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May
16thQuickslants: Tambours du Bronx, New Shanren, Painkiller Fest and more
stop me if you have heard this before: here comes a crazy few days of too many decent/wonderful musical choices for us to deal with. The onslaught began monday with no hype on that Mamer/Song Yun Zhe gig that ruby covered and there is plenty more headed to old smoggy. Let’s figure out what we’re up to over the next couple of days. Thursday May 16th Le Tambours du Bronx @ Poly Theatre If you’re into percussions, there is no other place you’d rather be the next few days: Les Tambours du Bronx is a French industrial percussion band created in 1987. Les Tambours du Bronx has 17 musicians on stage surrounded by synthetic sounds, samples, and singing, all in time with the powerful rhythm…. in other words, for once, get out of the smoky slums and get thy rear end to the Poly Theatre Bob Log III @ Temple I don’t think he needs this plug but according to everything i read, this fella is quite the show. expect weird outfits, singing through microphones, girls on lap and god know what other kinds of weirdness taking place throughout the evening. It’s supposedly psychedelic experimental weird costumed rock.. Opening duties courtesy of Low Bow and the Intrepid Adventurers. Friday May 17th Painkiller Fest with Caliban @ Mao our good friends from Painkiller Magazine are celebrating and they have invited some German friends to come along! Caliban, in the midst of their “we are the many” tour is landing in Beijing [...]
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May
15thMamer & Song Yuzhe: opposites attract at Jianghu
Let me set the scene. In one corner you have a guy sitting on a stool, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, shoulder wavy length hair sticking out of a black cap pulled down to hide his eyes, emotionless face looking down at the black bass sitting on his lap. In the other, another guy, sitting cross-legged on the floor, in comfy baggy pants, white shirt, long hair pulled up in high ninja bun, large toothy smile and glistening eyes, surrounded by a plethora of traditional instruments. Walking into Jianghu on Monday night, this is the scene that confronted me. For anyone who doesn’t know the two guys I’ve just described, this vision would have been enough to make you walk straight back out the door again, but I knew what I was getting myself into and was excited to hear what was going to come out of this strange but beautiful combination. The ‘rock’ guy, was Mamer, known for his unusual combinations of experimental bass, industrial music and traditional Kazakh songs with his band IZ. But he also does solo work, last year he put out 5, yes 5, solo records, each completely different, self-recorded experimental compositions and traditional Kazakh songs using various instruments. I found a copy of Elim, with features dombra, guitar and violin, in C Rock last year, but hadn’t managed to track down any of the others around town. The ‘folk” guy, was Song Yuzhe, veteran of many experimental folk projects, including most recently Dawanggang, [...]
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May
15thDreamer Festival 2013 – Azure Ray, Shan Ren, Omnipotent Youth Society and More
well well well! did you think festival season was already over? Heck no!! With all the debates and chats about MIDI, Strawberry and the cancelled dongpai, the 2013 Dreamer Festival of Indie Music almost slipped through the crack and maybe that’s not a bad thing. too much publicity might bring undue scrutiny from the powers that be. Either way, they have quietly set themselves up for a 2 day extravaganza this coming weekend at the Chaoyang Sports Center. There is a decent lineup of indie international acts that you don’t get too often, most of which will be playing around town in the next few weeks including Child ( from Mexico), Azure Ray, Swedish sensation Sophie Zelmani and a few others. Now ordinarily i wouldn’t spend too much time writing about popyy indie stuff but in the case of Dreamer Festival, the local lineup is really what grabbed my attention: Omnipotent Youth Society, Shan Ren, Low Wormwood, Wu Hongfei and Happy Avenue along with Zhou Yunpeng are all there. And those bands put together are definitely worth the admission ticket, even the hassle of getting out there. The only band i don’t see fitting this whole lineup is Ataraxia, an Italian post-renaissance band that does some intriguing things. Heck, it’s comparatively easy if you just had to deal with MIDI or Strawberry… Here is the lineup: Also not the presence of Hang on the Box and Hong Kong’s My Little Airport…. If shoegazing and dreamy pop is your thing, this [...]
