The People's Republic has some of the coolest post-punk, psychedelic and indie bands, despite a censored internet, and a government that wishes it wouldn't.
Extended interview with Lolly from Maybe Mars is available on / bandsplaining
Some of the videos/documentaries cited include:
John Yingling, The World Underground (2015): • The World Underground ...
David Harris, A Tour Of The Public Kingdom (2004): • 【中国纪事 China Story】公共王国...
Jada Li, Nirvana and Pulp A Story of Scrapped CDs by Jada Li (2013) • 打口碟纪录片：Nirvana and Pul...
IQYI, The Big Band www.iq.com/album/the-big-band...
ALL SONGS IN THIS VIDEO (check out in playlist form: open.spotify.com/playlist/4sz...)
0:29 Backspace 退格 - Elephant Treasure
0:58 FAZI 法兹 - Psychedelic
2:27 Peach Illusion 桃子假象 - Hanabi
2:45 Re-Tros 重塑雕像的权利 - At Mosp Here
3:09 Backspace 退格 - Lost Him
3:14 Dream Can 谷水车间 - Cheap Cheap Time I Live, Money Money Saves Me
3:22 Forsaken Autumn - Limpid
7:10 Cui Jian 崔健 - Nothing To My Name
8:05 Cui Jian 崔健 - Wild On The Snow
8:27 New Pants 新裤子乐队
8:55 P.K.14 - Tell The Children
10:14 Carsick Cars - Zhong Nan Hai
11:20 Hiperson 海朋森 - He Made His Mind Up To Be A Tourist
11:53 FAZI 法兹 - Psychedelic
15:30 Vagabond Street
15:57 Diders
17:20 Big Wave
17:49 Mandarin
18:15 Re-Tros 重塑雕像的权利 - Pigs In The River
19:10 RUBUR - Circular Ward
19:30 Backspace 退格 - Lost Him
20:06 Backspace 退格 - Face Mask Tragedy
greetings from china, my band 'weeping star' 泪星 is probably what people would consider strange music here in china , and whilst this video is interesting i really think it misses the mark in a lot of places, You needed to interview a wider selection of people, The lady says that metal music is on the decline here but that simply isn't true, it has never been bigger and there are even music festivals for more obscure subgenres like black metal or even 'slam' metal, if you would ever like to make a follow up to this video, i am more than happy to put you in touch with musicians / people involved with the scene who can give you a deeper understanding
Hey thanks for watching and I appreciate the comment! I’d love to get in touch for a future video. Can you shoot me an email to indiecelebritybingo@gmail.com ?
@@Bandsplaining hell yeah
I’m in a slam metal band called Infantectomy and we definitely want to tour China. A lot of great death metal bands are from there.
I went to a couple metal shows in Hangzhou late 2021 and the crowd went absolutely bananas. Packed house in a 1,000+ venue makes for hell of a time. Not under the impression metal is on the downturn here either
@@hamilfun I’m in the States, in Hollywood of all places, and extreme music is alive and well.
I can’t even begin to imagine how weird Chinese music can get. In a population of over a billion there are undoubtably plenty of very eccentric musicians
Plus the fact of being authoritarian country / isolated from the world in some ways
ok lol
@@notamoonraker It's not isloated at all in terms of music.
i can't even begin to imagine how music actually means, guitars. i've made vst for over twenty years, computer music exists in china. come on token thick rim glasses and college hair and guitar music guy. this is nonsense.
"eccentric" isn't really the chinese way. you actually try your best not to stand out too much.
As someone who works in midst of Chinese underground scene I have to shout it: Chinese independent music needs more exposure to the rest of the world as it deserves! The current Chinese indie musicians are nuts. They are generations born during the sudden open-boarder of the communist regime, while all the movies and musics overflow to this drought land. They were raised by Hendrix, Led Zeppelin’s, Queens, Nirvana, The Gallaghers, MJ, Prince, Eminem, 2-Pac, Rihanna, Taiwanese pop musics, Japanese anime songs, and their rip-offs, Backstreet Boys, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, a lot of Boys! 90s Chinese Rock pioneers, Russian military songs, CCP propaganda songs, traditional Chinese operas......All At Once! There are bands preaching dark bibles and BDSM, there are fake traditional Chinese music sampling bands, there are post-punk bands (a lot of them), anime bands, grunge bands, hard core punk bands, rip-off Brit-pops (god bless them) and bands that don’t know what genre they are doing but it’s ok. Bands believing random shit, pro-regime, anti-regime, doesn’t give a fuck but just recreational bands, pretty boy bands, feminist bands, privileged fuckboy band, there are rock stars that’s on the rise, great musicians, great lyricists, poets I’d say. Gossips, shit talks, fucked up kids doing fucked up things, arrested musicians, social activists, they’d take MTV back to peak if they all were white. These bands are growing under a not-so-ideal-but-not-horrifying-as-North-Korea type of environment, while gigs got canceled is the norm, but they still find ways to upload, share, and even make a living out of their music. A music industry is forming, under an existing one tightly (or loosely, up to your opinions) controlled by both capitals and the regime. At an age of such boredom of opinions, musicians doesn’t dare to come up with their own but rather stick to the safest and mostly alike ones. These Chinese bands creates real diversity and context from a totally foreign angle. They believe in different things, vastly disagreeing with each other. Now the lockdown is lifted, it’s time for them to be known, properly, in a respectful way that they aren’t gonna be treat as exotic circus monkeys, but music worth to listen (and purchase,) lyrics worth to understand.
Can you make some recommendations please on some of your lesser known Chinese bands, and where we can listen to their music in the West?
Can you make some recommendations please on some of your lesser known Chinese bands, and where we can listen to their music in the West?
That's so cool. I wish I understood the political intricacies of china to understand the bands on a deeper level
As a zillenial I've noticed underground music becoming much more popular in the US too. Like a worldwide mass rejection of manufactured pop music
As a Taiwanese person, me and my friends listen to plenty of Chinese music. Mostly punk and indie rock, but after this I'll definitely be looking into more stuff!
Any suggestions for a noob trying to get his hand on niche indie weird Taiwanese artists/bands?
草东没有派对，deca joins，落日飞车，老王乐队
do you have any playlists to share?
