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On Christmas Day, 2013, Beijing, China’s swamp rock stomper, GuiGuiSuiSui, and electronic experimentalist, Noise Arcade, joined forces to record a perplexing album that, somehow, perfectly blends the two artists’ distinct styles.
Full of hypnotic electronic swirls, delayed loops and angry vocals, the majority of 14.15.8.15.2.2.9.20.2.12.21.5.19 nods to the stark Northern English industrial sound of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. The few exceptions, like “Start Restart” and “Medicine Show,” evoke the bombastic garage punk of Australia’s UV Race, while “Whale Ship” proves to be a successful electronic/blues hybrid. They even manage to transform My Bloody Valentine‘s “When You Sleep” into a minimalistic cold wave-ish punk song reminiscent of early Jesus and Mary Chain. It’s an innovative release, full of surprises as it consistently unfolds.
Honestly, this is the type of collaboration that should happen more often, where musicians whose genres aren’t really similar get together and create a mutant born of their unique voices. Hopefully, this isn’t the last of Noise Arcade and GuiGuiSuiSui as a unit, for this is definitely a partnership worth expanding. It would be nice to see more musicians have the confidence to step out of their comfort zones and into something entirely new, not only in China, but across the entire globe. Thank you Beijingers for pointing the way.