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May
14thPS: You Rocked Me – Abaji, One Drop, Devils, Yungiema etc..
sometimes, doing reviews of whole shows can be a bit repetitive but i always wanna give the devil his due.. so unless the show is mindblowing, i think i’m gonna switch to a new format of quick reviews called “p.s: You Rocked Me” and that’s starting right now.. MIDI was pretty darn good and enjoyable if you haven’t read my review yet but there were also a bunch of other little gigs around town that had me having a good good time: Abaji @ CD Blues | April 24th, 2013 My brother from another family, the one and only Abaji, descended on the capital for a quick little gig thanks to the Alliance Francaise who kinda forgot to inform people about it. Still, I tracked him down and went over to the new CD Blues for the first time.. and what a treat it was! The guy is still sheer genius and he had a packed venue under his charm. I got there a bit late and caught only the second part of the gig but it was one hell of a good one again Devils at the Crossroad album release @ Temple | April 27, 2013 man.. usually, a saturday night gig can be fun, but not when you’re supposed to work on one of those fake sundays thanks to the messed up Chinese holiday system. On the bright side, having to work the next day meant i couldn’t get trashed and forget how much fun i had. and [...]
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May
9thQuickslants: No Dong, Some Punk, a Little Ordnance and more
the big expected gig of the week would have been the Dongpai Folk Festival at 2 KOlegas but if you’re read the site yesterday, you know that it is pretty much dead in the water. I got to hear various versions/reasons for the cancellation but none of them really makes sense at this point. Either ways, it’s fucked! Still, there’s a number of cool little gigs around town starting tonight. Let’s see what the consolation prizes are: Thursday May 9: Coprocephalic @ 2 Kolegas Death Metal from California/Taipei… that’s how these kids are being labeled and it sounds intriguing enough. In pure 2K tradition, we know nothing about the gig or the band other than they’ve been around since 2011. Options are scarce enough that this makes an appearance on the slants for a thursday. Punk @ XP: Discord along with Flyx, Brother Tough and Found Amber are headed to the west side of town for a mohawk night at XP. Nothing out of this world but surely a decent enough option for those craving a little 2 to 3 chord action with badly tuned instruments but fun nevertheless. Friday May 10: The Randy Abel Stable/Shun Kikuta @ CD Blues Probably the best show from this series of Blues Festival when Beijing’s resident Americana hellraisers pair up with one of Japan’s more prolific guitar players for a night of good mellow tunes. If you were looking for an excuse to head over there, this is the best night. Just remember [...]
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May
9thMIDI 2013: Anywhere, Anytime, Thanks for the Rock n Roll
Ah.. so, despite the temptations of XTX at Strawberry, yours truly couldn’t resist the call of rock n roll! I just had to get me my MIDI May Day fix, no matter how far I had to go. And to be honest with you, 60km is actually not that far. The biggest problem with it was dealing with shitty ass traffic as all license plate restrictions are lifter during official holidays. but.. let’s not get ahead of ourselves.. and start from the beginning! The location: China Music Valley was impressive! As much as I enjoyed the Shunyi Olympic Park, this place was 10 times better! The festival was set in a valley surrounded by mountains with beautiful blue skies prevailing for the days I was there. I’m glad I went because I’m now thinking of heading back there sooner or later for a little break and even maybe some ski action. Getting there was relatively smooth using MIDI shuttles but it did take a looooooooonnnnng freaking time. On Monday, for day 1, it took slightly over 3,5 hours to make the trek with traffic backed up beyond belief. Tuesday was a bit better at 2,5 hours but still a long journey. Getting back was a heck of a lot faster as we were back in town within the hour. The Facilities: True to form, MIDI was a good old party: plenty of grass, lots of vendors peddling their wares, cheapish drinks and water, short lines and good times. The official [...]
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May
8thCan’t Dong No More… Folk Festival Cancelled
Well folks… there it goes again, last minute: the Donpai folk party, formerly known as the Ritan Folk Festival has got the axe With the move to 2 Kolegas, things were already a bit shaky and the festival was gonna look like a shadow of its former self but oh well.. More details tomorrow when I get them. So, this little info was confirmed at first by a few Musician who received notification Tuesday night as to the no-go order from Dong himself with the inability to set up a stage named as reason #1. A quick call to 2 Kolegas today confirmed that the gig was no longer happening and that they were a bit pissed off about the whole thing. Finally, a weibo annoucement was just made around mid-day wednesday on the mini-fest official account
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May
3rdQuickslants: Lidong, Yunggiema, Not There, Reggae and more
Gee… 3 days of non-stop music are over and we’re back to regular rotation before we go unto another onslaught of tunes. So in case the festivals didn’t do you in, here are some goodies you can look forward to over the next 3 days. Of course, don’t forget the CD BLues festival that I mentioned earlier Friday May 3: Lidong @ JIanghu we all know my addition/affection for all things Ningxia, right? well, good buddies Lidong are coming out to the hutongs for one of their last shows for a few months. beautiful modern northwestern folk from the Ningxia plains that will keep you on your seat. Jianghu is probably the best place for them to pull this off… with the nice weather, might as well hit it. Yunggiema @ Mako One of my favorite female vocalists running around all smoggy. She’s got a new performance out and it’s apparently quite different from the stuff she’s been doing with Song Yun Zhe so i’m really excited about this one. It does seems like she’s playing every other day lately but i’m pretty much convinced that there is no such thing as too much Yunggiema. I mean there is a good reason she’s nicknamed the Siren. By the way, Mako is reopening their upstairs restaurant tonight with some pretty tasty xinjiang food so in case you got a bit of a hunger, this will take care of it. Saturday May 4 One Drop @ 2 Kolegas yup, the reggae boys [...]
