P.K. 14 is a

Chinese rock Chinese rock ( zh, s=中国摇滚 , p=Zhōngguó yáogǔn; also zh, s=wikt:中国, 中国wikt:摇滚音乐, 摇滚音乐 , t=中國搖滾音樂 , p=Zhōngguó yáogǔn yīnyuè, lit. "Chinese rock and roll music") is a wide variety of rock a ...

band composed of vocalist/producer Yang Haisong (杨海崧), Xu Bo (许波) on guitar, bassist Shi Xudong (施旭东), and drummer Jonathan Leijonhufvud (雷坛坛, or "Tan Tan"). Their

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

,Malitz, David (2009, Nov. 13)
Critic Review for P.K. 14 in Washington, DC on washingtonpost.com
. The Washington Post. Accessed 11–13–2009.

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

musical style has been influential on the Chinese rock scene since their first album was released in 2001, making them "elder statesmen of the Beijing rock scene".Alexandri, Maya. (May 23, 2008)
Global Buzz: Hear the Music of P.K.14, China’s Answer to Sonic Youth
The Wall Street Journal:Blogs. Accessed 11–13–2009. Formed in 1997 in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, they moved to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in 2001.Maybe Mars Records
Maybe Mars / 兵马司 P.K.14
Accessed 11–13–2009. One of five groups selected by

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

as Asia's best bands in 2008, the band's name is intended as an abbreviation of "public kingdom for teens".Day, Lara (2008, Jan. 21). In Chinese the number 14 sounds like and means "to be dead", therefor also "bad luck
Asia's Best Bands
Time magazine. Accessed 11–13–2009. The band, which sings exclusively in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

,Kent, Jo Ling (2009 Nov. 13)
China's latest export -- rock 'n' roll -- hits the U.S.
CNN.com International. Accessed 11–13–2009. has been praised for its "sharp,

" sound: "P.K.14, for all its lyrical depth, creates an overwhelming barrage of beautiful postpunk chaos".Shapiro, Dan. (2009, Nov. 5–11)
Carsick Cars + P.K.14: Beijing's experimental rock scene arrives in New York City
Time Out New York. Accessed 11–13–2009. In 2008, they visited Sweden, the homeland of Leijonhufvud, to record their fourth album, ''City Weather Sailing'' (Chengshi Tianqi de Hangxing). In addition to his work with P.K.14, Yang Haisong is also a sought-after record producer in China, working primarily with the Beijing-based labels

Maybe Mars Maybe Mars is an independent record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Somet ...

Modern Sky The Modern Sky Festival ( Chinese: 摩登天空音乐节; pinyin: Módēng Tiānkōng Yīnyuè Jié) is an outdoor rock music festival in Beijing, China, organized by the Modern Sky record label. The first festival was held October 2–4, 2007 at ...

and

Genjing Records Genjing Records (simplified Chinese: 根茎唱片; traditional Chinese: 根莖唱片) is a Gramophone record, vinyl-only independent record label in Beijing, China focused on contributing recordings of Chinese musicians into global scene and vinyl ...

to produce efforts from Carsick Cars, Birdstriking, Skip Skip Ben Ben, The Dyne, Goodnight Goodluck, Alpine Decline, Fallacy, Doc Talk Shock, Dream Can and his own side project, the lo-fi noise duo Dear Eloise.

Discography

Studio albums

*2001 ''Upstairs, Turn Left'' (by Sub Jam & Empty Egg) *2004 ''Whoever, Whoever & Whoever'' (by Modern Sky) *2005 ''White Paper'' (by Modern Sky) *2008 ''City Weather Sailing'' (by

) *2013 ''1984'' (by Maybe Mars) *2018 ''What We Talk About When We Talk About His Name'' (by Maybe Mars)

Compilations

*2002 ''Modern Sky 4'' (by Modern Sky) *2009 ''Maybe Mars 2007-2009 Vol.1'' (by

) *2010 ''Converse presents: The China Invasion Tour 2010 (featuring bands from Maybe Mars)'' (by

)

Bootlegs

*2010 Live at Zoomin' Night: Whoever, Whoever & Whoever (by Liezhi Sifang/劣质私房) *2011 Zoomin' Night Live (by Liezhi Sifang/劣质私房)

References

{{Authority control Chinese rock music groups Musical groups from Beijing Chinese post-punk music groups