Thanks to my new friend Alex Chao, who just arrived in Beijing to take over art direction at China Vogue, I was able to contribute for the first time to China Vogue this month. It was also a perfect match since the magazine was running a big music issue and decided to let me cue up on some of the old school rockers in China including Cui Jian/崔健 (the godfather of Chinese rock), Shen Lihui/沈黎辉 (general rocker and founder of Modern Sky) and Zhang Youdai/张有待 (the DJ who introduced rock to the masses). First of all, I was very excited to get a chance to shoot Cui Jian on the D-22 red wall. He really is a pillar in the history of Chinese rock and greatly influenced a whole generation of China with his anthem “Nothing to My Name” which became a rallying song for students in China during the 1980s. Although I might not be the biggest fan of some of Shen Lihui’s music, his importance as the founder of the Modern Sky music label and festival production company is undisputed. When other record companies refused to release his music in 1997, he went his own way and founded Modern Sky to support a new generation of Chinese rockers and then continued to take this music to larger audiences with the Modern Sky Music Festival and Strawberry Music Festival. Shen Lihui will undoubtably be a force in the future of alternative music in China for some time to come. Although I had never heard of Zhang Youdai before, he seems to be an instrumental character in the history of rock in China as well. He became a DJ and host on Beijing Music Radio back in 1993 and introduced a wide range of music to youth across China. He is a true shaker in China’s emerging entertainment market and is rocking out to an Eric Clapton LP in the China Vogue portrait. Mad respect.

Over the first half of this year it’s been my pleasure to hang out with DJ Wordy in his Sanlitun studio as he collaborated with Soulspeak on the aptly named Wordy Soulspeak instrumental album. The release party is this Friday, May 27 at Yugong Yishan – be there or be square. All I can say is that the beats are DOPE, and many of the tracks are getting lots of play on my iPod (check out this posting for shootouts for the album from Pete Rock, RZA, Kidd Koala and more). DJ Wordy and Soulspeak are really trying to step up the quality of hip hop production in China. This album is a great first step in the direction of trying to get together the best producers with the best MCs in the country. Hopefully there will be a remix of some sort with all the Beijing heads spitting rhymes over it. Right now I feel the big thing holding back hip hop in China is the lack of collaboration between the beat makers and the freestylers as well as a lack of impetus to get things out on a consistent basis. People are starting to wake up though, and I hope to see a bunch of new hip hop albums released this year. Check out the Wordy Soulspeak video promo I put together below, complete with interview and studio tour. Stay tuned for more.

The beginning of May is always the busiest time of year for music in Beijing. Bands flock from all over China, and increasingly the world, to perform at a growing number of festivals (see MIDI, Strawberry and CMV) and then rock out local venues late into the night. This May Day also marked the fifth anniversary of D-22, the now notorious dive bar featuring live music that pulled me into the underground/alternative concert scene back in 2007. My uninhibited relationship with the establishment and the musicians that called it home yielded my first monograph, Sound Kapital, and was one of the main reasons for my continued stay here in Beijing. Although I have directed the focus of my documentation to a growing number of music scenes in China, hip hop in particular, I always end up at D-22 for the anniversary shows as it showcases some of the best bands in China and becomes a reunion of sorts for musicians and other hardcore fans. Rowdy evenings are assured and the music goes late into the night. The following videos are highlights from the D-22 fifth anniversary including Carsick Cars, AV Okubo, The Offset: Spectacles, Snapline and selections from the experimental evening including White+, Birdstriking and Chuiwan. You should also check out the brief retrospective made in honor of D-22′s fifth anniversary put together by the Pangbianr crew. Enjoy.

