LIN Zhiying is a sound artist based in Guangzhou / Shenzhen. So far he has released two solo albums and a collaboration phonography album with Justin Zhong. He’s a part of 21floor, a Guangzhou-based open collective of multimedia artists.

Lin’s entry at Chinese New Ear is here.

LIN ZHIYING’S FAVOURITE ALBUMS

# Eric La Casa - Secousses Panoramiques / The Stone of the Threshold

# Unknown Artists - Indian Soundscapes

# Tetsuo FURUDATE 古馆彻夫 - Live (bootleg, place & date unknown)

# Merzbow - Music for Bondage Performance vol. 2

# Helmut Schaefer - Isolated Irritation

# David Darling - Cycles

# Yellow Magic Orchestra - Public Pressure

# Zeitkratzer / John Duncan - Fresh

# Kazutoki UMEZU 梅津和时 － Eclecticism

# Cheer Chan 陈绮贞 － 还是会寂寞 / Groupies 吉他手 / 华丽的冒险

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

Wolfenstein (XIE Zhongqi) is a sound artist based in Taipei. He is a member of Taipei Sound Unit - a local branch of China Sound Unit - and has been experimenting with as many techniques of sound making as possible.

Wolfenstein’s Chinese language blog is here and his entry at Chinese New Ear is here.

WOLFENSTEIN’S TOP TEN ALBUMS

# LIM Giong 林強 - Entertainment World 娛樂世界 (1994)

The only work of Taiwan pop music that is up to the international standard.

# Massive Attack - Protection (1994)

# Underworld - Everything Everything (2000)

Top-notch electronica performing group.

# Goldie - Timeless (1995)

The first time I heard “flying” beats. Too bad that drum’n'bass went into a beat cul-de-sac later, and Goldie stopped being able to produce anything exciting.

# Ryuichi Sakamoto - Neo Geo (1987)

The only piano piece from Prof. Sakamoto that’s worth listening to (forget about the live version).

# Carl Stone - Shing Kee (1986)

Was completely dumbfounded when I first listened to this. Grandiosity within such simple rules and form.

# Farmers Manual - FSCK (1997)

All the Mego CDs are fading in my mind, with this only exception.

# Yoshimatsu Takashi - Piano Concerto “Memo Flora” (1997)

# Dajuin Yao - ForeTaste Radio (2000 - 2003)

Dajuin is Dajuin, others are others.

# Autechre - Untilted (2005)

Everybody thinks I’m an Autechre geek so I have to pick one of theirs.

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

LI Jianhong is the founder of 2pi (pronounced “R Pee”), or Second Skin, an avant-rock band as well as record label in Hangzhou, China. He plays a crucial role in the Hangzhou/Shanghai experimental music scene, both as a guitar-noise maker and a sound artist. He was the lead guitarist of 2pi (the band) and one half of the grindcore duo D!O!D!O!D!, and has recently launched the hardware-noise group Acidzen with HUANG Jin.

Li’s entry at Chinese New Ear is here, his blog (Chinese) is here.

LI JIANHONG’s TOP TEN ALBUMS

# Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love

# Zbigniew Karkowski - Intensifier

# Tetsuo Furudate + Zbigniew Karkowski - World as Will II

# Miles Davis - The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions （4 CDs）

# Sonic Youth - Sonic Death

# HAINO Keiji - Watashi-dake?

# GUAN Pinghu 管平湖 - Gu Qin

# Stockhausen - Helikopter Quartet (played by Arditti String Quartet)

# Napalm Death - Scum

# Ornette Coleman - Dancing in Your Head

# Helmut Lachenmann - “…zwei Gefühle…”，Musik mit Leonardo ; Notturno ; Interieur I

# Derek Bailey/Pat Metheny/Gregg Bendian/Paul Wertico - The Sign of Four (3 CDs)

# Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach (4 CDs)

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

Ronez (ZHOU Pei) is one of the earliest Chinese musicians that dive into genres other than rock’n'roll. He started doing electronica in the late ’90s but switched to hardware-based noise music before making his first formal public appearance at Sounding Beijing 2003 with a full table of home-made electronics. Together with Shanghai-based Torturing Nurse and Hangzhou-based Acidzen, Ronez represents the no-laptop/circuit-bending school of Chinese new music.

Ronez’s entry at Chinese New Ear is here, his blog (Chinese) is here.

RONEZ’S TOP TEN ALBUMS

# Fleetwood Mac - The Best of the Original Fleetwood Mac

# The The - Burning Blue Soul

# WANG Lei - Love is the beginning of everything 一切从爱情开始

# Ground Zero - Null & Void

# Art Ensemble of Chicago - Bap-tizum

# Art Ensemble of Chicago - Live in Paris

# Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted

# Mercury Rev - Yerself is Steam

# HRVATSKI - Swarm and Dither

# Kid 606 - cq on the eq++

# Kid 606 - p.s. I love you

# Sly & Family Stone - (several albums of them) [they are dope]

# The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us

# The Cramps - Off the Bone [i made a cramps t-shirt for this summer]

# Deerhoof - (early works)

and Melvin, Smog, Coleman, Jack Johnson, Glove, Mingus, Donovan, Cracker, Dolphy, Stooges, Buffalo Springfield, Lovin’ Spoonful, and all psycho folk, psychabilly, old grunge, old garage/psych rock, old and odd jazz noise.

this is a list before I really get into hip hop underground and noise/experimental stuff, so it will be a long list if i put all of them on it. These stuff are some music I really cost time listening to. I still listen to these CD when I do not listen to noise and do not make noise.

