LISTEN ARCHIVE

Li Song and Zhao Cong: Cardboard Tubes, Mixers, and Whatever You Can Find

-Amy Daml (audio mastering of performance by Michael Cupoli - Noise Arcade and Comp Collider)

Both Li Song and Zhao Cong have been part of the experimental scene in China for a long time, playing in various projects with various people, but this October at fRUITYSPACE marked their first time playing together as a duo. Fortunately, Loreli was able to witness this occasion and even record a bit. Zhao Cong got her musical start in 2009 as a spectator at the experimental performance series, Zoomin' Night, organized by her future husband Zhu Wenbo at D22 and then XP until their closures. In 2010 Zhao Cong and Zhu Wenbo formed the band Xiao Hong & Xiao Xiao Hong and they currently play together in the band Not in Catalog. She began her solo performances in 2015 and just released her debut solo recording, Afternoon, released on the Zoomin' Night cassette tape label. You can catch her soon at one of the following upcoming events:

12.05 jam duo @fRUITYSPACE
12.11 Not in Catalog @fRUITYSPACE
12.31 Not in Catalog @fRUITYSPACE
12.21 MIJI Concert @Meridian Space

Li Song was born in Xi'an and now lives in Beijing. In Xi'an he was a member of Kunjinkao, an audio/visual duo from System Error group. He is also the organizer of the Soundleaks event, which focuses on sound art and technology. In performances he uses a laptop, sometimes with other weird interactions, and he prefers to use simple text to create unpredictable sounds. He also collaborates with Zhu Wenbo on two projects: No Performance and do you have a bio and photo. 

Interview Transcript:

Li Song: I’m Li Song. I started to play this kind of music in 2013, like three years ago. So when I moved to Beijing after graduation, I worked here and played more with her and Wenbo and other people so I got more involved in this kind of scene and played more music.

Amy Daml: So you started when you were still in Xi’an?

LS: Yeah, yeah. Back in Xi’an I was a computer science student and I learned some song programming and all that stuff. When I was in Xi’an there was an organization or label, called System Error. It’s kind of an experimental and improvised music label in Xi’an. So I kind of played one or two or three events for that organization. That’s how I first got involved. Then, when I moved to Beijing I got to know more people.

AD: I wouldn't have expected there to be a big experimental scene in Xi’an.

LS: Yeah, I think there is actually, but it’s like…many people move to Beijing and Shanghai. Then there aren’t so many people stillleft in Xi’an. They need more new people to join them, but it seems there aren’t many since I left I think. And many graduate. Because at that time there were many students involved and now it’s like a low number.

Zhao Cong: I’m Zhao Cong. I was born in Beijing. In 2010 Zhu Wenbo and I formed a band called Xiao Hong and Xiao Xiao Hong. At that time we played a little experimental, melody and lo-fi music. During these years, we changed three times. After we finished the first album, I began to play bass and Zhu Wenbo also changed to use other instruments. It’s a rock band – not the normal rock and roll music. Now, I’m still a bass player in a rock band called ‘Not in Catalog,’ and I began my solo project last year.

AD: Can you tell me what this instrument was that you were playing today? It was like a long cardboard tube…

ZC: Actually, it’s a tube made of paper. It is for clothes, for textiles.

AD:  Oh, yeah. What do you call it? It’s like a wheel or…a spool! A spool!

ZC: Yeah. One time I went to a textile warehouse because I’m making clothes this year. Yeah. One time I went to the warehouse to choose textiles. I found a little paper in the tube and I pulled it out of it and the sound was amazing. I was interested in it and I began to use it, because you can feel the sound by the tube itself, by the space.

AD: Yeah, it makes a very interesting sound – many interesting sounds, depending on what you put inside it.

ZC: Yeah, yes. And I also use a mixer, no-input feedback so you can hear some electronic sounds.

AD: And you just put out your first solo album as well, right?

ZC: Yeah.

AD: Did you use the tube on that as well?

ZC: Yeah, yeah.

AD: And you recorded it at home?

ZC: Yes, this June.

AD: How was the recording process? Doing it at home must have been interesting.

