China has a number of happy, poppy, bubblegummy rock bands. Torturing Nurse is not one of them
Alex Petridis, writing in today's G2, shares his experiences of China's new wave of cult rock bands, focusing on the Beijing scene in particular. It's a strange scene indeed, at once vibrant and thriving, yet strangled by the Ministry of Culture and hampered by the absence of intellectual property rights (not that many are bothered about the latter). Nearly two years ago, Reuters reported how few musicians, even the most popular, made any money out of the scene, so it's heartening to see that the predicted end has not materialised.
The element of studiousness (similarly present in Japanese culture), which the Chinese call xuexi, is a fascinating one. One might naively expect this to produce diluted versions of Western imports; on the contrary, the result is a brand new thing in itself, with a definite sound of its very own. We would do well to remember that in Chinese, "xuexi" means "to learn". "To imitate" and "to copy" have their own terms; xuexi is something very different. Have a listen to some of the bands mentioned, and let me know what you think.
Legend has it there's some graffiti in the D-22 club's toilets that says, "I love my mom, I love my country and I LOVE Carsick Cars." Established in Beijing in 2005, they're a good example of xuexi at work (at play?) - they have developed a unique and attractive style based on a thorough understanding of music. It's an interesting mix of the light-hearted indie hooks punctuated with amp-busting noise. Apparently this has delightful and unpredictable results when they play live.
· Too Koo
Petridis has them down as "roughly approximate to Kasabian", which is a fair cop, but Too Koo have nothing of their pompous swagger, despite their name being an approximation of "too cool". Occasionally, there seems to be a bit of Chinese Bloc Party in there, mixed with something I can't quite put my finger on - the "derivative yet elusive" aspect seems ubiquitous. No doubt everyone will recognise different flavours in there, which I find rather appealing.
· Snapline
Initially a side project of Carsick Cars' drummer Li Qing and bass player Levi, the D22 site describes them as "not the easiest band to love". True, they're much more introspective and lo-fi than Carsick Cars, but this is a good thing - particularly if you like Tortoise.
· Joyside
Any band who call their debut album Drunk is Beautiful automatically get a thumbs-up. They're a charmingly shambolic bunch, with a vintage sound - more Stooges than Libertines, and still with that odd familiar authenticity, which seems to reside primarily in Bian Yuan's vocals. Listen to his intonation in the opening to Dong Dong Dong.
You can't actually hear much on their MySpace page, since the live videos don't quite do the sounds justice (and the page takes ages to load). You can hear some of the Shanghai noise band's tracks, including Junky Isuzu, and the verrrrry intense Pesto Nirvana over on Shasha Records. To some people it will sound like an interesting electro take on the drone/doom genre. To others it will sound like someone blowtorching a goat.
If you do like it, check out their bewildering collaboration with cyberpunk author Kenji Siratori.
I shall lead you out of the psychotic blackness of Torturing Nurse with New Pants. It's OK, really: we're back to disco-infused cutesy-pop. New Pants have been around since 1996, and were included (along with Joyside) in Susanne Messmer and George Lindt's 2005 Documentary Beijing Bubbles. I've resisted the temptation to describe any of these bands as "X crossed with Y on drug Z", but New Pants are sort of like the soundtrack to the computer game Fantasy Zone if it was written by Daft Punk and the Ramones while they were on PCP. There. I feel better now.