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

CHIANG Liwei (Wei) is a sound artist based in Taipei. He was educated in New York as a design major before launching the label Recorderz (see GNO’s post about it) back home with some friends. Currently, Wei lives and works in Taipei.

Wei’s entry at Chinese New Ear is here.

CHIANG LIWEI’s TOP TEN

# Aphex Twin - Richard D. James / Come to Daddy

My first encounter with electronic music. Also, the last two great albums from Aphex Twin.

# Autechre - Gantz Graf

Crazy ass shit! Always advancing their sound. It’s funny that some music critics in Taiwan think they are getting out of hand with their music. Let me tell you something, they are the best in the business!

# Shakti - A Handful of Beauty

This is just beautiful music.

# Laetitia Sonami - Live @ Sounding Taipei 2004

I can’t forget the goose bump she gave me when I first saw her performing live in Taipei. Poetic and powerful. I am glad that I got to see her perfoming live in this life time.

# Tabla Beat Science - Tala Matrix

Percussion at its best.

# Digable Planet - Blow Out Comb

This is the best hip hop album I’ve heard so far. Too bad that all of the members are doing some shit music now.

# Santana, John McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender

This is the kind of music that you can cry to.

# Terje Rypdal - Chaser

This is rock n roll! I also got to see him live in New York. An experience that I will never forget.

# Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert

# Christian Zanesi - Le Paradoxe De La Femme Poisson

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

Zafka (ZHANG Anding) is a member of the Guangzhou-based free form project 21floor, which explores the possibility of interdisciplinary collaboration and the idea of finding “alternative spaces” for sound art/multimedia performance. Before joining the group, Zafka was the guitarist of the post-rock band Prague in Shanghai.
Zafka’s blog (Chinese) is here.

ZAFKA’S TOP TEN ALBUMS

# Sonic Youth - Sonic Death: Early Sonic 1981 - 1983; Confusion Is Sex

# Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

# Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert

# Steve Roden - Light Forms

# Scott Ryan Johnson - John Somebody; No Memory; Rock, Paper, Scissors

# J.S. Bach - Six Suites for Solo Cello (played by Pablo Casals)

# Bela Bartok: Six String Quartets (played by Emerson String Quartet)

# Kronos Quartet - Released: 1985 - 1995

# Olivier Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham, WANG Jian)

# Space Monkeyz vs. Gorillaz - Laika Come Home

# Claude Debussy - Debussy: Orchestral Music (Prelude a L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune; Nocturnes; Images; La Mer); Preludes for Piano

# IKEDA Ryoji - +/- (plus/minus)

# Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

# Artificial Memory Trace - Ritmax Asimetra, Vol. 7

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

XU Cheng is a sound artist/designer based in Shanghai. He plays with Torturing Nurse regularly under the alias of Youki, and is also a member of OO (Two Noughts). Apart from all these, Xu is also (maybe we should say more than anything else) a veteran photographer.

Xu’s entry at Chinese New Ear is here, and don’t miss NOIShanghai.org, of which he is a founder.

As a designer, Xu submitted his top ten in an unconventional way. Instead of compiling a text list, he produced two mosaics of the album covers - one for CDs and one for……cassette tapes!

(For the CD albums mosaic, please click on the image to view a larger version.)

At GNO’s request, Xu has kindly provided us a text list as well.

XU CHENG’S TOP TEN ALBUMS

CDs:

# KENICHI Mikawa 美川憲一全曲集

# HAINO Keiji 灰野敬二 - わたしだけ？(Watashi Dake?)

# The Venus - Love Potion No.1

# J.S. Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge (played by Keller Quartet)

# J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (played by Glenn Gould, 1981 version)

# Schnittke’s Chamber Music (played by Kremer/Zimmermann/Schiff…)

# Amos Milburn Blues - Barrel House & Boogie Woogie: 1946 - 1955

# Michael Jackson - Off the Wall

# Hilliard Ensemble - Hilliard Song Book: New Music for Voice

# Oswald von Wolkenstein - Knightly Passions

# Marcel Dupre - Deux Symphonies pour Orgue

# Lead Belly - Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen

# Oliver Messiaen - Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps-Eduard Brunner/Tori Fontenay

# Jimmy Witherspoon - The Blues, the Whole Blues and Nothing But the Blues

# John Coltrane - Live in Seattle

CASSETTE TAPES:

