5 by V/A
Artist: V/A
Album: 5
Format: Digital / Tape
Cat.No: CHI042
Master: Justin Randel
Artwork: Saphy Vong
Release Date: 23rd November 2022
Celebrating five years of the experimental music label Chinabot, longtime collaborators and new acts join together for 5, Chinabot’s latest compilation release on cassette and digital.
The 12-track compilation features music from key artists who have defined Chinabot as a label, such as Jaeho Hwang, Sabiwa, Sarah Haras, Ayankoko, JPN Kasai and Pal Hwang Dan. The mix also looks to the future of the label with new artists Nanzhen Yang, Papaphilia, Chooc Ly and more.
Leaning into the label’s experimental tendencies, 5 journeys through fractured club tunes from Papaphilia, the experimental electronic project of queer Sri Lankan-Australian sound and visual artist Fjorn Bastos, hardcore rave from Jaeho Hwang, percussive broken beats and percussive broken beats and cinematic soundscapes from QwentyZ, and Beijing field recordings (described by the artist as “blurred memories”) from Nanzhen Yang.
It continues the hyper-eclectic vision which has become synonymous with the label, which seeks to take risks and promote the work of exciting emerging producers. The record features Ondo footwork from JPN Kasai, whorecently changed his artist name from Jap Kasai following the racist discrimination against a friend in Europe (“‘Jap’ is a derogatory term for Japanese people,” he says. “I used to dare to use it, but I have changed my mind. I don’t want to encourage discrimination against Japanese people.”) Like the compilation, his track, 早苗 唄 hayanae uta, is about the emergence of the new in this case, growth of rice shoots and the “happiness of harvest.”
Growth and experimentation remain key in the track from new Chinabot artist Papaphilia, who is due to release a full album next year. Inspired in part by the voracious learning of her newborn, ‘no path is forged over the abyss without meeting at the altar’ expresses the “leaps into the unknown that forging radical new meaning requires.”
The new compilation, with artwork by Saphy Vong, pays tribute to London’s experimental music scene, showcasing producers Chooc Ly, Yewen Jin and Nanzhen Yang who have performed at Chinabot’s events in the city over the years.
Tracklist
Credits
Track 3:
Name: no path is forged over the abyss without meeting at the altar
Written by: Papaphilia
Production: Kuya Neil
Track 4:
Name: Exaltation Onirique
Written by: Chooc Ly
Production: Alia Pathan
License
All rights reserved.
Chinabot is a platform and collective created to change the dialogue surrounding Asian music.