Best Of 2011 | BeijingDaze

Jan
10thTop 5 Best Chinese Albums of 2011: IZ, Ordnance, Hedgehog, Proximity Butterfly and Longshendao

Man it sounds so pretentious to say this… but it’s a title that gets headlines and scores high in search engines so deal with it. There are many reasons why this is not a traditional “best of”, main one being I can’t claim that i heard every album released in 2011 all around the country. From those I did hear though, and there were quite a few, there are a number of standouts.. let’s see how they go: IZ [ Kolengke ] If a steel mill could sing, that’s what it would sound like (thanks Sharon)! This has been one of the better records of the year and that for many reasons. It’s pretty darn different from anything available in China that I managed to get my hands on. If you know of something similar, let me know. Mamer and his crew just put together a beautiful cacophony of sounds and made it work. It’s dark without being too gloomy. The album is actually beautifully simple despite what seems like elaborate compositions with thundering bass lines and percussions. Back in the days, Kazakhs used to write songs about grasslands and plains where they roamed free. Nowadays, Mamer and IZ are city dwellers, it makes sense that they songs reflect their new lifestyle.This is an album that stands on its own in and outside of China as far as I’m concerned! It doesn’t need nor does it ask for excuses! Hedgehog [2011 DEstroy meMOries] yup, Hedgehog! The trio has been extremely [...]
Jan
6th2011 in review: Best Live Music Performances in Beijing (and the worst)

it started with a bang at 2 Kolegas as Buyi, Nucleus, Rustic and Subs rocked the hell out of the drive-in. That was one hell of a good show to start the year and remains in the top ten of best shows in Beijing for 2011. Many bands came, some vanished, others just took a break and some just lost any guidance… how did they fare IMHO? Let’s check it out! Here are some random musings about the best, the worst and the mediocre from my BIASED perspective! AK47 @ MIDI: Never been a huge AK47 fan but this past MIDI, they put on the performance of a lifetime! The crowd was all in it at the side stage, moshing, screaming, jumping, singing…. IT was a trance-like state for almost everyone there! The music was heavy, loud, sharp like a razor blade and was the perfect accompaniment for dust storms. The Black Snakes @ ‘dazeFEAST: Holly mother of god were these cats impressive! I had no idea what to expect when i added them to the bill other than they were friends of Kang Mao. Boy am i glad! Their energy was out of this world, stage antics second to none, sweating it out and getting the audience in a frenzy! That was just beautiful! Thank you again guys! SUBS @ King of the Road: When all was going to hell with drunk people in the audience, douchebags and 2 Kolegas filled to the brim, Kang Mao and her gang [...]