Maybe Mars Presents: A Showcase of the Chinese Underground

“Carsick Cars and P.K. 14 represent two of China’s most visceral new acts” – THE GUARDIAN

“The Ten Best Classical-Music Performances of 2008: the brilliant young guitarist-composer Zhang Shouwang (Carsick Cars & White) casting a minimalist spell in a Beijing rock club” – THE NEW YORKER

“Asia’s Best Bands, 5 Asian Acts to Watch in 2008: P.K. 14” – TIME MAGAZINE

“Just as the 100 Club and CBGB fostered punk movements in London and New York City, Beijing’s D-22 nightclub serves as the epicentre for its burgeoning alternative music scene.” – THE ECONOMIST

“D-22 and Maybe Mars… now the center of new music in Beijing, are also home to the city’s expanding counterculture…” – WALL STREET JOURNAL

Maybe Mars Presents: A Showcase of the Chinese Underground. A formidable new wave of musicians has taken China’s music underground by storm. Working well outside government-controlled media channels they have, in the process, turned the ears of the international music community towards Beijing.

Maybe Mars and its sister club, D-22, have found themselves at the center of the burgeoning scene. The artists signed to Maybe Mars represent a fresh, independent voice in a country renowned for creative conformity and saccharine Cantopop. For now, China remains in a tense state between the socialist idealism of old and a drive for wealth spurred by free-market reforms. These contradictions tear at the country’s social fabric, while simultaneously provoking and inspiring younger generations to greater artistic heights, especially in the realm of music.

Given the brutal industrialization, destruction and reconstruction of China’s rapidly changing urban landscapes it is probably no surprise that Beijing musicians are heavily influenced by the no-wave sounds of New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They have nonetheless reconfigured this vocabulary to fit with Chinese opera’s traditional delight with textural experimentation and a centuries-long history of infatuation with shimmering melodic structures. With the sound of broken-down machines cranking out lovely pop songs, the unique sound emerging from China’s music underground aggressively questions the moral and social basis of the fragile modernity on which it subsists.

Maybe Mars is the youngest of the two leading Chinese independent music labels. It was started by musicians who had found a home at D-22, the rock club that is credited with giving crucial exposure and support to Beijing’s exploding music scene. In its two years of existence, it has already signed 24 folk, rock, experimental and noise musicians and bands, including most of the artists at the forefront of China’s music underground.

For the first time, three Maybe Mars artists – P.K. 14, Carsick Cars, & Xiao He – will appear on American shores.

Artist descriptions:

P.K 14 – Ask any of the younger bands about their influences and it is pretty obvious that P.K.14 has had the biggest impact of any local band on the growing Beijing scene. However, their artistic intensity and the care with which they write their songs do not keep them from completely rocking out, and their shows in China and abroad regularly receive critical acclaim. Often referred to as China’s best underground band, P.K.14, more than any other band, set the stage for the Beijing musical explosion.

Carsick Cars – One of the most widely admired bands in Beijing’s underground, Carsick Cars have played major festivals and concerts in China and abroad with the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Ex Models and These Are Powers. Employing the ferocious aural attack of one of China’s most brilliant guitarists and composers, Shouwang, they tear through their beautifully crafted songs in a thrilling but almost religious orgy of violence. Carsick Cars, whose “Zhong nan hai” is considered the anthem of Chinese countercultural youth, just released their second CD this summer, which was produced by Wharton Tiers, who also produced CDs for Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, and Dinosaur Jr.

Xiao He – In recent years Xiao He started reaching deep into the surreal folk traditions of a fast-disappearing China in much the same way Tom Waits immersed himself in the apocalyptic Christian mythologies of the American Deep South. With his combination of southern Chinese mysticism and Beijing gruff he has created a strange, stirring vision of a 19th-century China crashing violently into a 21st-century China of boiling rivers and crumbling factories. Xiao He has released many CDs over the years but continues to astonish audiences, including one recently at the Barbican in London, with his progressively eclectic sound that draws upon traditional instrumentation and vocal arrangements looped within his live performances.