ZC: It sounds more like a performance, not a very formal recording, because it’s a jam and I just played maybe three or four parts. It’s more like a performance, a very free performance. I didn’t arrange anything before. I didn’t think about the structure beforehand. I just thought about it when I was playing.

AD: Is it the same for your live performance when you play together? You don’t think about it beforehand?

LS: For today, actually I thought about it for a while and I decided on something to play, but it ended up different from what I was thinking because there were some technical problems. I was supposed to record some of her songs, but somehow the signal was not loud enough so I ended up playing something different.

AD: Do you have a lot of technical problems playing this music?

LS: Yeah, I suppose so. You know, when you’re dealing with a computer many things happen, but sometimes the problem becomes a good sound because it’s unpredictable. You know, sometimes the sound is just gone and then comes back for a little while. You can’t create that sudden sound. Sometimes the music of sudden change is amazing. Not a lot, but sometimes things happen.

AD: How did you start working together?

ZC: Just because we are friends and we usually get together, so we discussed playing together. This is the first time.

LS: Actually, we’ve played a lot in a group more than the two of us. We’ve played with many other people for quite a long time - like four people, five people, but this is the first time for just us to play together.

AD: Do you think you’ll do more in the future?

LS: Yes! Yes, sure.

AD: And you [Zhao Cong] decided to release your solo album on cassette tape. Was there any reason you decided to do that?

ZC: No. Just because Zhu Wenbo is my husband, and after….do you know anything about Zoomin’ Night? After Zoomin’ Night, the series of performances, he began to make Zoomin’ Night as a label to release tapes – cassettes. Mine is a nice production of the Zoomin’ Night label.

AD: Were you involved with the Zoomin’ Night originally?

ZC: Since 2009. But at that time I was just an audience member – from the first Zoomin’ Night.  

AD: Must have been very exciting at that time.

ZC: Yeah, actually because at that time all the bands in Zoomin’ Night were weird compared with normal rock bands. It was interesting. At that time all of us were music fans. So the atmosphere was very good and everybody liked it and became friends and formed a band or played music together or played together in daily life.

AD: Do you think that the music scene is growing?

ZC: I miss that time very much. Now, I think it’s changed a lot. Many friends from then don’t play such music [now]. I can’t describe it. But at that time it was really great. Now it’s another way and another group of friends and style of music, but it’s still good because playing together and getting together because of common interests is a great thing, I think.

AD: Well, thank you very much.

ZC: Thank you.

LS: Thank you.

Lonely Leary

-Dan Rothwell

In the last few years, Lonely Leary have progressed from three graduates dabbling with punk covers in Jinan, to a Post-Punk authority in Beijing.

Their influences are clear, with echoes of 1980s Industrial England reimagined through the ears of musicians living in the modern day urban landscape of this city; driven by machine-like percussive precision, scathing guitar lines juxtaposed against pounding bass-lines creating a semi-disconcerting harmonious dissonance...of sorts.

As their sound has progressed through extensive gigging their confidence has grown. The band's live shows have you furiously tapping your feet, nodding your head, and often fumbling for earplugs from the start.

最近几年里，Lonely Leary逐渐从三个在济南瞎玩玩儿Punk的毕业生进化为了北京Post-punk领军人物。

他们音乐上的影响很明显 - 仿佛80年代的英国通过穿梭于现代城市中的音乐人们的脑海重新展现。几乎机械化的敲击，猛烈的吉他线条与贝斯强烈的碰撞中产生一种。。似乎令人困扰而同时无比和谐的感觉。

他们的音色通过大量的现场演出慢慢成熟，就像他们作为一个乐队的自信一样。Lonely Leary的现场能量会让你从头到脚无法自拔的动起来 

Due to their recent successes, including signing to Beijing-based label Maybe Mars, LoReLi (along with Dan Lenk, guitarist of Comp Collider, bassist of The Death Narcissist on interview duty) took the opportunity to catch up with the guys before a show at newly opened Yue Space to discuss their humble beginnings, influences, and reactions to their upcoming Eagulls supporting slot.