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May
3rdBeijing CD Blues Festival 2013: Lineup and Thoughts
It’s May.. festival season baby! After the onslaught of MIDI and Strawberry, now we’re getting ready for the next batch including the CD Blues Festival. Unlike previous years where this was held over a day or two, Big John has gone with a completely different formula: Have special gigs every weekend of May. I’m kinda of looking at this going: WTF makes this a blues festival instead of 4 weekends of somewhat decent gigs?: hum.. well, if you know the answer, enlighten me. Either ways, it’s kicking off tonight and since someone asked me for the lineup, here is it in pixels. Beijing CD Blues Festival Every Weekend in May http://www.bluesfestival.cn/program.aspx Here is a write out of the first few days for your convenience.. head over to their website for more detailed information! Friday, May 3 Hoochie Coochie Gentlemen: Longtime Beijing favorites just finished celebrating their200th year as a band. Good clean fun Blues rock.. this ain’t rocket science mistah. They’re joined by Bluesman and the Blues Power Trio Saturday, May 4 Nathaniel Gao Jazz Band CD Blues open things up saturday one. Gao is a fixture in the Beijing jazz scene and no stranger to CD Blues Cafe. He gets some help tonight from the really really really fun folks of Acid Live whom i’m really digging these days. Friday, May 10 Lock your daughters or lock the band: them rowdy Americana boys, The Randy Abel Stable, are descending on Ritan Park and it might never be the same [...]
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Apr
27thFull MIDI 2013 Information: Camping, Travelling, Hotels and More
We’re a few days away from the onslaught so it’s time to get some information out about MIDI that I haven’t seen around, at least not in English. So here goes folks… some details to make your pingu trek easier and more fun: Beijing MIDI 2013 – China Music Valley Monday, April 29-Wednesday, May 1, 12pm-12am So we’re off to China Music Valley baby…. That’s in Pinggu, otherwise known as bumfuck tonganika in the middle of nowhere or 1.5h in a shuttle bus from downtown Beijing. This is pretty much the same trek as the one headed to TOngzhou. MIDI is arranging a bus for festival-goers: It will be in the public square just outside the A exit of Beitucheng stop on subway line 8/10 (across from the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium). The shuttle service starts at 9:00am and will run every half hour until 2:00pm. The return trips start at 8:00pm, running every half hour until 11:30pm. The trip will cost you 20rmb each way and will take about 1.5 hours in either direction. The good folks from SmartBeijing also have this to add: Alternately, you can take the 852 express bus from the Dongzhimen bus station. That will cost 15rmb and will take about an hour to drop you off at Shiji Guangchang (世纪广场站), the big public square in Pinggu. From there head to the southwest corner of the square, where you can buy a MIDI ticket (if you haven’t already) and, ticket in hand, jump on a [...]
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- Quickslants: Tambours du Bronx, New Shanren, Painkiller Fest and more
- Mamer & Song Yuzhe: opposites attract at Jianghu
- Dreamer Festival 2013 – Azure Ray, Shan Ren, Omnipotent Youth Society and More
- PS: You Rocked Me – Abaji, One Drop, Devils, Yungiema etc..
- Quickslants: No Dong, Some Punk, a Little Ordnance and more
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- Joann on Quickslants: Jurat, PiL, XTX, Yangjima for a Loaded End of Week
- On The Scene: 2013 Strawberry Festival Day 1 | Live Beijing Music on MIDI 2013: Anywhere, Anytime, Thanks for the Rock n Roll
- ex virility pill on Quickslants: Jurat, PiL, XTX, Yangjima for a Loaded End of Week
- ruby on MIDI 2013: Anywhere, Anytime, Thanks for the Rock n Roll
- Beijing Daze on MIDI 2013: Anywhere, Anytime, Thanks for the Rock n Roll