alternativechina

Perhaps surprising to some, the central Chinese city of Xi’an is once again becoming quite the destination for music festivals. Having been the site of a Strawberry Festival (Modern Sky) in 2010, the record label returns to the ancient capital the first weekend of June with another edition of Strawberry. Following that, the Summer Parade “Forests International Music Festival” will set up shop during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday break (June 11-12). The latter festival’s lineup includes regional indie favourites Deserts Chang (TW) and My Little Airport (HK) as well as mainland headliners Omnipotent Youth Society, Snapline and MC Shitou. For pop fans, Della Ding (丁当) somewhat inexplicably headlines the second day.

We last wrote about Xi’an when the Zebra Festival that was supposed to be there was cancelled in the lead up to the 2012 transition. However, the return of festivals to the city this year, as well as global brands such as adidas looking to put on events in the city, means that Chengdu and Wuhan may soon have company in the exclusive “hip second-tier city” club.

Editor’s note: This review of David Guetta on the Great Wall comes from a Radar pal who chooses to remain anonymous. He was part of the expat exodus to Juyongguan Great Wall this past weekend to see the tech-house ‘legend.’

When I was younger and more into music than I am today, I swore to myself that that I wouldn’t be one of those people who thought that “their” music is better than what the “kids” listened to. This is the lesson that one draws from hating baby boomers. My own preferences ran to 70′s stadium rock, which is not the paragon of sophistication, but my adolescence coincided with Blink-182 and the Backstreet Boys. So I had to perform every acrobatic maneuver of logic afforded by a liberal arts education to convince myself that music by those guys were the latter-day cultural equivalents of Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, even though, well, they were not.

Which is why I am bewildered by how David Guetta was able to draw what seemed like many thousands of young expats to the Great Wall. First of all, did BLCU build like ten campuses without telling any of us? Did WAB (Western Academy of Beijing) and ISB (International School of Beijing) become much less selective? These are things that I don’t notice.

Second, I actually like electronica music. I went to Underworld concerts when I was in college, and I thought they were awesome. I also like French House, and was able to convince myself whenever Dimitri from Paris sampled 60′s lounge music it was somehow, like, influenced by Roland Barthes or something. Even nowadays when I hear Avicii sampling Etta James, I’m like nodding and smiling in the way that stupid people do in public lectures when they understand something.

However, every song I heard at the David Guetta concert seemed to have been engineered for dumb people to feel good. I don’t think David Guetta ever played a song all the way through. Maybe for copyright reasons he can only play the part he produced or something, but then the entire concert became a mash up of various choruses from pop songs, which when played over and over again, appear to be truncated mantras for simpletons. People got really excited every time the phrase “when love takes over” was played, but we never find out what happens when love takes over. Actually we do, we find out that when love takes over the concert ends, for David Guetta only played for like 45 minutes (inshallah). This caused great confusion for people who were used to encores, but nobody really cared. We realized that we were all at the Great Wall, it was dark and very far away from Spark (Ed.: nightclub of choice for fuerdai in Beijing).

We’ll be at Digital & Music Matters next week – come find us! The full schedule is out now. Of particular interest is the YouTube FanFest powered by HP. Conceived of by Branded, also the agency that produces Digital & Music Matters, the event brings Youtube sensations to the conference audience. We’ll be interested to see what kind of insights they bring to the table. The participants include actor/comedian Ryan Higa and US band Boyce Avenue, who have toured from Manhattan to Manila solely on the strength of their social media following.

Over at Slink Rat, Shanghai musician Adam McRae, better known as Reykjavictim has written up an account of his south China tour (Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hong Kong). It’s a thoroughly interesting read, especially compared to the interview with Jef Vreys of New Noise from last week. While there are more and more non-native Chinese musicians embarking on tour routes all over China — see thruoutin and Slink Rat’s alter ego Pairs — Vreys echoes complaints made by other China rock promoters and watchers about local bands’ unwillingness, inability or both to promote their own music to a wider audience locally or internationally.

