Trippy Yunnan trio South Acid Mimi return + Ming dynasty folk
+ music that mixes quantum physics and Taoism
Hello and welcome to Concrete Avalanche, a newsletter about music from China. Thanks very much for reading. Happy New Year!
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In this issue: Kicking off 2024 with a lively new LP from electro-punk trio South Acid Mimi, a mix of Taoism and quantum physics, a cute indie-rock music video, “apocalyptical scenarios”, and an emotional farewell that precipitated an “incessant stream of tears”.
Freak out: Yunnan’s South Acid Mimi return to form with potent new LP
With its comfortable climate, stunning natural beauty, and diverse culture, the province of Yunnan in China’s southwest has long been viewed as an idyllic escape. In the north lies an area thought to have inspired Shangri-La (something the local government has looked to cash in on by renaming one of its cities after the subject of Lost Horizon). To the south, it borders Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. In between, it’s China’s most ethnically diverse province.
It’s also an area that’s been attracting artists and disillusioned urbanites from eastern China for years. The city of Dali and its surrounds in particular have become a “utopian [getaway] for exhausted city-dwellers”.
To start 2024, here are two records that channel some of that Yunnan energy — in quite different ways. The first is from a group formed in the provincial capital of Kunming ten years ago, the other is from an Oklahoma-born musician who made Yunnan his home after relocating to China in 2004.
Back in late October, I noted that Yunnanese psychedelic electronic act South Acid Mimi had spruced up their Bandcamp page. I threw a question out into the void at the time: “Are these uploads signs of something new in the works?” Turns out they were.
Four years on from their debut LP, the self-described “desktopunk” trio have released a new album, 圣代元音. It’s great.
Here’s lead single, ‘岩’:
Formed in 2013, the band consists of Yixiao, Shiyang (Shi Shi), and Weilin (00), the latter two having previously formed punk band Xi’er in Kunming. Weilin hails from Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, close to the border with Myanmar; the Lisu are one of Yunnan’s 25 ethnic minorities. Some of the band’s imagery and lyrics play with concepts from Lisu culture, merging them with tripped out psychedelic electronic sounds and punk energy — ingredients which contributed to the early years of South Acid Mimi Dance Team (as they were originally known) being characterised by a lot of buzz and some memorable live shows.
The group have had something of a stop-start career ever since, with their debut album beset by delays. They eventually re-recorded it essentially as-live in Gebi, a former temple-turned-gig venue in the city of Yiwu, but when MIMISM finally dropped in 2019 it inevitably failed to live up to the high expectations that had been set.
There’ve been occasional EPs and singles since — notably 2020’s ‘Lucy in the Sky with Dolphin’, which makes it to the new album, and ‘NUNUDUGU’, a Lisu language nursery rhyme reinvented and given added swear words. But 圣代元音 feels like a proper return, with the whole project imbued with a new energy.
圣代元音 is the sort of album the band always felt capable of making. When Josh Feola interviewed them back in 2018, I remember the trio name-checking Björk, Bikini Kill, Suicide and Rammstein as influences. Too often on their debut album, these disparate inspirations didn’t quite collide in the way you hoped they might.
The alchemy on 圣代元音 is much stronger. The new record retains the group’s eclecticism and features the kind of sultry vocal harmonies and techno beats laced with oddball sound effects that they’ve made their name with. Yet it comes with a more cohesive feel and a more vital energy. Put simply, it’s a better expression of South Acid Mimism than MIMISM was.
And if that means nothing to you because this is the first you’re hearing of South Acid Mimi, then just know that 圣代元音 is a blast — buckle up and enjoy the trip.
圣代元音 is out now.
Multi-instrumentalist Li Daiguo delivers modern day meditations and poignant prayers
“Multi-instrumentalist” actually feels inadequate as a description of Li Daiguo. The Oklahoma-born, Yunnan-based musician plays a bewildering diversity of instruments, from pipa to piano and from upright bass to erhu, all with aplomb. He’s also highly productive — he released four solo records in 2023.
First, we got the piano-propelled Pilgrimage to the Realm of Deep Baby Sleep last January. In May, he put out Why Be Free as part of his bBb bBb project with free jazz musician Lao Dan. Then in June he released 吥哔呢未来音：奇幻童年, an album that appeared on both my mid- and end-of-year review podcasts.
Li’s final offering for 2023 dropped just before Christmas and is entitled Book of Prayers. As anyone familiar with Li’s work would expect, these are not typical prayers (previous song titles include ‘research has shown that casting spells using contemporary social media is just as effective as chanting over cauldrons’ and ‘I want to desperately find a hobby or meaning’). Contained within the parentheses of two “meditations”, are the likes of ‘prayer of submission to the inevitability of death’, ‘prayer to help resistance to addiction’, and ‘prayer to remember something forgotten’.
Li’s dexterous musicality is complemented by Mongolian throat-singing, what sounds like Chinese ethnic minority-style vocals, and, as Raphael Helfand identified for The Fader, Carnatic-esque rhythms. The album “draws elements from music traditions and musical instrument sounds from around the world to create a world music / fusion music album,” according to label Pollux Music’s introduction.
“In this journey of tracing the origin of music, Li Daiguo continues to get closer to the human community itself, and unconsciously allows various trends of thought and schools to grow naturally in these works: religion; ritual; mysticism; Taoism; interpretation; quantum physics; man and nature.”
The result is a set of “prayers” that feel religious in a broad sense, but without explicit ties to any one set of beliefs. There’s no proselytisation here, instead the sounds contained within seem intended for more general states of reflection and spirituality.
Li himself says, “Whether it is praying, chanting, sitting quietly, crying, or dancing, I hope that people who resonate with my music can find a little joy in this album.”
