“China is a very psychedelic country.”

Chui Wan’s Yan Yulong

“Right now, Beijing is probably among the five or 10 most important cities in the world for new music,” said Michael Pettis, a former Wall Street banker turned music entrepreneur. “Beijing tends to be almost a bit like New York or Berlin in the sense that it’s much more intellectual about its approach to music.”

Pettis’ foray into Beijing’s nascent indie-music scene started in 2002, when he opened a rock club called D-22 in Beijing’s far-flung student district where he also works as a professor of finance at “China’s Harvard” — Peking University. The club quickly turned into a mecca for the post-punk avant-garde musicians that didn’t have a platform. It became a launchpad for bands that have now toured worldwide, including Carsick Cars, Snapline, Hedgehog and The Gar.

—in Godfather of Beijing’s Indie Music Scene Dissects China’s Experimental Soundscape
By Malcolm Surer
Caixin, Jun 10, 2017 06:24 PM

I wish Travassos will accept to be our playlist master again...