Blonde Redhead to highlight music fest

Art-rock trio Blonde Redhead will join more than 150 acts performing at the Strawberry Music Festival, at Beijing's Tongzhou Canal Park from April 29 to May 1.

The band played in the capital in October 2010, and audiences were impressed by Japanese singer Kazu Makino's eerily high voice as it hovered over guitar riffs and drum beats.

Formed in 1994 after a chance meeting in New York between Makino and Milanese twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace, Blonde Redhead had a sea change in its music midway through its career.

When the band started in the mid-1990s, its frantic guitar tremolos invited comparisons to Sonic Youth. But around 2000 it became quieter, more melodic and more melancholy, picking up atmospheric ideas from movie soundtracks and hip-hop.

For their upcoming performance at the Strawberry Music Festival, the band will track their 17-year career and a couple of new songs from their next album.

Sharing the international spotlight: Belgian electro rock band, Goose, Dutch-American singer-songwriter Laura Jansen and French indie pop band Tahiti 80.

New Pants, the Chinese mainland rock band that just concluded a US tour, will perform at the festival for the first time.

Formed in 1996 by four boys from Beijing, it has been among the most original and adventurous bands in China.

Peng Lei and Pang Kuan, founding members who remain the core of the band, have been heavily influenced by the Ramones. They have also added elements of disco, pop, electronic and Chinese local sounds to their music. With seven albums in their 15-year-long career, New Pants will unveil new tracks in its festival performance.

Eight stages will showcase many other established rock singers, such as Zhang Chu and Xie Tianxiao. Bands like Second Hand Roses and Queen Sea Big Shark will rock the fans with their distinctive beats.

The music festival also provides a stage for indie folk singer-songwriters from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland, including Cao Fang and Crowd Lu, who have stable and growing fan bases.

The Strawberry Music Festival will be also staged in Shanghai during the same period. More than 80 groups of artists, including 30 from abroad will take part in the event, which is of largest scale ever in Shanghai. Stars include Blonde Redhead and Laura Jansen from the US, Soda Green and Crowd Lu from Taiwan, Ivana Wong from Hong Kong, and Tanya Chua from Singapore.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/22/2012 page15)