Chinese Bands to Watch

I just had an article published in Billboard (April 23, 2011 issue) about Beijing bands who'll be appearing Stateside this year, highlighting five I think have the most appeal for US audiences.

The article isn't online (although some blogger did rip off most of the piece and post it without attribution—please don't link to that), but I've made a link to a PDF of "China Rocks."

The article focuses on Carsick Cars, Demerit, Hanggai, Hedgehog, and Re-TROS. I couldn't include everyone—and it's hard to narrow things down because there are so many bands I like and people I like on the scene. But here are a few more that aren't coming to the States, but ought to be on your radar anyway.

AV Okubo
Their live shows are bursting with energy, and the sound is something along the lines of Gang of Four. What's so great about them is that—even though they're playing Western music—there's something so Chinese about them in the pop cultural references, the singer shouting into the kind of cheap loudspeaker you see outside of Chinese stores, and the projections flashing behind them. Even the name comes from a Hong Kong film, First Love: Litter on the Breeze.

24 Hours
Taking their name from the song (and later movie title) "24 Hour Party People," 24 Hours wear their love of that Manchester rock scene on their sleeves. But they put on some of the tightest shows in Beijing, knowing exactly what they want to sound like and executing it flawlessly.

Mamer
Alone and with his band Iz, Mamer, an ethnic Kazak from China's northwest, uses traditional instruments and techniques, but when you hear him play, you'll swear you're hearing the latest experimental group out of Brooklyn. That's him pictured above at the Hanggai Music Festival in 2010.

Duck Fight Goose
Out of Shanghai, Duck Fight Goose is another group on the experimental side (they call it "strange rock"). It's off-kilter, but the songwriting is brilliant.