Nojiji is a music collective that has been at the heart of the avant-garde noise art scene in China since 2004. Its community of self-selected outcasts focus on digital and analog sounds, free jazz and warped post-rock. 

The music label was founded in Raying Temple, an industrial arts space that became a utopia for Beijing residents in search of experimental and electronic music. Since the iconic building was demolished in 2012, Nojiji has had to secure a new base camp and use alternative methods to champion underground music in China.

By capturing performances from some of the members of the noise-music scene, Sonic Wandering is an homage to Raying Temple and its spirit, which still lives on today. 

“This film opens a door to a different time and space where the sounds of Raying Temple still echo,” says Wei Qiong, director of this film. “Nojiji might now take a different form, but it’s still on the same musical journey.”

Sonic Wandering forms part of Notes From The Underground, a pair of films curated by acclaimed Australian-Chinese fashion designer Yang Li, which shines a spotlight on China’s subcultures and forms of self-expression. “These films explore the energy within one of the most exciting, creative countries in the world today,” says Li. 

“China is both a source and destination for new ideas and the avant-garde,” he continues. “It has leaped from an agricultural country to an economic and creative powerhouse in a matter of thirty years, and this transition has produced a unique, multi-layered, creative ecosystem.”