Book of Prayers is out now.
Not really ready for 2024? Zoo Gazer have got you
Here’s a mellow music video to ease you into the new year, a super cute road trip through some snowy mountains soundtracked by a gentle new song from Xuzhou indie-rockers Zoo Gazer:
“At this moment, the new year is about to arrive, but we who are pushed forward by this complicated life and are tired, seem to have had no time to prepare. Prepared to set new goals that may not be achieved, prepared to share the year-end summaries of big data calculations, and certainly not prepared to say goodbye to your life that has been going on. Despite this, Zoo Gazer still hopes to use a simple, not cumbersome song to bid farewell to such a terrible 2023.”
I wrote some more about Zoo Gazer and their “casual indie” when they released their new album last summer:
Worth noting that that record made it into Mando Gap’s top five albums of 2023 too.
“The panic and tears of our ancestors”: Omnipotent Youth Society-endorsed Ming dynasty folk
Recent years have seen the emergence of a number of projects aimed at preserving China’s folk music traditions in the face of the country’s well-documented meteoric modernisation.
Avant folk hero Xiao He has been collecting old nursery rhymes and exploring local music traditions across the country for years now, even turning some of his expeditions into a tourism-meets-music TV programme backed by China’s biggest travel site:
Namu Label has traced the folk music traditions of Tibet, Qinghai, and western China for over a decade, with one result being the excellent The Sound of Walking compilation. And Laurent Jeanneau has recorded huge amounts of material from China’s ethnic minorities as part of her long-running Kink Gong project, which also stretches across Southeast Asia.
A new entrant into this important field is a collaboration between a group called Easternization Movement (which, sorry, just makes me think of Far East Movement) and the Cable Temple.
The former are dedicated to “collecting traditional Chinese folk sounds”, the latter is the recording studio base and occasional record label / events organiser of famed indie band Omnipotent Youth Society (hence their second album being titled Inside the Cable Temple). The first release under this collaboration is Desolate Earth, from which you can hear the title track below:
Desolate Earth is a collection of recordings of baojuan recitations that date back to the middle period of the Ming dynasty, which ran from 1368 to 1644 CE. Wikipedia tells us that
“Baojuan (宝卷 bǎojuàn), literally precious scrolls […] is a type of performative text or storytelling found in China that emphasizes worship of ancient deities from Buddho-Daoist sects often recounting stories concerning suffering or apocalyptical scenarios.”
According to the introductory text accompanying the above video, “Its lyrics and melody have almost disappeared today. It expresses the panic and tears of our ordinary ancestors when faced with the unpredictable world and destiny.” Powerful stuff.
So far we’ve only been given this one track, but it’s promised to be the first in a series of releases. Keep an eye on the Easternization Movement YouTube channel for more hopefully soon.
Rocks off: avant-pop artist otay:onii offers up new NSFW music video ahead of Berghain show
After a 2023 that saw her release a new album, perform at SXSW, and get remixed by Liars, otay:onii is showing no signs of slowing down in 2024. She’ll be part of the CTM 2024 line-up at Berghain later this month, celebrating the Berlin fest’s 25th anniversary as part of a bill that also includes Kali Malone, Skrillex and Tilda Swinton… it’s eclectic. Last week she also unleashed a brand new music video for ‘Two Rocks a Bird’.
“In response to the experimental nature of the music, visionary filmmaker Wang Wenkai intricately crafts the music video with scenes of rapid transitions and seamless shot scale changes, immersing otay:onii and himself in the mountainous regions of Mexico,” says the official intro. “Abandoned houses, wilderness, and rooftops of villages become the backdrop for whimsical, humorous, and poetic scenes.”
More on otay:onii:
Beijing rockers Birdstriking blast into 2024 with two new tracks
Beijing indie-rockers Birdstriking opted to go for one of the earliest releases of 2024 by launching two new tracks at 00:00 on January 1st. Not sure anyone will remember that far back when it comes to putting together best of the year song lists next December, but the tracks are worth a listen now:
‘Mountains of Yakushima’ references the Japanese island off the coast of Kyushu and centres on making the most of the present and not overly worrying about the future. It’s built around Birdstriking’s upbeat jangly guitar sound with a typically soaring chorus. ‘Stargazing’ is a more spaced out track with a cosmic message of finding fulfillment. As the band says in an introductory note: “You are a star, we are all stars. Grow and shine, now!”
Exit music
Sorry to end the first newsletter of 2024 on a bit of a downer, but ‘Exit music’ has a double meaning this time around as it’s showcasing what might be the last track from Guangdong outfit Zhaoze
The band have won fans across the world over the past two decades with their blend of post-rock and traditional Chinese instrumentation. No Answer Blowin’ in the Wind, a poignant reflection on the pandemic years, was one of my albums of the year for 2023. But in December, they announced that they were essentially calling it a day.
“We find ourselves in the midst of a profoundly challenging period, one that may extend for a considerable duration. […] All gatherings must eventually disperse, and farewells in life are often unforeseen. So sorry! To all of you who love Zhaoze and our music so much, we regret disappointing your expectations. We are tremendously sorrowful, as tears have incessantly streamed down my face while writing these words.
“However, we cannot provide an answer as to when the hiatus will conclude or if we can embark on a new journey. We are not announcing disbandment; perhaps we simply desire to avoid such an end.”
The band will still honour their existing concert commitments, including a date in Hong Kong next week and in Singapore next month. There’s also talk of a possible farewell gig. But for now, this reworked version of an old track, posted to Bandcamp in December, might just be their last:
South Acid Mimi’s new album is now up on Bandcamp
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