Read Reykjavictim’s full account right here.

IVAN BELCIC – DRUMMER FOR DEATH TO GIANTS

It’s not every day you experience something like the sound of Death to Giants.  Genre hopping, vocal shredding and at times just plain weird, DtoG is a a mashup of styles that is hard to put your finger on but will get you hooked with their unique style.  Luckily I got to the bottom of all that as I had the chance to talk with the better half of the group.  That’s right, the fucking drummer, Ivan Belcic.

Now to be fair to our readers, the genre of Death to Giants doesn’t technically fit into our scope but then again, I’m not aware of a death-pop specific blog out there.  Afterall, we’re a blog about music and drummers; not to mention, Ivan’s got plenty of personality so this won’t be just another boring blog post you breeze through on the shitter at work.   This will be one that leaves red marks on your legs because you rest your elbows there and you forget to move them because you become so engrossed reading about the song Girth vs Length that you lose yourself for a few minutes locked back in the nice big handicap stall.

Now, get yourself some fucking Kombuchi, take an Adderall and tune into Death to Giants on Bandcamp and read along.  Today is not just about you.  And if you have to pick just one song to listen to check out Stegosaurus Rex.

On March 28, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy Tweeted a photo of himself signing a contract in Simplified Chinese, saying “I know exactly what contract I’m signing; I think…” Picked up immediately by the band’s Chinese fans and music media, speculation ran rampant as to when the band would be playing in the mainland. Less than 2 days later, the Tweet and photo disappeared, and there has been no announcement of a Muse tour in the Far East. What happened? We have a few ideas.

Without getting into too much boring detail, the process for obtaining a performance permit from the Chinese Ministry of Culture is a bureaucratic, complicated process. Aspects of it have been highlighted by both the foreign press and music industry insiders, to varying degrees of accuracy. The process, which includes submitting set lists, song lyrics and videos to the MoC, is also well-known to Chinese music fans. After the photo was Tweeted and shared on Weibo by Muse fans in China and Hong Kong, it didn’t take long for the fans to start worrying about how certain Muse songs were less than “harmonious.” They quickly started an initiative to translate the band’s lyrics in a “louder” “redder” fashion. It should be emphasized that this was a purely fan-led initiative, without the knowledge or approval of the promoters.

Of course we don’t know what has (or hasn’t happened) with the band, their agent, and the promoters in the interim since the Tweet was posted and removed. Getting bands to China, especially ones of Muse’s size and production, is not an easy or time-efficient task. Therefore promoters like to keep details close to the vest until contracts are signed and permits submitted. To have something like the performance contract leak, even if the photo is too blurry to show details, complicates matters. And to have fans, especially the 脑残粉 (“brain-damaged fans” or superfans) insert themselves into the process only complicates matters further. We don’t want to sound patronizing, but certain processes are better left to the professionals. If Muse does end up coming to China, it will be in spite of the intervention by fans. And if they don’t, one reason – of potentially many – might be because of the leaked photo and subsequent translation initiative.

We want to see more and more worthwhile arena shows. We understand that in the age of social media and the Internet it is harder and harder to control the process and consequences of information sharing. It is the fans that make it possible to bring artists to China, and we appreciate their dedication to the cause, but in a still-sensitive performance climate, in order to achieve our collective goals, music promoters need the space and freedom to do their jobs properly.  The Chinese authorities have proved time and again that in order to keep expanding the size and diversity of artists coming to China, we need to keep as low a profile as possible.  It is our hope that one day we will be free to bring in bands quickly and easily and without the acres of bureaucratic nonsense that we currently endure, but that day is not today and in the meantime, we must work with what we are given.  Three years ago, it was inconceivable that a band like Muse would be anywhere near coming to China.  Today, we accept it as almost normal.  How far we have come!

