trax | chinese indie folk ::
:: five songs by five different Chinese indie folk bands. Please have a listen, 56minus1 would be very interested in hearing any feedback you may have, even if its just a thumbs up or thumbs down. Comment below or send an email to: 56minus1 -AT- gmail.com. Thanks. // AjS
You Can’t Blame Me by Zhu Fangqiong (歌手: 朱芳琼, 歌曲: 怪不得我)
Ha chew! Ha chew! by Glorious Pharmacy (乐队: 美好药店, 歌曲: 啾啾)
Improvisation 2 by The Traveler (乐队: 旅行者, 歌曲: 即兴Ⅱ)
Street Lights by Yao (乐队: 腰, 歌曲: 公路之光)
Spring by Wild Children (乐队: 野孩子, 歌曲: 春天)
similar posts on 56minus1 ::
- trax | crystal castles, untrust us ::
- trax | sleepy rebels, kaleidoscope ::
- trax | reverie sound revue, an anniversary away ::
- trax | sean lynch, 88 tracks to take ::
- trax | 杨一, 立场记 ::
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I think the first one is the best, nice to hear some different music out of China,
http://mymedia.yam.com/m/82704 try this from Taiwan, I think it counts as folk music too.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Thumbs up!
Prefer it to the canto-pop inspired songs that usually occupy this space. Really like how some of these songs almost sound like the intro to a good post-rock song…
I hope this means you’re planning to organise a Chinese folk music sho down! ;)
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Great stuff – now if you could find us some good indie rock as well I’d be happy!
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
feedback? ok … decent enough, but if i heard most of them in, say, seattle, i would not stay for the second set … interesting, not compelling .. true musical, and personal, depth is missing from all
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I was gonna put these reviews up on my blog, but then, well, it didn’t really make sense for the reader to go through them or for what I normally post to my blog…. but since you were asking, I’ve pasted the text here…
Keep in mind I’m rather picky about my music and it only gets worse
when I’m told to put my critic hat on :)
1st song by Zhu Fangqiong:
Staunch shouting + strident strumming. Interesting combo.
2nd song by Perfect Pharmacy:
Jazzed up… actually it’s a bit too jazzed up for me I find it rather
distracting.
3rd song by the Traveler:
Jingly and jangly instrumental. Interesting sound effects but I find
the underlying tune too monotonous.
4th song by the Yao:
Gruff vocals with heavy instrumental, reminiscent of Tom Waits minus
the quirkiness.
5th song by Wild Child:
Irish-sounding instrumental. Not very interesting.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 am
Zhu Fang Qiong 朱芳琼 “You Can’t Blame Me” reminds of Jose Gonzalez. Perfect Pharmacy’s “Ha Chew!” is a little too self-indulgent while Yao’s “Street Lights” reminds of early Xu Wei – 许巍. All worth a listen.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 am
i liked the first one the best because it was the most melodic, but each of them has its own distinct style and stands well on its own merits.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:15 am
Wild Child and Perfect Pharmacy are my top picks, Zhu Fangqiong is not bad. Not sure of your intended use, but a vocal track from Wild Child might be better.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
agree with gregory – unfortunately too mediocre
February 25th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Track by Track Review:
Track 1: You Can’t Blame Me
Definitely less is more with this tune. The melodic guitar work and tabla are enough to carry the song and the introspective sounding vocals fit nicely in the beginning. I can appreciate the intensity the song takes on mid way through, but it may be a little overdone in that regard. Very enjoyable!
Track 2: Ha Chew! Ha Chew!
Starts out strong with a solid base line and melodic guitar work. The Indian/Middle Eastern influences are outstanding throughout, but that’s where the good news ends. The vocals do not mesh well at all with the tune and the middle of the song takes an experimental turn for the worse. Loved the first minute, but after that, it sounded like the band was trying too hard.
Track 3: Improvisation 2
Enjoyable track that sounds more like an interlude that could be found between songs than a tune that could stand on its own. Not bad, just carries on a little too long.
Track 4: Street Lights
Probably the track that I enjoyed the least. Never really connected with this song.
Track 5: Spring
Really enjoyed this tune. Probably the strongest of the bunch from start to finish. I think it could have been even stronger if the drums were a little higher in the mix, but due to the fact that it was a live recording, it may not have been possible at the time.
February 27th, 2009 at 4:34 am
I need to preface these remarks by disclosing that I don’t know enough chinese to completely understand the lyrics, so I can’t say that I can fully appreciate what each songwriter is attempting to convey linguistically and conceptually. When I listen to “folk,” lyrical interpretation is probably where my initial focus lies, and then I attempt to identify and analyze what surrounds the vocal. Anyway, my ability to comment might be limited for these reasons.
