*** Taking a little vacation today, down Singapore way. This week we have a few visitors popping in from the island nation, the great Lion City. I guess it's been a mini-wave of Singaporean artists, really, presaged by Xhin's DJ gig the other week at Lantern. When he came, I asked him what affect SGP's famously restrictive government has on the music scene there (e.g., last month's Future Music Festival was canceled less than a week before it was supposed to be held, something we Beijingers can relate to). He basically said, "I don't know, I don't do drugs." Fair enough. Here's Xhin remixing another stellar act from the Singaporean fringe, The Observatory: The Observatory will play on Thursday night at Mao Live, following up on a trip they made to Beijing in November 2013. This time through, they're joined by SA (仨), an ethnically Chinese modern classical/improv trio making their Mainland debut. Here are some sounds from the Lion City's most progressive sonic explorers, plus new moves from their opposite numbers in Beijing: *** The Observatory The Observatory is one of Singapore's longest-running rock bands. In their 14 years together, they have become one of the most influential bands in Singapore's fledgling indie scene. In fact, the band is composed of members who were already grinding out their corner of the Singaporean underground in the late '90s, so their collective influence has been growing for almost 20 years at this point. The Observatory's music is pretty hard to pin down. Ahead of their previous visit, I described them as "contemplative, patient space-psych folk... Kind of a psychedelic take on Nick Drake, with laptops and clarinets involved." After seeing them perform, I wouldn't necessarily stand by that. They do indeed make lush, complicated jams that would appeal to most post-rock fans, and thus should go over really well with a typical Beijing audience. But don't go expecting them to stick to any consistent style. For this gig, they'll presumably be sampling heavily from their 2014 full-length, OSCILLA, which sounds like.... this: Still retains some of the dark, doomy elements I remember sticking out to me when I saw them a few years ago at School. Definitely some psychedelic shredding, with the guitar's timbre carefully balanced with the hell of a lot of other shit they have going on. It's a controlled mess. Into it. For a bit more background on the band, the Singapore scene in general, and "breaking the shackles of the Confucian mind", check out this excellent interview by Zhu Wenbo that we ran ahead of their last visit. *** SA Also making the trip to Beijing is contemporary Chinese classical improvisation collective SA (仨). SA, whose name is a Northern Chinese colloquialism for "We three", is composed of Andy C. on dizi, Natalie Alexandra on guzheng, and Cheryl Ong on percussion. They describe themselves as being "influenced by diverse cultures from today’s cosmopolitan society and globalized world, yet retaining their Chinese ethnic identities... honour[ing] their tradition while pursuing modern sonic experiences." This excerpt from an improvisation titled "Passage of Time" hits that nail right on the head: SA has been together since 2011, playing mostly in festival and art world/museum contexts in their home city-state. Thursday's gig at Mao will be the first time they take their ancestral sounds back to the Motherland, mixing them in with the Beijing scene's own take on contemporary Chinese musical experimentation. Find a few more snippets of SA's diverse output on their Soundcloud. *** Chui Wan Joining Thursday's show is Chui Wan, who shared the stage with The Observatory on their previous trip as well. Chui Wan is just now gearing up to release their self-titled, sophomore album. I premiered the first single off that one, "On the Other Ocean", as the opening track of my Chunjie mix this past February. Stream that here. Chui Wan is slated for a May release, coinciding with the band's first North America tour. Ahead of that, they've just dropped a second single and debuted the appropriately psychedelic album art on their Soundcloud. "The Sound of Wilderness" is another dense one, crammed with competing arpeggios, aimlessly wandering guitar solos, unarticulated trot-speed percussive fills, and Yan Yulong's trademark aloof vocal commentary. Check it: Very nice. This will be your last chance to see Chui Wan before they disembark on their month-long US/Canada tour. Think they'll be back for an official Beijing album release party in early June. But get down to Mao Livehouse on Thursday if you want a live preview. *** Yuen Chee Wai Added bonus to that Thursday show: on Friday, April 24, Yan Jun will host The Observatory's Yuen Chee Wai for a solo performance in Meridian's oblong second-floor performance space. This will be the 23rd edition of Yan Jun's MIJI series, focusing on abstract, minimal, improvised sounds. Quoting the presser: "Chee Wai’s strong interest in Philosophy, Literature, Film and Cultural Studies often finds him incorporating textual ideas and concepts in his sound work, with themes like memory, loss, repetition and invisibility as main thought trajectories." Yuen Chee Wai is a founding member of Far East Network (FEN), a pan-Asian ensemble including him and Yan Jun, plus Otomo Yoshihide from Japan and Ryu Hankil from Korea. Here's a sample of them performing at the 2013 Lausanne Underground Fim & Music Festival: *** Liu Xinyu (left) + Yan Yulong For this MIJI gig, Chee Wai is joined by Liu Xinyu and Yan Yulong, Chui Wan's creative songwriting core. These two have become MIJI regulars, and of late have been touring the country as a duo off the back of a full-length CD released earlier in the year by Yan Jun's SUB JAM label. Here's that one, to end this whole thing on a rather puzzling note: *** RECAP: The Observatory, SA, Chui Wan, Snapline = THU April 23 @ Mao Yuen Chee Wai, Yan Yulong, Liu Xinyu = FRI April 24 @ Meridian