2019 Year in Review: The Best New Beijing Bands
These are the Beijing-based bands who stood out in 2019 – bands that wiggled their way into my earlobes and left their mark on my membrane, blindsiding, captivating, and most importantly, making me curious to see them again. Time will tell but I’m confident we’ll be seeing these cats make plenty of noise come the Year of the Rat.
READ: The Best Albums of 2019 pt. I and pt. II
The Beauty
There’s nothing better than being taken off guard by a band you had zero previous knowledge of, and The Beauty did just that. Toeing the line between old-school blues-ridden rock and rock and jangly indie-pop, there’s something refreshingly vintage also contemporary about how the band carries themselves. With the instrumental and lyrical chops to back it all up, their rock and roll heart is clearly in the right place, and I expect their melodic charm is going to win fans over en masse in the year to come. If there's one thing we ask of The Beauty, it's please don’t give in to the dark side of pop.
Yangji (养鸡)
I have a friend who can’t stand the sound of Hangzhou transplant Yangji, which has only solidified my love for the singular artist. An ex-punk rocker who has re-outfitted her sensibilities into an off-kilter indie pop persona, her chainsaw KTV aesthetics and quirky demeanor hide some of the most innovative and ear worm-tingling songwriting this side of Beijing, seamlessly blurring the lines between vulnerability and keen self-awareness.
The Claptraps
2019 saw a horde of shoegaze bands hit the scene – to the point of over-saturation. But no one attacked the genre like The Claptraps, whose beautifully intense, reverb-heavy sound doesn’t hold back one bit, engulfing listeners with walls of noise and fuzz. With a temperament that’s more in line with noise rock, The Claptraps promote a go loud or go home attitude that is giving the shoegaze scene a nice little shake-up.
Pizza Face
A molotov cocktail of punk posturing and renegade charm, Pizza Face is a riotously charged concoction of rock and roll in all its glory and incarnations, ricocheting from waltzy dream-pop one moment before swan diving into punk rock ditties the next. Singer and frontwoman Spirit is one for the ages – fearless, provocative, and sly as a fox – she's a performer who relishes the stage and takes command of her audience. They’re already making their presence known outside of Beijing, so best catch them now before they graduate to Beijing's bigger stages.
Sourtower
Sourtower is the kind of pulpy, groovy fun that the scene needs. A stoic, dead-eyed blend of cold wave chills and psychedelic unease – almost Lynchian in its deft touch – the outfit has gone through many iterations just this past year. What started as a three-girl band has slowly evolved into a duo with founder Wang Xu and electronic producer Another Van. However the cards may fall, you can count on Sourtower to stir up some noise come 2020.
Honorable mentions
Despite only lasting a year, UNIT still managed to pack a hell of a punch. A highly combustible noise-punk outfit (made up of some of the scenes busiest musicians), they’re lean, mean, and devilishly good fun thanks to a high-strung mix of hard-hitting drums, jagged guitar, and rock-hard bass. Catch their last gig before they completely self-destruct on Jan 18 at DDC.
There was no band I saw more this year then Xiao Wang. The kawaii core band has continued to hone their sound (and add some new members), tightening the screws to deliver high-octane yet bittersweet tunes that strike with precision. I was equally impressed with The White Papers, who seem to have stripped back their sound, giving their post-punk fire more of a jagged edge and leaning into the energy of their musicianship rather than simply going through the motions. Elsewhere, bands like SNSOS and Backspace have been leaving bread crumbs of new material all year long (the former just released their new EP), and yeah, it’s grand.
There’s also a whole new wave of city pop-flavored cats about to hit the scene, such as BowAsWell, a trio of killer musicians who bring serious chops and ice-cold calm to their upbeat and psych-infused sound. Hong Kong transplant Heta Uma also impressed with his singular punk rock sound by way of electronica.
Finally, let’s not forget the swell of talent that popped in to say hi from around China – bands that arguably put plenty of Beijing’s best to shame, as well as point to trends that have yet to kick off fully here in the capital (the aforementioned city pop) – hat tip to Poetry in Shorts, Lonely Cookies, Plastic (basically a Beijing band at this point), Hoo!, Floating in the Mist, Shanghai Qiutian, and, really, too many others. Bring on the sounds of 2020.
READ: The Best Chinese Albums of the Year
Images: Live Beijing Music
