来美国后的最初几年,生活像逆水行舟。当时,学到一句美国人的俗话,说“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”(如果生活给你的是柠檬,你就做柠檬水。)跟苹果、橘子不一样,柠檬是酸的,不能吃。如果生活给你的是苹果、橘子,你不需要做什么,直接吃就可以了。但生活偏偏给你的是酸柠檬,不是苹果,不是橘子。抱怨无济于事,能做的是充分利用它,在不利的条件下,有所作为。把柠檬做成柠檬水。这是一种积极的人生态度,也是一种对自己负责的现实主义态度。
前几个月我就被问了这个问题,我们专门做了一期长达四个半小时的播客,来回答这个问题。这期播客《活在历史的垃圾时间,如何度过时代的乱纪元》,也是我们run and rebel系列的第四期,可能是有史以来关于这个问题最直面现实的同时还能激情澎湃,高潮迭起的播客内容。它的答案不仅针对刚刚到来的2025年,还可能对未来的好几年甚至几十年都持续有效。
因为最大程度地直面了真实,这一期比以往run and rebel的每一期都更疯更勇,所以设置了比以往更高的付费门槛,想最大程度地拦截可能会给我们带来不安的人群。本来录的时候我自己觉得还好,只是畅所欲言之后的酣畅,结果剪辑出来后我在做饭的时候一听,简直心惊肉跳,觉得我自己属实有一种为了说点真话不要命的生猛。最后一个投稿的朋友更是比我还疯,我没敢说的话她比我说得更直接。
其次想祝福一下我们都能分辨并屏蔽噪音,稳住道心。最近刚学会了“道心”这个词,发现这就是passion and mission,激情和使命,在修仙界的别名。这个世界纷繁复杂的噪音太多了,人找到自己道心已经难如登天,想要在这样的噪音如北京春天的电钻声一样钻心入脑的世界里,稳住自己的道心,更是难上加难。甚至连分辨哪些是噪音都很艰难,人在垃圾世界活久了,甚至有时候会觉得噪音才是正确和正常的,还会内化这些噪音用来评判和攻击自己。女性在这个世界已经够处在不利的结构中了,倘若我们还用这些噪音弱化自己,才是掉入了真正万劫不复的陷阱。
但是倘若你在你不认同使你痛苦的环境里广受赞誉,说你温柔脾气好,说你勤劳善良好用有责任心(是的,特别有责任心的人一定会burn out,祝愿我们2025都学会let it burn的时代精神),那警钟今天为你而鸣,你迄今为止的人生都在按照噪音行事。倘若继续下去,你会抑郁,无力,被剥夺和损害,会毫无防线地放弃自己。会终其一生都难找到自己真正想做的事,听不到自己真正的声音,因为噪音会将你吞噬。
To close out the year, we got Jake Newby, the author the China music substack Concrete Avalanche, to put together a radio hour introducing China’s best music from the past year. His set includes everything from Afrobeat-influenced Beijing funk to an electronic track crafted in a Tibetan monastery featuring Buddhist chanting.
Jake Newby: This first song is called ‘Golden Seeds,’ and it’s by a band called Sleeping Dogs. They’re a Beijing bass group that put out a new four-track EP in November called Cliché, which was their first proper release since their debut album two years ago. But this track is actually from a compilation of songs from all across Asia that the Guruguru Brain label put together for their 10th anniversary. Gilles Peterson also played this track on his BBC Radio 6 music show.
Jake Newby: Speaking of compilations, this second track is from one of my favorite compilations of 2024. It's an ambient album put out by Beijing’s Seippelabel. The label is run by Brad Seippel, and it had a comeback in 2024 after a hiatus of about six years. They made up for lost time by releasing a bunch of excellent and interesting experimental electronic records.
‘Never Broken, Never Healed’ is the opening track of an especially beautiful ambient compilation. This song is by Seon Ga 信鴿, a duo comprised of Brad himself and the Guangzhou-based producer Yu Hein.
Jake Newby: Our next song is from ayrtbh, also known as Wang Changcun 王长存. He’s a programmer and experimental musician based in Shanghai, and he’s been releasing interesting avant-garde computer music for around two decades now. ‘Aroma Compound’ is a track from his latest album, Bust Fossil, which is one of his most accessible works to date.
Jake Newby: Up next is another artist who's been around for a while. There was a time in 2007-2008 when Carsick Cars was the Chinese band known by overseas audiences. In 2007, they were planning to support Sonic Youth in China, but authorities stopped them from doing so at the last minute.
