Apparently Mao means rock or rock’n'roll in Chinese, at least according to the people at Mao Live, one of Beijing’s best rock venues.

The rock scene here is fairly developed, especially considering that it emerged from pretty much nothing a decade or so ago. I’ve been to a couple gigs now and both were jam-packed with Beijinger fans, eager to rock it .. albeit still a little hesitantly.

A few days ago I checked-out the Re-tros at the Mao Live. Great show. This fun sampler-duo, Zig Zag, opened but unfortunately the crowd wasn’t so into dancing to their electro-pop.. a shame, since I’m a closet beep-and-pop dance fan.

The Re-tros - which stands for ReBuilding The Rights of Statues - got a warmer reception. My sources here tell me that they’re one of the better rock acts around the Beijing scene at the moment.. and I have to say that I was impressed. They had a good, original sound by any standard.

The first paragraph on their band page on their label’s site is classic:

“Born in the shadow of post-Tiananmen nihilism, the collapse of state run industry and a desert that will someday swallow the city whole, Beijing-based Rebuilding the Rights of Statues delivers explosive, danceable, unsettling post punk that leaves you unsure whether you want to take your clothes off and shake the spiders out, or go look for a rope, a closet and a copy of Iggy Pop’s The Idiot.”

Need I say more? A strange Joy Division/B52s fusion sprung to mind immediately after they played their first bar.

That night I got to meet Matt, the guy who runs Tag Team Records. Re-tros and a host of other good Beijing groups are signed with Tag Team so Matt’s a great contact to have here.

You can check-out music by the Re-tros and other bands signed with Tag Team on the label’s site. They also have an online store for those of you in the US. Keep an eye out for these bands abroad, too, since they’ve started touring abroad. Apparently the Re-tros were well-received at 2007’s SXSW festival.

Tomorrow you’ll get to hear music by that folk duo I wrote about long ago.. which reminds me: sorry for the slow posts. My access to Internet is limited and time is scarce. I’ll do what I can!

Re-tros - Boys In Cage