Popular Beijing band "New Pants" (新裤子) (Photo: The Guardian)
New Sounds of China is back on The Nanfang with Episode 3: The Beijing Scene (you can listen to past episodes of the popular podcast here).
As always, the show is hosted by Paul Kendall and Hu Pan. Here’s the description of the latest episode:
After episode two’s critical assessment of the famous Maybe Mars label, we move into territory mostly uncharted by Western journalists, to consider the output of three less-hyped Beijing record labels. The resulting diversity of sound is breathtaking, ranging from the urban folk of Wan Xiaoli, with his tales of modern urban life; to the postmodern self-consciousness of New Pants, with their musical riposte to Pet Shop Boys’ “Go West”; and the curiously misplaced Britpop style of Sober, a band more influenced by The Beatles and Blur than Peking Opera and Maoist propaganda songs.
The show includes interviews with the managers of all three record labels: Shen Lihui, the charismatic, Richard Brandon-esque helmsman of Modern Sky Records; Da Fei, one of the idealists behind tiny label Mr Miss, which draws inspiration from legendary 1980s British indie label Sarah Records; and Lu Zhongqiang, the more practical manager of 13 Month, a label devoted to modern Chinese folk.
You can listen to it now here.