@@adrianlie94 溫蒂漫步 blueburn 溫室雜草
I’m also excited for recommendations :) I seem to remember having found experimental noise music made by a Taiwanese student, but I’ll need to go and hunt for that lol
Greetings from the Chinese underground! I opened for Dream Can a few years ago in Yiwu and my girlfriend is their new bassist; she was also in a popular band here called Mirrors. I've shared your video with every music group I'm in. Hope they enjoy it too. I'll sit down and watch it all the way through tomorrow.
Awesome! Do you have any of your music on YT or any other platform? I wish more Chinese musicians would come to Australia. I've seen Carsick Cars & their amazing alter ego WHITE (one my faves)... SUCH a thrill. Thank the Gods for YT & Bandcamp tho!
好吗？
This is the first time I've heard of the Chinese indie scene and it sounds wonderful! I'll have to go look hard for some of these bands.
@@theheavenlyoption There is a lot of good stuff to dig into man, my band signed to Maybe Mars but unfortunately broke up last year, but playing underground shows all around China and becoming friends with a lot of the bands. The Chinese underground scene definitely has some of the most creative and talented musicians playing today
@@plasticband9253 Can you give me recommendations for some Shoegazer, dreampop or indiepop from China? Would love to hear from someone who's in the scene. I'll search for them on bilibili. Oh, sorry to hear about your band breaking up :(
In 1996 I was backpacking in southern China. I had taken an overnight bus from Guangdong to Beihai in Guangxi. The bus had broken down and I had been put on a local bus that seemed to date from the 1960s. It stopped at every village and was full of peasants in ragged clothes, carrying bags of fertiliser, chickens in cages and so on. One young bloke near the front of the bus took out an ancient looking cassette tape recorder and pressed play. What came out was pure '90s grunge with Chinese lyrics. Unfortunately I had no Mandarin), so I can't comment on the quality of the lyrics, but musically it would have been something that Pearl Jam or Nirvana would have been proud of..
that sounds awesome, i love youth rebellion. this vid gave me hope in China and the world!
Yeah a lot of it is like that, or was
Damn....
I bet you was glad that bus broke down.
It's changed, haha.
When she said City Pop, i feel chill because maybe around two years ago, when pandemi started, I actually found that City Pop genre is really a great music, it make you feel calm and chill.. Well, I listen Japan City Pop like Mariya Takeuchi and Tatsuro Yamashita, and their music like make you mind back to the 80's disco and jazzy vibes.. And i;m suprised that China now like to listen City Pop.. cheeers from Jakarta, Indonesia..
Bro tau gak nama musisi ayo group citypop yg di fiturkan divideo ini?
Yeah, I am surprised someone with as much knowledge as him had never heard of City Pop. It's mostly relaxed Japanese disco. Great stuff. Miki Matsubara was the best. RIP.
I was in China in 2002 and it was definitely more than cutout tapes. All the bootleg cd sellers had pretty much anything. Not just pop stuff but everything. There were even scandi black metal discs for sale.
As mentioned in some comments, the underground music scene in China is actually way more diverse and complex than what the video shows...and yea the indie rock bands have grown a very large audience in recent yrs, I can hardly tell the genre is underground or not lol.There exist many more interesting musicians and labels (Subjam, Nojiji, WV sorcerer, Old Heaven, SpaceFruityRecords, Psyche Delta, etc, imo Maybe Mars is just a watered down copy of 4AD) NOT in the genre but with a more experimental and creative approach. Its not that hard to dig them out and China is not so ISOLATED as you might think. edit: check the replies to get some recommendations
4AD was home to some of the best shoegaze/dreampop bands so I don't think your comparison is a negative one. I'm happy to see that the indie scene in China is thriving despite all the barriers. Any especially good bands that I have to check out?
@@theheavenlyoption I’m pessimistic as the dude in the clip:”Second handed Europe,second handed USA”(to me the underground music sounds more “second handed Japan” tho).I’ve never been a big fan of indie/shoegaze but you may be interested in: Dear Eloise, Gatsby in a daze, the Molds, Chui Wan
We're isolated from them.
@@roy_for_real2674 well said bro
For the ones who seek for something more obscure&underground, I’ll leave some names here: 1. more-or-less ethnic : Liang Yi Yuan, Lao Dan, Mamer(IZ), 朱芳琼，Li Daiguo & Huan Qing 2. Noise/Electronic/Drones: Torturing nurse(Junky), Mei Zhi Yong, MaFeiSan, Xiaohong & Xiaoxiaohong, Ronez, Ruo Tan, Sun yizhou 3. ProgR/Folk/Avant-Garde/Improvise: Wu Tun, Xiao He, Glamorous Pharmacy, 木推瓜，Wang Ziheng, The other two comrades, OTMF(一次性交朋友）, Wang Lei, Dawanggang, Tongue，盘古，Wang Fan(王凡) 4. Psychedelic/Krautrock(they’re one of a kind): Eryang, 鸭听天, 水门汀（Shame There aren’t any recordings available yet), 粗糙影像，Khunathi（丘瑙底河）,酸鲁磨，and a stoner band called Electric Lady …And the list goes on (Tho there is still a gap in jazz music
Hey, thanks for including my work in this. I'm actually back in the USA now but happy to report many of these bands (Fazi, Hiperson, Stolen and others) are still quite active. I'm spending quite a bit of time in Chicago, and Steve Albini (who recorded PK14's LP "1984") has mixed some audio for new work I'm doing with Lonely Leary (who you should all know about) + Hiperson I did before I left. Reach out! Cheers - John Yingling / The World Underground
Hey it’s an honor to have you comment! It was an incredible documentary and I’m excited to check out more from the series. I’ll give you a shout via email!
Are you still in Chicago??
lonely leary is pretty good
Steve Albini is a legend. Big black and shellac!
There is a lot more than just what's discussed here. For one Omnipotent Youth Society (which is not underground but cannot go unmentioned) is one of the best Experimental rock bands in the world right now IMO, they mix prog, jazz, and folk so well together with deep and poetic lyricism. Chinese Football has gained some traction in the western world too as a great Math Rock/Midwest Emo band. The Wild Cooperative has been hailed as modern Chinese Pink Floyd. The list can go on.
Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, thank you for the recommendations!
I love Omnipotent Youth Society, will check the other bands too, thank you very much
Chinese Football even opened for American Football during their 2019 tour in China lol. It was amazing.