You can catch Lonely Leary at MaoLivehouse, supporting Eagulls this Thursday, 24th November, as part of the Split Works 10th anniversary tour, or alternatively, an exclusive acoustic performance alongside Cloud Choir and The Dice! at fRUITYSPACE the following day, Friday 25th.

Lonely Leary最近的成就之一包括与北京厂牌兵马司签约。LoReLi的好朋友Dan Lenk (Comp Collider 吉他手，死循环Death Narcissist贝斯手）特地在Lonely Leary乐空间演出之前坐下来和他们聊聊乐队的初始，影响，和对即将作为Eagulls的嘉宾在Mao Livehouse的演出的想法。

Lonely Leary 会在 11/24 周四 作为Eagulls 的嘉宾在MaoLivehouse 演出。本次演出为Split Works 十周年生日派对巡演。如果你错了这次，别忘了11/26还会在 fRUITYSPACE 与 Cloud Choir 和 The Dice! 一同演出。 

Posted November 23, 2016

Bass & Vocals: 邱驰 (Qiu Chi)

Guitar: 宋昂 (Song Ang)

Drums: 李保宁 (Li Baoning) 

Interview Transcript:

Lonely Leary: 我是吉他手宋昂， 你好我是贝斯手与主唱邱驰，我是鼓手李保宁。我们是 Lonely Leary

李保宁: 刚开始其实是我和宋昂先认识的。那时候只有我们俩，也不知道玩什么，都是刚开始学的，瞎搞。后来邱驰快毕业了，他俩是同学 ，最后我们三就混倒了一起。我们都在一个大学城里。周围全是山，围着几个大学，全是大学生，只不过都是一些二三流的大学和无聊的一些人。

李保宁: In the early days it was just 宋昂 and me. It was just the two of us, unsure about what sort of music to dabble in and only just learning to play, we were essentially just fucking around. Later on, I met 邱驰 when he was about to graduate, and the three us wound up together. We lived in a university town together. It’s surrounded by mountains and has several schools, and the majority of the people who live there are university students... however they’re all pretty much second or third-rate institutions filled with boring people.

邱驰: 刚上大学开始学习吉他，当时也没有特别想组乐队 – 觉得会弹吉他就不错了。但是快毕业的时候我觉得好像不足乐队就有点欠缺，好像不是很完整。但是就是我就找谁会弹吉他，然后就找到了宋昂。我问他要不要组乐队，正好他是一个鼓手，我们就像那试一下吧。一开始我也想弹吉他，可是后来发现贝斯手根本找不到，我就买了把贝斯开始弹贝斯。

邱驰: I learned guitar in college. Back then I didn’t even think about starting a band – being able to play the guitar was enough, however this mindset changed when I was close to graduating. I felt like not starting a band would leave me incomplete - as if something would be missing. So, I started to look for someone who knew how to play guitar, and found 宋昂. I asked if he wanted to start a band with me. He happened to be a drummer, so we thought we’d give it a try. I wanted to play guitar originally, but then after realizing it was impossible to find a bassist, I bought a bass and started learning.

李保宁: 北京的音乐环境算是多种多样吧， 什么都有。听到和看到的都更多，能找到更多喜欢的。在山东的话，反正至少是济南的乐队大部分都是一批民谣，一批重金属。很少能找到自己喜欢的。到了北京之后，去了XP去了School，能看到很多喜欢的乐队。 然后自己慢慢也开始确定了要玩那种风格的音乐。慢慢就到了现在了。

李保宁: Beijing’s music scene is very diverse. There’s more in terms of what you can see and hear, so you have a better chance of finding stuff you like. In Shandong, or at least in Jinan, most of the bands are either folk or heavy metal; it’s much harder to find music you enjoy. After we came to Beijing, we went to XP and School Bar where we could find a lot of music that’s more up our alley. That’s how we gradually came to decide on what kind of music we wanted to play, and now we’re here.

邱驰: Punk简单，有Joyside，有刺猬，深圳 Ramones，还有 Snapline，地下婴儿，大部分都是中国乐队。后来我想到了其实Joy Division也很简单，我们要不要排一下Joy Division，就排了一两首。排完之后我们就没有排过很多punk的歌，就变成post-punk了。

邱驰: Punk is simple. We found Joyside, 刺猬, Ramones, Snapline, 地下婴儿, mostly Chinese bands. Later I thought, “Joy Division would also be pretty easy, maybe we should try it out...”, so we did one or two songs. After that we stopped playing a lot of punk songs and became post-punk.

