Born of the Beijing underground rock scene comes this self-titled release from electro duo White+ (白+), with Wang Xu of The Gar and Shouwang of White and Carsick Cars.
A careful listen does reveal some of the punk ethos of Carsick Cars, particularly the brilliant ultra-poppy closing track “reD” (红) with its strong minimalism.
Another highlight of the record, “yelloW” (黄), holds you firmly with its simple, driving melody, pulled back ghostly vocals and sparse, almost clandestine drums.
Throughout the album you can feel the restrained joy that is not unlike some Animal Collective, although it does lack the more pronounced dynamics and levels of layering, instead opting for subtlety, like the glock in “purplE” (紫).
The exception is the noisiest track “orangE” (橙) which is like your younger brother and his mates turning up at band practice stoned and harmlessly stuffing around as you play.
“GreeN” (绿) mashes up some traditional folk sounds with loads of scratching and does become tiresome, the scratching also returning and overdone on the following song “bluE” (蓝).
These two tracks stop this being a great record for driving in peak hour traffic, but do add to the credentials of it being in the front half of the experimental music train, not just in China but around the world.