Excellent suggestion.
thanks for the recs!! I knew chinese football, they're great I'll give omnipotent youth society a check
As a Chinese music lover, I want to add somethings. The band has never been neglected in China, and people prefer the songs of the popular singer. Since the "Band's Summer" became a popular program, the band culture gradually entered the public vision. But everything has two sides. The young bands are more and more, and it can even be said to be flood, but most of their songs are not good. At the same time, the new audience is also very much, because China's music environment, they are easy to like these bad music. So now the bad music is getting more and more, people's aesthetics are getting worse. But in short, we have a lot of great bands. For China's music environment and public aesthetics, we still have a long way to go.
This just seems like a universal experience really lol, the venue shutdowns sounded like how it is in Austin
In before, people who dont know anything about Chinese cultural fabric, socionomics trying to make it a typical political rant about the CCP.
Strangely enough, in the west we saw a peak of melodic songwriting during the sixties and seventies as young musicians translated the general high level of musical skill in society attached to the culture of musical production for entertainment at home (where people traditionally played an instrument and gathered around after dinner for a sing song) before TV, radio and more recent reproductive entertainment medium technological developments eroded those skills out of the general population and we were left just a single generation after the peak of a century's worth of musical skills being honed and handed on domestically, with a generation in the early eighties, nineties and today instead with far less inherent ability to play and compose music than the previous generation. These 'modern musicians' were often computer production enabled only which, like visual art programs offering the ability to create pictures to even those with no drawing talent, they were all able to purchase for a few dollars instant musical access to anyone who wanted to try, even without any musical training or an ear, a situation leading to much the same as the situation you describe in China today, that is, not very good songs being listened to by the musically naive who haven't heard enough of brilliant melodies from the recent past to discern what's being foisted upon them as 'good' (through that conformity of ignorance in listeners) is really musical garbage with a small smattering of often overlooked talented musicianship sometimes shining through here and there to remind those of us with a discerning ear what good music is supposed to sound like. Whereas once musicians recognised each other through their interests in certain styles and a mutual recognition of playing and writing talent inspiring them to create a musical group and seek to have their own interpretation of the genre that inspired them heard via their musical expression by others, too many of today's youth see playing in a band as a right and a rite of passage that you do because you must. Like getting a tattoo tho, it's not always going to look good, nor in the case of those talentless music producers aided by computers permitting them the ability to record an entire album (often compromised of loops they've purchased from actual skilled musicians who are forced to sell the component parts of songs to others, in lieu of the availability of money making opportunities quashed by a false social media account manipulated industry which is talentless musician swamped with bad songs saturating a market dictating public taste via the proliferation of bot armies and thereby offering hardly any any other way to profit form their real musical talent) and, since talent isn't necessary to create what looks like valid musical composition output, it's not always going to sound good either (which it very obviously more often than not does not). The 'one hit wonder' is a common phenomenon mainly due to some accident of production where a talentless buffoon stumbles across a riff that's accidentally melodic and, with dollar signs guiding, they have the ambition to exploit it t a point of market saturation in a spotlight where even the slightly decent composition appears to excel. But most modern pop music stinks, (even though 2 years of enforced lock-down in AU, UK EU and USA from COVID19 has seen some of these less than adequately talented musicians forced by circumstance to practice their instruments and hone their songwriting skills so that recently there's been a discernibly noticeable spike in quality leading to the impression modern western pop music will again reach the zeniths of the 60's and 70's, a few more years and these lessons will, in the majority through hard drug and alcohol use, combined with a shifting of motivations for creating the music, the famous '2nd album syndrome' where unlimited sex, drugs, desire for more money and disillusionment with the initial success garnished by their rebellious, anti-work pass time that was playing music for fun, now having become a routine, demanding job with innumerably greater pitfalls than one flipping burgers for minimum wage and afterwards blowing a joint during band practice in the garage with a romantic partner which constant long distance touring often denies the capacity, all of which combine to cause a creative numbness to what is, and isn't, worth listening to in the minds of songwriter and other band member performers who also haven't any longer a clue what sounds OK, with their endorphin receptors saturated artificially to the max 24/7. For the real musicians and those long established in the associated industry there are upsides to this culture of kids expecting themselves to be rock stars, as my sound engineer friend told me once, "Rich kids whose parents have bought them all instruments for Christmas and who now want to record an album (in a professional studio) are my bread and butter!"
Spent most of 2013-2019 in Beijing. Incredible music scene. It was the growth of early uncensored internet access that really stirred the pot. China got 50 years of modern music all at once and mixed and matched it in ways we couldn’t imagine.
might seen u before in yugongyishan or corner in sanlitun haha
Great información thx!!
Crazy to imagine! Thanks for perspective!
Did you eat any Chinese acid?
Hey man, what's up. You were at our BJ show with Dummy Toys, where Casey slapped a guy in the audience and after the show, Toten Hosen came over from the festival. Good times.
I lived in Chengdu in 2010 and Shanghai 2011-15. The Chinese non-mainstream music and contemporary art scene was fantastic. Best time of my life.
I have worked in China since 2007 and my buddy in Beijing claims to having the longest continually performing Ska band in China, End of the World. My current favorite local band is PizzaFace. Chengdu probably has the best music scene. Beijing is too under the spotlight of the government and Shanghai is too influenced by foreign musicians. The post punk genre is especially strong here.
I studied in Chengdu in 2008 and want to go back soon. What do I ask locals to try to find rock music performances?
@@zendobrendo0001 There are at least ten livehouses every week and there are now more than ten livehouses in Chengdu
Fuckin cool. The Soviets loved their post-punk too. Which Chinese bands could I find on YT?
