Originally from Inner Mongolia, drummer Deng Boyu’s work covers a wide range of different styles including rock, jazz, noise and free improvisation. Since the late 1990s, Deng Boyu has been active in the Chinese music underground, participating in numerous bands and projects, notably Dawanggang, Wu Tiao Ren, Yerboli and Hai Qing. As an improvisor Deng Boyu has performed with musicians both in and out of China, including Xiao He, Wu Na, Mamer, Lao Dan, Lee Ranaldo, Marc Ribot, Akira Sakata, Sabu Toyozumi, Theresa Wong, Steven Buchanan and Federico Casagrande. Boyu is also a member of the band Red Scarf.

Deng Boyu’s latest output, the cassette Tractor Academy, is both a tongue-in-cheek teaser and a wildly romantic postscript to his upcoming solo LP. The eight songs here unveil the instinctual id beneath the electronic alter ego of Deng Boyu