News, Releases, Yada Yada Yada

Some cool releases coming though, and after hearing of Buyi’s forthcoming album I think the fall and winter season is going to have a lot of great things in store – some serious game changers. But first let’s check out the latest of Maybe Mars’ P.K 14, Shanghai troublemakers Pairs, Ah! out of Chengdu, and our own electronic renegades Cloud Choir.

Tracks to P.K 14 ‘s highly anticipated latest album 1984 have been slowly trickling out on douban and xiami, giving fans a taste of what to expect from the post punk quartet fronted by Yang Haisong. Well, I’m happy to say the entire album is now available for streaming – BAM! Recorded in Chicago back in October 2012 with producer Steve Albini (of Pixies, Nirvana, The Stooges), it’s a meaty piece of work and one that definitely warrants multiple listens. Raw, ambitious, featuring some of the most crisp bass driven guitar compositions this side of Beijing, as well as Yang’s trademark rile of a voice and poetic dreamlike lyrics full of striking imagery, it’s a beast of an album with plenty to offer. The steady beats accompanying “Egyptian Rain” (埃及的雨) “Sailors” (航行者) make them standouts for me though I can’t leave out the beauty of “Crazy Women” (手拿鲜花的疯女人) and the two titles tracks which close the album; or just how much the Orwellian themes hang over the entire album – when Yang screams “I live in a world without truth” you know he’s touching upon some emotional truths It’s a strange world we live in indeed, one that Yang struggles to make sense of in one of the year’s first great albums. The band will embark on a crazy 30-plus tour every having their official release party at Yugong Yishan on October 1^st, but if you can’t wait that long check them out net Tuesday, August 20^th at XP.

Pairs, just keep at it – after releasing a piano-driven album earlier this year, the punk duo have speak even further outside the box for their latest entitled Your Feet Touch The Ground, A Carousel just out on bandcamp. An electronic record, all programmed drums and recorded using a get this ‘a dictaphone, a microphone that was given as a wedding gift, a beat up acoustic guitar, a Samsung laptop, a smashed up iTouch and a practice space amp’. Use what you got I guess. Play that bad boy here and read Pete DeMola’s lovely piece on the band over here. It’s a strange one, that’s for sure – atmospheric, amateurish, and even a bit unsettling, it’s not for everyone – but gotta give Pairs credit for expanding their boundaries, really nothing these two can’t do at this point. Bring on the salsa album.

Chengdu-based rockers Ah! who I’ve never heard of until SmartBeijing’s post last week, have just released a new EP entitled Rude Mystery. It’s a mash up of pretty much every genre, with heavy doses of surf rock, rockabilly, and party rock – sounds like something conceived over on the West Coast to be frank. It’s light on its feet, has some razor sharp guitar riffs, is more than a bit sloppy, but really any digs at this thing are easily dismissed when you realize just how fun it all comes together. Check it out on soundcloud and if you’ll like you can pick it up over at Indie Music Store here.

And finally, those KTR kids are pretty busy these next couple weeks, with a lot of releases slated to hit the interwebz – first up is Cloud Choir, the experimental electronic improv duo, and their latest, Music From A Bomb Shelter, which as the name implies was recorded in a bomb shelter, or former bomb shelter – the infamous club The Shelter in Shanghai – with help from Acid Pony Club and as they state, red bull. So if you’re in the mood for some \’aural torture\’, jump on that baby here.

Alright that’s it for the week – stay tune next week for more from In3, Dear Eloise, and more.