Wuhan is, as far as I'm concerned, the life's blood of underground music in China. Not to take away from Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, or even Guangzhou, there's nothing quite like Wuhan for its influence on the rest. (The Kingdom of Chu once again sets the pace the rest of China follows! 🤣)
"They operate on terms that seem foreign to us westerners, like - touring by bus or train." How to say you're American without saying you're American.
yo this is a great primer into china's music scene(s). I am not chinese, but I am from an asian country caught up somewhere in between the whole US-China divide, and it has always been a bit surreal for me to be somewhat plugged into both cyberspheres and see how both of these giant countries are so completely and utterly separated. unfortunately because of this chasm many westerners tend to be blinded by stereotypes (and let's face it, a lot of political propaganda) and so they forget that china is still a country inhabited by people, and people will always find ways to express themselves and create exciting and beautiful art. props to you for breaking past this barrier (and also the language barrier) to make this video :) one interesting thing to note is that music in china tends to be separated geographically as well. the southwestern plain (which contains the cities of Chengdu and Yaan) is like the seat of chinese hip hop, while the lakes region to the east (especially the cities of Wuhan and Changsha) is where rock and metal thrive the most. I have no idea why this is so (some people say it's because the weather is different lmao) but location definitely informs the type of music that you'll hear also just one side note, the letters c and z in pinyin sound a bit like a ts and dz respectively. so Cui Jian's name is really more like "tswey tsyan", and Fazi is more like "fadze". just imagine beatboxing a snare and a slightly muted snare lmao
Great comment! Chinese hip hop could be a whole other video. There was also a big hip hop reality show that I believe caused some controversy?
@@Bandsplaining yes, The Rap of China, although sometimes I feel like looking to that for hip hop is somewhat akin to looking at The Voice for western pop lmao
@@Bandsplaining Hey man if you’re looking into Chinese hiphop there’s a trove of fascinating groups out there. Yes there are the government-sanctioned reality shows and other cringe bullshit such as “patriotic hiphop,” but also legends like The Higher Brothers and classics from In3. THB got their big international break through 88rising and now we have American college kids partying to “Made in China.” On the other hand groups like In3 and Purple Soul are completely underground with their scathing social commentary - we’re talking about songs getting blanket-banned by the Ministry of Culture and group members going in and out of prison. But you can find everything if you dig deep enough. From mumble rap to old school, from Chengdu to Beijing (and yes the regional genre difference thing is definitely real lmao)
@@The51stDivision Thanks for the tips! Def gonna check out In3 and Purple Soul.
Much thanks for the insight! Do you have any other resources or links you may recommend? I love it how I'm so constantly overwhelmed by finding new & fresh music~ but I love the "classical" or traditional musics too.
Thanks for the shoutout! This video is a fantastic look into sheer variety of scenes in China not to mention the challenges. That's actually a big focus of our upcoming 'Into the Night' mini-documentary series, challenging some of the stereotypes about what the nightlife scene in China is like while exploring some of the more hidden genres as well as the ones that continue to grow bigger and bigger.
Sounds awesome! Thank you and thanks for covering what you do!
I’ve used your website to find really cool Chinese music! Thank you!!
thank you so much for this wonderful little documentary, and for including links and resources for digging further. i have a whole list of new bands and scenes to check out now
Greetings from China! Actually Chinese metal bands are great, and some of them are popular overseas, like Nine Treasures (九宝，check Tes River's Hymn and Sonsii!)，Frosty Eve（霜冻前夜）, Barque of Dante（但丁之舟）, Zuriaake（葬尸湖）. They are all mature bands that exist more than 10 years, and now young metal bands are making metalcore and djent music, just like metal bands all over the world, you can try Zhi Wang(直惘) if you want. Other genre like post-rock is also popular in past 10 years, I' m not a big post-rock fan but Wang Wen(惘闻) is one of the greatest bands I've heard.
朋友，麻烦你推荐一下几个中国前卫金属乐队给我吧！（我很喜欢末裔乐队，但他们最近没出版新的音乐。。。）
hey i lived in shanghai for 5 years and near where i lived there were many small music venues that didn't operate in secrecy at all. indie music is relatively popular in certain circles, and indie bands aren't regulated by the government at all. there was a really underground record store that i would go to, and it was pretty much the only place where i could by vinyl records, and it was full of obscure artists and records. hell my own music teacher made a post punk record! however these records aren't really promoted at all in the public sphere. if you want more information there's a very great article in chinese about the shanghai indie music scene
The "underground" in underground music doesn't mean illegal or secret; just that it's "outside" mainstream music. The same term is used in America, Europe, etc. That said, I also cover how indie rock is exploding and becoming more mainstream later in the video.
@@Bandsplaining yeah i see your point
Most westerners think China is super authoritarian and censored but fail to see it in their own countries. The anti communist rhetoric is laughable. Western propaganda is a hell of a drug.
@@Bandsplaining you have a lot to correct in this video regarding censorship and the Uighurs
@@Bandsplaining I'm also from Chicago. Is there a way to get our hands on some of this music on Vinyl,cassette, or CD?
"Ahh seems interesting" *sees guy wearing a neu shirt* "Man this shit just got REALLY interesting"
This was so interesting, a real eye opener. From Australia I had no idea of the modern music scene in China. Thank you so much for your research and putting this together!
one thing i noticed about these bands: aside from being really good; their recordings sound delicious. i really hate how modern recordings over here are so rife with pitch correction, overly-compressed signals, overuse of sequencing, and overall pro-tooliness. chinese music just sounds more "human."
“Delicious” is a perfect adjective to apply to music when it’s that good and no matter where it comes from.
Great point. I am not knowlegable of Chinese bands, but the bands featyred in this documentary have a gorgeous garage styleof production, very fresh.
Its that more Analog sound imo that makes it so great. It’s like old music from the 70’s 80’s and early 90’s, not a perfect sound but good enough. you can kinda hear small details like pick scratches on the strings, the strings being bend and other stuff. And it’s not homogeneous it’s not the same old whispery chill quiet style we currently have. Its retro but not nostalgia music, It is its own thing not trying to copy the old stuff.
@@user-ol7bt4wp1j "And it’s not homogeneous it’s not the same old whispery chill wave style we currently have." What do you mean? I thought chillwave has been dead since the early 2010s
@@SNegrea Autocorrect replaced the quiet with wave for some reason Anyway what i mean is that music nowadays sounds so over produced and the vocals always sound so whispery and overly chill which with all the effects put on their. It just kinda sounds annoying like everyone slurs their words, sounds weak and too quiet Like SING GODDAMNIT i don’t want to hear your literal breath in my ear.
This is the first KZhead video since 2016 that mentions VPNs without segueing into an advertisement
Thanks for this. I've been along to the Maybe Mars Bandcamp site and found some great material for my radio show.
Great video thank you, and thanks for the playlist in the description! Definitely want to check some of these bands out more.
Bands like Wang Wen and Zhaoze are some of the best post-rock bands I have EVER heard, like they embody the selfsame soul of the genre and go leagues beyond what a lot of western bands do. Check 'em out!
