Friday night and off to 390 Bar to see a night of duos playing like it was raining reverb. The line up:
The singer/songwriter from Hua Jiao recently moved from Xi'an to Shanghai and is building the band up from scratch. He plays as a duo with drummer Du Juan and they use loops, echo and reverb to fill out a distinctly China post-punk sound. Hua Jiao are tipped for future greatness by local musicians who know them.
Twos (2's) is the new electronica project from long time scene guitarist JMF Lee (Li Xing). Together with bandmate Robin, Batman's Jay's guitar takes a backseat to the layered electronic sample mashing. They had a lot of equipment on the small stage space. The overall sound is polished and upbeat but they still manage avoid the conventions of commercial pop and utilize the early synth tones that are popular again today. The track If You Want To on the page is a good representation.
Alpine Decline formed in L.A. and then relocated to Beijing last year. Their music has always been a good fit for the post-punk / DIY scene here. They are a guitar / drums duo who use some synth backing and a lot of reverb soaked lingering chords. But the bands real strength is their sense of songwriting. Great vocal lines, lyrical turns and tight structures move them away from curious art-rock experimentation and into indie-underground greatness. They have just released a full length album called Night of the Long Knives. It is produced by China legend Yang Haisong and should prove to be a vital part of the scene here. Stream the band's previous work on their site here.
