Music Reviews – Local: July 2009

Downtown Production
Brain Failure
Brain Failure was one of the first Chinese bands to be classified as punk rock, but you wouldn’t know it from their latest album, which sounds more like a mixture of classic rock, blues and ska. A majority of the tracks are quite mellow and pleasant – adjectives usually not reserved for those of the School of Punk. Still, palatable can’t be worse than offensive, and Downtown Production is definitely nice on the ears.

This fourth album features the well-publicized collaboration between Brain Failure and Chuck D – one of the first alliances of its kind, at least when it comes to seminal punk bands from China working with seminal figures in American hip-hop.

Unfortunately, “A Box on the Broken Ball” is not among the better tracks on the album (largely due to Chuck D’s less-than-impressive contribution). Luckily, Xiao Rong shines – as he does throughout – and remains as raspy and all-or-nothing as ever. LL

The World Has Become a Fairytale
一个早已成为童话的世界
Sand
For a band that’s been around since 1998, a discography of just two albums is taking things slow, to say the least. Eight years have passed since Sand’s critically acclaimed debut, The Stars Fell On My Head, and now, after countless live performances, their sophomore effort has finally emerged.

The album came out in Germany in 2008 under the title Die Welt ist ein Märchen Geworden, but lead singer Liu Donghong decided on a domestic release through his own label, Da Gongji (大公鸡). Most songs follow the typical Sand style, where the first two-thirds of a track are filled with Liu’s murmuring, accompanied by cozy electric guitar, while the rest bursts with long solos that bury Liu’s deep chanting. There’s something almost too familiar about this record, but perhaps it’s too much to ask for something entirely new, especially when the album was piratable well before its official China release date. WG

The Performance of Identity 身份的表演
Xiao He
When compared to his melodic solo debut, Birds That Can Fly High Don’t Land on the Backs of Oxen That Can’t Run Fast, the second album by Beijing experimental folk mystic and Glamorous Pharmacy frontman Xiao He pushes even closer to the edge between music and performance art. On this double CD release, he completely forsakes lyrics, using vocals as a minimalist instrument to accompany an acoustic guitar. The first disc borrows from Mongolian throat-singing, Taiwanese aboriginal folk and country-style blues, whereas disc two – titled “One Man’s Orchestra” – is a collection of his live recordings. On the latter, he breaks away from the expected and goes wild with industrial noises, electronica samples and electric guitar, all while doing what he does best: improvising. True, sometimes he can get a bit crazy – hysterical, even – but he’s also one of the most talented artists in Beijing, capable of creating astoundingly beautiful melodies. WG