Yassss I agreed that!
i saw Zhaoze live in a music festival here in Colombia a couple years ago. Awesome stuff!
I'm so glad you have mentioned Wang Wen, I've listened to all their albums before and they're all great, IMO. Definitely worth checking out. And thank you for mentioning Zhaoze, I've never hear of them so I decided to check them out. So far I'm loving their track "See You in Dusk". I feel like they're gonna be my obsession for this month on my newly discovered band's list. For those who uses Spotify both artists are available there. 👍
man I just checked Zhaoze and they are definetely the most beautiful thing I heard in weeks. Im obsessed, thank you!
@@amremorse I listened to them, I like it! Thanks for the suggestion!
It can’t be overstated how important this kind of story is. It illustrates almost better than anything else, that China, or the Chinese, is/are not a monolith despite often being portrayed that way. Of course no one wants to perpetuate that stereotype more than the Chinese Communist Party. This shows us that contrary to their propaganda, Chinese people are as desirous of freedom and open creativity as all others. I think so much of this music is terrific
You do realize that, because of Wu Hon, our wonderfully free and prosperous country of the USA is under authoritarian siege from the left. The last administration kept the overruling government of China at bay and sympathized with the human rights that the people of China so deeply desire. In short, the western conservatives stand for a free democracy while the leftists try and tear it down with an overreaching, totalitarian government strong arm just like the mask wearing ( keep your mouth shut ) Marxist that currently occupy our hemisphere and try to change it over to government control - your thoughts and actions. So, best fight for your freedoms in any way possible including artistic expression.
Nah, it just means that they're free to carve out their own culture to be influenced by one another and the west being a smaller portion of that equation, they aren't having their culture murdered by rap & pop. You speak about freedom and the United States has the most incarcerated people in the world which is so sad, even if it were number two or three it still makes it a very oppressive place to live
@@motelmicrowave incarceration of the guilty of crimes laid down by a just government is not oppression. It forms rule of law that all societies should have to maintain civility and justice. Of course no government is perfect but the experiment put forth by our founding members gives power to the people to make choices in behalf of themselves not the government.
@@motelmicrowave you lost me at hip hop and pop - nothing wrong the the genres. Yes to carving out your own cultures
What do the "non-monolithic" people do to act against such a tyranny? Music is just entertainment, actions are the only thing that makes change. go ahead, i'll wait.
Fascinating docu! I really had no idea! Thank you for making and posting it!
This is interesting. Some time ago I accidentally stumbled on the punk rock scene in South Korea that started back in '96 with bands like Crying Nut. There's a lot of interesting stuff there because of the wide array of influences they had in their area, but I never realized I haven't really heard any musicians that come from and live in China. It's something I'm going to explore, thanks for the starting point.
Hey man, great video that has some great bands on it. I still live in China and was signed to Maybe Mars before my band broke up last year. The music scene in China is definitely super interesting to be a part of, but since our band had a lot of foreigners (me included) we did have to sneak under the radar a lot haha. Also I can tell you that everyone in Backspace are some of the friendliest people I have ever played a show with, we even did a smaller Maybe Mars tour with them a few years ago
The result of this underground scene is kinda like the dessert blues. One is culturally isolated while the other one is physically isolated. Both yielding incredibly interesting music scenes!
Desert blues? Are you talking like QOTSA type desert doom/rock?
@@nineinchrails3361 no, more like Mdou Moctar. I had saharan dessert blues in mind specifically. Btw check them out they're making some great stuff in there!
@@matthewjohnloren1995 Mdou Moctar is incredible, I have Illana the creator on every week at least one since he released it. Bombino is also very good
My faces are Tinariwen and Songhoy Blues!
@@nineinchrails3361 like Kyuss.
It's interesing to realize that these musical styles were actually huge in and around the Southeast Asian region in the 2000s and 2010s. I recommend: 1. Sheila and the Insects (Philippines: indie rock, post punk, new wave revival) - "Quick to Panic" kzhead.info/sun/nsOBhdyDbqujq2g/bejne.html 2. The White Shoes and Couples Company (Indonesia: indie pop, disco, jazz) - "Senandung Maaf" kzhead.info/sun/iq5yp7iLoXqkgJE/bejne.html 3. Drip (Philippines: electro-jazz) - "Morning After" kzhead.info/sun/ntGKYNl_hKSta3A/bejne.html 4. Electrico (Singapore: alternative rock) - "Love in New Wave" kzhead.info/sun/lZ2unbWfnXSmgnk/bejne.html 5. Moscow Olympics (Philippines: shoegaze, dreampop) - "Keeping The Avenues Open" kzhead.info/sun/hNBvdqyEgYKGeGg/bejne.html 6. Estrella (Malaysia: indie pop, bossa nova) - "Ternyata" kzhead.info/sun/iLuApa2ofYqoi6M/bejne.html 7. Taken by Cars (Philippines: indie rock) - "Uh Oh" kzhead.info/sun/gN5pZrajj4x4nok/bejne.html 8. Lazy Room (Indonesia: dream pop) - "Take Me Home" kzhead.info/sun/hKqEosePf4SNm4E/bejne.html 9. Tom's Story (Philippines: math rock) - "Anchors" kzhead.info/sun/ZMxmcs-rr6eDl6M/bejne.html 10. Love Me Butch (Malaysia: nu metal, alternative rock) - "Barricade" kzhead.info/sun/bMtyYpGmeJumqGg/bejne.html 11. Franco (Philippines: nu metal, alternative rock) - "This Gathering" kzhead.info/sun/dt2Cepl7aX1nd3A/bejne.html 12. The Great Spy Experiment (Singapore: alternative rock, indie rock) - "Class A Love Affair" kzhead.info/sun/mruAmp2uhJSPeH0/bejne.html 13. Cambodia Space Project (Cambodia: blues, experimental) - "Whiskey Cambodia" kzhead.info/sun/gMqvhLx5jGh-raM/bejne.html 14. Turbo Goth (Philippines: indie pop) - "Morning Swim" kzhead.info/sun/ermrYMmeoHytgJE/bejne.html 15. Shanghai Restoration Project (China: electronic music, world) - "The Wandering Songstress" kzhead.info/sun/eJGDndiKgKaslZE/bejne.html 16. Up Dharma Down (Philippines: post rock, experimental) "Maybe" kzhead.info/sun/obWPlZVxgXafZas/bejne.html 17. Bunkface (Malaysia: post-hardcore punk, punk pop, power pop) - "Bunkface Anthem" kzhead.info/sun/ermSfq6aaZ6MiK8/bejne.html 18. United Peace Voices (Tibet/ Europe: world, meditational, experimental) - "Lasa Girls" kzhead.info/sun/kquzj8x7mWqOn2g/bejne.html 19. The Camerawalls (Philippines: indie pop) - "Clinically Dead for 16 Hours" kzhead.info/sun/gbWxecxqq5h-jYE/bejne.html 20. Elephant Gym (Taiwan: math rock) - "Games" kzhead.info/sun/dKunfKVrZIOCiH0/bejne.html 21. Vince Noir Project (Philippines: indie pop, alternative dance) - "Wha' A Git" kzhead.info/sun/abmon959iYR3p68/bejne.html 22. The Temper Trap (Australia/ Indonesia: indie rock, alternative rock) - "Love Lost" kzhead.info/sun/rLGupceXp6OuZas/bejne.html (I just felt the need to add this even if they are entirely based in Australia but the vocalist is from Manado, Indonesia. I have Manadonese relatives so...hehe)
Thank you so much for your recommendations ! I especially loved White Shoes and Drip :) Here is some nice French music to thank you : 1. San Salvador (neotrad, which mean new traditional French folk music) 2. Saräb (arab prog-jazz-metal) 3. Jacques (electronic music) 4. Bertrand Burgalat (famous french indie producer) 5. Bertrand Belin & Limiñanas (both are french rock) Take care !
