Chengdon't

A pyjama-clad man takes to the stage.  He matter-of-factly ties another man up and puts him carefully into a large bag.  He then proceeds to his second victim, tying him – complete with raincoat – face down to a table with a contact mic attached to his throat.  For his final act, he gaffer-tapes a girl, naked to a chair, putting black insulating tape over her mouth, eyes and, er, sensitive regions and places her in front of a stand microphone.

The latest pictures from Guantanamo Bay?  Previously unreleased footage from the dungeons of Abu Ghraib?  Nope, it was actually Shanghai’s 20^th monthly Noishanghai music festival, and the man on stage was Beijing sound artist Yan Jun, who was quite logically recording the sounds of torture, running it through his laptop and making sweet sweet music.

Torturing torturing nurse

Welcome to the world of Shanghai’s own Torturing Nurse – the subjects of Mr. Yan’s experiment.

The band is a contributor to Shanghai’s world of ‘noise art and performance’.  Founded by Shanghai locals Misuzu and Junkyy in April 2004, they have since masterminded over 20 releases and gained a cult following and reputation both at home and abroad.

They don’t tend to use laptops or music-making software, instead choosing only microphones, turntables, pedals and out of tune guitars, along with other more unorthodox methods of sound making – at a gig last year one of the members took to the stage playing the umbrella.

Their work has been described in the music press as “harsh noise saturated with hate and attempts to express oneself and destroy the usual idea of music”, and “noise that is so monotonous that it doesn’t seem to made by humans”.  Here is a modest example, and here is a slightly more extreme one.

The eponymous nurse

US avant-garde rockers Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore is reportedly a big fan of the band, having caught them on their recent tour of China.  Sadly the feeling is not reciprocated.  In a recent interview with SH Magazine, TN founding member Cao Jian Jun (Junkyy) responded to Moore’s praise by simply stating, “I don’t like him or his band. They are too rock’n'roll. I don’t care if he’s a fan. What we do is totally different. I don’t care if they like us”.

In the same interview Mr. Cao goes on to portray his music as ‘noise’ and ‘full of hatred’, talking about how his group don’t need musical instruments, “I’ve played a hammer in an abandoned factory before”.

Whatever you feel about TN and the world of noise art in general, you have to admit that fame hasn’t changed their path to the pursuit of noise.  It’s fair to say that this is probably one non-commercial band that won’t ‘sell out’ their fans by releasing a 12-minute ballad with the London Symphony Orchestra… Although that would be some collaboration!

So listen if you dare, and if you hate it, don’t feel bad – they couldn’t care less.

Until next time blogwatchers, good luck and good tasty, zaijian!