In 2009, they were featured in The New York Times and The Guardian. I wont recite the group's entire history right here, but it’s safe to say there have been a few ups and downs since then. Earlier this summer, the band made a comeback with the original lineup getting back together and recording a new album called Aha.
The first song released for that record is a beautiful track called ‘Farewell (告别)’ It’s a wistful reflection on the band’s youth and comes with a refrain of, “而你们还在吗?(Are you still there?)”
It almost felt like an end-of-a-career track. Fortunately, it was swiftly followed with a full new album. ‘Farewell’ is also definitely worth a listen — it’s in my end-of-year mix on Concrete Avalanche, but for today I selected a different song called ‘Stage Riot.’ It’s one of the livelier tracks from the album.
Jake Newby: “The Swan and Blossoms” sounds a bit like the name of an English country pub, but it’s actually a band from Chengdu. They put out their first album in five years (their second ever) at the end of November. A number of people — including the producer of the record, an established Chengdu indie rock musician in his own right called Uncle Hu (Hu Xike) — say that this is a record that requires a bit of time to get into. I feel like I’m still digesting it. But I wanted to include it here because it just feels so different. It’s an indication of how diverse music in China can be, which doesn't always come across in English language coverage of the Chinese music scene. This album was mixed by Mark Nevers, who's worked with the likes of Lambchop and Andrew Bird.
The record (entitled World Below the Moon 月下世界) has a lot going on. It makes use of interesting instrumentation and vocal flourishes, such as Chinese opera-style singing on one track. It moves between dark folk, quirky indie, and a range of other genres. It’s a fascinating listen.
Jake Newby: Our next track is from an artist called Voision Xi, who put out her second solo full-length album just a few weeks ago, called Queen and Elf. She's been a key figure on the Shanghai jazz scene for years.
She used to work kind of behind the scenes at JZ Club — which is something of an institution in Shanghai — and then later she took to the stage herself. She's also a really skilled electronic music producer, and her interest in different forms of music is evident on this album. Although it's kind of rooted in jazz, she kind of also weaves in elements of instrumental hip hop, ambient, spoken word, and lots more. I’ve selected a track called Kagi 鍵 from that record.
Jake Newby: Mdprl & Git Bu$y Trio are from Guangdong, and they’re signed to the Space Fruity label. Their debut LP (called BA*) came out in August. It’s a fun, laid back, jazzy hip hop record with strong summery vibes.
Jake Newby: These next two tracks are pretty different. First, we have a band called Fazi 法兹, a post-punk band out of Xi’An. They’ve had a really interesting year — they went to South by Southwest in the spring, and were meant to go on a tour of North America after that, but only ended up playing a handful of the planned dates. They nevertheless put out a documentary about their time in the U.S. with clips where they were getting really up in the faces of the crowd in Texas and the smaller venues they played. At the end of the documentary, the band said they wished they could do that more in China, since they’ve been playling mostly bigger venues there since they were featured on the TV show The Big Band.
But then they booked a tour of smaller gig venues across China, which felt a bit contrived but actually did work. It seems to have given them a renewed kind of energy, and in November they put out an album where they took a bunch of their old songs and re-recorded them. This wasn't just a Taylor's Version-style release, they really did reinvent a lot of the tracks. The album is calledOriental 101 w Future Prairie, and the track I selected is called ‘Night Patrol.’
Jake Newby: Howie Lee is one of the most interesting artists operating in China. It’s no surprise that his latest album was given a lot of attention by Jamz Supernova and Tom Ravenscroft on the BBC. The LP was recorded over two weeks at the Drolma Wesel-Ling Monastery in the mountains of northeastern Tibet. He combines Tibetan Buddhist singing with what the official introduction on Bandcamp called, “mutating bass/footwork science, glitched-out hyper-rhythms and sampled Chinese-Tibetan instrumentation.” I’m pretty sure it's unlike anything else you’ve heard all year.
Jake Newby: One more track for you. But first, thank you for listening! Please support the artists if you can — all of this music is available on Bandcamp.
Our final track is a brutal one from a group called Ghost Mass. They’re a noise supergroup, uh, comprised of two members of Carsick Cars — Li Weisi 李维思 and Li Qing 李青, although they sound very different here — as well as the Chinese noise pioneer Yan Jun 颜峻. Together, they make these visceral, fascinating sounds. There’s not really a good way to describe it, but this is a track called Ghostbomb and you might want to adjust your volume accordingly.
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