The Mountain Swallowing Sadness

Shanghai-based Changcun is a complex noise-maker in the style of the great Karkowski. This CD is his first release for Sub Rosa. Contextualizing his 40-minute long exploration entitled, "Grand Hotel," Chancun states: "I want to build an architecture in the ear." the other track is a field recording of a burial in the area of Harbin, northeast of China. An active member of the China Sound Unit, an acoustic phenomena research group composed of sound artists from various parts of China, Wang Changcun has performed solo or with ensembles at multiple sound art and installation events throughout China, Brussels and France. A year earlier, the composer, producer and founder of the Chinese-American record label Post-Concrete Yao Dajuin had released a bomb: China - the Sonic Avant-Garde, a 2 CD compilation (which contains seven of Wang's short compositions) revealing the talents of Zhang Jüngang, Wang Changcun, Fu Yü, Jia Haiqing, Lisa Ruyi, Hu Mage, Xü Cheng, Zhou Pei, Zhong Minjie, Jiang Yühui, Intelligent Shanghai Mono University and the China Sound Unit - over two hours of experimental music, plunderphonics, concrete (or post-concrete) music and noise. A great level of activity is currently developing in China's large cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Guangzhou), and Wang Changcun is a shining example of how the bustling and ever-changing political and architectural landscape of China is expressed through everyday sound.