Elbows Music Blog Community

Hi guys –-



This is not the “typical” Bloodshot project, so I thought I’d save any ill-directed e-mails and just offer it up via the forum. Let me know if yr interested in hearing full-length promos of the albums below, or if you have any further questions about the project. Thanks, JP (jp at bloodshotrecords dut com)



Bloodshot Records + Martin Atkins (PiL, Pigface, Killing Joke, Ministry).

We’ve teamed up to release the first two albums from his Invisible China imprint.



VARIOUS ARTISTS, Look Directly Into The Sun

‘Look Directly Into The Sun’ features 18 Beijing pop, punk and rock bands. Members of Snapline, China MC  Brothers and Carsick Cars are heavily featured on Martin’s China Dub album as well. Carsick Cars have just gone to Europe to play Vienna, Prague and London opening for Sonic Youth. The Scoff, PK-14 and Joyside are opening for Nine Inch Nails at the Beijing Pop Festival this year. This compilation features the bands that will be front-and-center in the emergence of the Beijing underground beyond China.



[MP3] CARSICK CARS, “Panda”

http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/press/china/panda_carsickcars.mp3





MARTIN ATKINS’ CHINA DUB SOUNDSYSTEM, Made In China

‘Made In China’ is an incredible collision of traditional instrumentation and post-punk, dub and experimentation. Recording the elements separately, and waiting to mix and match them together after returning to his Mattress Factory Studios in Chicago, Atkins was able to keep the performances on both sides uncontaminated by any expectations of the final result. The finished album is probably the most creative and effective musical collaboration that Atkins has spearheaded since ‘Gub’ by Pigface, Atkins’ long- running musical collective.



[MP3] MARTIN ATKINS’ CHINA DUB SOUNDSYSTEM, “Yellow Cab”

http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/press/china/yellow_cab_martin_atkins.mp3



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MORE ABOUT MARTIN ATIKINS’ INVISIBLE CHINA:

When musician, producer and label owner Martin Atkins visited Beijing in the fall of 2006, he had no idea what to expect. What he found was a thriving underground culture of rock bands that reminded him of his time in London in the late ‘70s, and of the downtown scene in late ‘70s, early ‘80s NYC. Punk, avant-guard experimentation, Brit-pop, new wave, scratch DJs and more. He signed several bands while he was there, shot 80 hours of video footage, and rented out High End Sound Studios, where he recorded tracks from well over a dozen bands. He recorded live shows at the D-22 club—a venue that embodies the spirit that CBGBs had when Martin arrived in NYC over 25 years ago—just as news of the final show at the legendary NY nightclub was breaking on CNN.



Absorbing all of this, Atkins set out to create an album that reflected what he was seeing and hearing in Beijing. Pushing the envelope and risking the easy camaraderie with the avant-guard, he chose to bring in traditional Chinese musicians and instruments and Tibetan singers for a fuller picture. The feel of some of these tracks, combined with dub and beat manipulations, scratch DJs, and a who’s who of the Beijing art scene, comes close at points to Martin’s time drumming with Public Image, LTD, during the Flowers of Romance era. The results are two very different collections of contemporary Chinese music.



Martin Atkins has played drums in PiL, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, Pigface and several other  international acts. He is the owner of Invisible Records  and the Mattress Factory Studios in Chicago. He is also the author of the new “Tour: Smart” book from Smart  Books, also in Chicago.



INVISIBLE CHINA: http://www.invisiblechina.com/