Wang Wen's new album Painful Clown & Ninja Tiger is named after the traditional Chinese method of chronology year name < Xin-Chou & Ren-Yin >(DEDF & DEDD). The two years just passed by.

The sexagenarian cycle of the Chinese calendar is like the FE-against-FD polyrhythm in music. Two separate paths that travel six times through the Heavenly Stems and five times through the Earthly Branches and then reunite.

However, this...

Over the course of their 22 year-long career, WANG WEN have reached a profoundness of intention in their music that reflects in the massive soundscapes that they bring on re- cord and from the stage. It comes as no sur- prise that in these dire times, the band delivers a record that speaks to humanity on a universal scale. “100,000 Whys” arguably presents the band at their most accessible since...