Back in 2015, music journalist John Yingling launched The World Underground, a global archive documenting the world’s DIY music scenes through film, sound and blogging.
The launch coincided with the release of a documentary exploring the DIY music scene in China, where Yingling had recently moved to from the Midwest of America. In the film, The World Underground – Episode 1: China, he followed legendary Chinese rock band P.K 14 on a tour across their home country, delving into the local scenes in various cities along the way, including Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, and Wuhan.
Take a peek inside the DIY scenes of China, South Korea and Japan in part two of a documentary series called The World Underground.
Two years later and Yingling has just released the next instalment of the series. In episode two, he and his team – in collaboration with Korea’s AWEH.TV – followed Beijing bands GUIGUISUISUI and Noise Arcade on tour through East Asia, trekking through Japan, South Korea, and N.E. China.
“This is a film about the people you meet along the way,” Yingling says. “The endless sounds that now, can never be unheard. Noise meeting deep quiet, and confusion meeting exhaustion. Finishing this film almost broke me. It took four years. It’s shifted and morphed so many times… For a while I thought I’d never be able to make something that I didn’t loathe. I did, and this is it. An attempt to capture a three week trek through some of the most beautifully bewildering, drunken, noise-drenched landscapes on earth
Watch it below.
The project is funded entirely by donations. You can read more about the entire The World Underground archive here.
