As James Anthony writes on the Guardian blog, China’s bands are inspired by their Western counterparts but have a definite sound of their own. Hear them for yourself here.
The element of studiousness (similarly present in Japanese culture), which the Chinese call xuexi, is a fascinating one. One might naively expect this to produce diluted versions of Western imports; on the contrary, the result is a brand new thing in itself, with a definite sound of its very own. We would do well to remember that in Chinese, “xuexi” means “to learn”. “To imitate” and “to copy” have their own terms; xuexi is something very different. Have a listen to some of the bands mentioned, and let me know what you think…
· Torturing Nurse
You can’t actually hear much on their MySpace page, since the live videos don’t quite do the sounds justice (and the page takes ages to load). You can hear some of the Shanghai noise band’s tracks, including Junky Isuzu, and the verrrrry intense Pesto Nirvana over on Shasha Records. To some people it will sound like an interesting electro take on the drone/doom genre. To others it will sound like someone blowtorching a goat.
If you do like it, check out their bewildering collaboration with cyberpunk author Kenji Siratori.
