Based in Beijing, the experimental electronic group FM3 -- veteran rock musician Christiaan Virant and prolific session keyboardist Zhang Jian -- formed in 1999 and gained some recognition for their development of the Buddha Machine, a small, battery-powered box with a speaker that plays a series of short drones. With a series of recordings behind them -- for labels like Staalplaat, Sublime Frequencies, Mutek, Bip-Hop, and Nascente -- FM3 released Hou Guan Yin for the Lona label in 2006. They've performed at the Louvre, the 2004 Shanghai Bienalle, and Bern's PROGR Zentrum für Kulturproduktion. ~ Andy Kellman