Update: go to the band Douban page and scroll down, Insomniacs Song (Album version) is the 4th track down.
Not too long after I saw Beijing's Streets Kill Strange Animals on tour at Yuyintang, I received their new album through the mail. I got it through the label (Modern Sky) Taobao page. Before I go on, here's all the links up front ... except none of them have the whole album for listening to.
Talking of Modern Sky, Streets Kill Strange Animals are not added in on their Douban page and nor is the album. The album also does not appear the dot com site either. The most recent offering there is the Good Luck Good Bye album from 2011 ... and next to nothing has been heard from that band since. Shame.
On to the album. It's called Plan B: back to the analogue age and it's awesome. It is the China scene post punk style that got going with P.K. 14. For me, every song echoes both the scene and the urban existence here. The lyrics are more symbolic and surreal than their counterparts though. The opening intro track repeats, "If I was the last dinosaur, I wouldn't tell you where I was, because I just want to live freely." (My on the fly translation) The track that really brings together the musical style, lyrics and Yang Haisong-esque Mandarin vocals is Insomniacs Song. It totally entranced me at the gig. Perhaps it's a misleading comparison, where Yang Haisong is all angst and poetry, SKSA demonstrate a wider range, both in song and vocals. They flip between the clipped jerky riffs and shouts and slowed down, lo-fi-psychedelic passages.
This is my favourite release of the year here and is the best example of something non-genre that feels like a real product of it's cultural surroundings. If that matters.
