YYT Channel’s 15th installment moves over to the new Yuyintown Basement this week with a trio of eclectic acts, including hard goth rockers Syren from Shanghai, Suzhou’s Peach Blossom who lean into the bombast (and saccharine) of pop punk, and Yixing act RockFullIsland - who meld with glee electronic, rap, metal, ambient, and emo elements into their medley. Always great to see Yuyintang continue to shine a spotlight on emerging (or unseen) bands.
With elements of surf rock, garage rock, hard rock, blues, and more, scrappy Chongqing rockers The Pulsar bring a working-class attitude to their sound - delivering a rollicking good time. Also on hand from Chongqing, The Tims offers up dreamy and laid-back city pop, taking you back to the vibes of 1980s Tokyo. Finally, hometown heroes Sunken Square, wield their chameleonic sword of rock and roll - deftly crafted, with both a mischievous streak and a melodic old school through-line.
Beijing indie rockers, who wade through the waters of grunge, stoner, garage, and psychedelic rock, returned with their new LP - River of the Giant, last spring. And despite the band’s brief brush with mainstream stardom on The Big Band, the band happily hasn’t veered too far from what made them so alluring in the first place- it’s sultry yet grit-worn sound that’s rich in its guitar-led arrangements, old school cadence, and Wang Fan’s pillowy vocals. The perfect soundtrack for a road trip down a long dusty highway, the band has been on the road on and off all year in support of their latest.
Emo as sincere as it is catchy, Diels-Alder, the Lanzhou-bred act that has since found its members scattered about the country, returned with their latest EP - Backlash - this summer. With a melodic charge that recalls the glory days of acts like Dashboard Confessions and Something Corporate, there’s a lot of craft beneath the pop punk veneer - an attention to detail in the arrangements and lyrics that makes each song a full-course meal. With crisp songwriting and an elastic, playful musicality that only deepens, it will rightly turn you into an insecure teenager all over again.
Arkona is a Russian folk metal band. Their lyrics are heavily influenced by Russian folklore and Slavic mythology, and their music incorporates several traditional Russian musical instruments. Meanwhile, Nytt Land is a two-piece Nordic folk band from Kalachinsk in Siberia, Russia - offering up a clever blend of traditional Siberian throat singing and shamanic rhythms. Last, you’ve got Dharma, a Taiwanese Buddhist death metal band that uniquely blends traditional Buddhist sutras and mantras with extreme metal. All at a basement venue filled with sand! Madness!
Old school blackened crust punk - very much in the vein of Venom - in the form of female rockers Rapid Rebound, who hail from Wuhan. With heavy overtones of classic heavy metal and slow, lumbering doom metal, the riffs are bouncy, old-fashioned, and playful. The band is looking to stir up some trouble this Sunday with help from some riotous acts - frenzied twisted punk rockers Moya, and sludgecore rabble-rousers T.O.S out of Suzhou.