...

李保宁: 我们最初的愿望就是能去一次XP的二楼，Michael那个办公室。3年之前我们在XP演出的时候，Michael可能对我们有些关注然后叫我们去了二楼。当时我们都很兴奋。没想到几年之后签了兵马司。挺高兴的，对。

李保宁: Initially, our biggest dream was to reach the second floor of XP, where Michael’s office is. We did a gig at XP three years ago and Michael called us up to the second floor! Perhaps it was because he had some knowledge of us, we were so excited. Now we’re signed to them... I’m pretty happy, yeah.

DL:你们最近跟兵马司签了。你们为什么找他们呢？你们有什么期望？

邱驰: 邱驰: 我很早以前就特别喜欢这个厂牌。当时上高中，他们刚成立的时候，很多我喜欢和知道的乐队都在他们那儿。后来上了大学后他们在北京特别活跃。那应该是他们最好的时期吧我觉得。当时也不敢想以后能够和他们签约或怎样。这只算是一个情怀。如果能签约的话，似乎没比他们更合适的了。

DL: You recently signed with Maybe Mars. Why them? What are your hopes and goals?

邱驰: I’ve been following the label for a long time. I was in high school when they first formed, and a lot of the bands I liked and knew were with them. They were very active when I was in college as well, that was probably their best period. I never even thought about signing with them or whatever! It’s always been about just passion for me. If we were ever to sign, there’s no label more suitable than them.

宋昂: Sonic Youth 是我一直喜欢的乐队，一直在听。还有Eagulls也一直在听，它里面有一些值得学习的东西。再就是一些90年代的美国的乐队。 像 Big Black, Spacemen 3，还有Silent, 也是一个比较老的乐队，但是最近才发现，在听。还有 Suicide， 对。

宋昂: I’ve always liked Sonic Youth, and have been listening to them for a while. Eagulls as well. I can get a lot out of their music. There are some 90s American bands that I like too. They’re not too mainstream, like Big Black, Spacemen 3, and Silent, they’re pretty old but I discovered them recently. Oh and Suicide, yeah.

邱驰: 这两天听得比较多的有Eagulls，Savages, 还有Birthday Party最近听的还挺多的。还有其他的就是感觉就是音乐上影响比较大的. Mazes! 中国的比如说SMZB，死循环Death Narcissist.

宋昂: I’ve been listening to a lot of Eagulls, Savages, and Birthday Party. Other than that it’s stuff that have had big influences on music. Mazes! So for China that’d be SMZB, 死循环，and Death Narcissist.

...

邱驰: 我当时看微博上SplitWorks发了一条微博分享一首Eagulls的歌儿，我就想是不是Eagulls会来中国演出呢？过几天说真来了，还邀请我们一块去演，才知道这个消息。当时特别意外，因为这一年我们听Eagulls听得特别多， 现在比较新的Post-Punk中算是最喜欢的之一。所以说很意外， 因为我们在他们的音乐里学到了很多东西，也看了他们很多的演出视频。能跟他们一块演，反正我是特别激动。我感觉应该是我现在所有能一块演的乐队中最让我感到激动的一场。

邱驰: When I saw SplitWorks share an Eagulls song on Weibo I thought that they might be coming to China. A couple of days later I heard it was true, and that they wanted to invite us to play with them. I was really surprised, particularly because we’ve been listening to them a lot this year. They’re one of our favourite emerging post-punk acts. We’ve learned a lot from their music and have seen a bunch of their live gigs on video. Being able to play with them is really exciting, at least for me. I think this is the band, out of all the possibilities, that I’m most thrilled to play with.

