| China Gate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 21, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | August 1995 at Rainfarm Studios, North Reading, Massachusetts | |||
| Genre | Post-rock, space rock | |||
| Length | 64:28 | |||
| Label | Flying Nun/Thirsty Ear [1] | |||
| Producer | Cul de Sac, Jon Williams | |||
| Cul de Sac chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Alternative Press | [3] |
China Gate is an album by Cul de Sac, released in 1996. [4] [5] The album incorporated elements of surf rock. [6]
Trouser Press wrote that "[Jon] Proudman is an extremely musical drummer who can hold down the fort while taking off on flights of fancy with the liquidly propulsive [Chris] Fujiwara." [7] Rolling Stone praised "the deft, pointillist strokes with which guitarist Glenn Jones dots the margins of his spare compositions." [8]
Paste listed the album as one of the "50 Best Post-Rock Albums", writing that it "set the bar for the group's expansive experimentalism, allowing them to work Can-like rhythms, Eastern-influenced melodies, flickering electronics, and plenty of noise into their deconstructions of the rock idiom." [9]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "China Gate" | Harold Adamson, Victor Young | 1:11 |
| 2. | "Sakhalin" | Glenn Jones | 5:49 |
| 3. | "Nepenthe" | Glenn Jones | 8:47 |
| 4. | "Doldrums" | Glenn Jones | 5:45 |
| 5. | "James Coburn" | Robin Amos, Chris Fujiwara, Glenn Jones, Jon Proudman | 6:30 |
| 6. | "Virgin Among Cannibals" | Robin Amos, Chris Fujiwara, Glenn Jones, Jon Proudman | 2:09 |
| 7. | "...His Teeth Got Lost in the Mattress..." | Glenn Jones | 3:06 |
| 8. | "Hemispheric Events Command" | Glenn Jones | 6:15 |
| 9. | "The Fourth Eye" | Glenn Jones | 11:36 |
| 10. | "The Colomber" | Glenn Jones | 6:16 |
| 11. | "China Gate" (reprise) | Harold Adamson, Victor Young | 0:31 |
| 12. | "Utopia Pkwy." | Glenn Jones | 6:51 |
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical.
Frank is a studio album by new wave group Squeeze, released in 1989. The album sold poorly, and Squeeze was dropped by A&M Records while on tour. Forced to take offers from different major labels for the first time in their career, the band soon signed with Reprise Records and began working on their next studio album, Play.
Cul de Sac are a rock group formed in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts and led by guitarist Glenn Jones. Their music is primarily instrumental. Jones and keyboardist Robin Amos have been the only constant members.
Doubt is the second album by British alternative rock band Jesus Jones, released in 1991. The album reached number 25 on the US Billboard 200 and topped the UK Albums Chart, and the tracks "Real Real Real", "Right Here, Right Now", "International Bright Young Thing", "Who? Where? Why?" and "Welcome Back Victoria" were released as singles to promote it. The album was issued by Food in the UK and by SBK in the US.
Lovegod is an album by the Soup Dragons, released in 1990. Four songs from the album were released as singles—"Backwards Dog", "Crotch Deep Trash", "Mother Universe" and "I'm Free". The latter, a cover of a Rolling Stones cut from their 1965 album Out of Our Heads, made the top 5 in the UK charts. First pressings did not include "I'm Free", but it was subsequently placed first on the re-release, which also dates to 1990.
3 is the fourth studio album by U.S. punk-folk band Violent Femmes, released in early 1989. The songs were performed by the three members of the band playing only drums, bass and guitar, with the addition of keyboards and saxophone.
L7 is the eponymous debut studio album by American rock band L7, released in 1988 by Epitaph Records. It demonstrates the band's punk rock origins, although there are traces of the heavier grunge sound that dominated their later work.
Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom is an album by Tom Tom Club, released in 1988. It includes a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale", with David Byrne, Lou Reed, and Jerry Harrison. The track "Suboceana" was released as a single in the UK in late 1988 and received some radio airplay. In the US, a 12-inch single of the song was released, which featured a remix by Marshall Jefferson, and contains the track "Devil, Does Your Dog Bite". That song is a bonus on the Japanese issue of the album that has the original 10 songs. Challenge of the Love Warriors is played over the ending credits of Mary Lambert's 1987 mystery thriller Siesta though it is not included on the soundtrack album, also released in 1987, from Miles Davis and Marcus Miller.
Hunkpapa is a studio album by Throwing Muses, released in 1989. It peaked at number 59 on the UK Albums Chart.
Jahmekya is a studio album by the reggae group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, released in 1991.
Lust is the third album by Ambitious Lovers. It was released in 1991 through Elektra Records. It was the band's final album.
The Epiphany of Glenn Jones is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey and the alternative rock/post-rock band Cul de Sac, released in 1997.
Free Lancing is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1981 and released on the Columbia label. It was Ulmer's first of three albums recorded for a major label.
ECIM is the debut album of Cul de Sac, released in 1991 through Capella.
I Don't Want to Go to Bed is the second album by American instrumental rock band Cul de Sac, released in 1995 through Thirsty Ear Recordings.
Crashes to Light, Minutes to Its Fall is the fourth album by Cul de Sac, released in 1999 through Thirsty Ear Recordings.
Immortality Lessons is a live album by Cul de Sac, released in 2002 through Strange Attractors Audio House.
Death of the Sun is the fifth album by Cul de Sac, released on February 18, 2003 through Strange Attractors Audio House.
The Strangler's Wife is a soundtrack album by Cul de Sac, released on October 21, 2003 through Strange Attractors Audio House.
Abhayamudra is a double live collaboration album by the American musical group Cul de Sac and Japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki, released on November 2, 2004 through Strange Attractors Audio House.
