I suppose one can call this post-rock with Chinese characteristics. Zhaoze are a progressive rock/post-rock band out of Guangzhou, China, and this is the first I’ve heard of them. Their sound is mellow, almost dramatic in a TV-theme way, yet the music, though soothing, is also engaging, especially after about Continue Reading
China
Various Artists – 紫氣東來 Purple Haze From East Vol.1
French label WV Sorcerer Productions 巫唱片 offers a pretty amazing collection of Chinese psychedelic rock bands, some still active, some gone, but all make pretty powerful listening. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “集中國各地十個迷幻搖滾樂隊和實驗音樂人的優秀作品，曲目總時長超過兩小時，展現中國地下獨立音樂新風景，帶你徜徉於虛實之境間。 Featuring the selected works of ten psychedelic bands and experimental musicians from all over China, including veteran Continue Reading
Backspace – Human Nature Architecture
It’s bands like this that the blog was initially made for. Finding a Krautrock band who mix in surf and psychedelic rock coming out of China is a magnificent thing. Backspace are one of the more brilliant bands to come out of the Middle Kingdom in some time, and I Continue Reading
Sergey Kuryokhin (谢尔盖·古廖金) – Divine Madness (天赋的疯狂)
First, a disclaimer: I am posting this review with the understanding that Leo Records has licensed this astounding collection covering the career of the late enfant terrible of Russia’s then-thriving avant-garde music community, Sergey Kuryokhin, to Old Heaven Books Records in Shenzhen, China. If this is so, it’s wonderful to Continue Reading
Abadir – Mutate
SVBKVLT is a label based in Shanghai, China who have an international outlook. A perfect example is this band, the Egyptian artist Abadir, who works in the field of experimental electronic music and glitch.
Liang YiYuan (梁奕源) – Those That Die In A Dream. A twenty years retrospective
It boggles the mind that our friends at Unexplained Sounds Group continue to scour the earth for the best ambient music around. From the label’s website: Liang YiYuan was born in Wuhan (China, 1977), and now living in Lijiang, Yunnan Province. He painted in his early years, and later turned Continue Reading
Liu Ying (刘英) – JUST (抓时)
If you have come across the landslide of reissues of stunningly sublime Japanese new age music composed by the likes of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Haroumi “Harry” Hosono (of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame) or Midori Takada, I have a strong suspicion that JUST, just released today by Chinese composer and synthesizer/guitar player Continue Reading
Jan 疆 Hasker – Pastoral Song – 牧歌
Jan 疆 Hasker is a folk musician out of Xinjiang, China, but this is a bit of a twist, as he uses Altaic and other folk melodies for his musical base rather than Uyghur. From his Bandcamp website: “Jan made this album collecting, sorting and adapting musical elements from China Continue Reading
Zhang Si’an (Djang San 张思安) – Hutong Jazz – 胡同爵士
Jean-Sébastien Héry is a French ex-pat musician living in China. He has a very impressive body of work covering over 50 albums of music ranging from electro music to rock performed on traditional Chinese instruments like the zhonguran and pipa. His work is singular, as there doesn’t seem to be Continue Reading
Hualun (花伦) – Wuhan Wuhan (武汉武汉)
It’s a shame that Hualun, and electronic music artist from Wuhan, China, has only one track available to peruse on his latest CD. By the sound of it, the album is going to rival the slew of Japanese New Age reissues that have been coming out recently on various labels. It’s Continue Reading