BEIJING MUSIC JOURNAL

Are you sad you missed out on Michael Bolton the last time he played in Shanghai? Too young to see Shawn Colvin at Lilith Fair? Here’s your chance to see nine Grammy winners in concert, at the Night of Fortune Grammy Superstars Concert in Chengdu. Supposedly the closing party for the 2013 Fortune Global Forum, the lineup includes Leo Sayer, Jody Watley, Shawn Colvin, Richard Marx, Yolanda Adams, Patti Austin, Diane Schuur, and Michael Bolton. We’re not exactly sure what these stars have in common with the confirmed conference attendees, which read like a Who’s Who of international and Chinese companies, SOEs, and media.

The Grammy winners will be joined by Chinese stars including pianist Lang Lang, Cantopop singers Nicholas Tse and Joey Yung, and PLA-approved songstresses Song Zuying and Tan Jing. Prices range in price from 186 RMB all the way to a staggering 7320 RMB for VVIP tickets which includes some quality hangout time with Michael Bolton, Yolanda Adams and Jody Watley.

The Global Forum takes place from June 6-8 in Chengdu. The closing party is June 8 at Chengdu Gymnasium. Damai has tickets … if you’re so inclined.

This blog does a pretty good job of reviewing and complaining about music festivals happening in Beijing, Shanghai, and sometimes even other cities (by our tireless contributors). However, from an audience perspective, we have precious few gripes this year for 2 of China’s longest-running music festivals, Midi and Strawberry.

Your Radar correspondents, split between Beijing and Shanghai, attended the first day of Strawberry in Beijing, the third day of Midi in Beijing and day three of Strawberry in Shanghai. Miracle of miracles, there was beer for sale at Strawberry in Beijing. More importantly, it didn’t come in tepid cans out of a sketchy backpack. Danish beer juggernaut Tuborg claimed sponsorship duties at Modern Sky’s flagship festival, complete with VIP “pavilion,” microphone-toting MC and plenty of scantily clad Tuborg honeys. There are unsubstantiated rumors that the beer was only there the first day – can any of our readers shed some light on the situation? In Shanghai, we were pretty outraged to find out that Strawberry had (seemingly) sold exclusive alcohol rights to Bacardi. While this is good for the coffers in the short run and great for a brand to force everyone that wants to drink alcohol to drink theirs, it’s moves like this that destroy the long term credibility of a festival. It is simply greed that is driving a festival to deny consumers choice to make MORE money.

Usually strongest with their domestic lineup, Strawberry’s foreign headliners this year was Travis, they of the inoffensive between-Oasis-and-Coldplay Britrock persuasion; experimental pop savants Deerhoof; and Lenka, who played at Modern Sky 2011. We stayed for the entirety of Travis’ set, and enjoyed it very much, to our great surprise. There were no surprises in the domestic lineup, from New Pants taking the slot before the headliner for the second year in a row to Xie Tian Xiao’s 75^th appearance to close out the festival (more on that in a bit), but the sheer number of people at the festival – the organizers stopped selling door tickets at 3PM – speaks to it’s success, even with single day tickets priced at 150 RMB.

Midi Festival took over the space at China Music Valley in Pinggu district this year, extending the festival’s eternal quest to find the furthest possible location whilst still remaining within Beijing’s municipal borders. In past years, the China Music Valley Festival (of Avril Lavigne and Jesus and Mary Chain notoriety) have installed two stages in the entire area, and alternated set times so that only one act would be playing at any given time. Midi brought 5 stages. The sonic experience was…interesting. However, the festival experience was not lacking. From 20 RMB beers and 5 RMB water to donuts that were “much better than they had to be” (quoth one enthusiastic festivalgoer), parking yourself in front of a stage and letting the music wash over you was not a bad way to pass the day.For both events, branding was everywhere, from the Veet flower wall in front of the Strawberry Lifestyle Pavilion and Yili-sponsored Love Stage at Strawberry to the Mini Cooper-shaped stage and House of Vans at Midi. But regardless of the commercial presence, this is the first year that both venerated China music festivals captured part of the “festival spirit” seen at international stalwarts Coachella or Reading and Leeds. Strawberry was the first to seize onto this kind of consistency, which breeds reliability and consumer loyalty. The same location, similar lineups and even the same layout year after year. For many Chinese music lovers, weekly or even monthly outings to see live music simply aren’t feasible. So while scene insiders complain about lack of innovation (and we are guilty as charged), the festival organizers have actually identified their audience desires and tailor to those expectations. In an industry where solvency is five years removed from the initial investment at best, these festivals have their eyes on the prize: sustainability.

