One of the pleasures of running a site dedicated to all the great music coming out of China is turning folks aboard onto something they would never expect to hear come out of this place. But as many of you in the same boat know, that’s never an easy task. Simply put, many people lack the imagination that yes, there is amazing music coming out from a country that’s known back West as being closed off, or worse, authoritarian. So that bandcamp link (or god forbid douban band page link) you sent your friends may get a listen or two, but beyond that, it doesn’t stand a chance next to the massive array of options at hand they have back in the States. So when the opportunity came to check out one of my favorite Beijing bands, Re-TROS, in New York City of all places (where I was spending a large amount of my short summer holiday) I immediately became ecstatic. No better way to turn people onto a band than seeing them in the flesh. And while most of long-term city buddies couldn’t cut loose this particular Thursday night, I did manage to steal away some old Beijing rejects and more importantly one of my childhood friends to bear witness to Re-TROS. And like a junkie shooting up for the first time, I watched as my friends eyes lit up as the band performed, cause yes, as many of us know, when Re-TROS is on, they’re fucking on, and there’s nothing quite like it. A contact high indeed. Kudos to Re-TROS who rocked out Baby’s All Right (the band were in the midst of a North American tour which included a festival on Coney Island partially financed by Modern Sky) and to all the merry acquaintances and friends, old and new, who made the evening one for the books.
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