Music, bio, interviews, art and more available upon request.

Confirmed shows:

Day of week	Dates	City	Venue	Lineup
Weds	11/4/2009	Manhattan, NYC	VON	Xiao He & Shouwang (from Carsick Cars)
Thurs	11/5/2009	Brooklyn, NYC	powerHouse Arena	Xiao He & Carsick Cars & P.K. 14
Fri	11/6/2009	Brooklyn, NYC	Glasslands	MyOpenBar presents These Are Powers, Soft Circle, Carsick Cars, P.K.14 & Xiao He
Sat	11/7/2009	Manhattan, NYC	WKCR: SOUNDS OF CHINA (10am)	Xiao He (live).
Sat	11/7/2009	Manhattan, NYC	SANTOS Party House	P.K.14 , Carsick Cars, Antimagic, & BJ Rubin, Knyfe Hyts (TBC),
Tues	11/10/2009	Chapel Hill, NC	UNC - Chapel Hill	P.K.14 , Xiao He, & Carsick Cars
Weds	11/11/2009	Richmond, VA	The Triple	P.K.14 , Xiao He, & Carsick Cars
Thurs	11/12/2009	Philadelphia, PA	Club Polaris / Starlight Ballroom Dance Club 460 N 9th Street Philadelphia PA $10 / All Ages	P.K.14 , Xiao He, & Carsick Cars
Fri	11/13/2009	Washington, DC	Velvet Lounge	P.K.14 & Xiao He, & Pablonious
Fri	11/13/2009	Amherst, MA	Hampshire College	Carsick Cars, Pink Reason, & Pop. 1280
Sat	11/14/2009	Purchase, NY	SUNY Purchase	Carsick Cars, Pink Reason, & Pop. 1280
Sat	11/14/2009	Washington, DC	Govinda Gallery	Xiao He
Sun	11/15/2009	Pittsburgh, PA	Garfield Arts	PK-14, Xiao He, CSC & Surfer Blood
Tues	11/17/2009	Baltimore, MD	Open Space 2720 Sisson St. Baltimore, MD 21211	PK-14, Xiao He, & Carsick Cars
Thurs	11/19/2009	Waterville, ME	Colby College	Carsick Cars, P.K.14 & Xiao He
Fri	11/20/2009	Manhattan, NYC	Ding Dong Lounge	Octagon, Carsick Cars, P.K.14 & Xiao He
Sat	11/21/2009	Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY	Secret Project Robot	Carsick Cars, P.K.14, Xiao He, Aa, Knyfe Hyts 81 & others…
Sun	11/22/2009	Manhattan, NYC	PERFORMA’09, Grande Finale	Shouwang, Xiao He, and many others…

Some Media Mentions:

Turning Japanese heads to China: The Shanghai scene Aug 4, 2009	Rocking Beijing: China’s underground music scene July 24, 2009	Alex Ross: The Ten Best Classical- Music Performances of 2008 Dec 8, 2008
Beijing’s Revolution Jul. 17, 2008	Symphony of Millions: Taking stock of the Chinese music boom. July 7, 2008	Asia’s Best Bands: 5 Asian Acts to Watch in 2008 July, 2008
Daydream Nation July 16, 2008	Destined: White Jan, 2007	For All the Rock in China Nov 25, 2007
China’s Underground Punks October, 2009

Here are links to high-resolution publication-ready photos of all 3 bands:

http://www.mdnphoto.com/download/maybemars_carsickcars.zip
http://www.mdnphoto.com/download/maybemars_pk14.zip
http://www.mdnphoto.com/download/maybemars_xiaohe.zip

Please credit Matthew Niederhauser for all images or contact him at [email protected] if more photos are needed.

For all other enquiries, please contact:

Charles Saliba
U.S. mobile: +1.917.449.2431