But wait: although we applaud this move to sustainability and the provision of better facilities to the audience, we can’t write this without bemoaning the fact that this consistency IS FUCKING BORING. The lineups of these festivals have not evolved at all in the last 5 years.  Miserable Faith headlining Midi: check. Lenka back for Strawberry: check. Queen Sea Big Shark, Re-Tros, Xie Tian Xiao, New Pants all getting key slots at 草莓: checkcheckcheckcheck. Muma and Third Party, Twisted Machine all headlining Midi stages: you get the idea… It’s like the organizers are dialing in, again and again and again, either that or nobody at either of these companies actually listen to new music, or are prepared to give anyone new a shot.

You want to know what we think? Midi and Modern Sky are more interested in nationwide domination (and in Strawberry’s case, rinsing margins) than actually offering anything new to consumers. Strawberry is in 6 or 7 cities this year, Midi something similar, becoming akin to cookie cutter festival formulas. Strawberry seems happy to make a small fortune by selling every square inch of real estate to any brand that will buy, which meant the experience at the mainstage in Shanghai was similar to going to a really down-at-heel Yinchuan mall. Branded booths were all blaring their own music completely randomly and at odds with the music on stage. The sound clashes were really horrible. Once again, although this will benefit the festivals financially in the short term, and while festival newbies in Xi’an and Shenzhen will appreciate the newness of a Strawberry or Midi in their city, it’s only a matter of time (in fact it has already started) before consumers in the strongholds of Shanghai and Beijing start to look for something new.

Midi, the older of the two festivals, started out with the reputation of being the less commercially-minded of the two. But in past years, with sponsorships from Vans, Jagermeister and Tiger amongst others, it is undeniable that the sponsors make for a better festival experience IF DONE WELL.  Kinder and Bacardi take note. Perhaps in another ten years the market will be ready for a festival without either a car on stage, or a car-shaped stage.

MP3 Monday: Ben Ben

Today we take a look at Ben Ben, one of Beijing’s more intriguing indie rock ciphers. Originally from Taiwan, Ben Ben represents this persistent phenomenon in which a musician moves to Beijing for its perceived musical manna, its mythical underground community, then quickly gets pretty disillusioned with the whole thing, then comes back because fuck it, it’s really the only solid option. Actually most people who get burnt out on the music grind here just drop out entirely, but Ben Ben’s kept at it. After three years of ping-ponging between Taipei and Beijing, writing songs and finding the right people to play them live and on record, she finally releases her latest, Sacrifice Mountain Hills, on Friday at Mao Livehouse. Here’s a quick look at how she got to this point.

Han Han - No More Sports for Duck Fight Goose?

Han Han is the hairy face of seminal Shanghai band Duck Fight Goose, who have just been confirmed to be supporting Slash when he plays at the Mercedes Benz arena Mixing Room.

People like Duck Fight Goose’s electronic heavy post-rock. Really. A lot.

“I think that album “Sports” is the greatest thing by anyone anywhere in a very long time,” says Enrique Maymi, a veteran of venerated garage rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre on Slink Rat (Xiao Zhong of Shanghai band Pairs’ tumblr).

Charming fellow. He could be Khalil Fong’s older brother, no?

