Chinese industrial, experimental, electronic?

[Jagna]

Hi, do you know any good Chinese bands playing industrial, martial industrial, experimental, dark ambient, noise, drone or any other related (or unrelated, but interesting anyway) type of music? Some ebm, new wave or synthpop, even Depeche Mode-ish kind, will do too. I know it's a large and a very vague scope, but I'm not looking for anything specific. Bonus points for similiarity to Einsturzende Neubauten. So far I've only listened to White (electronic/experimental, love it) and Enemite (creepy ritual ambient, not sure about this one).

 

Also, are there any parties, gigs or festivals in Beijing with that kind of music? Specific venues maybe?

[adamnhms]

This is such a specific request of music, I'm positive that very few Chinese produce this kind of music, and if they do, it's a very underground genre.  Regardless, good luck finding this, because I don't think you're going to lol.

[Jagna]

Well yeah, that's why I've listed a number of genres, so hopefully something will fit at least one of them. And while some of them are quite obscure, others seem more likely to find. I mean, synthpop or generally "gothically inclined electronic music" don't seem very underground. ;)

[Pauan]

I am also interested in this. I am sure there are some people producing it. I managed to find some chinese folk metal, but I totally forgot to write the name of the band down. But there is an indie band that maybe can fit into any of the labels you mentioned. It's called New Pants or 新裤子.

 

Here is a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JWTQvVjxvY

 

When I was in Beijing I bought two cd's of chinese experimental/ambient music. I forgot their names now, but once I get home I will check them for you. Btw, if anyone knows more I am also interested to find some more bands.

 

Btw, you applied for the CSC scholarship right? I also applied for Beijing, if we manage to get it, maybe we can find some people to start some parties or gigs for electronic music. ; >

[耳耳语语]

Nova heart (electrorock)

You mentionned "White+" (experimental) http://www.douban.com/artist/whiteplus/

AK-47 (industrial) http://rockchina.over-blog.com/article-17304603.html

The bands mentionned here (some links are broken) :http://music.blog.lemonde.fr/category/musique-chinoise/

The above page mentions this Anthology of chinese experimental music http://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/anthologies/an-anthology-of-chinese-experimental-music-1992-2008-.html

[Jagna]

Thanks for the recommendations! I really liked Nova Heart, it's a shame they only have 1 EP (?). I'll have to listen to 新裤子 more closely, I really enjoyed some songs, but then at times they're too *cheesy disco* for me. And actually White+ is new to me too, I mean I listened to their previous album when they were called White, no plus. I had no idea they had another album with the plus, how could I have missed it *___*

 

@Pauan

Sure, we can exchange some music and look for people and events while in Beijing!

[renzhe]

This is the stuff you are REALLY looking for:

Zhu Jianhui:

iLoop:

Tongue:

Oxygen Can:

Torturing Nurse:

And now for more "mainstream" stuff that is good and might also appeal to you:

ReTROS (dark new wave):

PK14 (indie rock):

Spring & Autumn (folk metal):

And my favourite Chinese band of all time, the totally unclassifiable and absolutely world-class Glorious Pharmacy:

I haven't heard anything quite like Neubauten, though.

[james125]

Sorry to maybe go a bit off course but is there any EDM events in China? I am going for a visit from 13/12/2014 to 03/01/2015. I'd love to go to a hard dance party or rave!

[DanielOrbit]

Thank you, this is a great topic.

I am very interested into ambient music.

Anyone can recommend some bands / projects / blogs revolving this music style?

 

I know about FM3 & Buddha Machine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlSM3GMuYVU

[Jagna]

@DanielOrbit, thanks for contributing! What kind of ambient are you into? There is some good post-rock/shoegaze type of ambient by The Grinding Ear (http://thegrindingear.bandcamp.com/) or Summer Fades Away (http://summerfadesaway.bandcamp.com/album/time-flies-and-memorys-cruel). If you're more drone/noise inclined, try Cloud Choir (http://cloudchoir.bandcamp.com/album/undiagnosed).

 

On a unrelated note, during my year in Beijing I discovered noise arcade (experimental electronic; has lots of shows in Beijing). I think it's worth mentioning in this thread. http://noisearcade.bandcamp.com/

[feihong]

There are actually a lot of artists working in these genres in mainland China. Otherwise why do I regularly see stuff like that in the Douban Music Top 20. To see it, you can download the iPhone app here; there's also an Android app but it's fairly unusable. You can also sort of view it at https://music.douban.com/, where you get a top 10 list per genre. 

 

Anyhoo, here are some of my top picks:

 

http://site.douban.com/am444/

http://site.douban.com/jiahuizhen/

https://site.douban.com/mhpmhp/

https://site.douban.com/NovaHeart/room/821103/

http://site.douban.com/zuoyou/

http://site.douban.com/chanlean/

https://site.douban.com/chenmoon/

http://site.douban.com/zitanrunrun/

http://site.douban.com/gemini/

https://site.douban.com/keli/

https://site.douban.com/dingke/

http://site.douban.com/britsky/

https://site.douban.com/astrobunny/

http://site.douban.com/tonytang/

http://site.douban.com/biggerbang/

http://site.douban.com/lixiaoyun/

http://site.douban.com/voodookungfu/

http://site.douban.com/heermeng/

https://site.douban.com/theparamecia/

http://site.douban.com/xiban/

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that if you find a band that you really like, you can often find their gig schedule on their Douban site. If you "like" them on Douban Music, you'll get a notification email whenever they post new messages to their site. Often the messages are announcements for shows.

[DanielOrbit]

Thank you all for the lovely feedback, this is great info, I am checking the links right now.

 

@Jagna, personally I am more into neo-classical, organic, space ambient like ISHQ, Alio Die, Erik Wollo and many others.

 

But my interest is in the Chinese ambient scene itself.

 

Except bands (I will contact them all), I would love to know about specialised blogs & bloggers, journalists, PR people, promoters, organisers, labels ... anyone involved into this

 

Again, thank you very very much.

[fudokazuki]

Hey guys, I'm running a few playlists on Spotify regarding Chinese experimental and modern electronic music.

 

Chinese Experimental Electronic Music

 

最好的中國音樂 中国音乐, curated by Fudo Kazuki of Uvarious Artists. Electronic, Trip-Hop, Chill, Chillwave, Future Bass, Indie-Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Downtempo, ambient hip-hop，电子，流行，爵士，民歌，嘻哈，舞曲 etc.

 

Chinese Synthwave, 80's, 90's