Indonesian hardcore is back. A growing number of youth, disaffected by high rates of unemployment and conservative social mores, are returning to hardcore musical roots that first emerged in Java during the early nineties. Looking to blow off steam and build an alternative community that doesn’t bow to sponsors or mainstream media restrictions, these teenagers like the tempo loud, strong and fast. By employing DIY tactics on the Internet and through mobile phones, they continue to establish larger networks of peers and fellow outsiders. The swelling ranks of Indonesian hardcore fans now organize shows in abandoned houses, art centers and empty storefronts across the country. These communal affairs, put on purely for the sake of the music, often showcase up to twenty bands playing short, fiery sets of hardcore music as well as other outlying subgenres of metal and punk. The mosh pits may appear violent but fighting is not tolerated and after the shows most fans hang around and enjoy the camaraderie of their peers. The hardcore community in Java promotes tolerance and diversity and also continues to redefine the role of women in the largest Muslim nation on the planet. Check out the video below for a more detailed look into the Indonesian hardcore scene on Java.

Xiao He/小河 is one of China’s true musical luminaries. A key musician at River, the legendary Beijing folk music bar, he then went on to be a singer and guitarist for the Dadaesque performance group Glamorous Pharmacy. Xiao He now mainly plays improvised solo shows that need to be seen to be believed. Using his guitar and a MIDI controller, Xiao He is able to recreate sounds from a wide variety of instruments both traditional and contemporary. He then loops them together along with his own chanting, throat singing and Peking opera voices to create an unbelievable musical soundscape. The following video recording was made at the opening of the Ephemeral Festival earlier this month. It is really a tour de force of some of his newer material including his voice-controlled flute instrumentation. Really crazy stuff. Also, the photo above was taken in Philadelphia in 2009 during the first Maybe Mars tour of the United States which coincided with my launch of Sound Kapital. I got to travel with Xiao He along with P.K. 14 and Carsick Cars up and down the east coast for two weeks and share beds with him in crappy interstate motels. For the record, Xiao He does not snore or kick. From his Maybe Mars artist profile:

“Xiao He first attracted serious attention in the late 90s with his experimental band, Glamorous Pharmacy, a fluid ensemble that mixed folk, jazz, experimentation, improvised performances and action art to create a strangely surreal sound that never seemed to settle anywhere before turning around and heading of in a different direction.  At the time China’s musical underground was small and fairly homogenous, but the playful and anarchic spirit of the members of Glamorous Pharmacy suggested several new doors into various styles that were eagerly opened and pursued by other musicians.  Glorious Pharmacy glorified in the creation of new ‘branches’ of Chinese underground music, variously called among other things ‘introverted’, ‘weird’, and ‘malicious’ music. Except for a very few special performances with Glorious Pharmacy, today Xiao He only plays solo performances. Calling these multi-faceted improvised performances ‘Free Folk’, as much to express his anarchic playfulness as to suggest the total freedom which he approaches musical instrumentation, vocal performances and stylistic experimentation, he has become the inventor of a deeply weird and immensely moving style of music, mystical and surreal, which abruptly veers from the plaintive cries of Mongolian or Western Chinese music to the barbed and sometimes childlike humor of the avant garde. Complementing his stylistic creativity is a unique way of playing acoustic guitar, loops, synthesizers and any other instrument that catches his fancy.”

Zoomin Night is an ongoing experimental music series that first proffered its eclectic sounds at D-22 on August 11, 2009. Organized by Zhu “Raindog” Wenbo, every Tuesday at D-22 since then has witnessed offbeat performances of every ilk, exploring the outer rim of musical composition and noise making. In many ways it took up the mantle of the now defunct Waterland Kwanyin, the longest ongoing experimental music series in Beijing that held court at 2 Kolegas – the biggest difference being the more post-punk/noise-rock sound of many of the performers at Zoomin’ Night. Because of my recent heavy travel schedule, I have not been able to attend as many evenings as I would like. I did manage to sneak up a few weeks ago to capture some engaging solo performances by Xiaolong/闫玉龙 and Lijianhong/李剑鸿. Xiaolong is an young electric violinist who experiments with a wide variety of delays, loops and pedals to create a mesmerizing aura of sound, while Lijianghong is one of the most respected and longstanding members of China’s experimental music community. Born in Zhejiang in 1975, he is an incredible guitarist and founder of 2pi Records. I have seen him play a few times before with his other projects such as D!O!D!O!D!, but this was the first time I got to see him really lay into it by himself. The attached video will better justify my statements. Also, check out this excellent article by Pete DeMola for a more detailed introduction to Zoomin Night as well as more recent updates from the astute Pangbianr blog. Lastly, Zoomin Night has set up a SoundCloud account for more noisy treats, or you can still catch live performances every Tuesday at D-22.

