Viva la Republica!!! – 60 Chinese Albums to Show Off
October was the happy anniversary of the Party. To commemorate this unforgettable date and help it be a bit more unforgettable, we created a little anthology of China’s music.
The 60 years of the party (maybe the longest party ever) caused a lot of expectations. At the end, the celebration, like everything else in life, happened faster than the wind and all the talk about it is already gone. We wanted the party to last a bit longer so we asked around for some help, and created our first list. We are happy to present you this list of 60 best/favorite Chinese albums from local music celebrities.
The criteria was totally subjective and attached to luck and the law of whatever will be, will be. The only thing that was not random here was the selection of the people we asked to do this.
We chose nine musicians and one promoter (ten to one should be the amount of musicians to promoters, at the most). Among them there are jazz, electronic, and rock musicians. There are producers, writers, teachers of music, arrangers, and fans. We hope this group is a representative selection of the population of our dear Republic.
We asked each of them to tell us six of their favorite/best Chinese albums. Among the lists you will find that some of these albums actually are not Chinese Chinese Chinese. But that’s how we roll here.
Also, to make it a better experience for obsessive music fans like me, we did a little research on every one of the albums to give you links about the bands and albums. In many cases, the links will take you to sites were you can listen to the complete album. There were some of them that were too old to find out more information, so if you can educate us better, then go on and please do it.
Of course I realized some people could repeat the album that other one mentioned, so technically there are not exactly 60 albums, but those albums that have been mentioned more than once are clearly more relevant, and if you don’t have them in your collection, maybe it is time you do.
Enough talk. Let’s go for it. Dear Sino-Melomaniac audience, I’m proud to introduce you 60 albums to celebrate the Chinese Party. Viva la Republica!!!
Super Sophia, the wise PR, booker, and creative mind from YuYinTang
1.
Artist: Underground Baby 地下婴儿
Abum: Wake Up 觉醒
Year: 1998
They’re one of the early Chinese punk bands (maybe the first Chinese punk band). Lots of Chinese youth got into punk from this album. It’s a landmark of the punk scene in China.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: Douban.com Xiami.com
2.
Artist: P.K.14
Album: Go Upstairs and Turn Left 上楼就往左拐
Year: 2001
P.K.14 is one of the best rock bands in China, and people think they’re the best post punk band. It’s their first album, including the songs they wrote from 1997, and those songs are still their best-known songs.
The Artist: Maybemars.com
The Album: Maybemars.com Xiami.com
3.
Artist: Rebuilding the Right of Statues (Re-TROS) 重塑雕像的权利
Abum: Cut Off
Year:2005
They are becoming one of the biggest bands in China. I like their dark style in this album.
The Artist: Re-tros.com Myspace.com
The Album: Douban.com Xiami.com
4.
Artist: Wang Wen 惘闻
Album: IV
Year: 2008
I think they’re the best instrumental band in China. And this is their best album.
The Artist: Douban.com Myspace.com
5.
Artist: Hedgehog 刺猬
Album: Noise Hit World
Year: 2007
I love the energy from the songs and their catchy melodies.
The Artist: Myspace.com Official blog
The Album: Douban.com
6.
Artist: Subs
Album: Down
Year: 2006
I always get impressed by their live shows, but it’s also a good album to listen to. You can feel that power from the tunes.
The Artist: Last.fm Myspace.com Rockinchina.com Official blog
The Album: Douban.com
SIG is a hell of a beatmaker from Qingdao, now living in Shanghai and working on Udance.com
7.
Artist: Cui Jian 老崔
Album: “Rock n’ Roll on the New Long March” 新长征路上的摇滚
Year: 1988
The godfather of rock n’ roll in China, this album is a mixture of different music styles by using Chinese traditional instruments as well as Western instruments. Cui Jian has brought the underground music culture to the mainstream, and this is what he’s known for.
The Artist: Official blog
The Album: Rockinchina.com
8.
Artist: Dou Wei 窦唯
Album: “Dark Dream” 黑夢
Year: 1994
This album came out when the whole of China was trying to imitate the heavy metal rock style from the West. No one understood this album until 10 years after its release.
The Artist: Douwei.net
The Album: Douban.com 9sky.com
9.
Artist: Dou Wei 窦唯
Album: “Hallucinations” 幻听
Year: 1999
This is a collaboration with ”Bu Yi Ding” They are using the style of post-rock to create an artistic mood in China.
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Rockinchina.com 9sky.com
10.
Artist: Dou Wei 窦唯
Album:”One Stone, Two Birds” 壹举·两得
Year: 2003
Free Jazz? Dou Wei has gone too far…
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Douban.com Xiami.com
11.
