly lots of festivals) to a show at Shanghai’s main arena.
See also: Wutiaoren. The playful Guangdong folk-rock act — who found a mainstream audience via the TV show — recently hit Beijing’s Wukesong Arena where they were joined by a crowd of thousands. Here are some photos from the concert:
The round-up bit: ambient, ambient pop, and fuzzy indie rock
Not a new release, but renowned experimental artist Yan Jun just added a live album of himself playing with The Other Two Comrades in Nanjing back in 2004 and it’s a lovely collection of ambient pieces:
Formerly Xiamen- now Amsterdam-based audio-visual artist Tongxin has released an ambient pop LP that “describes the hidden pains of growing up in a rapidly changing environment”:
British rockers Yuck might have called it a day a few years back, but their spirit lives on in the form of young Chinese act Natural Flavour, who recently released their home recorded debut EP on DIY label Small Animals:
Exit music
Unfortunately they don’t capture the full sets, but here are two very chilled out videos of Wang Wenwei, Wu Zhuoling and FM3 performing ambient music on a couple of Chengdu rooftops a few weeks ago.
FM3, incidentally, have a new version of their Buddha Machine out this month and to celebrate have made some of their loops pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp.
I try my best not to be a sweaty male monstrosity with sharpened elbows when I go to gigs, but apart from that I completely share the Austin crowd’s excitement at seeing Fazi for tte first time. I felt the same. The tour video is a curious thing. Almost has the touch of the Rattle and Hum about it. They are a sincere bunch.
very cool！