On my way out of Indonesia I really had no desire to stop through Jakarta again. I enjoyed my first two days there, but didn’t see any reason to submit myself to another round of the same daunting traffic and urban sprawl that I consistently get in China. However, after promises of hardcore madness by Fadhila Jayamahendra (aka Aca), the lead singer of Straight Answer, I decided to stay over one more night before heading on to Cambodia. I did not regret it. During my last night in Indonesia I witnessed one of the most frenzied audience responses to a live performance ever. Once Straight Answer broke into their first song, there was no holding back. Everyone charged the stage to try to get a piece of the action. As you can see in the video, I am getting thrown back and forth within the crowd. Also, the temperature of the room rose so quickly from the body heat that my lens fogged over – it was absolutely crazy. Straight Answer has been around since 1996 and is a staple of the Jakarta hardcore scene. There is an extended interview with Aca after some short concert clips. I am still putting together the rest of the Indonesian hardcore material so stay tuned – more to come.

The sole purpose of my trip to Indonesia this past month was to tour with hardcore bands and experience the explosive DIY music scene across Java. Right now I am still shifting through thousands of photographs, so I thought I would separately introduce one of the two bands I first toured with in Jakarta, Bandung, Solo and Yogya. Daighila is a hardcore screamo band from Malaysia and kick ass. While I might not go home after a long day of work and throw on their record to relax, they put on one of the most impassioned live performances I ever witnessed. The leader singer, Duan, outstripped himself ever time he got on stage and raised the hackles on the necks of audiences across Java. It was really unbelievable to see first hand and hopefully the attached video will give you an idea of the emotional heights Daighila can reach during their shows. Even though over ten bands played at every concert, Daighila always stood out from the pack.

Yes, I know. Everybody has been reporting on the breakup of Carsick Cars for a number of months now and many people have already seen the new lineup play at D-22 on New Years Eve and again with P.K. 14 at Yugong Yishan last month. Unfortunately I was out of town on these occasions but did manage to film them at their secret What Bar gig in December. Shou Wang is now joined by He Fan of Birdstriking on bass and Lin Banban of Boyz and Girl fame on drums. What Bar is still one of the best kept secrets for live music in Beijing. Many of the most talented underground acts in China first cut their teeth in this cramped little room along the west wall of the Forbidden City. The vocal mix isn’t the best, but hopefully this will prove to the rest of the world that Carsick Cars is still rocking out and ready to move on to new and better things.

The finals for the China Iron Mic freestyle battle competition took place to a packed house at Yugong Yishan this weekend. Winners of three preliminary rounds in Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan faced off with MC Majun/马俊 from Xinjiang who earned his slot in the final four through a knockout tournament earlier in the evening. Iron Mic is the oldest and most recognized freestyle battle competition in the country. Some of the greatest MCs in China have battled on stage seeking its crown including MC Webber who won the first three in a row and now oversees the proceedings. This year the man to beat was the Beijing hometown favorite MC Dawei/大卫. I documented his skills in a previous post covering the Beijing preliminary round. He is only sixteen years old, and his rhyming is precocious to say the least. However, the man of the hour turned out to be MC Majun. In one evening he battled his way through a host of characters from all over China with his machine-gun-like flow to clinch a coveted spot in the semifinals where he tore apart MC JV from Wuhan. Before facing off with MC Dawei in the finals the entire place went crazy, and despite MC Dawei’s home field advantage, MC Majun won the crowd over and had them chanting Xinjiang when he spit his final verse.