B-Side China Podcast

CHINA FROM ALL ANGLES - Straight Fire Gang In this podcast we invite guests from different backgrounds, in various industries, each who have their own story, in hope to challenge some of our own perspectives by seeing things through a different angle. Straight Fire Gang 直火帮 is a Hip Hop group based in Shanghai whose three members XZT, Feezy and Chuck ZIgga, attended university in the US and after graduating returned to China to pursue their love for music. This episode was recorded in the fall of 2021. Show notes: 1:35 Group members share their background and influences 4:45 Learning English and American culture through music 6:30 Lyrical content about being Chinese in America 7:35 The culture shock and the reception of Chinese students in America before and after COVID 14:30 Food references in their music 17:40 Cultural appropriation 21:40 The importance of understanding and respecting others culture 27:30 Difference between writing lyrics in English and Chinese. CHINA FROM ALL ANGLES is brought to you by RADII, for more content like this check out www.radiichina.com. Don't forget to rate, review, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. This podcast was produced with support from East West Bank, the premier financial bridge between the U.S. and China. For more info, visit www.eastwestbank.com.

Wang Changcun (aka ayrtbh) and Benjamin Bacon (aka SoundSpade), two Shanghai-based artists whose practices bend the line between coding and composition, discuss with host Josh Feola the impact of Artificial Intelligence on creativity. Is AI a tool? A separate consciousness that can be collaborated with? Both? Neither? Full info: http://radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-13/

On this episode of the podcast I take stock of overseas milestones achieved by Chinese artists operating at both the mainstream and underground levels in 2018. The audio was recorded from a talk on the subject I gave at Shanghai space Subland, which was followed by a debate with German music critic Fabian Peltsch, who asks important questions such as: Why should it matter to Chinese artists to "go global"? When we say "global," how do we distinguish between "the West" and other parts of the world, such as Southeast Asia and Africa, where China is actively seeking to build influence through large-scale projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative? Most importantly, are we stuck with Kris Wu as the go-to artist to represent Chinese music on international charts? Full info: radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-12/

Three co-founders of the one-of-a-kind Nightlife Residency discuss their pilot program in 2018, overlaps and fissures between the gallery & club worlds in Shanghai and Beijing, and how these different subaltern cultural spheres intersect in China's major cities today. Full info: https://radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-11/

Host Josh Feola talks to photojouranlist Cong Yan, video producer Emma Sun, and music promoter/comic book artist Krish Raghav about stereotypes shaping the different “China narratives” that dominate Western news media, corporate branded content, and music journalism. Full info: radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-10/

“The way we consume culture is actually determining the content of the culture itself” — visual artist, writer, and one half of Shanghai Restoration Project Sun Yunfan discusses the impact of tech on art Full info: https://radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-09/

On this episode, we discuss the paradoxical process by which the infrastructure for creative industries in Beijing has grown at roughly the same speed at which the roughness that gave art being made there its edge has receded Full info: https://radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-08/

ChaCha and Kayla Briët talk about the delicate balance between cultural preservation and innovation, how new media can tell old stories, and how a return to cultural roots is pointing out new creative directions Full info: https://radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep-07/

We catch up with some participants in the inaugural Found Sound China cultural exchange program, which created bilateral creative flows between 3 American and 3 Chinese musicians this past summer Full info: https://radiichina.com/b-side-china-podcast-found-sound-china/

Josh Feola sits down with Krish Raghav, an organizer of the annual Concrete & Grass music festival, and Becky Davis, a Beijing-based reporter for French paper AFP, to discuss music, art, and culture within the context of China's "radical uncertainty" full info: http://radiichina.com/b-side-china-podcast-underground-music-and-social-ritual

Selecting some tunes from the back catalog of Beijing-based vinyl label Genjing Records, and talking about the unique hybrids that have come out of China in the 12 years that label founder Nevin Domer has been organizing here Full info: https://radiichina.com/b-side-china-podcast-genjing-jukebox-w-nevin-domer/

A seasoned observer of tech-mediated "social ritual" in China discusses internet worlds, "systems of mutual influence," and how accessing China at the level of underground culture can feel like "skating along a parallel dimension" Full info: http://radiichina.com/b-side-china-ep3

NYC rapper Bohan Phoenix talks about cultural exchange through hip hop with tour-mates DJ TOY and Its Ralph Tho Full info: http://radiichina.com/b-side-china-podcast-rap-in-china-with-bohan-phoenix-dj-toy-itsralphtho Photo by William Griffith/Live Beijing Music for Radii

Kiwi/Chinese cultural maven Kristen Ng describes the underground flows that she helps to facilitate in Chengdu Full info: http://radiichina.com/b-side-china-podcast-chengdu-underground-with-kristen-ng Cover photo by Colin??