This is photo from PK14′s Douban minisite, of them recording with Henrik Oja at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio. Look for the postpunk pioneers’ 5th studio album to drop early next year.
In 2008, Martin Atkins from PiL, Pigface, Killing Joke etc. came to China and formed relationships (both personal and studio) with Beijing’s best underground artists including PK14, Snapline, Subs. Check out the full 70 minutes at the link below which creates a nice snapshot of Chinese music at the time. (h/t Cool Ghool over at Rock in China Facebook)
Yang Haisong Still Has It: Noisey Launches in Beijing.
words: Ami Li
A recent Thursday night in Beijing marked the official launch in China of Noisey, a “Global New Music Discovery Platform.” A collaboration between VICE, Dell and Intel, the same team that brought the Creators Project to Beijing last fall, Noisey features mostly video footage of live shows and interviews with prominent, independently-minded bands and artists from around the world. Only launched formally in March of this year, Noisey has expanded rapidly into many markets and languages including Hindi and Portuguese as well as the expected French, German, Spanish and Chinese. Currently, the Noisey site features concert footage and interviews with four Chinese bands: Birdstriking, 24 Hours, Streets Kill Strange Animals, and Hedgehog.
For the Noisey’s coming out party in China, the organizers invited P.K. 14, Hedgehog and The Offset: Spectacles to perform at Beijing’s Yugong Yishan. Your faithful Radar correspondents were there on Thursday night to check it all out.
Like many PR events, this one started quite promptly on time (thus distinguishing it from many gigs). The Offset: Spectacles were on first, and we arrived belatedly, approximately two-thirds of the way through their set. All things considered, the droning, lo-fi sound that the band is known for suited the unique acoustic profile of Yugong Yishan. The subdued crowd appeared mesmerized by the sonic architecture coming from the stage. Always compelling in concert, The Offset: Spectacles continued their streak of hypnotizing performances, managing to achieve musical innovation with their steadfastly analog values.
PK 14 rock Yugong Yishan in Beijing for the Noisey.com launch
In a follow up (or is it an addition – we don’t really know) to the Creators Project and Motherboard, Vice and their two main partners Intel and Dell have come up with Noisey, a music discovery platform. Featuring 2 bands from Beijing already (Birdstriking and 24 Hours), Noisey is about to launch officially with a party this weekend in, you guessed it, Beijing.
On a global basis, we are seeing more of these publisher, brand, editorial connections – immediately the Dazed and Swatch: Satellite Voices springs to mind. They definitely look good and serve a purpose. The only concern we would have is that significant and loyal fan bases take time to amass, and brand horizons don’t always tend to be that long. However, Vice in particular have done a good job in creating these long partnerships, which become stronger as time goes on. Get your ticket for the show by emailing beijing@noisey.com. You get PK14, Hedgehog and Offset: Spectacles for free – what could be better than that?
Here we go again…
This time, a Canadian publication blowing smoke up Beijing. Again, at risk of overdoing what is happening in China’s musical underground, the article centers around the Maybe Mars China Invasion that we have covered HERE and HERE.
The article once again politicizes the music and the artists, but generally covers the current indie scene quite well. You can read the full article HERE and make sure you read the hilarious and spammy comments…
UPDATE: a great little review of the actual showcase (which we missed) at our friends Layabozi HERE.
As reported HERE, Beijing based label Maybe Mars have been in Austin for the last week at the biggest festival for emerging artists, SXSW. Label stars PK14, Carsick Cars and AV Okubo played a bunch of day shows which culminated in a showcase at the Speakeasy on Saturday night, which attracted in excess of 300 people. We caught tour manager, publicist and label jack-of-all-trades Nevin Domer very briefly after the Houston show last night (which was unfortunately less well attended at around 30 pax). We will try and precis our scattered conversation and give you an insight to the tour so far:
Yes, we like our multiplication signs here at the Radar. We also like to follow the fortunes of Beijing label Maybe Mars and sneaker brand Converse.
So, we were excited to learn that Converse are taking their relationship with Chinese indie music out of China, by supporting the bands PK14, CarsickCars and AV Okubo on their tour to SXSW and the surroundings this month. Dates still aren’t confirmed, and Youku might be covering it. It’s going to be interesting to see how the US receives Maybe Mars for the second time. We wish them luck!
I arrived in China exactly half way through the decade. Now, at the end of it, I look back with affection on some of my favorite musical moments of the last 5 years, 5 years that have seen extraordinary growth in live music in China.
My choices are somewhat skewed towards Split Works events, because
I have tried to be objective though, and I hope my choices reflect this:
Hot off the heels of their successful US tour, Beijing based label Maybe Mars is sending 2 of its finest to Austin, TX for the iconic SXSW festival. PK14 and Carsick Cars will be making a pilgrimage to Texas next March to further push their right to stand side by side with the rest of the world’s up-and-coming musicians.
Check out the first 200 bands announced HERE.
Sweet! (and thanks to Jake for the heads up!)
We might actually have another SXSW announcement coming up very soon!
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