Friday, September 14, 2012

36 Songs, 36 Days (2012 Edition), Day Twenty Eight: Cloud Nine by Pairs

They may like to refer to themselves as a bitch and a dickhead...
but man, these cats can play!
And today...Chinese Punk Rock!

No, really. I first became aware of this band when I downloaded a collection of rock bands from Shanghai from bandcamp. On the bandcamp page was a link to Summer Sweat, a full album by the group and hey, it was free, so I downloaded it as well.

This is the first track on that album, and...yeah, it's pretty much a Mission Statement. I have to be honest; while Pairs does sing in English, I can't understand half of what is going on here. Guitatist 'f's' highly distorted guitar rifts burst through the speakers as if she's actively and gleefully trying to blow them while drummer/vocalist xiao zhong alternates between screaming and growling his lyrics. This creates an undeniable energy--while I can't figure out the lyrics entirely (words seem to pop up to the surface from this bed of noise, and the phrase beginning with 'I'll be the best Johnny Rotten in the ground' seems to be the chorus), there is a definitive propulsion to it. You keep listening, even when xiao takes a few moments to start moaning as if in pain.

I'm not 100% sure if this is the kinda of thing I'd want to hear all the time, and I'm not sure if it's this track is the best entry point to this band; there are other tracks on this album that are less distorted and more melodic that might serve to ease a newcomer into their exuberant style. But it sure is fun in its anarchistic, crazy way. If you want to try them out for yourself, check out their discography on bandcamp.
 
Here is the band performing the song live.
 
 


1 comment:

  1. for more chinese alternative music check out asia music specialist tenzenmen (www.tenzenmen.com) and alternativechina.tumblr.com
    :-)

    ReplyDelete