New Releases

Whoa! Did anyone else notice douban’s brand spanking new music player – about friggin time. That place has needed a facelift for some time now. Give that baby a test drive with these new releases from indie pop outfit Time Capsule, singer-songwriter Bian Yuan’s debut with his band Lone, tight jean rocking Velvet Road, as well as the first, and most stellar, music compilation from 69 Café. Take a peek.

Indie outfit Time Capsule have been around for some time – seven years to be exact – I remember seeing them on quite a few bills back in the good ol’ D-22 days. Well it looks like the college rockers have gotten around to putting together their first LP, entitled A Gift From His Memory, chalk full of smoothing ‘let’s take on the world babe’ pop that goes down nice and easy. Way too sweet for my taste, but it does hold some surprises – operatic singing, sublime electronic backing, and some pretty solid guitar work. Whether or not it is your cup of tea, that’s a whole other story. Give it listen over here and purchase it over at Indie Music here.

Ex-Joyside frontman Bian Yuan has been steadily working on his solo work since the slap-happy dirty rockers spilt back in 2009. And after catching the man last year at Yugong Yishan, let me tell you straight up – it’s a completely different beast. Under the band Lone, which also includes Fan Bo of Joyside, Bian Yuan has crafted a collection of slow moving ballads that fall closer to vintage Leonard Cohen than the Johnny Thunders vibing of Joyside. They released their debut album a couple weeks back at Penghao Theater. Loving the restrained production on this so far, allowing each of the songs, and more importantly, Bian’s voice, room to breathe. Some real heart-strummers buried in there, particularly on ‘琼浆河’. The accordion is a nice touch as well. Definitely ‘last call saloon’ music. Give it a preview here and grab it over at Indie Music here or 69 Café here.

Almost forgot about this one – the cozy Nanluoguxiang venue 69 Café has cooked up their first live compilation cd and damn it’s a nice little treat. Spread over three discs, it compiles live recordings captured from the end of 2009 to the end of 2012 from over 20 artists. Everything from jazz pop artist Dimo, to minimalist post punk outfit Snapline, to sitar player Rudra’s Sage, and even oscillator noise operators Soviet Pop – it’s an amazing spectrum of talent that graced the tiny stage there and the way I look at it, a nice piece of music history. Give it a listen here and purchase that mac daddy here. Better yet, just rush over to the NLGX now – can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

We’ll end today latest releases with the latest from hard rocking 80s evoking Velvet Road, who’ve been working the circuit for years. These kids are sticking to the basics on their latest, Youth Is A Loaded Gun, and who could blame them. It’s shocking how well these chinese bands can imitate that falsetto singing – swear they even got the accent down. To be honest though their best songs are probably the ones sung in complete Mandarin – it doesn’t come across as an act and in fact, sounds like a completely different band. I’d probably place Velvet Road below Jacky Danny and Los Crasher on the old school rockers ranking list, but hey, that ain’t too bad. Cue the cowbell! Give it a listen and purchase it if you dare.

Alright, swear I’ll get to Tang Dynasty next week – still fishing for that one. As well as Jingweir\’s latest, and more.