ed peto

There’s nothing worse than hyping things up too early. While Billboard magazine saw fit to call Beijing one of the top 5 cities to watch for music in 2007, regular gig-goers here are slightly less sanguine on the subject. This place has a long, long way to go before it can be compared to even the second tier cities in most other developed countries in terms of originality and depth of talent. As a rule, most bands are highly derivative as well as technically suspect, making the three chord mock-anger and incompetence-drowning feedback of punk music the weapons of choice. That’s not to say that there isn’t a certain buzz in the air though. While there has never been a shortage of fan favourites like Brain Failure, New Pants and the now defunct Hang On The Box, there seems to be a certain knowing assurance in the current rising stars where there was only amateurish exuberance before. Bands like Rebuilding The Rights Of Statues (Re-TROS) and Lonely China Day, both of whom toured the States recently to glowing reviews, are just…well…believable, and that is a very rare quality in this town. Here are the Re-TROS playing ‘If The Monkey Becomes (To Be) The King’ at Beijing’s 2 Kolegas club last night:

There’s no doubt as to who the hot new prospects are though. I put Hedgehog on for a show here in June after being impressed with a few D-22 gigs and they were outstanding.

They describe themselves as being ‘Noise Pop’ which actually isn’t far off the mark: The scuzzy side of guitar pop; catchy as hell without being disposable, with Cure basslines, plenty of invention and the best drummer in the world bar none. ‘Atom’, as she is called, may measure in at well under five foot and have the face of a cherub but she can’t half smack the crap out of a drum kit, in time, while singing backing vocals. In the words of so many tv talent searches, she has ‘the x-factor’. Here they are blowing away a mid-afternoon crowd at last week’s inaugural Modern Sky Festival. Atom broke a drum stick one minute into the first song and two more through the rest of the set:

International scrutiny might be wildly premature but while the rest of Beijing gears up for the Olympics in 2008 with all it’s obscene construction and flag waving, the indie rock scene is quietly developing into something pretty special. Don’t begin the hype yet as this scene is simply too fragile to deliver. With bands like these on the up though, there is an unquestionable optimism about town. For the moment, however, please take Beijing off your ‘cities to watch’ lists, talk about Sheffield for a while longer and come back in 2009.

© Ed Peto 2007