“Beijing has one of the best music scenes in the world,” one of our guests intoned, triggering a brawl that quickly split along Beijing-Shanghai lines. And while we’ll admit a case can be made for Shanghai too, there is no question that China has come a long way since the days of attending a mainstream rock show meant seeing either Xu Wei or Cui Jian. These days, China has an established concert circuit and you can’t hit a local club without running into up-and-coming bands like Bigger Sky, Snapline, or Omnipotent Youth Hotel. Something strange is afoot, and we’re going to talk about it.
Joining host Jeremy Goldkorn this week is of course Kaiser Kuo, who non-Sinica listeners may know for his time with the China metal bands Tang Dynasty and Spring and Autumn. Kaiser is joined in our studio by Archie Hamilton, founder of Asian concert promoter Split-Works and Splatter. Michael Pettis, bearish China economist to the rest of the world, is also here in the guise of his alter ego as owner of the D22 club and founder of the Chinese music label Maybe Mars.
