#falconskiosk

[fyeahcindie]

Following up on falconskiosk’s recommendation of the artist Cotton君, here is Insomnia from her late-2018 album, 對面的宇宙 (Mirrored Cosmos)  =D

She’s split the songwriting credit between Nottoc & Cotton. (I have to assume that’s all the same person, right?)

Music: Nottoc, Lyrics: Cotton

Arranger & Guitarist: 鶴這豹脾氣 Fly (I think this is the same Fly that is/was part of the band 卡奇社 Carrchy)

Fretless Bass: 張子涵 Zhang Zihan

Keyboards: 張中豪 Zhang Zhonghao

Drummer: 王斌 Wang Bin

Cotton’s album is available at Xiami, and KKBOX has the translated titles as well as 30-second previews.  More listening links below:

iTunes: https://goo.gl/k9TXE6, Apple Music: https://goo.gl/hy4gmm, Spotify：https://goo.gl/5nt7AJ KKBOX: https://ppt.cc/fl2ahx, MuziU: https://goo.gl/URBiHd, FriDay音樂: https://ppt.cc/fj2Cnx, myMusic: https://ppt.cc/fO0MCx

There is also a Cottonzoey 棉花周 (douban), but I’m not sure if that is the same person? It’s possible the douban songs are quite old (2014), and her style has changed since then; anyway, there are some nice folky tunes to enjoy at that link.) 

You can stream more at weibo: Cotton君, and I think you should be able to find some MVs (or live clips) at one of the mainland China video sites. (Actually, I mostly found documentary videos about farming cotton in China, so it might be a good idea to include a song title along with your ‘cotton’ search, heh-heh)

UPDATE: More bio & album info in this Dec. 2018 feature by Sound of Freedom Radio. FM 91.5 (It translates okay in Google Chrome)

By the way, when I was searching around for the musicians listed on Insomnia, I came across 张中豪 Zhang Zhonghao’s striking arrangement of the classic Stevie Wonder song Isn’t She Lovely -- check this out:

[fyeahcindie]

Have you heard of this very low profile China indie artist called cotton /棉花周 ? Came across a while ago on Spotify randomly, had absolutely no idea who she was and not much info about this artist, only found one YT video upload by the TW publisher. (Search : Cotton - 失眠曲《對面的宇宙》 / Cotton - Insomnia "Mirrored Cosmos" ) I can't post website link here, she also have weibo and douban (search cottonzoey) so check it out too.

I never heard of her until you mentioned it, but I found that song and I also listened to the 30-second previews of the songs on her 2018 對面的宇宙 (Mirrored Cosmos) album over at KKBOX w/ translated titles.  

Cotton君 has kind of a quiet folk-tronic style, really nice!    風潮音樂 Wind Music YT channel has the MV for Insomnia, I’ll post that next, if Tumblr cooperates, LOL.  Thank you for the rec!  =D

[fyeahcindie]

Really appreciate the detail content here, I am also a big fan of made-in-taiwan indie/pop music. I have several questions. 1. Do you speak any Chinese language ? 2. What are some of your most favorite songs/albums/artists ? 3. How long and why did you start following the chinese-indie music scene ?

Hi there @falconskiosk​, thank you for getting in touch!  =D  

To answer your questions: 

1. I don’t speak Chinese, but sometimes I can get the gist of what is being said on live videos, when the singer introduces the band, greets the crowd, stuff like that. And there are some words I have heard so many times I know they are introducing/talking about the song, even if I don’t know what they are saying. (things that any singer would say, no matter what the language).

2. Two of my all-time favorites are Cheer Chen’s Groupies album and 卡奇社 Carrchy’s 日光倾城 album.  I hate to single out bands when I love so many, but I have to mention Waa Wei, Vast & Hazy, Astro Bunny, Won Fu.  

3. I think the first Chinese pop music I heard was by Cheer, Faye Wong, and Mavis Fan.  I became interested in the Chinese indies shortly after, and gradually became more serious about the indies when I became a contributor and then admin of F Yeah Chinese Indie.  The indie scene just keeps getting better and better, and I’m really happy that TW bands are getting notice around the world, especially here in the USA.  =D

Thanks again, and please don’t hesitate to let me know some artists you would like to see featured here!