@@GreenPlymProduction Wow! I'm a huge fan of French music from Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel to Nouvelle Vague and Air! I cannot get over Sarāb and Bertrand Belin! They are phenomenal! Thanks for the recommendations!
I would like to add to this list my indiepop favs 1. Grrrl Gang 😍(Indonesia) 2. Serenaide (Singapore) 3. Jelly Rocket (Thailand) 4. Sobs (Singapore) 5. Ferns (Malaysia)
@@theheavenlyoption @Elie and all Thank You for Links my Algorithm keep's stuff "U.S.A." Centered now my Vistas Expanding !
Wow our (PH) music really devolved so much lmao. Now it's always those corny love songs but make it indie-sounding pop rock to sound "unique"
13:42 Didn't expect to see this. I played here when I was a student, we rehearsed there all night talking about music and drinking beer. The owner of the place had to be our guest guitarist cos the guitarist couldn't make it that night.one of the greatest memories in my college years
If I'm not wrong, Chinese Football is a very famous band and a lot of people admire them in the Math rock scene. Math rock is a very famous genre, and a lot of top bands are from Asia.
Chinese Football definitely worth listening!
Lol named after American Football
Ok, this is opening me up to a new rabbit hole of music I would love to explore. I remember getting into Soviet-era punk and post-punk music, Shibuya-kei, Italian disco, and Latin American pop music that sound a lot like anime OPs/EDs. This off the beaten path music journey is very fulfilling!
Check out DIE by Iosonouncane. Really good Italian rock album
any ideas on soviet era punk?
@@botz9017 mainly what's called "Siberian punk" -- Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Gr.Ob.) or simply Yegor Letov (insert Русское поле экспериментов into YT search bar, it's a 14 min track). Also Yanka Dyagileva (you can insert Янка и Великие Октябри - По трамвайным рельсам). It's very different from Western punk rock, mind you. It comes surprisingly close to black metal sometimes, lol. Also, there's a lot of emphasis on lyrics, and often not as much on the music. This channel actually has videos about Soviet underground in the 80's. Also, I would recommend Spinki Menta as a primer into the Siberian 80's underground. Just copy Спинки Мента - Эрекция лейтенанта Киреева (Full Album).
Wow , so many options
EXAMPLES FOR THE LAST ONE??? HOLY SHIT THATS A THING??? I GOTTA KNOW A SONG
Just yesterday I was wondering when I could watch another Bandsplaining episode. Keep up the amazing work.
Same.
I was a foreigner living in China just outside of Shanghai right up until Covid 19 began in 2020. I would take the train into the city to go record shopping. I found it incredible that a city of 26 million (take NYC in comparison with a population of roughly 8) has really only TWO decent record shops, ( not even OWNED by native Chinese! ) one was half vintage clothing shop and the second one with the same owner was a tiny standing room only craft beer bar that happened to sell records on the side. The larger original one called the Uptown Record Store was very difficult to find, with no signage whatsoever, and was in a non-descript apartment block hidden behind a bank vault door in a dark and scary bomb shelter-like basement - actually very cool and appropriate setting for a place selling "underground" records. It was there I learned about all the cool Chinese punk and indie bands like SMZB, Carsick Cars, The Subs, Hedgehog, Dirty Fingers, Ruby Eyes...
Really nice video! I would also recommend "Beijing Bubbles" as a really great doc about China's underground music scene from the 2000s. Also the band HANG ON THE BOX is as great as any band around regardless of country. Highly recommended!
Awesome video as always! I have to point out though, that this is pretty much solely focused on indie rock of the last 15 years, skipping years between Cui Jian and Maybe Mars, and dismissing entire scenes and genres outside of that scope. The Chinese underground as a whole is much larger, more diversed, and it really hasn't been as isolated from the western world as you kind of made it seem. For anyone who's intrigued after watching this, Bandcamp Daily has years of solid reports of the Chinese underground.
This is my favourite KZhead channel. I've discovered so much music and underground scenes through Bandsplaining it's unbelievable. I've become a big fan of artists like Mdou Moctar, Les Rallizes Denudes and Kino/Viktor Tsoi and it's all thanks to you. Keep the good work up!!
Great video on China's music scene! Just a head's up, I have many Chinese underground rock albums from the early to mid 90s (grunge, punk, dreampop, etc) that you could have referenced, but I understand the difficulty in searching, since many of these albums you can only find by searching in Kanji characters. Just be aware. PS: If you plan to do an episode on Singapore, I have plenty of albums from that period as well. Thanks a lot for making another engaging video and getting the word out!
I saw your stuff from Chris Ho, the Singaporean John Peel. If you have a Chinese GG Allin, all the better. They need to have one more now than ever.
