Artist Hanggai

Sounding like it was born where the future meets the past in the remote Chinese countryside, Hanggai’s music sets traditional Mongolian folk into typical American rock constraints, condensing perfectly crusted-over vocals, playful-to-mournful strings, and wide-open melodies into tight, elegantly packaged songs. The unmistakable croak of leader Ilchi’s throat singing—a far more effective weapon against modern society than his screeching for his former punk band T9—buzzes along with more traditional vocals all across the band’s latest, He Who Travels Far. Exhilarating blasts like “Xiger Xiger” and “Yuan Ding Cap” offer brisk jaunts outside the city, mashing rock and bluegrass from the west with the invitingly exotic musical traditions of the Chinese grasslands. 

Updated 06/02/2011