Beijing is music capital of China and it’s always a special occasion when we are treated to new material from our domestic talent pool. Here’s a small selection of the records we can look forward to this month. Take a gander and get a better idea of what to expect from these exciting releases.

Alpine Decline, Go Big Shadow City
Many bands have two sides. The side you see in the live house and the other that shines through on the album, a cultural artifact documented in the controlled environment of a recording studio. For many, it is hard to find the perfect balance of these two worlds and create an accurate testament of the music they are capable of. Alpine Decline have very effectively captured everything they could hope to from this studio recording to the point where you can feel Yang Haisong’s recording equipment bearing the weight of this
beautifully heavy music.

Their tracks have an easy flow with a highly informed sense of the design in mind, from in-the-gutter raga-esque repetitions to the spaced out points in between songs where the guitar rings out, getting tangled and mutated into scratchy oscillations. This album showcases their ability to channel punk-driven emotion through the gaze of psychedelic exploration. Though it can seem deeply saturated in a thick blanket of echo, poetic elements seep through this lens of distortion, displaying a sense of control that belongs to a rare breed of band like Galaxy 500 or Wipers.

AV Okubo, Dynasty
This new Maybe Mars release from Wuhan pranksters AV Okubo has been a long time in the making. With the help of Andy Gill, founding member of the seminal post punk group Gang Of Four, this recording maintains a strong sense of intensity and musical acumen throughout. Opening track “World” is reminiscent of late ’70s techno pop akin to something off of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s eponymous album, but this is just the tip of the chopstick. These guys flip, zigzag, and swing to unimaginable places throughout the duration.

They are not focused on any one genre. The way AV Okubo tangle with styles is masterful. A feature, no doubt, some might find schizophrenic, but a form of dialectical chaos that should be respected.  

Dynasty is a record that could benefit from being a little more dirty and raw. The crisp production doesn’t match the wild sounds shooting out of these guys, and while the slick sound isn’t terrible, it’s the musicianship and stylistic range that really makes this album stand out.

Zuckermann, Serendipity
The latest DJ transplant to Beijing, Ralph Zuckermann, has been a figure in the Berlin scene for many years. Seeing him perform is a spectacle, but this release confirms suspicions that he is on a whole other level. The sounds on Serendipity are an amalgamation of various electronic classifications. At times, it’s sparse and minimal, before quickly shifting to something baroque or funky. Listen to it loud and let it transport you to a cinematic realm akin to an ’80s Vangelis score. One minute you’re making love to a replicant, the next you materialize in a bizarre techno nightmare.

It would be remiss to suggest this is an album that was made solely for the dance floor. The track “Stalk Hausen” embodies an early Cabaret Voltaire sound, shot through time to sound ultra modern and unnerving. Then the industrial and noisy elements eventually warp into something cohesive, tight and melodic before dropping off into oblivion. Vocal elements would serve to anchor some tracks with a human element but these compositions possess their own programmed version of this. The soul of the operator is still very apparent.