Artist: M uMa 木马
Album: ”Mu Ma” 木马
Year: 2000
The sound of sadness and sorrow has started a new music era in China.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com Modernsky.com Douban.com
The Album: Modernsky.com
12.
Artist: Mu Tui Gua
Album: “The Posture of an Insult”
Year: I could not find when this album was released.
Personally, I think this is the most perfect album in China. It contains 3 original songs by Mu Tui Gua, but it’s a shame that they are the only 3 songs they’ve ever released.
The Artist & The Album: Top100.cn
Liman, as his bio says, is “One of the new breed of electronic musicians in China.“
13.
Album: “Kung Fu Hustle Soundtrack” 功夫电影原声大碟
Performed by The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
Year: 2004
The Movie: Imdb.com
The Album: Wikipedia.org 1ting.com
14.
Album: “Swordsman 2” Soundtrack 笑傲江湖
Year: 1992
The Movie: Imdb.com
The Album: 1ting.com
15.
Artist: Joseph Koo
Album: “Greatest TV Themes” 顾嘉辉音乐名作
Year: 1984
The Artist: Musicool.cn Wikipedia.org
The Album: Inkui.com
16.
Album: “Ashes of Time” Soundtrack 东邪西毒
Year: 1994
The Movie: Imdb.com
The Album: Xiami.com 1ting.com
Album: The Last Emperor Soundtrack 末代皇帝原声大碟
Year: 1987
The Movie: Imdb.com
The Album: Amazon.com
18.
Album: Once Upon a Time Soundtrack 黄飞鸿原声音乐大碟
Year:1992
The Album: Jet-li.cn
Andy Best is one of the centers of information when it comes to Chinese indie rock. His blog, kungfuology.com, is a classic of Chinese rock literature already.
Andy commented on his list: “This task is both easy and difficult. Easy because most China based indie bands don’t have proper albums, which both narrows it down and also skews it towards Beijing, who have larger labels. Difficult because six will still mean leaving out good records.
It’s controversial to leave out some more prolific recording artists such as PK-14 but the final deciding factor was based on what I still listen to down the line without thinking about it too much.”
19.
Artist: Subs
Album: Down
Year: 2006 (Self Published)
Subs have done three CDs, all good, and this was the second one. Standout track: “Down”
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Rockinchina.com
Artist: Lava/Ox/Sea
Album: Next Episode: Lord Smart vs Dr. Jin” (Miniless Records)
Year: 2009
The cream of the Miniless stable and the Shanghai based experimental scene. Standout track: “Vertigo”
The Artist: Myspace.com Rockinchina.com
The Album: Xiami.com
Artist: Hedgehog 刺猬
Album: “Noise Hit World” (Modern Sky)
Year: 2007
Their latest, Blue Daydreaming, is arguably better but this album marked their explosion onto the scene. It is their second out of three albums, the first being Happy Idle Kid. Standout track: “Toys and Children’s Day”
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: Xiami.com
22.
Artist: Ourself Beside Me
Album: “Ourself Beside Me” (Maybe Mars)
Year: 2009
A lot of good releases to choose from out of the Maybe Mars stable, but I find myself listening to this album more than the Carsick Cars debut. The CD perfectly captures the band’s creative vision. Standout track: “Sunday Girl”
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Band: Xiami.com
23.
Artist: Boys Climbing Ropes
Band: “A Pleasure To Be Here” (Self Published)
Year: 2008
A low-key Shanghai band who also helped bring Little Punk’s famed persona to the stage. The CD brings the intelligence of the band’s music to life. Standout track: “Dirty Bots”
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Xiami.com
24.
Artist: Joyside
Album: “Drunk Is Beautiful” (Modern Sky)
Year: 2004
Out in 2004, it kick started the post-SARS era. Captures that Beijing scene punk feel thing that people are always going on about. Standout track: “Sunday Morning”
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Xiami.com
B6 is a great producer and musician for electronic music in Shanghai.
B6 commented about his list “All of these are true albums from China. Taiwan, Hong Kong can go to hell.”
25.
Album: Once Upon a Time Soundtrack
Artist:Di Huimin, Xiu-Yan Zhang 翟惠民、张秀艳
Year: 1998
This awesome album is not “chi zhi qiang’s”
The Album: Baidu.com
26.
Album: Journey to the West OST (Old Version) 西游记OST(老版)
Personally, I believe that after the reform and open policy the entire Chinese music world attains its best work, and nobody has been able to exceed it yet.
The Movie: Sohu.com
The Album: Verycd.com
27.
Artist: Cui Jian 崔健
Album: “Nothing Chinese Rock and Roll Music” 一无所有
Year:1989
Chinese rock music, the only one in the audience on the status of a decent album.