# Little Tigers (Xiao Hu Dui) - s/t [Vintage ’80s/’90s boy-pop band from Taiwan]

# Lan Erduo Feichuan 蓝耳朵飞船

# Stories told by Sister Swallow 燕子姐姐讲故事 [Chinese audio book]

# The Gourd Brothers (vol. 2) 葫芦兄弟（下）[original soundtrack of Chinese animation]

# James Booker - Resurrection of the Maharajah

# Jimi Hendrix - Jimi Plays Monterey

MISSING ALBUM (HENCE NO PHOTO):

# ZHANG Chu 张楚 - Gudu de Ren shi Kechi de 孤独的人是可耻的 [One of the earliest Chinese rockers/alternative folk singers.]

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)

Dajuin Yao is a polyartist/art historian/curator based in Berkeley/Taipei. He runs the label Post-Concrete and is responsible for the first large-scale experimental music festival in mainland China - Sounding Beijing 2003.

Dajuin’s personal page is here, his entry at Chinese New Ear is here.

DAJUIN YAO’S TOP TEN ALBUMS

# Miles Davis - Live/Evil

I must confess that I shoplifted my copy of this album from the local Yamaha dealership, and it was a Quadraphonic LP version (I still remember the gold, instead of red, labels on these Columbia SQ records and the slightly moldy smelling heavy album covers, with of course the amazing paintings by Mati Klarwein, especially his rendition of J. Edgar Hoover on the back cover). I was only a poor kid back then and it wasn’t that serious a crime, because I did pay for my “Bitches Brew,” which I got along with it. Come to think of it now, lifting a 12-inch double album was no small feat. But I thought a two-for-one deal was only fair, and nobody else in the country knew what the hell this was anyway. By the way, after listening to the recently released “Cellar Door Sessions,” I realized how Teo Macero cheated us big time with his heavy cutting and pasting in the original Live/Evil release version, but what a magnificient cheat! And, man, that narration by Conrad Roberts on “Inamorata” put in during post-production!

# Mahavishnu Orchestra - Visions of the Emerald Beyond

To be able to see it without hallucinogens. That’s what I call real vision.

# Jean-Claude Eloy - Gaku-no-Michi (1978)

When I first met Eloy in Taipei back in 1978, I wasn’t as impressed by his music (which I heard too little of then) as by his composure and his deep penetration into the realm of sound - a quality that I had encountered previously only in percussionist/composer Michael Ranta. I can never forget the image of Eloy raising his right arm up to the EQ controls and leaving it up there for about twenty-minutes, during his presentation of “Kama-Kala” for three orchestras and chorus. 26 years later, I brought Mr. Eloy and “Gaku-no-Michi” to Sounding Taipei 2004 for a magnificent 4-hour, 4-channel live diffusion concert. After I release his complete version of “Gaku-no-Michi” on four CDs, I’ll be able to die with no regrets.

# Keith Jarrett - Köln Concert

This music is so personal to me that I don’t even want to reflect on it now; and I probably will never play it again. But my on-the-spot, improvised English composition essay on this music did get me transferred successfully into the English department when I was about to be kicked out of the aeronautical engineering department. And by the way, I wrote the Chinese liner notes to probably the only pirate LP edition of “Köln Concert” manufactured in Asia.

# Santana - Welcome

One track title sums the whole album up perfectly: “Flame/Sky.”

# Circle - Paris Concert (Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea, Barry Altschul, Dave Holland; 1971)

Four top musicians in top shape, heading towards unknown beauty. The art of improvisation at its best.

# Nikhil Banerjee - Raag Malkauns - Live Concert Vol. 1 (Cchanda Dhara)

Totally still, yet totally agitated, at the same time. I’m lucky to have met Pandit Banerjee once in 1983.

# Karlheinz Stockhausen - Hymnen (1967)

It’s really not about the sounds, or how complex the inter-modulation techniques are. It’s the scale of that grand, humanistic vision.

# Arnold Schönberg - Verklärte Nacht (Karajan/Berliner Philharmonik version)

The version I heard was actually a pirated LP made by Yongfeng Records - cheap, scratchy recycled vinyl, and cheap, thin paper sleeves. But hell, it sure don’t matter. Also, no other performance version on earth can compare to this one by Herbert von!

# ЛЮБЭ - Песни о людях (Lyube - Songs of the People) (1997)

I didn’t think that truly great songs could still be written in this era, songs that achieve folk-song status as soon as they come out and can live on forever. I can never forget the state of disbelief I was in when I first heard the almost a cappella “Kostroma” (from another album, Polustanochki); I played it repeatedly for 5 or 6 times straight. Then I started playing these Russian gems on my ForeTaste Radio show (the name is a pun on “avant-garde music” in Chinese) around 2001 and a network of young Chinese fans simply went nuts over Lyube, DDT, Akvarium, Alla Pugacheva, Linda, Zemphira… And no doubt Lyube is everybody’s favorite. This is a big wide world that has been unfairly censored all these years by the Anglo-American music hegemony.

(GNO Top 10 series invites Chinese sound artists/experimental musicians to list music/albums that are either their personal favorites or have crucial influence on them as artists. By doing this, we try to present the Chinese aural art scene in the context of the global music ecology.)