Chen Yi

The Chen Yi Commune was founded in 1978 by about 20 women & men from London. The aim of the commune was to create a closed subsystem, a kind of subsociety and to narrow down its contact to the outside world only on very few specific actions. The Chen Yi commune never was interested in producing records, some of the members even refused any form of release whatsoever. In 1981 one member released a tape edition called “Hanging", consisting of rough and brutal electronic music and sound collages. The title referred to the first 3 English witches who were hanged in Chelmsford, where the commune house was located. This cassette was sent to various record companies. A recording contract in 1982/83 with CBS was made. About 7 tracks were produced for the first Chen Yi LP and more couldn't be finalised, because CBS suddenly pulled out of the contract. This left unfinished tapes of an LP, which finally got its release in 2006.

Links to Peel
Peel obtained a copy from Chen Yi, which was played on his show, and there was a plan of the group doing a session for his show in 1983, which failed to materialised for unknown reasons. Nonetheless the group's music attracted the attention of CBS, who made a record contract. However, CBS pulled out and none of Chen Yi's music was released until 2006.

Shows Played

 * None, according to available playlists on the Peel wiki site, but their music was played on his show sometime in the early 80's.