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Douban.com Wikipedia.org
28.
Artist: Liu H & Deng Jie Yi 刘鸿 & 邓洁仪
Album: 87 Fever – 87 狂热
Year: 1987
Chinese dance music, nobody has made it better yet.
The Album: Inkui.com
29.
Artist : Zhou Feng 周峰
Album: Eye of the Charm 眼之魅
Year: 1985
Because the dim light of night is waning, and there’s a monsoon. This album has two songs.
The Album: Qq.com
30.
Artist: Zhang Qiang 张蔷
Album: Golden Dreams 金色梦幻
Year: 1986
I think she was hot.
The Album: Mtvtop.net
Han Han, clever leader of Miniless Records and bands such as Lava Ox Sea and Duck Fight Goose.
31.
Artist: Muscle Snog
Album: Mind Shop
Year: 2009
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Rockinchina.com
32.
Artist: PK14
Album: City Weather Sailing
Year: 2008
The Artist: Myspace.com
The Album: Amazon.com
33.
Artist: Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou
Album: “The Missing Master” “走失的主人 “
Year:1998
The Artist: Official blog
The Album: Rockinchina.com
34.
Artist: The Fly
Album: “Fallen Love”
Year: 1998
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: Douban.com Msgprodiction.com
35.
Artist: Flies
Album: The Fly 2
Year: 2000
The Album: Douban.com
36.
Artist: The Fly
Album: The fly
Year: 1997
The Album: Douban.com
Erica Lee is a great singer of jazz, soul, folk, and pop music. She is usually performing at JZ, and soon she will release her long-awaited album.
37.
Artist: Faye Wong王菲
Album: “Restless” 浮躁
Year: 1996
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Wikipedia.org 1ting.com
38.
Artist: Khalil Fong
Album: “This Love” 爱爱爱
Year: 2006
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
39.
Aritst:. Karen Mok
Album: “Karen Mok on the Twelfth Floor “ 十二楼的莫文蔚
Year: 2000
The Artist: Wikipedia.org Official blog
The Album: 1ting.com
40.
Artist: Anita Nui 梅艳芳 烈
Album:”Flaming Red lips” 焰红唇
Year:1987
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: 1ting.com
41.
Artist: Chang Shi Lei
Album: “Niu China” After New China – 80 Red Classic
Year:2009
The Album: 1ting.com
42.
Artist: David Wong
Album: “ 让每个人都心碎”
Year:1990
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: 1ting.com
Peng Fei is a talented violin player, composer, and arranger. Usually you can find him on JZ’s stage with his white electric violin, making great performances along with his band, The Possicobilities, and some of the other bands passing by JZ’s stage.
43.
Artist: Sandy Lam
Album: “Faces and Places”
Year: 1990
She is from Hong Kong and this album has a very good production. This album lead Hongkongnese music to another level.
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Wayango.com
44.
Artist: Sandy Lam
Album:” Come Back to Love”
Year:1992
This is from a similar period from the one before, but then they tried with different styles of music. During these years, the music market was much bigger and peoplewere trying to push music in more interesting ways.
The Artist: Fans blog
The Album: Wayango.com
45.
Artist: Jonathan Lee 李宗盛
Album: “Can’t Give Up” 不舍
Year: 1994
He is the best lyrics writer in the history of Chinese pop music, though not the best singer. The arrangers for this album did great work with these songs too.
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Wayango.com
46.
Artist: Kay Huang 黃韻玲
Album “Be my Friend” 做我的朋友
Year: 1993
This is one of her first albums. She studied music in Berkley, and this album was recorded in the States by the time she was finishing her studies and beginning to take her career on. She prepared many years for this album, and it reflects very well the music style of this time. It’s a bit like fusion and jazz, not very commercial really.
The Artist: D-addicts.com
The Album: Wayango.com
47.
Artist: Zhao Jiping 赵季平
Album: “Electric Shadows”
Year: 2000
He is one of the soundtrack composers for the movies of 张艺谋 (Zhang Yimou). And this is one of his best compositions. Performed by the China Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus. It’s a very Chinese style, if anyone likes Chinese music they should get this album. His music has very strong sounds. He is a professor in the Shanghai Conservatory, his music is more like from the style of the north of China, it’s even a bit brutal, but it’s a very different expression of music. By the way, this is an album to learn about the proper combination of Chinese instruments in an orchestra.
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Filmtracks.com Wayango.com
48.
Artist: Faye Wong 王菲
Album: “Fable”
Year: 2000
Here are the most famous songs, at least those I like. I think the producer of this album is one of the most famous in China, and this is maybe his best done one. I think on this album she formed her style and her name, as it is today.
