Thanks Jake, this is super interesting. I find the Dakou movement especially fascinating and will check out that zine. What I'd really love would be sort of a primer on Chinese experimental music, like where to start, who are the most important artists, their key releases etc.
Maybe you'll get around to something like this one day?
I would love to get around to something like this one day. I was hoping to do a special edition around about now (been chipping away at an ambient special for a bit) as I thought the Lunar New Year would be a quiet time for releases, but as you can see from this issue there was still plenty for me to blab on about.
I like this suggestion a lot though so will definitely fold it into my future plans – thanks again
Hey Stephan, I lived in China in the early '90s when Dou Wei released his first solo album after fronting for Hei Bao. It seems like a good place to start, from my perspective. Then if you follow his musical progression it just seems to get more and more experimental and esoteric. He went from essentially a heavy metal hair band in the '80s to this minimalist, ascetic approach with his more recent releases, and lots of different iterations along the way. I'm sure Jake can provide even more depth of understanding to the experimental music scene, but I've always admired Dou Wei's innovation throughout the years.
yes great suggestion. Please Jake, educate us. Thanks for the info on the Dakou movement and the links. It is amazingly interesting. That picture of the cut out backs of the CDs says a lot. I am always inspired by the Chinese pop culture output despite difficult past and present conditions.
I try to keep the newsletter to releases that are available on international platforms, and especially Bandcamp (where people can buy the albums and properly support the artists, relatively at least). So I quite like the Buy Music Club playlists.
I suppose I also think that anyone who can navigate 网易 can probably find these artists and more already..?
Somewhat shameless self-promotion. Here is the digital version of a double CD compiled by Yan Jun of Noise From China
https://tenzenmen.bandcamp.com/album/noise
This is sick. Thank you.
Oh the memories! Thanks for this
Thanks for reading Jeremy
Made me look this up, a relic from the time: http://www.beijingscene.com/v06i009/feature/feature.html
Written by me and the legendary Su Fei
Thanks Jake, this is super interesting. I find the Dakou movement especially fascinating and will check out that zine. What I'd really love would be sort of a primer on Chinese experimental music, like where to start, who are the most important artists, their key releases etc.
Maybe you'll get around to something like this one day?
Thanks for reading and commenting Stephan.
I would love to get around to something like this one day. I was hoping to do a special edition around about now (been chipping away at an ambient special for a bit) as I thought the Lunar New Year would be a quiet time for releases, but as you can see from this issue there was still plenty for me to blab on about.
I like this suggestion a lot though so will definitely fold it into my future plans – thanks again
Hey Stephan, I lived in China in the early '90s when Dou Wei released his first solo album after fronting for Hei Bao. It seems like a good place to start, from my perspective. Then if you follow his musical progression it just seems to get more and more experimental and esoteric. He went from essentially a heavy metal hair band in the '80s to this minimalist, ascetic approach with his more recent releases, and lots of different iterations along the way. I'm sure Jake can provide even more depth of understanding to the experimental music scene, but I've always admired Dou Wei's innovation throughout the years.
Great suggestion, thanks Joel. His recent works in this area have been fascinating and admirable as you say.
https://jakenewby.substack.com/i/117367576/decadent-sounds-of-dou-an-old-school-rocker-experiments-with-traditional-art-forms
Thanks Joel, that does help though I'd like to skip the hair metal phase, haha.
I skipped that phase also...except for one song.
yes great suggestion. Please Jake, educate us. Thanks for the info on the Dakou movement and the links. It is amazingly interesting. That picture of the cut out backs of the CDs says a lot. I am always inspired by the Chinese pop culture output despite difficult past and present conditions.
Haha, will see what I can do. And definitely agree on feeling inspired
jake have you thought about making 网易云 playlists?
I try to keep the newsletter to releases that are available on international platforms, and especially Bandcamp (where people can buy the albums and properly support the artists, relatively at least). So I quite like the Buy Music Club playlists.
I suppose I also think that anyone who can navigate 网易 can probably find these artists and more already..?
yea the buy music club playlists are just unwieldy though…
is bndcmpr any better? https://bndcmpr.co/2771bc1b
wow—yes. but i need a phoneapp!
Ah ok, this is good to know – thanks for the feedback.
Bandcamp were meant to be developing their own public playlist feature but not sure what happened to that.
I’ll have a look into alternatives.
ya did it again Jake. This is absolutely fascinating, thank you for sharing!
Thanks Diana!
yeeeee!
nice one! and thanks for the shout out for our 考古 vinyl！
Ah thanks for reading!
Another great read! I still have a tonne of dakou CDs from my time in China - the most random eclectic assortment of western bands and artists.