Ming & Ping are an

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

electronic pop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a revi ...

band from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The group consists of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

born identical twin brothers Ming and Ping (last names unknown) and their producer/creative director Bao Vo.

Biography

The band was formed in 2002 in San Francisco, California and released their first full-length album in 2004 entitled ''mingping.com'' with Chicago-based indie record label Omega Point Records. The brothers have stated in numerous interviews that they are heavily influenced by 80s new wave bands such as

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

and

New Order New Order may refer to: Politics * ''L'Ordine Nuovo'' (''The New Order''), a socialist newspaper edited by Antonio Gramsci in the early 1920s * ''New Order in East Asia'', propaganda term for Japanese-dominated East Asia announced by Japanese ...

, and their 2007 album ''Causeway Army'' appeared in

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in S ...

magazine's March 2008 top ten, where it was described as "full of high-energy electro pop that works just as well in a Prada boutique as it would a gritty nightclub in London." Ming & Ping has gained a following largely from their songs appearing in snowboarding films and other sports film, television, and promotional spots from major companies like

Burton Snowboards Burton Snowboards is a privately-owned snowboard manufacturing company that was founded by Jake Burton Carpenter in 1977. The company specializes in products aimed at snowboarders, such as snowboards, bindings, boots, outerwear, and accessor ...

, Bombardier Ski-Doo,

Transworld Snowboarding ''Transworld Snowboarding'' was an American magazine and website dedicated to snowboarding culture. When it closed, the magazine had most recently been published four times a year (for many years, ''Transworld Snowboarding'' published 10 issue ...

, Oakley,

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

, Alliance Wakeboard, among others. The group is also known for their visual art, costumes, and theatrical live performances that are primarily directed by artist Bao Vo, whose collaboration with other artists has yielded a large portfolio of photography, illustrations, videos, and costumes that is uncommon for independent musical acts. Vo is also responsible for assembling the brothers as a musical act and the supporting cast for their

Cantonese Opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of ...

inspired live performancesJennifer Maerz
"Pop Operas"
"SF Gate" known as "The Ming & Ping Dynasty." These performances have been exhibited on tour with

Freezepop Freezepop is an American electronic band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, formed in 1999 by Liz Enthusiasm, Sean T. Drinkwater, and The Duke of Pannekoeken (an alias for Kasson Crooker). Since December 2009, the current lineup inclu ...

and with groups such as

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. They were founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was the ...

West Indian Girl West Indian Girl is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States. The band's name comes from a type of lysergic acid (LSD) that was popular in the early 1960s. The initials are also a reference to Robert James' and Francis ...

, and Ultraviolet Sound.

and How to Destroy Angels vocalist Mariqueen Maandig Reznor has appeared as a guest vocalist on two Ming & Ping songs, "Mixed Melodies" from their eponymous 2009 album and "Chinatown" from 2012's ''The Darkness of Night''. Ming & Ping notably employ

mobile apps A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

to aid in both the composition and distribution of their music. In 2009 they released an

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

application entitled ''Ming & Ping Pong'', a version of the game

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

featuring their music and visual aesthetic, and they make use of the

Sonoma Wire Works {{COI, date=February 2011 Sonoma Wire Works is a company, based in Los Altos, California, and incorporated in 2003, that develops audio software and hardware. Sonoma Wire Works began in an outbuilding in Sonoma County, California. Three audio engi ...

application FourTrack and Retronyms' DopplerPad to begin work on new songs. Interest in the group is aided by rumors that both twins are in fact the same performer. However, due to their rare public appearances, these rumors remain unconfirmed.Eric Suesz
"Ming and Ping and Ning: It's about the Fans"
"Ning Blog"

Discography

Full-length albums

* ''mingping.com'' (2004, Omega Point Records) * ''MP2'' (2005, Omega Point Records) * ''Causeway Army'' (2007, Bao Vo Creative) * ''Ming & Ping'' (August 2009, Bao Vo Creative) * ''The Light of Day / The Darkness of Night'' (October 2014, Bao Vo Creative)