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Wikipedia.org Wayango.com
Feng Hao is drumming and jamming jazz around the best places for jazz in Shanghai, and once in a while you’ll find him playing with his free jazz band The Blue Koi Collective.
Feng said about his list “I love all the Chinese mainland music from the 80s to 90s. That is a special time for China. Almost all of this music was written for the Communist government. It’s ugly, but also very true, because this is the only music for Chinese people at that time. Those musicians are all dead now, but they are great musicians. They lived in the wrong age.”
49.
Artist: Mark Bai 白天
Album:First trio+quintet album
Year: 2008
It’s the best contemporary original Chinese jazz musician’s music. The highest level of Chinese jazz!
The Artist: Myspace.com
50.
Artist: Little Tiger 小虎队
Album: Happy new year 新年快乐(忧欢派对)
Year: 1989
Xiao Hu Dui is a boy group. Its probably the first music album I ever heard in my life, 1989-1990, vintage and hopeful. Enough said!
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Wayango.com
51.
Artist: Loudspeaker 扩音器
Album: Demo
Year: 1999
My favorite punk trio band, although they changed now, but this tape gave me a lot of hope and energy. It also made me determined to be a musician.
The Artist: Myspace.com Rockinchina.com
Artist: Teresa Teng 邓丽君
Album: Best collection
Year: 1992
She is the first pop singer from the Taiwan Republic, which also effected a lot of those pop music industry of China Mainland for a long time. A lot of her music was arranged by Japanese arrangers, so its really brilliant, and, for Chinese people, Teresa means vintage, classic beauty, so I love her music. It’s warm and romantic, the Chinese way.
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Wayango.com
53.
Artist: Sally Yeh 叶倩文
Album: Face to face 面对面
Year: 1989
She is my favorite Honkongnese female pop singer. Her music is also from the 80s. Warm and a bit sad, it makes me remember my childhood. This album includes her famous song, Qian Zui Yi Sheng. That’s the song of hers I liked best.
The Artist: wikipedia.org
The Album: 1ting.com
54.
Artist: Zhang Chu 张楚
Album: Aeroplane Factory 造飞机的工厂
Year: 1997
I remember I had a very bad year, almost eight years ago. I listened to the whole album about one thousand times. Everyday it just kept me going. It’s something like a pop folk rock mix.
The Artist: Wikipedia.org
The Album: Douban.com
Lucky is the fortunate and talented AV Okubo drummer.
55.
Artist: Voodoo Kungfu
Album: Voodoo Kungfu
Year: 2008
This is full national metal. Live, it also has a strong visual impact, like hearing double.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: Xiami.com
56.
Artist: Hua Lun 花伦
Album: Silver Daydream
Year: 2008
This is one of the best Chinese post-rock bands. It reaches your heart’s core.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: Xiami.com
57.
Artist: Rebuilding the Right of Statues (Re-Tros) 重塑雕像的权利
Album: Watch Out Climate has Changed, Fat Mum Rises
Year: 2009
Serious and orthodox post-punk, the absolute big style.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: Xiami.com
58.
Artist: Carsick Cars
Album: “Carsick Cars”
Year: 2007
Unexpected guitar art.
The Artist: Official website Rockinchina.com
The Album: Xiami.com
59.
Artist: Flying Fruit (aka Yu Guo) 羽果
Album: 巴别塔-
Year: 2009
Beautiful melodies and the CD sounds like it’s live.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
60.
Artist: AV Okubo Av大久保
Album: Great Era 大时代-
Year: not released yet
Great band. The album features story songs and totally rocks.
The Artist: Rockinchina.com
The Album: (Mache’s note) This album has been long-awaited and it’s still not out. And I accepted it on Lucky’s list of albums because I totally dig them and I’m hoping the album will be worth it to join this and many other lists of the best of China. Always hope for music.
Read also:
Shanghai World Music Fest Lineup
Let Us Rock: Thoughts on Jason Falkner and the Mao LH Show
May Holidays Were No Holiday for Music
tags: Andy Best - Anita Nui - AV Okubo - B6 - Carsick Cars - Chang Shi Lei - China - Chinese Soundtracks - Cui Jian - David Wong - Dou Wei - Electronic - Erica Lee - Faye Wong - Feng Hao - Han Han - Hedgehog - Jazz - Joseph Koo - Joyside - Karen Mok - Khalil Fong - Lava|Ox|Sea - Liman - Liu H & Deng Jie Y - Lucky - Mark Bai - Ourself Beside Me - P.K. 14 - Peng Fei - Re-tros - Rock - Sandy Lam - Sig - Subs - Super Sophia - The Fly - Voodoo Kungfu - Zhang Chu
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