Chinese Duo Pairs To Release Through Muzai In New Zealand

It's always nice to know that someone's got your back in terms of discovering and bringing alternative music to this country, and independent label Muzai Records is one such compadre. They have organized a working relationship with Chinese duo Pairs and their label Qu Records to release their debut EP, Pairs, in New Zealand.

It's great to see an independent making progress and if comparisons to Die!Die!Die!, and Lightening Bolt are anything to go by, this is sure to be a successful arrangement.

If you don't wanna wait for the physical copies to ship, you can download this for free from their bandcamp now.

Press release:

CHINESE DUO TO RELEASE THROUGH MUZAI RECORDS IN NEW ZEALAND

Pairs - “Pairs” out now digitally and physically from January 17th 2010.

MUZAI Records is delighted to announce a work agreement with Chinese duo Pairs (and in part Chinese label Qu Records), in which the label will be releasing their work throughout New Zealand – starting with their debut EP, Pairs, on CD-R and available from January 17th for a mere donation.

Described as making “acute microbursts of lo-fi garage rock” and a “post-punk-esque rabid mutant strain of music”, Guitarist F and the charismatic drummer/vocalist Xiao Zhong have often compared to The Handsome Furs, Die! Die! Die!, Lightning Bolt and by some journalists Darby Crash (The Germs) and even GG Allin.

We describe them though as a delightful blend of brattish scorn (“Old Blowjob”), power-pop (“I want to die in the ocean”) honest sentiments (“Birthday”, with it's delightful refrain) and even, god forbid, some solid discordant post-punk (the anthematic “Yangpu Qo” and instrumental track “F1” ). A little something for those into the aforementioned comparisons and a little something for those looking for something slightly obscure.

Relentless playing their home base of Shanghai, Beijing and traveling to Hong King, their energetic live shows and differentiating sound within the Chinese music scene has amassed a strong Internet following; Hong Kong blog The Underground described their live show as “... crazy music, with harsh, unrelenting beats, and an obtuse, angular kind of a voice that comes in somewhere between a mass of tangled guitars, with cool titles” while SHmag referred to their sound as “ … no frills, bare bones, to the point, and great for creating lots of tension.”