Chinese Band: Crystal Butterfly (水晶蝶)

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Friday 9 October 2009
乐队(band): 水晶蝶 Shui Jing Die Crystal Butterfly
国家(country): China




Crystal Butterfly (水晶蝶) are a Shanghai based band that have only released one album (Magical Mystery Tour - 2005). They have a name in 'space rock' in Shanghai emulating sounds they hear in U2 and contempory soulful indie rock. Crystal Butterfly recorded material for a second album, entitled Forest of Illusions, named after one the band's first songs 梦幻森林. However, the band's contract with New Bees ended in December 2005. The record company is trying to sell the material to a third party, and the recordings will probably never come out.

Crystal Butterfly - The Neon Bible (not an 'Arcade Fire' cover)



This first song by Crystal Butterfly (above) sounds quite like a band I really liked in 2004-2006 called Fields (youtube vid link), an Anglo/Icelandic band that also only had one album released. Very similiar and also a very good album 'Everything Last Winter' (amazon link).



Here is a video of Crystal Butterfly performing live in Shanghai. The video isn't so good, but the sound quality is actually really good.

Crystal Butterfly - Party Girl






I would love to hear what you think of Crystal Butterfly below in the comments.
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8 comments

  1. ChineseQuest Says:
  2. Much more listenable than Mayday, IMO. Good stuff!

     
  3. John, I am glad you like them. They really reminded me of that Icelandic/English band I listened to a lot in the past.

    I have to admit Mayday are a bit rough around the edges, but that is also half the reason I liked them.

    I want to get away from the Rock music focus, but have found that Mando-pop seems to get a lot of covereage elsewhere.

    I have another couple of exciting bands to share in the next week.

     
  4. ChineseQuest Says:
  5. Meh...it wasn't really that they were rough around the edges. I listen to much heavier stuff than that sometimes. It just felt too...I dunno. Manufactured? I'm not sure that's the word I want. Oh well.

    And I don't know why my first name is displayed. Need to fix that. This is ChineseQuest 的 John.

     
  6. Ahhh, Hiya. :)

    Well music is very objective and hard to find things that please everyone.

    With the versitility of many of these bands I have found I find it hard to be impressed with everything too.

    It is hard to find a band where I would like an entire album.

    Have you heard Sodagreen that I wrote about before?

    They are probably my favourite Chinese band so far.

     
  7. ChineseQuest Says:
  8. So true, it's very subjective. I'm pretty sure I have a strange taste in music anyway. Or I should say "eclectic."

    I am liking Sodagreen. You're right, they do remind me of Sigur Ros.

     
  9. Glad you like. I have covered quite a range of 'rock' acts so far.

    But finding it hard to write about everything I find.

    So feel free to jump in and reccomend anything anytime.

    Charlie

     
  10. ChineseQuest Says:
  11. I dig 许巍. I have his "Otherwhere" album, which is available on iTunes. I also like 陳綺貞 (Cheer Chen) when I'm in the mood for something a little more poppy. But my favorite Chinese band is still 二手玫瑰. It doesn't matter how many times I play their CDs, I can still listen to them.

     
  12. I will have to check your other reccomenedations out. 二手玫瑰 are a band that I am planning to cover here next week.

    Just trying to avoid churning out all the bands in a week, then nothing for a month.

     

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