China has a humongous population, so I suppose it's logical to assume that there are quite a few great bands from there. You don't really hear much about the Chinese scene (or at least I don't) but I recently found two bands that have me clamoring for more. First up is Carsick Cars (http://www.myspace.com/carsickcars). They basically sound a lot like Sonic Youth only Chinese. This is a good thing though. They don't sound exactly like a clone (which is great) but their influence is definitely obvious. They played SXSW this year which was their first time in America, but hopefully they will come back, because they are pretty darn good.
Next up is Xiao He (http://www.myspace.com/pekingxiaohe). I don't really know how to describe his music. He's in his own class of weird. His stuff's experimental with an obvious eastern/asian influence (especially noticeable in the vocals). His myspace says he plays guitar for Glorious Pharmacy, who I have yet to check out, but probably should. He played a show in DC near the end of 2009, which is how I heard of him, but I didn't go (which was a complete mistake).
Anyway, I think China's definitely got potential, music-wise, and I'll have to explore it more in the near future.
Things I Kind of Like: MGMT's Congratulations
So, Congratulations. Seems to me like one of those things you either get or don't get, there's not too much of an in-between. Loads of people hate on it, wishing they had more pop songs like Kids, Time to Pretend, etc. I think it's better than OS though. Definitely more cohesive. The good songs are pretty good (Congratulations, Brian Eno), but the bad songs are really quite bad ( Lady Dada's Nightmare). It's not a great album, but it's pretty enjoyable I suppose.
Things I Don't Like: MGMT's Congratulations Artwork
I mean really, what the hell.
- Alec
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