Omnipotent Youth Society – 万能年青旅店

By Confused Laowai | Date: January 31st, 2012 | Category: Culture

I found this band a few months ago. They are from 河北 and make hauntingly beautiful Chinese folk rock. Not only do they incorporate the usual band mix of instruments, but add violins, trumpets and harmonicas. They have a Chinese flavor, but it’s devoid of the pop fluff that is often heard in Chinese pop music. Not only that, but their lyrics are amazing. Very advanced for a Chinese learner, but it’s just so poetic and beautiful.

I’m sucker for this kind of music. It might be a bit sad and melancholic, but I enjoy it. Western equivalents would be City & Color, Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver.

An example of the beautiful lyrics:

如此生活30年

直到大厦崩塌

云层深处的黑暗啊

淹没心底的景观

It’s advanced yes, but it’s just so evocative. Some of their other songs have words like 夜幕, 眼底 and 归途. Here’s another song:

I’m sure others might find the music a bit too draining, but I feel that you don’t find Chinese music like this very often. Most sing of butterflies, wings and love. Introspective and poetic lyrics like this are great. It’s probably because I’m a big Leonard Cohen fan, that this music sits well with me. It also makes me just love the Chinese language so much more, because it shows just how beautiful and poetic it can be. Not that it isn’t, just that it’s possible for a group twenty-somethings to sing about topics that are complex, but portrayed so beautifully with the succinct Chinese language.

Now where can I find more of this? Where are the young Chinese poets? Where are the ones that sit at night bogged down by the pressures of Chinese society, scribbling in the margins? I feel that Omnipotent Youth Society are a part of this idea and now I’m yearning for more.

Related posts:

My Trip to Beijing June '09
Chinese Superman Comics
China Round 2: The Experience
Useful Chinese I picked up while in China

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  • http://twitter.com/criticalowl Jacob Gill

    Dude, thanks so much for the share. You have no idea how much I am digging this music right now. It is the perfect music to inspire me to hit the books and 熬夜!

    謝謝

  • http://niel.delarouviere.com NielDLR

    Hey Jacob,

    it’s a pleasure. Glad you like it! That’s what this blog is for, sharing the good stuff :)

    Good luck with the 熬夜!

    2012/1/31 Disqus

  • http://www.beckyances.net/ ChinaBecky

    Like you I’m also always on the lookout for more, I don’t know what to call it, indy maybe? or emo? style chinese music. I really like their style too, and hadn’t heard of them. So thanks for sharing. 

  • http://niel.delarouviere.com NielDLR

    Hi Becky,

    thanks for the comment. I’m not sure exactly. I won’t say it’s entirely emo or indy. I think in this case it’s more folk. If you find anything more, please let me know!

    2012/1/31 Disqus

  • http://twitter.com/Chinesetolearn Chinesetolearn

    They are like narrative ballad, very interesting,  pretty fresh and folk music like:)
    Their titles are pretty eye catching and dramatic. Thank you for sharing.

  • Elvis Xu

    Hey, I’m a  Mandarin native speaker :) . I found this post during I searching for what foreigner think about  Omnipotent Youth Society(I’m a fan). China still has many pretty good band and artists, which are “bogged down by the pressures of Chinese society” and only played their music underground (so it’s a bit hard to find them). And some of them have made amazing songs, such as 左小祖咒, 周云蓬. Both of them also write poetic lyrics. Another thing I’d like to talk about is the young poets. A famous writer and blogger, 韩寒, once said that almost all of the modem poetries written by Chinese are rubbish. And many people agree that, after the death of 海子(a famous poet), there haven’t been any good poets so far. It’s a shame.
    Here are two songs. 我不能悲傷地坐在你身旁 by 左小祖咒 http://youtu.be/rRmZ-u1uQUk , 沉默如迷的呼吸 by 周云蓬 http://youtu.be/gGuMzcv9TrA . Hope you’ll enjoy them.

    Maybe my English have confused you :P , haha.

  • http://niel.delarouviere.com NielDLR

    Hey Elvis,

    thanks so much for this comment! This exactly what I have been looking for. I’m going to listen to those artists straight away.

    2012/2/25 Disqus

  • Alan

    万能青年旅店is great, check out 张楚

  • http://niel.delarouviere.com NielDLR

    Hi Alan,

    thanks for the recommendation. Listening to it now!

  • 开到荼靡

    Woww..I have to say u probably have an appreciation for chinese better than most of my chinese friends do! It took 万青 over 10 years to craft out music and lyrics that touch the soul.U bet they are rare cuz they are way too slow for this modern age, where butterflies,wings and love(haha i love how u put it), I’m afraid is still goin to be the mainstream.Buttt if u find hard enough there actually more surprises than u thought, they are like hidden dragons or somthin…if u dig that folk stuff u might will enjoy 野孩子or 美好药店.Anyway it was nice to meet you!

  • http://www.facebook.com/sophie.johaness Sophie Johaness

    Have you listened to Xu Wei 许巍？he is a musical poet and you would love his music and lyrics if you like this!

  • http://twitter.com/texinchina James L. Goode

    You made this post a year ago, and little did I know someone else was listening to these guys then. I still like them, they are a bit “emo”-ish, but like you said it’s better than the very produced pop sounds that is most chinese music.

  • http://niel.delarouviere.com NielDLR

    Yes, I understand that some may say they’re a bit “emo”ish, but heck they’re missing out then. I really enjoy their sound. Have fun listening!