When I first encountered some of the experimental music coming from China, I was intimidated by the amount of people involved. Additionally, the presence of severe language barriers made tracking this stuff down a difficult challenge. The occasional CD-R, some online sources, and the remarkable Buddha Machine have let me dip my toe into this expanse of sound but a toe-dipping was where I had to halt. Thankfully, this anthology compiled by Chinese noise stalwart Dickson Dee has allowed for a massive insight into China’s music underground.
An Anthology of Chinese Experimental Music to me is a modern equivalent of Brian Eno’s No New York, an insider’s view of hermetic geographical scene. While it covers a much longer time period than Eno’s compilation, it is still a snapshot of a living, breathing China that is lost in the western media’s portrayal of the massive country. Having quickly exhausted the few artists I recognized, the rest of the box set is a good education. With over 40 artists featured, this kind of peek into the Chinese underground would be otherwise impossible. What is noticeable the whole way through is how high the quality of the performances is on the four discs.
Out of the more well known artists included, the pieces included are largely representative of their work. Two of the contributions that feature Dickson Dee are the kind of lush, ambient sounds that would normally be found on a release on Touch Records. His long career peppered with international collaborations make for a cosmopolitan approach to electronic music. As per usual, Torturing Nurse push all the levels into the red; their punishing noise reminiscent of Japanoise artists. That both Dee and Torturing Nurse sound so like experimental music from outside of China may be due to their geography, Hong Kong and Shanghai (their respective bases) both having stronger ties with the outer world than other areas of China.
On the flip side of this coin, there are other well known Chinese artists who have taken note of international styles but have subverted them to their own needs. Li Jianhong seems to have forged a pure guitar technique that is as shocking the first time as my first encounters with Derek Bailey and Keiji Haino. Both his solo performances and his work with Huangjin as D!O!D!O!D! are a riot of guitar, noise and adrenaline. On a similar note, Shenggy, vocalist and rhythm maker with White, combines what she learned during her stint as a musician in Beijing with her later move to Europe to develop a distinctive style of her own. Unlike the staid elegance of her work in White, “Junggy’s Decay” sees Shenggy go for the jugular, furious and feral. Both Jianhong and Shenggy merge different musical lineages into something new and beautiful. It is not just a case of east meets west or some other trite notion, it is the same sort of reinvention seen during '70s Germany; a co-opting of outside sources in order to reinvent the wheel.
They are not alone in this reinvention. The other artists on this anthology cannot be lesser known because of the quality of their work as most of them show a flair for invention and inspiration. Alice Hui-Sheng Chang’s vocal experiments are out there on their own, playing not only with her own voice but the space in which she finds herself both physically and mentally. Elsewhere, “Dream a Little Dream” by Beijing’s Nara is a slowly evolving piece of gentle techno-infused electronic music, the daintiness of the rhythm and melodies giving the music a natural grace. This grace is present throughout the set, surprising me because of my previous exposure to the more extreme side of Chinese experimental music. Even when the music is violent, there is a balance underlying it that is a world away from the reckless abandon of other harsh noise artists. Ying Fan’s “L2255 mix” comes close to chaos but Fan shows a restraint which tempers the extreme sounds.
Although the anthology only looks at music made in the last 17 years, there is a mix of old and new guards in the selection of artists. As well as all the young upstarts, Wu Quan and Nelson Hiu (Dancing Stone) both represent the approaches of the older generation of experimental artists. Quan’s “Weather Forest” and Hiu’s “Two” represent two other sides of this expansive experimental movement in Chinese music, the former a journey through a land made of vibrant electronic sound whereas the latter incorporates singing and dizzying flute playing to startling effect. That these two older (but not old) artists contribute such thrilling pieces shows that this sort of experimentation in music is not a new trend but one that has been germinating for years.
Sub Rosa have surpassed themselves in bringing this music out into the light and the inclusion of short biographies and discographies in the sleeve notes are very much appreciated. The inclusion of an essay by Yan Jun and Zbigniew Karkowski provides both an insider’s and an informed outsider’s view of this scene, giving further life to the project. Finally, Dickson Dee has done a sterling job in weaving together all the disparate strands of all these artists into one taut rope; a compilation based on geography rather than genre has never sounded so coherent.
samples:
- Nara, "Dream a Little Dream"
- Jedung Kying, "Dabao"
- Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, "There She Is, Standing and Walking on her Own"
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