REDSTAR Hangzhou March 2020

广 告 • 文 化 // CULTURE /
ROCK
OUT-
BREAK:
THE
PIXIES
By Rodrigo Ocaranza
These long
days stuck in
confinement
have struck a
chord in the minds
and bodies of those
who have been
cooped up inside.
Now, not just in the
city of Hangzhou,
but across China, a
billion people are
aching to move
and tear off the masks that obscure their
faces. What better antidote to shake off
this quarantine lethargy than to ferment
it into some good alternative punk rock
indie madness! Yes, I’m talking about
the Pixies - almost 34 years of rock
compressed in
one anti-flu pill.
If you’re looking to
let your anger out
and unexpectedly
start laughing with
no reason, or just
simply want to
start a mosh pit
with your local 保
安 and 阿 姨 , songs
like ‘Something
Against You,’
‘Crackity Jones’ and
‘In Heaven,’ are just perfect to start with.
They band recently announced a tour in
China and we were eagerly expecting to
see them, but sadly the dates in Shanghai
and Beijing have been cancelled. Certainly
not the worst thing that has come from
this outbreak, but it sucks all the same…
But seriously, in 1986, this American
alternative rock band from Boston,
Massachusetts formed. It now consists
The thing that really characterises
the Pixies’ style is the brutal honesty
that emanates from them in the moment.
of Charles (Black Francis) Thompson IV
(vocals, guitar; also known as ''Frank
Black''), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), David
Lovering (drums) and Paz Lenchantin
(bass, vocals) who is currently subbing
in for the original bassist Kim Deal.
The classic line-up engages with yowling
howls and pan-fried screams and an
unpredictable melodic resonance
characterised by Black Francis’ vocals in
combination with David’s straight forward
and tight drums. Joey Santiago’s gloomy
and equanimous riffs blend in Kim Deals
melancholic and thick bass execution
spiced up with her soothing and intense
vocals. All together managing to capture
the distortion, the madness spills
and melody in an unusual and pretty
digestible balance,
as shown on albums
such as Doolittle
and Surfer Rosa.
Through some of
their most popular
songs like ‘This
Monkey is Gone
to Heaven’ and
‘Where is my Mind’
(the latter you may
remember from the
end scene in the
movie Fight Club),
we can appreciate apocalyptic crude
and surrealistic tales that present us a
dialogue in the misfortunes of our nature
in a somewhat positive mist of expression.
The thing that really characterises the
Pixies’ style is the brutal honesty that
emanates from them in the moment.
It stays real by its raw nature from
the sound to the lyrics and theirthe
explosive performances. There are no
restrictions whether it’s an explosion
of emotion in any colour or any idea
meandering around taboo topics and
logical sanity. It just can’t be filtered,
offering the listener a chance to strip
off the judgments of how music should
be and enter free space of surrealistic
freedom and enjoy the Pixies’ wonderful
sense of expression in its raw form.
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