宋昂: 就是一开始我收到邀请表演的短信，我以为就是一场普通的演出。然后他跟我说Eagulls要来中国巡演，你们要不要当嘉宾。我挺意外的，感觉这个乐队突然就来中国演出了，还叫我们一块儿，所以特别高兴，特别痛快的就答应了。我一开始听这个乐队的时候就觉得他们如果来中国演一场会很好，然后这次真的就来了。

宋昂: I got a text inviting us to play with a band and I thought it was just a regular show. Then he told me Eagulls were coming to China and that we could be their guest. It caught me by surprise – the fact that this band is suddenly coming to China and wants us around. I was really excited about that and said yes right away. I had thought that they should come do a gig in China when I first heard their music, and now they’re really coming! 

Dress Code: Blood, Sweat and Beers

-Dan Rothwell

“Fast as fuck, stupid energies fuelled by beer, DRESS CODE from Beijing, will feed you some fastcore-hardcore-power-violence down your throats.” Whilst wading through the weekly stream of gig listings, I let this opening sentence sink in; and I couldn't help but think to myself, 'that's a pretty bold statement.'. “With members from USA, Canada and Australia and a history of past bands longer than our bassist's history of ex-girlfriends, DRESS CODE will leave you sweat-stained, covered in beer, (maybe some blood), and mostly with a good fuckin' time.” Now I really had an idea of who these guys were, -ish. I was sold. I thought, 'They must be a multi-cultural collective of like minded talent, utilising years of past musical experience to craft a unique experience.' With hints at audience participation, potential bouts of intense cardiovascular activity and an element of danger juxtaposed against prospects of joy, I had to check it out.

Their high-octane performance does indeed involve glamour, gore and a whole lot of beer. As probably one of the most exciting bands on the scene, one genuinely can't be sure of what's likely to happen during their show... through DRESS CODE, I've seen drum-kits dismantled, people flying into said dismantled drum-kits, people flying into other people.

What's for sure is that after all this chaos, a contemplative breath of fresh-air is welcome as the echoes of the sonic assault slowly fade.

Loreli caught up with the guys to talk about their upcoming three month hiatus, other projects and most recent tour around China.

Posted November 16, 2016

Oliver – Vocals

Nevin – Guitar

Alfie – Bass

Aaron – Drums

Interview Transcript:

A: Alright so this Beijing tour... basically, “Dress Code” is going to be taking a break for a little while, and we're not going to be playing for about three months; so we wanted to try and get in as many shows as we could before we broke up. Oh my God! Wait a second! Letting it slip! I got a secret! I'm pregnant, my bad.

Anyway, so we wanted to get as many shows in as possible before people were gonna leave, and we just got some shirts made too, so we're stoked trying to get some people in some fun “Dress Code” merch... it's got a really nice ass on it... So, represent the finest ass that Beijing has to offer!

**Kim Kardashian eat your heart out!**

...

A: Tonight we're playing “Dress Code”, and then, also Nevin and I play in another project called “MAI”, a cool d-beat band, just listened to Tumour Boy in the jam space yesterday, they are getting good man. They're a cool band and they have a new record out too, so if anybody's interested check that out! Then the night after that is Dress Code as well, and apparently we're playing with two cool, new punk bands on the scene – “Hind Brain” and “Hang Nail”, and then we're gonna do our Misfits KTV after that so it's gonna be one weekend of just awesome music.

...

O: First show we played was “Rock Against Jams”, I guess we were trying to think of names - I was just thinking of like, punk-rock-girl band names? One was like “Sludge Bitches” or something, like, I was just thinking of funny... like, if I was in a punk-girl band what would I name my band? Then I guess the one that stuck out was “Dress Code”, so we chose that. I was like “That's kinda dumb I think.”, and then everyone was like “....well, it describes how in Hardcore there's like, attire, you don't fit that dress code.” So it was just like, alright, fuck it. And then they got me drunk enough that I was just like “Alright, whatever, fine, this chuan'r is good. Whatever. That's fine. Yeah, we were eating chuan'r. I was like 'Alright, whatever', that's how they got me: they got me drunk, and they fed me chuan'r and I was like 'whatever, fine'. It was good.

**Clothes are for losers**

Al: “No clothes is the best clothes!”

