Not From Beijing: Chinese Indie Rock

Here is the piece that I tentatively titled Notable Indie Rock Releases of 2008 By Bands Not From Beijing, for Blurt (formerly Harp). I highly recommend Wang Wen's album IV - my favorite Chinese release of 2008 - and also Graeme Nicol's photos of their 2008 tour here.

Other notable Chindie releases of 2008:

Brain Failure - Beijing Calling EP (with Chuck D). This is "notable," but not good. Imagine an Irish-American punk band feauturig a Chuck D impersonator and you've got it. (Yes, I know it is the actual Chuck D.)

Two compilations from NeoCha.com's Netlabel - Tomorrow's Afternoon Tea (female indie s/s - download)and Post-Rock (um, post-rock - download). NeoCha is like MySpace for China, but a thousand times better because it's still "underground," if that's possible. Their NEXT streaming audio player is an excellent way to hear bazillions of completely unknown Chinese bands.

B6 - Post Haze. Shanghai producer and 1/2 of synthpop duo I-GO.

PK14 - City Weather Sailing (download or stream, try not to be scared of all that Chinese. Maybe you can start learning!). Fantastically dark and complex record from one of Beijing's longest-lasting indie bands. Very strong contender for best album of the year, but not in the Blurt article because they are from BJ.

Sulumi - Chaotic Dances the Function. (download) 8-bit chaos - notable but not my 一杯茶。

Finally: 0ne of the best resources for independent Chinese music -- especially if you don't read Chinese, which I don't -- is the Rock in China wiki, an absolute goldmine of information.