Time magazine has chosen Asia’s five best bands, or rather five acts to watch in 2008. The band from China is Beijing-based P.K. 14:
P.K. 14’s thrashing chords, dark bass lines and frenetic beats resonate with echoes of Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Fugazi and the New York Dolls. But the Beijing band’s charismatic vocalist, Yang Haisong, 34, says he takes his lead from songwriters such as “Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and a whole generation of protest musicians.” Think of P.K. 14, in other words, as neither punk nor postpunk but postfolk.
The P.K. 14 music video below was inspired by early 20th Century silent films and completed in late September 2005 by New Zealand filmmaker David Harris. The song “Tamen” (他们 — Them) is taken from the album 白皮书 (White Paper). The costumes and props were supplied by the PLA run Bayi Film Studios.