A: Exactly, to quote “Die Chiwawa, Die!”,  no clothes is the best clothes. Yeah, it just gets fucking hot man! Way too fucking hot! And also, we want to make it hot (temperature wise) with all these hot bods we got over here, we gotta fucking show off that SHIIIIIT!

Al: I dunno, with my last band... well my Australian band Scrotal-Vice, last time we were on tour I took one pair of pants and we were playing every night, so I sort of got used to taking off my pants otherwise I'd be too fucking sweaty, and bullshit, every night...

***

Al: Again, my Scrotal-Vice Ozzy band, we played in “Black Wire Records”, and like there's fucking record cases around and like cases full of tapes. So everyone's going nuts during the show, fucking blah blah blah moshing around, one cunt gets thrown and ends up like fucking diving right into this glass record case, smashing straight through the glass case; gets a massive shard of glass right through his arm, in the middle of our show and at this point we're still just playing, like, “Sick, sick sick! Fucking go for it!”... end up at the end of the song, everyone's like “Fucking Stop! What are you doing?” - This cunt's like bleeding everywhere, got fucking glass all through his arm, he was a really good mate of ours as well... he ends up having to go to hospital, fucking arm sliced up; he's a chef so he couldn't work for fucking weeks but you know, that's fucking punk rock.

A: Growing up playing in hardcore bands in Toronto and stuff like that, there were so many times where like...one show we ended up playing with, well, we didn't play WITH, but we played a show and then Negative Approach played a fucking after-party in a kitchen, so there was just like, kids jumping off the refrigerator, and trying to mosh. So like... we used to own, like, a punk house where we just had crazy shows where we'd jam a hundred and fifty people into a basement maybe like, you know, the size of School Bar (about), and it just turned into people like jumping down the stairs, and trying to crowd-surf their way in to see the band, so like, if we can jam a bunch of people in a small place and have a nuts time, then like, that would be awesome.

O: I really like School a lot because it's just this really compact space, and you pack it up enough you can just jump on kids, and everyone's covered in sweat. At some point people get pushy with each other and if you get later on in the night, people get drunk enough and everyone's having a good time. I think in bigger venue spaces, people are more reserved, and they're sitting out all the way in the back, you know, just having a drink with their friends, just watching, but I think in smaller venue spaces there's not really a choice for that, so you can just get in people's faces. You can get more into it you know? But even if they do, I buy an extra long cable so I can just like yell at people, even if they're sitting behind some bar hiding from us. That's always good.

A: Shout out to Temple Bar as well for always taking really good care of us, they are awesome. You know, that place is just so much fun to play, and the staff are awesome, and everybody has a good time there. Talking about that invitation to Natooke? Is that what it's called? I don't even know how to say it, but it sounds like a fun idea.

Al: There was a couple of good years of DMC madness out in TongZhou –  sadly the venue is no more, closed up last year? Little tiny fucking place out there, sadly no more.

N: They actually, they have their own silk screening workshop, so they do shirts for a bunch of bands – touring bands and local bands in China.

Al: DMC Records represent!

N: And, if you buy one of our shirts, the actual tag has the DMC label on it!

Al: Anyway, we're fucking playing our show, whatever, rocking out, fucking getting our clothes off as we do, anyway, fucking halfway through some song, see Nevin, well the guitar stops and starts ringing out, and I see him fucking spider-man-like-climbing up this balcony, to the rapturous applause of the crowd there.

N: Really?

Al: Well, the twenty of them that were there, yeah.

O: There was a show in Wuhan at 'Vox', I think two days later, and I was very inspired by his climbing abilities, so, I had to do it. I followed in his footsteps, but I almost fucking fell off, and then this guy like pushed me up, while I was dangling off, and I was like “Thanks, guy.”.

N: I will say, I did spy the Vox one too, but it was much higher.

A: One of my favourite parts about playing in this band is that like yeah, music's good, and drums are super fun, but like I can just like sit there on the drums being like “What the fuck is that leopard pants man doing right now! Why is Oliver hanging off a roof?”. The thing is I can't move! All these guys get to climb up on shit but I'm stuck behind this drum set and I have to like play like that. When I play bass in another band, then I'm the one that gets to go nuts, but like I try and be as crazy as I can behind the drum set.