Thank you so much for sharing all these amazing bands with me and everybody else!
I mean... It is underground, but the cut could be deeper... Like some noise music or experimental free improv stuff... And also lots of these musicians are very open to do interviews and stuff. So I don't know if you want to expand this topic, but if you do, you could contact Yan Jun from SubJam or Li Jianhong or Feng Hao... Or Li Yangyang from Nojiji. So yeah... The mentioned bands are great, but kinda the upper level of the underground, haha
Sounds like you're ready to make a video! Link us when it's up
@@myfaveyoutube me? Nooooope, haha. Too much effort, I am a lazy guy. I did the text interviews with them. That's much easier
To dude's credit - It's very, very difficult to dig under the surface unless you spend a significant amount of time in country.
chinese noise isn't underground. it's a niche for 3-4 nerdz and that's it. it dosen't have resonance enough to have impact or a relation with larger culture. that's why the « level » of underground that this video stay's at is much more interesting imo.
@@loumanuelarsenault1663 "chinese noise isn't underground. it's a niche for 3-4 nerdz and that's it" that sounds like a real underground. now I don't know how many Chinese nerds listen to Li Jianhong, but he has racked up more than 1,000 ratings on the international website Rate Your Music, which is where I've heard about him and Yan Jun. The video itself is not that bad, but the title is terrible clickbait. None of the featured bands sound weird. Pretending that VU's Sister Ray is really that weird and hard to like on first listen says it all about the low threshold of this guy.
This is fantastic. Thanks for the most excellent journalism Bandsplaining!
Thank you for this! I just moved here and have been wondering about the music scene and now I am stoked!
Thank you for adding the Track IDs at the bottom
Would love to see more videos on this topic! With all the resources in the comments seems like you could create a sma documentary series on this... kudos on the great work!
I highly recommend the documentary The World Underground made about China's music scene, its probably the best up close and personal look at China's underground music scene.
Thanks! A solid chunk of this is actually from that first film I did. Haha.
one of the best videos I've seen lately on youtube, really interesting and informative, it really makes me happy and gives me life to know that people make all kinds of music without stopping, let's never limit music or its genres.
fantastic job with this documentary, not only helpful for their scenes in China but for the rest of the world who wants to know about them. Thank you 👍
Wow there is such a rawness to some of these bands. Instant chills listening to some of these previews.
very cool amazing job. as one can imagine the censorship and issues facing punk bands in china permeates throughout all alternative culture from music to fine art and fashion etc. but its efforts like those made in this video that can help to expand their reach and audience outside of china/asia in general and inspire new generations of creatives. important work. thank you!
Thanks for highlighting some great new (to me) music. I was happy to see the familiar Carsick Cars, but I wonder where you see Xie Tian Xiao / Cold Blooded Animal and Hang on the Box in this narrative? They were my two points of entry into Chinese indie music...not sure how I even heard of them anymore. The bands you mentioned broadenedy my playlist a lot. I'm enjoying Hiperson right off the bat!
Wonderful video. This is a beautiful idea to share with the world. The links and information in the description are very helpful. Thank you so much.
Just wanna say, thank you so much for making this. Been listening to so much from this country and I'm very grateful for you taking the time to make something like this. I knew there had to be good music coming from there and I really appreciate you doing the research to prove it. Much love ❤️
Greetings from the US, I was pleasantly surprised by this!
This is a stunning compilation of original footage. I can't even begin to imagine how much effort you must have invested in this and I applaud you for it. Just so some teenzy-tiny bits of detail don't get perpetuated incorrectly: The name of 崔健, also 老崔 these days, is pronounced incorrectly. If you're a native English speaker try "Tsui Tjien. That is an improvised transcription but it'll get you pretty close. 崔, Tsui or Cui (with falling intonation aka 4th tone - yes, that is important!) is the family name here. Also, though the song title 中南海 or Zhong Nan Hai also is in fact the name of a cigarette brand, it's is also the name of a city disctrict in Beijing. And not just a any city district but the very area where the central government and the Chinese Communist Party's headquarters are situated. You wouldn't be totally wrong to call it the New Forbidden City or 新紫禁城. You can't miss it, it's adjacent to the western walls of the old Forbidden CIty.
Thank you for this. Already started following a few from this video. Cannot wait to dig deeper.
Adding to my list of bands to try and check out. I don’t know much about the Chinese music scene. There is maybe 3 groups/artist that I know of. Chopstick Brothers, Lexie Liu , and Jackson Wang. Thank you for making these videos. I love music in general so this will be eye opening to discover more awesome bands.
I had the pleasure of living in Beijing from 1998 to 2000, and the quality of music in Beijing's underground, as well as peeking into Dalian's scene, was an ear-opening experience. And if you like hitting record shops, check out Fruity Shop. It's an amazing place.
Tbh most of the bands mentioned are pretty popular n have large followings. There’s even weirder more extreme and challenging music to be found in China. What’s shown here is the radio equivalent of underground
Do you have any examples of some of the more obscure stuff?
I'd love to hear some really out there stuff like the Japanese bands Endon and Melt Banana.
@@smallpebblesbigripples8636 For the ones who seek for something more obscure&underground, I’ll leave some names here: 1. more-or-less ethnic : Liang Yi Yuan, Lao Dan, Mamer(IZ), 朱芳琼，Li Daiguo & Huan Qing 2. Noise/Electronic/Drones: Torturing nurse(Junky), Mei Zhi Yong, MaFeiSan, Xiaohong & Xiaoxiaohong, Ronez, Ruo Tan, Sun yizhou 3. ProgR/Folk/Avant-Garde/Improvise: Wu Tun, Xiao He, Glamorous Pharmacy, 木推瓜，Wang Ziheng, The other two comrades, OTMF(一次性交朋友）, Wang Lei, Dawanggang, Tongue，盘古，Wang Fan(王凡) 4. Psychedelic/Krautrock(they’re one of a kind): Eryang, 鸭听天, 水门汀（Shame There aren’t any recordings available yet), 粗糙影像，Khunathi（丘瑙底河）,酸鲁磨，and a stoner band called Electric Lady …And the list goes on (Tho there is still a gap in jazz music
@@thelastbluebloodgreaserboy7890 n
if you ever have any more recommendations then I’ll leave this comment :0
Thank you for This! I’ve been wondering for a long time.. Really well done and eye/ear-opening
This is a very well researched, well cut, well directed Video. You sir, definitely have a talent in Media.
