If you’ve never heard anything by Beijing art punks PK14, you’re missing out on one of the genre’s best practitioners. While it is true that they are a group whose influences are laid bare in their music, their influences are diverse and wide ranging. Listening to their 2005 LP White Paper, one hears everyone from Neu! to R.E.M. to the Nation of Ulysses referenced, often within the same musical measure. It’s a bit similar to the way Quentin Tarantino makes his films; paying clear homage to his favorite directors and movies, which can be quite disparate from one another and range from blaxploitation to Hitchcock classics to Japanese Samurai epics, while blending them into a style all his own.
PK14 were borne out of late 1990s Beijing and are considered the elders of a scene that also includes Subs and Carsick Cars, the latter of whom toured with PK14 through the United States this past fall. Singer Yang Haisong, the only constant member of the group since its 1998 formation, is apparently a respected poet in China. He sings entirely in Mandarin Chinese in an ecstatic style that combines straight melodic singing and intense sing-speak, recalling Patti Smith and Moss Icon‘s Jon Vance. On record, PK14′s sound is highly produced and layered, but live it’s reduced to its barest elements; Xu Bo’s guitar, which splits the difference between Bernard Sumner-style angular leads, Pete Townshend‘s windmill slams and post-hardcore/noise rock feedback squalls, Shi Xudong’s powerful yet methodical bass playing, and Swedish-born drummer Jonathan Leijonhufvud’s alternating between kraturock pulsing and garage rock bruising. There’s a greater sense of speed and intensity live, and this makes Haisong’s lyrics, vocals, and performance all the more engaging. These videos, the first of “Eden” from White Paper and the second of “Some Surprises Happen Too Soon” from 2009′s City Weather Sailing, were shot by Joly MacFie for Punkcast, his long running video blog/website which he has maintained since 1997, long predating YouTube or even broadband internet on a wide scale. Video of Carsick Cars and Xiao He, who also played that night, are also available on the full entry for that show. These maybe reviewed later in an overview of that particular episode of Punkcast.
The sound quality here is excellent, and is perhaps from a soundboard recording, although neither the amplifiers nor the drums appeared to be miked. The video quality, too, is excellent, and the venue is well lit. Aiding matters too is the fact that Pk14 is a well practiced band as professional as they are passionate. This is probably some of the best shot live footage I’ve ever seen, at least for free on YouTube. Not only is it shot on professional quality gear, but cameraman MacFie has a good eye borne out of a good ear. He knows when to highlight each member of the group when their playing is the strongest and most important to the song, and only pans, tilts or zooms on a beat. His camera moves are particularly dramatic during key transitional points, perhaps reflecting an intimate knowledge of the song. The fact that he is able to execute this type of camerawork effectively, espescially on the fly, belies a strong talent for this work, as well a musicianly mindset and years of experience.
The typical shot frames front-man Haisong in the foreground at stage right with guitarist Bo in the background at stage left, occasionally including drummer Leijonhufvud in whatever space is left over at stage right when Haisong moves more towards the center. Viewers rarely see bassist Xudong except in pans towards stage right, and often it is merely a close up of the body of his bass guitar, although this is appropriate given the intsnsity of his playing, and the centrality of it to PK14′s sound overall. These shots are the most striking, as are those of Haisong, a tall man dressed post-punk chic with distinctive red horn-rimmed glasses. He looks like a cross between a rural Chinese farmer and a Fugazi fan waiting in line in Jem Cohen’s Instrument. One of the more memorable shots of Haisong comes at the 2:20 mark of “Eden,” where MacFie shoots Haisong from a low angle, his head filling the frame during an intense delivery of an intense spoken/shouted poetic passage.
If you haven’t already, be sure to watch this, and get your hands on White Paper any way you can. In fact, watch these in high quality on full screen if you can. One of the benefits of MacFie’s concert shooting prowess is it gves you the effect of truly being there.
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