Re-TROS @ SXSW

so i'm a little slow and only got around to looking at the line-up for SXSW. i figure, why bait myself if i already know i can't go? who likes to make themselves cry with want? and there, i did it. i looked at the list of bands and now i'm crying. why? only because the best band in beijing (or even china today) will be playing at SXSW. now i'm a sucker for mandopop. the ballads are syrupy like a honeyed chinese new year treat thick enough to pull out already rotting teeth. but Rebuilding the Rights of Statues (Re-TROS) rocks! they are the opposite of sweet. with brian eno in the wings and an echo and bunnymen reverberation, this is by far the best chinese band i've heard during my one year tour of beijing punk and metal heads. rock in china is young. crawling for the first time infancy sort of young. and like all children learning for the first time, there's going to be a need to look toward the more mature artists for guidance. but compound that with china's notorious legacy of piracy and you have a slew of mediocre carbon copies.you can't blame china. like i said, the music scene is young. the first time people heard rock on the mainland was just over 20 years ago. mislead by the media, i went to beijing last year filled with the hype and hope that the punk scene was strong. original. and compared to the pop, it was. but for my american born ears, i'm used to more and Re-TROS was the only band that gave me something different. from my first show at the 13 club, to complete elation at finding their EP Cut Off!, to my very last show on my last night in beijing, Re-TROS always delivered.if you want to catch a sliver of the manic vibrancy enveloping beijing right now, check out their show. Re-TROSWed. March 14 @ 12amSpiro's (615 Red River St.)http://wiki.chaile.org/index.php/Re-TROShttp://www.myspace.com/rebuildingtherightsofstatues