...

N: Yeah well we did the tour together with the kids from “Die! Chiwawa Die!, well with “Die! Chiwawa Die!”, with that band. Well they used to be involved in “Full Label” and now their new record label is called “Qiii Snacks”. Best DIY scene in the whole country - really amazing kids, they've been involved in old hardcore bands like “Smog Town” and “CO2”, tons of stuff throughout the years, “Your Boyfriend Sucks”, stuff like that, and they were the best people to tour with. They took really good care of us, we had a lot of fun together. I'll speak for myself, but that's why I do this kind of stuff and that's why I tour, or that's why I play music; and playing with them was the highlight of the whole thing.

O: And I just want to make a quick shout out to Jinbo's panda pants, that she wore for five days straight – that was disgusting but awesome, so thank you.

Al: We played in this little jam room in a fucking music store in a fucking mall, there was little kids hanging out...

O: We scared away a really nice girl...

Al: I was playing all these love songs on the piano and she's like “You play so nice!”, anyway. She saw about one song of us playing Dress Code, and then fucked right off. Anyway, we were playing this sick show and Oliver's climbing off the fucking pipes on the roof, and everyone's going nuts and pushing cunts around, but then of course we're in a fucking music store, so Nevin like opens the door and rushes off into the music store... He fucking disappears, going “Oh yeah, whatever”

N: With my guitar.

A: With his guitar,

A: Still playing the song.

A: Anyway, like a minute later, as the song ends, another bloke who's definitely not Nevin walks back into the room holding Nevin's guitar... Like SICK YES RANDOM MUSIC STORE DUDE! YOU'RE TOTALLY THE NEW DRESS CODE GUITARIST! Anyways, he tests the sound, it's all good, we went straight into our chart-topping-classic “Keen”, as this random bloke is playing guitar... I tell you what, I don't think he'd ever picked up a guitar in his life, but he shredded man. I reckon he's the real fucking dress code guitarist.

N: I'm easily replaced, but I had to take a piss, what can you do man?

A: I don't know this bloke's name, but if you're listening, random music shop in FoShan bloke, come up to Beijing, we've got a gig for you, Nevin can go take your place down there in FoShan.

N: I'll be selling guitars to cute girls...

*** - All music in this recording was written and performed by Dress Code, apart from this section. This was some members of “The Paramecia” having a jam. The recording fit, and you know what? I think you're cooler now for having listened to both fastcore-hardcore-power-violence and free-jazz within the last ten minutes. High five you! 

Charm

The interviewer becomes the interviewee this week on Loreli as Amy was able to trick Beijing resident music journalist, Josh Feola into chatting with her and letting her record some of his experimental solo project, Charm. Josh writes about the Beijing music scene for Douban Music, Tiny Mix Tapes, Fun Guide, Pangbianr, Time Out Beijing, Bandcamp Daily, The Wire, etc. etc. etc. He also plays drums for SUBS and Vagus Nerve.

You can catch Josh playing with SUBS at Yugongyishan on November 19th or at BEME (Beijing Electronic Music Event), which is a mini-festival Josh puts on every year through the Sinotronics label.

Posted November 10, 2016

About Charm:

Charm is an ongoing performance and recording project incorporating field recordings, ambient cultural sounds, and decaying feedback/noise/drone collages. Loreli recorded a portion of Charm's set at fRUITYSPACE on 10.28.16, Charm's first and only show for 2016. Joining Josh onstage was rapper/poet Dawei 大卫 and beat boxer/instrumentalist Hong Long 宏龙. Mastering of the music in this piece was done by Michael Cupoli.

Daniel Taylor, Heike Kagler & Hanna Jarvi

The Lorelians are at it again, busy little bees that we are! This time, Amy went down to DDC on October 19th for a very rare performance by three acoustic wonders: Daniel Taylor, Heike Kagler and Hanna Jarvi. Hanna moved back to Finland a year ago, but while visiting Beijing this year, she made sure to make time for her music partners and fans. View video of Dan and Heike performing here or catch them live at DDC on November 10th for a special show with Su Zixu.

Posted November 4, 2016