Psychedelic grandmaster checks into China

Experimental music is known to isolate audiences, but Canary Islands musician Kurajica Mladen embraces his geographic and musical isolation to find a unique place between genres.

"It's not indie, experimental or electronic enough for anybody, which makes it accessible but isolated," said Mladen, after declining offers to perform at bars along Beihai Lake on Tuesday night.

Best known for his psychedelic, electro collective GAF, the Macedonian-born Spaniard will perform with three of his music projects in Beijing this week, also appearing with Daniel Garcia in avant-garde electro duo Tupperwear and solo ambient project AFG-AN to round out his debut China tour.

The son of a chess grandmaster from the former Yugoslavia, Mladen took up the game at an early age and competed professionally. He gave it up in his teens when he discovered music and started "playing guitar and other activities associated with rock." But he was quick to see the musical merit in a childhood spent studying strategy and opening moves.

"Chess is like jazz," explains Mladen. "Some people like to get involved in theory, some like to improvise and feel out the situation. The latter was my father's style and that's what I learned from him."

When not working as an English teacher, Mladen organizes annual new music festivals Keroxen and Proximos and tours everywhere from Europe to Japan.

When asked about how much room he felt is left in music to experiment, Mladen was quick with a counter move. "It's a loop," he mused. "You follow the paths that have been trodden before, but since you're bringing new influences and equipment with you, you're bound to run into things you didn't see the first time around."

When: Friday, April 13, 9 pm

Where: Temple Bar, 206 Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng district

Tickets: 50 yuan (door)

Contact: 131-6107-0713

When: Saturday, April 14, 10 pm

Where: Zajia Lab, Doufuchi Hutong, Xicheng district

Ticket: 50 yuan (door)

Contact: 156-0112-2252