A couple hours after getting off the train in Chengdu, I found myself in a hallucinogenic state of mind due to Sichuan spice overload and enjoying the transcendent dronery of Lijiang composer and electronic musician Chunyang Yao, who was in town to promote her latest release Shining Cracks, at NU Space – the gallery/music venue located in the heart of the city. The \’sound collage\’ she presented to audiences – a transfixing mixture of field recordings and analog synth drone – was accompanied vocally by the artist\’s bewitching voice as well as visually by PLGRM (aka American visual artist Greg Finger) whose bamboo and rice paper LED scattered about the narrow space added a reverent atmosphere to the proceedings. Opening duties were handled by noise duo White Pages, comprised of two prominent figures in the shoegaze scene, FS from Sound and Fury and Jude from Sinkers, who brought along Sound and Fury\’s new drummer, Andrew for some musical tomfoolery. All in all, a fine introduction to the wonderfully laid-back yet proactive city. More pictures below – and tune in next week for more coverage on Chengdu\’s music scene.

 

P.S – must give some photo credit to Mr. Burlingame who took a few of these pictures while I was digesting dinner. He has asked to be referred to as \’interim diarrhea-fit creative director\’