Wednesday, March 14   11:00 p.m.
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  Lonely China Day - Red Blossom of Plum and Me
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Lonely China Day are:

Deng Pei - guitar, vocals, programming
Wang Dongtao - guitar
He Feng - bass
Luo Hao - drums

Genre: Glitch-Pop, Alternative

Formed in Beijing, China: April, 2000

Current Release: Eponymous EP, Sorrow LP (February 2007)

Label:
Tag Team Records

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When it comes to exported music from China most think:

1) traditional World Music 2) Horrifying girl/boy pop groups sucking loli pops and wearing a blinding blend of neon 3) Karaoke bars... lots of Karaoke bars.

Yes: Lonely China Day is from Beijing, China.
No: They don’t play traditional Chinese music. They don’t suck loli pops. They never go to Karaoke bars…ever.

Rather, this quartet, led by singer and primary songwriter Deng Pei, is an indie rock band. We’re not lying. These guys are "Chinese Indie Rock". As hard as it is to believe, there is a small yet burgeoning indie rock scene in China and LCD is in the top tier. Judging by the Chinese reception to their debut EP for Tag Team Records, and their sold out live shows, LCD are creating quite a fuss in their native land.

Deng Pei picked up on western music like John Frusciante and Mum thanks to "savvy Taiwanese CD merchants. We’re in a country full of pop-culture pirates!" After an American friend brought him a left-handed guitar from the States ("They don’t manufacture left handed guitars here in China", says Deng Pei) he started playing under the name Lonely China Day in earnest.

What you will hear on their eponymous EP is a heady blend of lap top bells and whistles, a staggering collision of minimalist guitar beauty with thunderous rock hooks, and a soothing voice cooing Mandarin poetry - all mixed with traditional Chinese musical influences. In other words: it’s unlike anything coming out of China today. "I want to be different from the rest of the crowd here in China", says Deng Pei. "I want to achieve much with very little. Very minimal songwriting with the addition of many, many surrounding elements." The result is an EP often compared to the Album Leaf, Mogwai, and Sigur Ros. Ironic considering Deng Pei, a man with limited access to the growing behemoth that is indie-rock, hadn’t heard any of these bands until a few months ago. "I don’t know very much about the American indie rock scene", he says. "But there is an indie rock scene in China. I think there is some original music happening right now in China, but not very much."

Thus Lonely China Day has taken it upon themselves to lead the charge. The reception in China has been overwhelmingly positive and recently their reputation for cathartic live shows earned them headlining gigs all over their native homeland. Now they are ready for America. Much like other foreign, non-English speaking, cross over successes Dungeon and Sigur Ros, LCD create music with a universal atmosphere appealing to Western and Asian audiences alike.

Tomorrow is just around the corner and with it you too will see Lonely China Day leading the indie rock charge just on the horizon.