Live Review from Underground 69:
I would say I believe the people were still getting ready to get dressed sexily at home so viewers were few when the first band came onstage all the way from Guangzhou. This was definitely testing the Adversary Quotient of the band, and lat
er on, ours. I am not an artist after all, and am sometimes flabbergasted by some avant-garde (or GROTESQUE) philosophical ideas. Having read through their bio and standing behind the scattered audience listening, I still hadn’t the slightest idea as to what was going on. What amazed me were their experimentalism and the rawness of the vocalist’s voice, after trying to immerse in the distorted guitar drone and singing in the speaking style.
I lied to them. When they asked if we understood Mandarin, I said yes, but didn’t clarify how much I understood. They could really be a group of eloquent propagandists if they could deliver other messages as clear as the following: “This is your freedom! OUR freedom!” Perhaps they meant they didn’t care what I’m going to write about them. They went on playing with more guitar wall of sounds, adding to the flavour was a hidden gadget playing by the bassist. Think it’s a Kaos pad. Finally, I heard one of the song titles was “The Road Without An End” – which really gave a feeling as if one was driving alone on the untrodden desert. I don’t think they should (or never will anyway) change their style to suit the listeners’ taste. Perhaps it reflects some of the values or culture of the youth in booming mainland China. Whatever I say, still they read more than the kids in this place.
Erik Piece
