Category Archives: Uncategorized

Photo of the day: Life as Decoration

All this week, Radii is posting a photo essay by Liu Qilin (aka Jady) entitled Lost Land of my Campus: “An area less traveled or known by others. Like a desert. A paradise.”

After quite a long time, finally I picked up my curiosity again to step into one of the mysterious areas of my campus（Beijing Normal University). Beside the gate there is a room with many beautiful fish, which I can see through the windows. Entering the gate, I found it was like an abandoned garden, where everything seemed to have frozen for a long time, except captive animals. Many items were put there, rusting or growing on their own.

Through the window of a silent room I saw fish and algae in a tank, and trees at my back. The scene was weird and beautiful, a reflection of consumer society.

Photo of the day: Smoking Area in the Woods

All this week, Radii is posting a photo essay by Liu Qilin (aka Jady) entitled Lost Land of my Campus: “An area less traveled or known by others. Like a desert. A paradise.”

After quite a long time, finally I picked up my curiosity again to step into one of the mysterious areas of my campus（Beijing Normal University). Beside the gate there is a room with many beautiful fish, which I can see through the windows. Entering the gate, I found it was like an abandoned garden, where everything seemed to have frozen for a long time, except captive animals. Many items were put there, rusting or growing on their own.

A dustbin for cigarette ash is situated near a bamboo patch, alongside an old bicycle — quite a funny pairing. If you smoke here it’s easy to catch fire. But in the end, the ashes of cigarettes and leaves will eventually merge.

Yin: Intersecting Rhythms from Beijing Post-Punk Pioneers Re-TROS

Yin (音, “music”) is a weekly Radii feature that looks at Chinese songs spanning classical to folk to modern experimental, and everything in between. Drop us a line if you have a suggestion.

Re-TROS, once a leading light of Beijing’s explosive mid-2000s independent rock scene, has been building their sound quietly in the shadows for the last several years. Though they’ve popped out for the odd festival performance and an occasional overseas gig, they’ve been pretty quiet since the 2009 release of their debut album, the presciently titled Watch out! Climate has changed, fat mum rises…

When I interviewed Re-TROS singer Hua Dong in 2013, he told me that a new album was just around the corner, adding:

Another really important step for us is to move in some new directions musically, not just post-punk and new wave. We hope we can put out more and more interesting music and move further and further along.

Took another four years, but at the beginning of 2017 we got Re-TROS’ long-awaited followup, Before the Applause. And it’s pretty impressive. Comparing Re-TROS favorably with other Beijing post-punk bands of their generation, UK music webzine the Quietus effusively praises their latest: “rather than just presenting a decent imitation, as they did on their last record, here they absorb their forebears into a melting pot of their own devising. Re-TROS have become outliers, rather than copyists.”

I’ve always taken issue with the “copyist” argument against Chinese bands, who seem to be singled out for abuse when trying their hand at any “Western” style of music (be it punk, post-punk, or the current cultural juggernaut, hip hop). But Re-TROS has indeed found fresh ground here, adding an electronic sheen to their previously strictly instrumental — if heavily distorted — sound.

My favorite track on the album is the one above, “8+2+ 8 II”, in which buzzing, brutal electronics rough up an otherwise minimalistic gambit that the band readily admits was inspired by postmodern composer Steve Reich’s Clapping Music.

Though Before the Applause was released domestically via an extensive China tour in March, it’s just gotten its official international release, and the promotion engine of giant-indie label Modern Sky is chugging at full steam to get Re-TROS into foreign ears. They’re headlining Modern Sky’s upcoming festivals in Los Angeles (this weekend) and New York City (September 30), and will end the year with a string of dates in Europe opening for legendary new wave unit Depeche Mode. Not bad for so-called “copyists.”

Stream Before the Applause here, and find a full list of Re-TROS’ upcoming international tour dates here. Radii will be at Modern Sky’s NYC fest for an on-scene report, so keep an eye out for that too.

Wǒ Men Podcast: Travel in New Style

How was your summer vacation? Did you go somewhere nice and relaxing? What is your next holiday destination?

If you still perceive Chinese tourists as loud people who are not interested in local culture, but only in buying Louis Vuitton bags in Paris and eating in Chinese restaurants, well… you’re not wrong. Many of them still are. However, China’s new generation of travelers, such as our guest today Annie Huang, may show you something different.

Annie, born in the ’90s, has never studied abroad, but she is a super seasoned international traveler. She has been to more than ten countries in the past five years, and has some amazing travel experiences to share with us. Annie touches on why she stopped going on “sipping cocktails on the beach” holidays, and has taken travel to a new extreme by becoming a high altitude mountain climber, and facing dangerous situations from time to time — such as being buried by an avalanche.

As we speak, Annie is on another holiday — she’s in Nepal, climbing one of the world’s most dangerous summits, Manaslu, which is 8,163 meters high. Let’s wish Annie best of luck and hope she shares her experience when she’s back.

Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at [email protected].

Soundcloud embed (if you’re in China, turn your VPN on):

Photo of the day: Caution Remains

All this week, Radii is posting a photo essay by Liu Qilin (aka Jady) entitled Lost Land of my Campus: “An area less traveled or known by others. Like a desert. A paradise.”

After quite a long time, finally I picked up my curiosity again to step into one of the mysterious areas of my campus（Beijing Normal University). Beside the gate there is a room with many beautiful fish, which I can see through the windows. Entering the gate, I found it was like an abandoned garden, where everything seemed to have frozen for a long time, except captive animals. Many items were put there, rusting or growing on their own.

A trunk was pulled up under a roof, carrying goods saying “Caution.” As all of the items inside have aged over time, the characters “注意安全” are more evident, and therefore more appropriate.

Photo of the day: Autumn Has Fallen

All this week, Radii is posting a photo essay by Liu Qilin (aka Jady) entitled Lost Land of my Campus: “An area less traveled or known by others. Like a desert. A paradise.”

After quite a long time, finally I picked up my curiosity again to step into one of the mysterious areas of my campus（Beijing Normal University). Beside the gate there is a room with many beautiful fish, which I can see through the windows. Entering the gate, I found it was like an abandoned garden, where everything seemed to have frozen for a long time, except captive animals. Many items were put there, rusting or growing on their own.

Not long ago in the hot summer, the lotus was put in the square facing Muduo and the main gate of my campus, giving passers-by the illusion of walking past a pond. But now, in the “lost land,” the plants are just here to wither.