Guangzhou has always been a city with some quirk in it’s grass roots energy. From the Full Label and Qiiiiii Snacks DIY events putting punk bands in public bathrooms and book shops, to the quite literally underground dance parties in underpasses (which might not have been the sustainable set up for an event series but sure sounded like a bag of fun), and Nugget Records valiant efforts during the Covid era throwing gigs in public parks, there has always been some sparks of gumption and getting things down down south. Of course there’s the big clubs, the bonafide live houses that can hold bigger crowds for post rock festivals, legendary punk bands, Canto pop stars, and rising indie darlings, but the addition of the grass roots, DIY, quirky, and occasionally down and dirty gigs continues to give Guangzhou’s music scene a charm and excitement other large cities can only be envious of.
Southern Alkaline therefore feels right at home, a bare bones concrete box with a bar nestled amongst coffee shops and car mechanics, overlooking a road that quite literally ends underneath the venue. Run by a collective of musicians and artists it’s a space that isn’t try to appeal to a clientele other than folks who want something fresh, interesting, and exciting in their eyes and ears with affordable drinks in the deal too. Therefore there was no better venue therefore for a night of left field electronics, drones, and ‘dance’ music with PlugAPlug, Bluebuzz, Saiking Dogs, and Resbina in celebration of the return of Xuanni aka. Space, Guangdong violinist turned experimental electronic voyager, back from her studies in London.
First up is PlugAPlug, the duo of Space and Feng Yang, dropping some block rocking beats with dirty swaggering baselines and moody samples galore. With Space rocking the hardware and Yang summoning the laptop demons it’s fuzzy, bouncy, and a lot of messy fun, with sprinkles of Canto pop and other saccharine delights mashed and warped and poured over those relentless rhythms. At times it’s hard hitting and aggressive, and at others reflective and almost meditative, but never quite giving way to full on dance floor bangers. Nonetheless the duo are wise beyond their years at taking the harsh and right angled and getting a whole room swaying to the off kilter weirdness, making people move to the seemingly undanceable, proof that there is a melody and rhythm and everything.
Following that Space’s next sonic sparring partner is viola/clarinet player Yan Jingwen, forming the duo of Bluebuzz. With Space moving to violin it’s the only performance of the evening that doesn’t involve electronic hardware, just strings and woodwind (and later strings and strings) that feel that could be right at home in a basement art gallery. Alternating between macabre melodies floating over brooding rhythms and freeform bursts of notes, it’s like Dmitri Shostakovich and Ornette Coleman having a drunken argument over the last bottle of soju out the front of a 711 at 4am whilst bows scrape against strings and summon the demons of the night.
Next on the line up is Saikung Dogs, another of Space’s project founded in Hong Kong in 2017 as collab between Mo and Space. From the get go it’s beats lurking beneath a murk of chirping synths and white noise wash, ethereal flutes straight from the top of mist covered mountains, and haunting vocals drenched in echo swirling around, giving way to threatening walls of synth drones and bit crushed square waves. It’s probably what it would sound like if there was an evensong recital in a cathedral made of neon light in the original Tron movie — suddenly a mortally wounded dolphin smashes through the roof, thumps wetle against the ground and then proceeds to mutate into a bipedal cetacean/sound system cyborg hybrid, blasting off kilter break beats into the echoey vaults of the ceiling, causing the stunned congregation to sway in time with the deliciously unhinged rhythms punctuated with digital screams of ecstasy and anguish.
Following on is lone laptop pilot Resbina, summoning a flock of demented birds cheeping against a sky of dissonant church bells, whilst somber drones drift up from the ashes below, giving way to hood-up, laptop-driven nightmare fuel that would make David Lynch reach for a stuffed animal. Are they summoning the rapture? Are they scrolling Taobao? Taking a video call from beings in a parallel dimension? All of the above?! It’s a blood chilling mantra that gives way to down-tempo off the wall beats, corrupted dial up modem samples, and haunting metallic screams that would be right at home on the Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun soundtrack.
Finally Space takes to the stage for her solo set, and she does not disappoint. Distorted fragments of radio broadcasts, smooth synths, shuffling beats. A collage of sounds, musique concrète approach that takes snatches of Mando and Canto pop and dissects them with cool disassociation, the soundtrack to the endless towers of glass and neon. Before an arsenal of hardware Space conjures fresh beats to the surface, sometimes the clash of samples and hardware doesn’t quite synch, but it’s quickly washed into the next scene of neck banging beats and Nintendo DS leads. Space is the perfect antidote to all those cringe inducing experimental music nights when you’re awkwardly shuffling your feet because you’re secretly super bored and want to leave but don’t want to seem uncultured or for people to assume you can only understand bands like Foster The People. Space takes the experimental and avante garde and packages it in a way you can nod your head and tap your foot to.
A night celebrating everything glorious, left field, and electronic, and what a night it was. Long live Southern Alkaline!
Author: Dann Gaymer
Date: August 16th, 2025
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