Universal Music China has tapped Garand Wu for Managing Director, from a press release by the company in late April.

The appointment, effective immediately, was announced by Sunny Chang, Managing Director, Universal Music Greater China.

In his new role, Mr. Wu will oversee a full range of services and operations including Marketing, Promotion, Sales and Finance. He will co-manage A&R for Universal Music China with Mr. Chang.

Before joining Universal Music, Mr. Wu was Senior Marketing Director of the International Division of EMI Music Taiwan after holding a post as Regional Marketing Director, overseeing International Repertoire for EMI Music Asia. Since 2009, he has operated his own business specializing in strategic marketing and C&C (creative and content), offering services and solutions such as event promotion, production and artist management across South East Asia.

Sunny Chang, Managing Director, Universal Music Greater China, said: “Garand’s comprehensive track record and knowledge of the strategic marketing sector in the region will be an important part of our future growth plans.”

George Ash, President of Universal Music Asia Pacific, added: “Garand is a highly experienced executive whose leadership and expertise in marketing and label management make him an invaluable force for the company in the region.”

Hurts came to town as part of the Dior Homme presentation in Beijing on April 25. A re-creation of the line’s Autumn/Winter 2013 show staged at Paris Fashion Week in January, this is creative director Kriss van Assche and the storied French fashion house’s first full presentation in Beijing. The line previously reproduced the Haute Couture show at Shanghai’s House of Roosevelt in January 2013.

Taking place at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the same location as Prada’s Beijing event in 2011, the show also included three tuxedo ensembles manufactured especially for the Chinese market. This, along with actress Fan Bingbing’s China-only appearance in the upcoming Marvel action film Iron Man 3, highlights the attempts by international luxury and entertainment entities to target Chinese consumers. After the models had left the runway, Hurts took the stage, attired in head-to-toe Dior Homme, of course. An informal poll of the guests present concluded that most were also fans of the band in addition to being part of the fashion world.

The performance, which lasted a respectable 40 minutes or so, featured a good mix of tunes from their first and second albums, including hit singles “Wonderful Life” and “Better Than Love.” Near the end of the set, a live bat that had flown through the venue earlier returned, a fitting coda to both the show’s somber tones and Hurts’ gothic sensibilities. Whereas the show and performance were well-received by local and international media and attendees, Dior’s activities in China have shown a more restrained, less populist approach than other luxury brands such as Burberry or Louis Vuitton. As China Music Radar’s sister publication The Sound highlighted in our Spring 2011 issue, one of the more successful band x brand collaborations in recent memory had been Burberry teaming up with Britpop band Keane. That event, freed from the usual constraints of a traditional fashion show, established Burberry as a leader in multi-disciplinary branded events in emerging markets. In contrast, Dior’s strategy in China has been (in our opinion) targeted more towards HNWI than cultivating a mainstream notoriety amongst the public. From the hush-hush Haute Couture event in Shanghai to last week’s understated presentation, the fashion house is cultivating a following through celebrities and KOLs, which suits it’s reputation as one of the leaders in high fashion. To that end, the brand is not relying on the band, i.e. Hurts, to build their credibility or recognition within the mainland. Although the band’s predilection for high fashion and the glossy sheen to their music, their presence at the show was for novelty and interest as opposed to any deep collaboration with the fashion line. And they fulfilled that purpose: with model good looks and talent in addition, Hurts fit right into the fashion milieu. They didn’t have to do anything else.

David Kay of Shanghai band Party Horse has an interesting piece in April’s That’s Shanghai about playing in Hangzhou’s West Lake Festival. From submitting lyrics to clear the censors to encounters with the polite hordes of fans from Hangzhou it’s a fun little read and nice insight into the experience of playing a non-tier one city festival.

Read the entire piece here.

