Music

P.K. 14 chosen as one of Time's best Asian bands

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, January 24, 2008 10:32 AM
pk14_nv.jpg

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.

 

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Comments on P.K. 14 chosen as one of Time's best Asian bands

They sounds a lot like "Nation of Ullysses".

Posted by: FRITZ | January 24, 2008 11:20 AM

These dudes couldn't sound less like Sonic Youth or the Pixies, but they're a dead-ringer for NYC's Television. The lyrics also bear a strange resemblance to those of Television; though who can blame Yang Haisong for wanting to place himself in the more distinguished tradition of Guthrie & Dylan?

Posted by: b. | January 24, 2008 8:07 PM

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