Lonely Leary is a great band. Saw them in Shenzhen last year. Aggressive noisy post-punk trio with a little surf rock and spaghetti western flavor sometimes. Great show.
you always show the coolest underground scenes man. every one of your videos has put me on to at least one great band that i still listen to
I'm happy to find this video. I've lived in China long enough and their underground scene is just amazing! Still I see very few people covering this and givinf the exposure it deserves. Great video!
What a fantastic and insightful view on the strange world of music in China! I had no idea about cutout tapes!!! I also suggest watching the film DOWN: Indie Rock in the PRC, for some really amazing concert footage shot guerilla style in these alternative venues, and many wonderful interviews with the artists and venue owners. The filmmakers even went “on tour” with the super cool band the Subs. Highly recommended.
Was hoping for a mention of Beijing's Gong Gong Gong (工工工). Phantom Rhythm was one of my favorite records of 2019 - weird, hypnotic, and oddly catchy.
great and impressive video explaining the history and general situation of Chinese underground music. Hope there will be more people around world have chances to appreciate these variety of music genres.
This is a very interesting topic and channel. Keep up the great work!
Such a great quality video, it deserves 10x the amount of views. I really hope the algorithm will do it justice.
Really cool documentary, man. I knew nothing about China's rock scene before this.
I knew there was no way you could get that many people together in a city and not have some kind of underground music scene going on. The music sounds awesome and, I must say, they have the best band names I've heard in a long time.
Thank you so much for this video and all the reccomendations !!! :))
Wowwwwww! amazing documentary. I have been living in china myself for 7 years, and i have been trying to learn more about rock music. this video summaries it all and aso recommend so much good bands and background that I have no idea, and also bring the history behind it. is just amazing! For people that would like to check more bands like these ones, should check: Deca joins , carsick cars , hedgehog, Brain Failure, Joyside, The chairs, Casino Demon, Sunny house, New pants.
I was in Beijing in the early 2000s, and it reminded me of Canada's punk scene in the 80s. I'm an old dude… anyway, I felt it had more authenticity than Canada did in the 2000s. The days of shows being held in abandoned, rundown cesspits were well over in Canada, but the kids in Beijing made do with what they had, like Canada in the mid to late 80s and early 90s. In the early noughties in Canada, so many bands had newish gear, and the music sounded watered down, and polished. Beijing was punk rock. It was fun, again. Those cutouts brought back memories of going through tapes at the local record stores in Beijing. I was occasionally surprised what I could find. Good video, cheers.
Great comment & thanks for watching! At least here in Chicago there still are *some* shows in rundown cesspools, but for the most part it’s all upscale clubs with great sound and comp’d cocktails. Totally agreed there’s something that feels a lot less subversive about it, even tho, admittedly, I usually end up picking that option over the 5 foot basement in a rough neighborhood.
I'm an american expat in China, doing music and bands here. 2 of the bands I'm in have all Chinese members (except for me). A grunge/mathrock trio called, Polyphozia 怕繁杂, we've played with RUBUR and have a show lined up (COVID postponed it) with Backspace 退格. And another band I play drums for is called Night Tides 潮汐狩猎, we're like an indie/dreampunk band, and we played with Peach Illusion 桃子假象 before. There's definitely lots of great bands and music here. If only the censors and ZeroCovid policies would allow it more space to breathe.
Thank you for this video and for playlist!
this was put together really well. thank you for the video
I wish we could somehow make it possible for all countries to use the same social media services especially spotify and bandcamp and stuff so i can check out cool new music, because music especially live music is just incredible
The history lessons are all fine. Just remember that that's all 30 years ago. We're talking RR being president and German walls getting chipped. Today in China, you download QQ music, Netease, or whichever app, and you have access to the most complete music catalogs worldwide for
Amazing work, loving all the links u attached.
Thanks for the hard chime. Very cute editing. None of it was obnoxious
I lived in China some years ago and found a veeeery interesting and alive, experimental post punk kind of scene in Beijing. Always bumped randomly into great bands around bars and clubs!
Cool. Reminds me of a paper I did in college on Chinese rock music for my Geography of China class. I didn't really know what I was talking about at the time, but it was fun to research. Nice to revisit the space with a more experienced guide.
Oh god i get so excited every time a new video of yours pops up
Awesome video. I'm gonna checkout that playlist
Some solid and creative music there. I'd like to hear more of this.
Found out about a lot of cool bands here. Thanks!
Very cool! Glad I found your channel 🤘
inspiring, lots of new music for me to listen to. subscribed!
Ricky from the Brian Jonestown Massacre talked a bit about this in an interview a couple weeks ago. Really interesting insightful.
When I just started learning Chinese language I wanted to listen to chinese music but it was really hard find good bands in spotify, because there weren't too many bands to choose from. But then I found several good ones and now I always have some chinese(mandarin) music to listen to. I think It's nice to learn languages through music)
Any recommendations? :)
Waiting 4 reply
@@brainchild2197 Omnipotent Youth Society 👌
大王饶命 op is good 星游记 op is good 半壶纱 is my style scissors killer seven op is good
and don’t recommend you learn chinese from music. Some music full of poems 😂 it not used to common talk. Just for making music beautiful.
Check out OH!DIRTY FINGERS, punk band from Shanghai that had a Brazilian drummer in one of its formations
This was such an insightful and well put together video. Thank you for exposing us to these gems ❤
Wow, what rlly struck me is how we have a privilege owing to how big our music scene is, that we can debate within ourselves and categorize sell outs, while still keeping a huge scene... however, if that happens in China, leads to huge debates that devalue in a way their already fragile scene to exposure from the outside world. Hoping this small and unknown culture can reach the recognition it deserves!
This documentary is fascinating! As a musician myself, I'm so happy to learn a little about what some of the music scene is like in China, a country I've never been to yet. Hope to one day meet and hear some of these great artists. Music is a universal language that connects us all across the world. Love from Brooklyn-
I love your videos and come to find out we're both from Chicago that's crazy. I see more and more amazing youtubers from the midwest everyday..
Eyes fully opened !! Wow, and you are only scretching the surface, thanks for sharing this underworld ... I'm gonna buy some of this music, give them some support, and find out more.