Calling all fashionistas – this Thursday sees the arrival of the Dior Homme (that’s menswear) Autumn/Winter 2013 collection. The brand, which has been making considerable forays into the Chinese luxury-goods market, will present the collection at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) Museum (a popular venue for high-fashion shows in Beijing). The brand has also tapped British synthpop Hurts to perform at the fashion show’s afterparty. Similar to the brand’s Haute Couture presentation in Shanghai a couple of weeks ago, the event is meant to be quite exclusive in it’s guestlist and without the usual media scrum common to other fashion shows in China and around the world. Check back here next week for a more detailed report of this latest collaboration between music and luxury goods.

In the meantime, check out our earlier coverage of Keane x Burberry and Prada x Pet Shop Boys. At this point, we are seeing the luxury brands still relying on Western musical acts for collaboration. Even though many mainstream Chinese celebrities have already secured lucrative brand ambassadorships with the major fashion and accessory brands, the same brands have been more reluctant to tap into the Chinese music world for those same deals (and calling Angelababy a “singer” just isn’t something we are willing to do).

Chengdu-based promoter New Noise brought over Belgian band Toman to tour China last month. If you read Dutch, check out their tour diary here.

MP3 Monday: Festival Dark Horses

So the big thing on the agenda for this forthcoming long weekend, of course, is the Music Festival. Two music festivals, actually. MIDI (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) and Strawberry battle it out from April 29-May 1, both sporting lineups heavily emphasizing local rock, punk, metal, folk, and electronic names that, at first glance, seem far too familiar to even the casual Beijing music watcher. But let’s get real for a minute. You’re not at the festival to see Hedgehog orSubs or Nova Heart again. Maybe you are, but that’s secondary to just having a lark outdoors with your friends, smuggling warm Tsingtao’s into a public park and laying on some grass while the sound waves roll over you. That said, here are a few lesser known entrants to this year’s festival fray. A few dark horses, one of which literally sings about horses. Take the time out to patronize the side stages/early time slots to check out a few of the bands that might be headlining the future MIDIs and Strawberries.

New and what looks to be ongoing blog feature from the Beijinger – tracking Soundcloud users (Soundclouders?) in Beijing. Quick glance at the first post rounds up some Radar pals including Live Beijing Music. Nice going by Jerry Chan, True Run media editorial director and old Beijing music hand.

We imagine the upcoming entries will be more inspiring than the 5000 accounts of Shanghai’s ur-Euro DJs.

We kid!

Actually, peep some great Shanghai-based Soundclouds:

Gang of Four in China

Archie Hamilton from Split Works fancies my wife. Probably. Pt 1.

Originally, I wanted to sit down with Archie Hamilton from Split Worksand go through a Split Works show of his choosing and look at how they arrive at certain ticket prices as I’m curious as to how promoters arrive at a certain price. But we ended up talking a whole bunch of other shit, that I’ll cut in to two parts because you probably have a whole heap of torrents to start downloading.  

We talked quite a bit about the Godspeed You! Black Emperor tour as it was just a few days before and Archie was obviously excited about it. It took me awhile to transcribe this so apologies for the delay.  

For Split Works to break even for Godspeed they needed 1,900 tickets across two cities – which means they need around 850 people a city, pre sale. 

Split Works generally run landed offers which means the artist pays for their own flights, but for Godspeed they did factor in 15% flight share in to the offer. But once they landed it’s all local costs. Local hotels, local transport, customs, freight, looking after the band, production and venue hire.     Side note here. If Split Works can bring a ten-piece band, each carrying 50kgs of luggage and gear over for two shows and keep tickets to 240RMB pre sale. Why the fuck is Slash playing a Hennessy sponsored event for 980RMB?    Slash seems like one of those guys that Chinese kids love the shit out of and it seems a bit of a shame that they will have to fork out a whole shit tonne of cash just to have to wait until the first encore for him to play a song they’ve actually heard before.  

So here’s my chat with Archie.  

(you can read part 2 at the link too)