Beijing’s Electro/Experimental Underground

By Josh, 2012年 5月 22日

In a recent City Weekend blurb, Blake Stone-Banks — the magazine’s former nightlife editor — articulates a phenomenon that has been flitting around my brain for about a year now. That’s Beijing’s “electro underground,” and its aesthetic overlap with experimental music.

[Let me first state for the record that I acknowledge there are no genre labels less precise than “electronic music” and “experimental music.” For the sake of this article let’s say electronic music is anything that has a beat not produced by a live drummer and experimental music is… fuck it, that phrase is meaningless.]

In exploring the connection between electro and experimental, Blake name-checks the Shanshui crew (Sulumi, Dead J, ME:MO, et al) and identifies some younger heads on the scene, such as Noise & Noise:

But he loses me when he jumps to the other side of the fence and points to Yan Jun as emblematic of electro tendencies within the Beijing experimental scene. I would use a lot of words to describe Yan Jun’s live set and recordings and not one of them would be “electronic.” From where I’m sitting, though, there is significant overlap between electro and experimental in Beijing, if only aesthetically. Take White+, for example. Anyone who has seen them perform in the last year would be lying if they didn’t admit that something from the deep-house-fluoride-infused Berlin tapwater seeped into their sound while they recorded in Blixa Bargeld‘s studio. Same goes for Shouwang‘s solo set. And Deadly Cradle Death, with all their scream-rap anti-music moves, inch closer and closer toward dubstep territory with each waking day. (They saw Skrillex during SXSW this year and it literally blew their hair back.)

So my question is: is Sulumi or Dead J’s music “experimental”? Is Deadly Cradle Death or a harsh noise band using a sampler “electro”?

Is this “electronic music”? (photos by Nevin Domer)

That’s a stupid question and if you answer you probably have too much time on your hands. The real question is: is there an interesting hybrid form in there somewhere, and how can it be explored more deeply? There is definitely something going on but the current framework in Beijing is antithetical to the development of a dynamic “experimental electro” hybrid. Yan Jun included some Shanshui artists in his 2008 Mini Midi festival and has not, to my knowledge, worked with them since. The electro side tends to hang around in art galleries and dance clubs, while the experimental set is more of a small bar phenomenon. The two sides barely ever mix.

But that’s changing. There are a few promising signs of new formations that may jolt these separate cliques into a more unified, conversant entity. School and newer venues like Blue Stream (兰溪) and Zajia Lab have provided a space for small, DIY shows by underground electro acts like Noise & Noise, Zaliva-D, Joker Dog, and XJBN outside of either art world or dance party contexts. One such show is happening this Sunday at Zajia:

There are also promoters and event organizers trying to create new connections and break new ground in this arena. The jingweir crew cover Beijing electro and experimental music in equal measure on their tumblr, and much of the music they produce mixes electronic influences and experimental forms in interesting ways (to wit: thruoutin, Arm Trick, Noise Arcade, and jwr affiliate D.C Bros).

The team behind Metrowaves is also working to innovate new event and performance platforms. This week they’re putting on a major electronic music convention — ME:CON — that incorporates discussion panels, presentations, and major showcases of international electronic artists in both festival and club contexts.

Blake’s article, being a magazine article, was timed to coincide with the INTRO Electronic Music Festival, which takes place this weekend. Obviously I won’t be going. But I’m intrigued by the increase in underground electro scene rumblings and I’m hoping it leads to new territory for experimentation.

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