Beijing Invasion
On Sunday, March 14 Dart Music International co-hosted a Beijing Invasion of Film and Music. Three Waters Productions presented Miao Wang's documentary Beijing Taxi at the SXSW Film Festival and the Beijing CD Label Maybe Mars presented five Chinese bands at the SXSW Music Festival. We brought the film maker and bands together for an unprecedented Chinese film and music event at the Dart Music International House at Mi Casa.
Beijing Taxi Synopsis
Through a humanistic lens, BEIJING TAXI is a feature length documentary that vividly portrays the capital of China undergoing a profound
transformational arch in an era of Olympic transitions. The intimate lives of three taxi drivers connect a morphing cityscape and a lyrical journey
through fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization.
Maybe Mars Label
Maybe Mars is an independent CD label that was started in the summer of 2007 to promote, identify and support talented young Chinese
musicians and artists. Our current catalogue already includes many of China's exciting, new and ground-breaking bands and musicians: Carsick Cars,
P.K.14, Joyside, Snapline, Demerit, SMZB, White, The Gar, Ourself Besides Me, 24 Hours, AV Okubo, DiKuAi, Guai Li, The Gar, Xiao He, Hot & Cold,
Traveller, etc... Our focus is on making the best recordings of what we strongly believe are among the best bands in the country.
DETAILS:
When:
Sunday, March 14
8:00PM (SXSW Badge holders &
Dart Music International VIPs);
10:00PM (Everyone)
Where:
Dart Music International House at Mi Casa
(503 E. 6th Street
Map)
Film and Bands:
8:30PM - Trailer, photos, and discussion with Film maker
Miao Wang;
Introduction to Dart Music International
9:00PM - P.K.14
10:15PM - Introduction to Dart Music International and
Maybe Mars;
Trailer, photos, and discussion with Film maker
Miao Wang
10:30PM - Carsick Cars
11:15PM - Trailer screening
11:30PM - AV Okubo
12:15AM - Trailer screening
12:30PM - White
1:15AM - Trailer screening
1:30PM - Xiao He
Cost: FREE!
The DMI House will be THE destination for top shelf indie bands from Austin and around the world, spanning the entire duration of the SXSW Conferences and Festivals - and all shows are FREE.
Photo by Shi Xiaofan
P.K.14
"P.K. 14's thrashing chords, dark bass lines and frenetic beats resonate with echoes of Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Fugazi and the New York Dolls. But the
Beijing band's charismatic vocalist, Yang Haisong, 34, says he takes his lead from songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and a
whole generation of protest musicians. Think of P.K. 14, in other words, as neither punk nor postpunk but postfolk."
- Lara Day, "Asia's Best Bands", Time Magazine
From: Beijing, China
Genre: Chinese Rock, Post-Punk
Touchstones: Talking Heads, Television, Woodie Guthrie
Home page: http://maybemars.org/index.php/artists/pk-14/
Listen: "Some Surprises Come Too Soon"
Watch: "How Majestic Is The Night"
Photo by Tim Franco
Carsick Cars
"Sonic Youth and the Clean both released worthy albums this year, but these three Beijing kids in their early 20s took those bands' classic guitar-drone
sounds and made it pulse with the excitement of discovery."
- David Malitz, "Lists: David Malitz's top ten albums of 2009", The Washington Post
From: Beijing, China
Genre: No Wave, Indie Rock
Touchstones: Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, Suicide, Velvet Underground
Home page: http://maybemars.org/index.php/artists/carsick-cars/
Listen: "You can listen, You can talk"
Watch: "Mogu Mogu"
Photo by Maybe Mars
AV Okubo
"Hong Kong experimental cinema, 80's Kungfu movies, triad gangsters, Chinese and Japanese cartoons, Qian Xuesen and China's early space program
all collide together in AV Okubo's sound to create a weird kaleidoscope of modern Chinese sensibilities." AV Okubo's debut album is produced by
Martin Atkins.
- Maybe Mars
From: Beijing, China
Genre: New wave, experimental noise, disco punk
Touchstones: Ratatat, Battles, These Are Powers, Orange
Home page: http://maybemars.org/index.php/artists/av-okubo/
Listen: "AV Terminator"
Watch: "To Hell With Poverty" (Gang of Four Cover)
White
"Shenggy is the London-based ex-drummer of the riotous Beijing all girl band, Hang on the Box. Together with Shou Wang from the scratchy garage
rockers Carsick Cars, they have collaborated since 2005 as experimental, electronic duo White. Self-described as 'cosmic industrial, looped vocals in the
ether, the sound of Beijing, the roar of the traffic, sparks from the night construction sites blinding the stars'."
- Terence Teh, "Chinese New Year Dazed Style", Dazed Digital
From: Beijing, China
Genre: Electronica, Experimental, Minimalism
Touchstones: Throbbing Gristle, Einsturzende Neubauten
Home page: http://maybemars.org/index.php/artists/white/
Listen: "47 Rockets (For Wan Hu)"
Xiao He
Xiao He
"Most of Beijing's underground bands still look to the West for inspiration; Mr. Zhang, for example, draws from minimalist composers Steve Reich
and Philip Glass and the legendary 1960s band Velvet Underground. Yet like everything else in China, this is changing. Carsick Cars, Xiao He and
others have planted the seeds for an organic music scene in Beijing, and younger bands are beginning to look locally for inspiration."
- Janis Foo, "Rocking Beijing", The Wall Street Journal
From: Beijing, China
Genre: Experimental, Free Folk, Avant Garde
Touchstones: Mongolian music, minimalism, Yoko Ono
Home page: http://maybemars.org/index.php/artists/xiao-he/
Listen: "MTV Play"
