Oct 19, 2016 Imprint Presents: Underground Bands from Beijing recap
It must have been interesting for Carsick Cars, Chui Wan, and Alpine Decline to head all the way down the I-5 from their San Francisco gigs, drive right past the skyscrapers of Los Angeles, and spill out onto on a sidewalk in Long Beach. And then be faced with a gaggle of Chinese language reporters. What did they talk about? Somebody track down and translate the interviews and get back to us!
But indeed, Saturday’s Imprint Presents: Underground Bands from Beijing show was as rare an opportunity as it was an incredible bill as it was unlikely to happen in Long Beach. Yes, even newsworthy to the curious and those in the know. It was a bit of a stretch for us at Imprint Culture Lab (which specializes in contemporary art and entrepreneurship) to facilitate such an opportunity for hardcore music lovers in Long Beach, but we thought it was worth it.
Before the show, I had an opportunity to chat with the bands as well. Imprint usually hosts talks and not concerts, so we hosted a conversation and Q&A about Beijing’s underground music scene featuring Yulong from Chui Wan, Shouwang and Alex from Carsick Cars, and Pauline from Alpine Decline (with bonus thoughts from underground Chinese music champion Ricky from the Brian Jonestown Massacre). They weren’t forthcoming about how great or influential each other’s bands are, but were clearly proud of the Beijing scene, candid about the unique challenges of playing in a huge country like China, and illuminating about the differences between writing lyrics in Chinese and English. I look forward to seeing how the video turns out…
Of course, the bands flew out of China not to talk but play music. First up were the art-damaged expats from Los Angeles. I am a fan of many duos who seem to represent the very simplest, rawest level of a band yet create musical conversations that are shockingly complex and heavy. Alpine Decline are like that, and although their records that I listen to sound dark, noisy, and harsh, their opening set had a surprisingly vulnerable and lovely tone. Too bad they ran out of their new record!
I got to see Chui Wan last year when they toured the U.S. to support their incredible last release. They masterfully weave rhythms with patience, playfulness, and skill that will freak out fans of the Meat Puppets and Grateful Dead alike, and it’s hypnotic to witness live. Each of the band members is a real master and they visibly push each other to play harder during the set–especially on the new songs. Chui Wan probably had the most traditionally “Chinese” tones, and I can’t wait for the material to be fully evolved and recorded.
Carsick Cars. Is there a band with a bigger following in the world of underground rock of China? The riffs and droning are informed by the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, and the No Wave scene, but the sense of urgency is brand new. That vibe is shared by a lot of the cool, contemporary bands coming out of Beijing: familiar sounds and melodies being played by blown minds with a leveled sense and hierarchy of rock music as a result of so much music being unloaded in China at once via the Internet. Emerging from this avalanche of new sounds came the stellar Carsick Cars–not only having an unmistakably clean and crushing guitar tone but creating a soundtrack for Beijing’s underground music subculture for a decade now.
How great was it for the discerning people who gathered at the Psychic Temple to see these cool bands all the way from Beijing? What are the chances of something like this ever happening again in the future? Who knows, but for now I’m savoring the show, thanking the crew for making it happen, and congratulating Long Beach music freaks for checking out amazing, obscure-but-relevant artists that may never play in this corner of the planet again.
Shop for records by Alpine Decline, Chui Wan, and Carsick Cars at faroutdistantsounds.com and follow Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too.