Other releases

* ''Ming & Ping Live Vol.1'' (2006, Bao Vo Creative) - recorded at a September 2006 show at the Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, California. * ''The Darkness of Night'' (2012, Bao Vo Creative) - the first of a pair of "Twin EP's" according to the album notes. * ''Old Haunts New Feels'' (2016, Bao Vo Creative) - single released in digital formats only. * ''Los Angeles November 2019'' (2019, Bao Vo Creative) - 3-song EP inspired by the film

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

. * ''Los Angeles November 2019 (Instrumental Version)'' (2020, Bao Vo Creative) - 3-song EP featuring instrumental versions of the preceding EP.

Featured songs

* ''Dream of Pop'' was featured in Oakley's 2008 snowboarding film "Uniquely" for which they performed at the movie premiere party inside of Oakley headquarters. * ''Sleep Now'' was featured in Oakley's wakeboarding film "Push Process" from 1242 Productions, November 2007. * ''Beautiful Things'' was featured in the 2007 snowboarding film "Picture This" by Mack Dawg Productions (MDP) * ''Dream of Pop'' (a short clip of the song) was featured in the 2007 snowboarding film "We're People Too" by Mack Dawg Productions (MDP) * ''The Bluest Grey'' and ''Shenzhen Speed'' were featured in the Transworld Snowboarding 2005 Team Challenge DVD (November 2005 issue) * ''Highrise Dragonflies Demo'' was featured in a 2006 Park City Mountain Resorts promotional DVD * ''Spacey March Demo'' and ''Legend Demo'' are featured in Mack Dawg Productions' 2006 "People" Snowboarding DVD * ''Delete'' was featured in Mack Dawg Productions for Ski-Doo Snowmobiles "Ski-Doo Freestyle" promotional video in 2006 * ''Delete'' was also featured in ''Some Kinda Life'' snowboarding film (2005, Neoproto Films) * ''A.I.'', in remixed form, appears in Synthphony Records' ''REMIXed! Vol.#5'' CD * ''Shenzhen Speed'' was featured in Alliance Wakeboarding's ''Innuendo'' DVD (2006) * ''Love'', ''Jealousy'', ''A Little Different'', and ''Metallic Whispers'' used in different promotional videos for

Snow Summit Snow Summit is a ski resort that was established in 1952 and is in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. It is located by Big Bear Lake along with its sister resort Bear Mountain; these two resorts which operate under the same ma ...

Inc (Big Bear Resorts) from 2005 to 2006 * ''Mission Control'' was featured in the snowboarding film ''As If!'' by Misschief Films (2006) * ''Midnight on the Bridge'' was featured in the skiing/snowboarding film ''Witness'' by Ohio Freestyle and Kyle Decker (2006) * ''Sofia (Ming & Ping Remix)'' is a remix of

's "Sofia" and appears on "4th On the Floor - West Indian Girl Remixes, Vol. 2" (2009, Smash Hit Music Co.) * ''Thought Balloon (Ming & Ping Rethink)'' is a remix of

's "Thought Balloon" and appears on "Form Activity Motion" (2008, Freezepop) * ''Heavensent - Ming & Ping Remix'' is a remix of a single by

BAO Bao or BAO may refer to: Cuisine * Baozi, a type of Chinese dumpling made of a steamed or baked bun with fillings * Cha siu bao, a pork-filled steamed bun * Gua bao, steamed clam-shaped bun sandwiched with meat and condiments * Bánh bao, Vietname ...

(2017, Bao Vo Creative, Inc.)

References

External links

Ming & Ping official website

Bao Vo Creative
{{Authority control American pop music groups Sibling musical duos Identical twin males Musical groups established in 2002 American people of Chinese descent American twins 2002 establishments in California