Songs 1-2 remind me of other “world” music in terms of production technique–acoustic guitar recorded with an electronic pickup w/ other acoustic instrumentation directly mic’d to get a more natural sound. I am sympathetic to what I’d call a more American/folk/delta-blues tradition that directly mics all instruments including guitar, but that is probably a matter of personal taste. Anyway, these songs exhibit strong musicianship and composition; i would criticize the guitar sound, while others i’m sure prefer it as clearer or more “modern.” again i am handicapped to give a full review b/c I don’t know if the lyrics blow.
Song 3 uses the same technique but seems to invoke a color contrast w/ grayer ambient noise/tambourine and prettier-colored major chords w/ sparse bells. I don’t mind that it’s slow moving and injects development in other areas besides composition (ambient sounds, drones here or there, sounds like bells that mix percussion w/ pitch)…i like it, but others probably criticize its slowness and experimentalism as uninteresting or inchoate.
Song 4 is the song that most closely aligns w/ my personal tastes. fairly american-sounding (note the personal bias), historically- referencing (jl hooker?) guitar tone. the rest comes in w/ what dylan might describe as a thin “mercury” sound..just want to learn the lyrics to see if it is actually cool.
song 5 appears to be an instrumental that is too simplistic. Thus it might be lumped in w/ #3 and categorized as an instrumental piece without any technical virtuosity. … but I still think #3 has some subtle development to it, while this song, though cute, not only does not experiment w/ tone or ambience, there is nothing particularly melodically, rhythmically, or harmonically impressive.
Overall, I am pretty impressed with the musicians and arrangers here. I am pretty skewed b/c I generally like “folk” music, and as long as you can play chords and keep time, i think you’re a decent musician.
February 27th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
[...] 在这个博客上有人提供了五首中国民谣作品的试听，很多老外发表了有趣的意见。下面翻译了其中Jon的部分。我们并不完全同意他的观点，但这应该是一个良好讨论的开始，欢迎大家发表自己的看法。 [...]
March 1st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Yao is my new fav too
i think the name of the song should be translated to “Light of Road” or “Light of Highway” is better.
and when you listen it , feeling like driving a motorbicyle on the road.
Have some spirit of on the road ,isnt it ?
forgive me for my pool english. i wanna to translated it to english but i can’t.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
It’s difficult for me to listen to individual songs and develop an opinion of the artist. That said, 怪不得我 caught my attention and I’m interested to hear more of Zhu Fanqiong, but I have to agree with Jon some and if his other work doesn’t move to more interesting territory, I’ll get bored. In general terms I feel that New Pharmacy has yet to come into itself; I have a hard time making sense of much of them and don’t feel like it flows just yet. I think there’s potential there, but you can only last so long on potential.
The last band posted here shines among the rest; Wild Children grab me in; the musical quality is refreshing and their lyric’s rich imagery leave a lasting impression. I just can’t seem to grow tired of their music.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 am
1st-.- You Can’t Blame Me by Zhu Fangqiong
…Nice…Have a listen to Thom Yorke’s “The Clock”…driving guitar and haunting vocals….me likes
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Wild Children are the best, as always! Even if after Xiao Suo’s death, Zhang Quan, Zhang Weiwei and Guo Long are still doing amazing music!
March 4th, 2009 at 11:51 am
这真是极好的活动！
我在美国留学 一直关心中国独立音乐 每次见到喜欢音乐的外国孩子都会介绍中国民谣摇滚给他们
没想到这里的老外很热心 FEEDBACK写得很详细 不乏铁杆人士 阿哈哈！组织如果需要帮助 翻译东西之类 也可以Mail ME
March 4th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
@老末
谢谢你留言！如果你对中国独立音乐或者独立文化什么的有兴趣的话，我推荐你去看一下我们网站: http://www.neocha.com
还有，我估计你会很喜欢用Neocha的NEXT (就是一个播放音乐的小模块): http://www.neocha.com/-/music_next.html
// AjS
March 4th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
@老末
我们组织很欢迎你的兴奋，并且很可能需要翻译之类的帮助。如果你感兴趣请把你的联系方式发给我， 谢谢！
April 11th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
3rd one quite appropriate while watching pictures here:
http://www.neocha.com/DullerRubberball/pictures.html
April 11th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
@ dandie, thanks for your response. Indeed quite appropriate. DullerRubberball’s work is great. I’m a big fan, always have been.
// AjS