Okay so supposedly Martin Atkins – of Pigface, Killing Joke, etc fame – went to China, and in the style of, say, an Alan Lomax, found a bunch of Chinese rock bands operating outside of the law. In a state of severe repression, the kids still like to rock. There is a compilation to go with this, but what Made in China is, is a sort of collaborative project à la Pigface, where a bunch of artists produced music and Atkins made a sort of weird album out of it, heavily into the style of dub, with of course Atkins typical pounding drums.
A very bizarre project, as traditional Chinese sounds merge with rock and dub, along with electronic experimentation. It makes me pretty happy actually. It is probably one of the most unusual things I have ever heard, just in that there is typical Chinese flutes, and those string things mixing in with, punk style guitars and at times rapping.
I mean, as can be expected with Atkins at the helm, it is very scattered, that is not to say that there are not definite songs, and structures, just that there is a huge variety of musical styles explored and presented. Each song is radically different than the last. I mean there are uniting themes. But overall it is a very diverse listen.
If I were to imagine a compilation meant to showcase an emerging music scene somewhere, that has yet to define itself as a style or whatever, I would imagine it would sound something like this. Yeah it’s almost like a compilation of Chinese alternative music thrown into a blender just to keep our scattered western minds interested, which these days I think is getting harder and harder. Hell I think we have a hard time keeping anything in our heads for more than 5 minutes. So I guess that it does its’ job, generating interest in these Chinese projects.
And don’t be scared off by the diversity, I mean there are fine tracks on the album, some of which are really incredible. According to Atkins the scene in china at the moment is like the late 70s punk scene in England, and if his analysis is correct there could potentially be some pretty cool acts coming out soon. But I haven’t heard that compilation yet, in fact I think the problem is I’m not sure what the name of it is, maybe I should actually check that out. Because it could be really cool too,. Ah, Look Directly into the Sun, that’s it.
