Concert
Sinotronics – Modern China is too complicated
Compiled by Metrowaves Beijing (Markus M. Schneider & Mumu Wang)
With White+, Yan Yulong, Duck Fight Goose, DeadJ & Dora S. (Visuals), DeadJ & Phillip Sollmann, White Goose, Choi Sai-Ho
In China, electronic music still gets little or no public attention. Nevertheless, a scene has emerged in places like the XP Music Club and the Zajia Lab in Beijing, which experiments with electronic production methods both on stage and in the studio. Metrowaves, a platform for promoting electronic music in China, founded by Markus M. Schneider and Mumu Wang in 2011, presents the latest developments. While popular electronic music in Europe is heavily influenced by the DJ culture, many of the selected artists come from the field of punk rock and post-punk, so that the evening promises a large share of live performances – and, indeed, a series of world premières.
DeadJ & Dora S. (Visuals) DeadJ & Phillip Sollmann DeadJ alias Shao Yanpeng is a key figure on the scene. He is a sound designer (Pavillon of Future / Shanghai EXPO), creator of award-winning albums and composer of film and theater sound tracks. He made a film about Berlin’s electronic music scene in 2009. His performance “The Shape of Sound“ with visuals by Dora S. and his joint appearance with the techno musician and DJ Phillip Sollmann from Berlin also count as German, i.e. world premières at Worldtronics 2012.
White + The duo White+ creates fragile, flowing constructs on stage, blending synthetic melodies and surfaces, the distorted voice of Zhang Shouwang (lead singer of the influential band Carsick Cars) and the rhythms of drummer Wang Xu. Western listeners may recognize distant Chinese relatives of Kraut Rock in the music.
Yan Yulong In the changing band line-ups of the experimental music series “Zoomin Night” in Club D-22 (the predecessor of today’s XP Music Club) in Beijing, the multi-instrumentalist Yan Yulong was one of the few constants. His program for solo viola combines drones, arpeggios and abrupt outbursts with influences from American minimal music.
Duck Fight Goose For his solo program Han Han alias Gooooose requires only a handful of samples, a guitar and an arsenal of effect devices. Using these ingredients, he creates improvised techno soundscapes somewhere between music of the spheres and pure noise. You can also catch him with his band Duck Fight Goose – a group of multi-instrumentalists navigating a course between Math Rock and contemporary Psychedelia, appearing in Berlin with live visuals for the first time.
Soundcloud Youtube www.duckfightgoose.bandcamp.com
White Goose is an ad-hoc super-group put together exclusively for Worldtronics 2012 and comprising Zhang Shouwang (White+), Yan Yulong and Han Han. In the spirit of Metrowave’s networking philosophy, they build a musical bridge between Beijing and Shanghai – another world première!
Choi Sai-Ho “Electronic music originated in western society and I try to mix it with my own cultural roots”, explains Choi Sai-ho. The 29-year-old musician from Hong Kong uses a range of instruments, from the classic violin to the Nintendo Game Boy. And that’s how his music sounds: Low-Fi electro, which is sometimes reminiscent of the metallic clanking of battling robots but also at times resembles romantic ambient music.
