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Nov
29thSkarving Rocks, The Birds are Free and The Hellcats SleepSwingSaturday November 19th at 2 Kolegas was the second of two 4 am nights which hasn’t happened in a long time. It was busy musically and for good reasons! Ruby headed over to D-22 for Shanghai’s Friend or Foe but yours truly was more intrigued by the prospects of seeing Free The Birds come out for an increasingly rare appearance… It was freaking cold man.. one of the coldest days of the year so far but the Drive In was packed nicely. It’s becoming a habit nowadays whenever DH & The Hellcats come out to play. Skarving got things started nicely with their uptempo SKA beats.. I’ve never been a fan of SKA but they are now one of the most fun bands in town. They just get a crowd jumping up and down in a contagious fashion. They’re adding new wrinkles now to their show with a few more reggae songs and also guest appearances by little Hai Xia who turns out has a pretty darn good voice especially on classic Chinese songs. Crowd ate it up and kept bugging here for more songs which was cooool. Good going guys, just a little more work on the Bob Marley covers. It looks like they were sporting yet another new bass player making it #3 this year if i’m not mistaken. Free The Birds came up next and I’m not sure what to say about this one. The band was rusty and out of sync big time but they were [...]
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Nov
17thLive Music Quickslants: Mademoiselle’s Last Stand, Friend or Foe Visit and SS20 Hits Maoman this week just flew by. I’ve been mostly hibernating catching up with recordings from here and there but it’s time to look forward to the what the week end will bring musically: Thursday November 17th: Starfruit @ Jianghu: This one just sounds intriguing… progressive folk accompanied with Italian poetry reading. 40rmb entrance fee also gets you 2 CDs according to the douban event but don’t quote me on this. Friday November 18th: Mademoiselle @ 2Kolegas: Marie Claude and her gang make it to 2 Kolegas for one last time with this lineup before Mathieux departs from the big silly. The band has survived many lineup changes already but this one is gonna be tougher to swallow than the others me thinks. So grab some dinner and then hit the drive-in for some good Gypsy Jazz action and little glamour Quebequois. It’s gonna be a fun time! Thick Makeup night @Mako: This is a weird one out of left field but if you’re into the makeup Goth metal stuff, this might be the place for you! Japanese bands, local bands and more all gather around shuangjing… lineup includes Residual Poem, Dengel, Toreador, 暗绽乐队Bloom In the Dark, 夜莺乐队Nightingale. Lidong @ Jiangjinjiu: The ningxia folksters are on the last stretch perfecting their craft before they’re ready to release an album. They’re no longer referred to in English as “Migratory Bird” but simply “EAST”…. sing alongs, harmonies, a few good people in a warm place. Not bad! Da Bang @ Yugong Yishan: Not [...]
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May
26thBeijing quickslants: Jess Awakening, 2 Kolegas Celebrates and Bluegrass RetrunsWell folks, if the whole fire safety hazard thingy hasn’t put a damper in your going out plans for this weekend, there’s plenty of stuff happening this weekend. 2 Kolegas is turning 6 which pretty much will monopolize my friday and saturday! I’m so thankful I’ll have Sunday for recovery, kind off… Thursday May 26th: Dolan @ jianghu: Hanggai is no longer the only game in town. They’ve got plenty of competition when it comes to that grassland sound from the likes of Ajinai and now Dolan. It’s not the same but they do share similar roots. Check it out Jess @ Great Leap brewery: Jess brings back the acoustic guitar for a double set at Beijing’s favorite microbrewery. Starts a bit early at 8:00 but it should be some good fun in case the freaking rain doesn’t mess it all up Friday May 27: 2 Kolegas 6 Year Celebration part 1: SUBS and BUYI headline the first night of celebration for 2 Kolegas with help from Skarving as wel las Wu & The side effects. Expect a huge party, DJ, alcohol, fun, and a whole lotta rocking going on until the wee hours of the morning. After hours Jam Session will probably also be taking place. ChunQiu Unplugged @ Gulou 121: Kaiser, Yang Meng and the boys will be in Gulou pulling out the acoustic guitars for those that want a chilled out evening. It’s always a joy listening to them do their thing with harmonies and what not. [...]
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Jan
1st2010 MIDI Awards Results: The Best of Chinese Rock or Something Like itI’ve been browsing around trying to find a list of the winners from last night’s MIDI awards and it has finally popped up on Xie Tian Xiao’s Douban. He was one of the big winners of the night taking in 2 awards just like last year.. And your award winners are: Album of the Year: Explain You (释你) by 反光镜 Reflector Song of the Year: “Bloom” (盛开) by 痛仰 Miserable Faith Best Rock Performance By a Band: 痛仰 Miserable Faith Best Male Rock Vocal Performance: 谢天笑 Xie Tian Xiao Best Female Rock Vocal Performance: Fu Han 付菡 of Queen Sea Big Shark Best Hard Rock Performance: 扭曲的机器 Twisted Machine Best Metal Performance: 夜叉 Yaksa Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Xie Si 歇斯 (guitar) Best Live Performance: 谢天笑 Xie Tian Xiao Best New Artist: 南无Nanwu Best Album Art: “Go East” by New Pants Biggest contribution to Chinese Rock: 迷笛音乐学校 Midi School uhm… Interesting results to say the least! I can’t really argue much except in the female vocals category and new artist. With all due respect to Fu Han, her voice is not that good and while the band rocked strawberry this year, it was not a great showing from a singing perspective. Guai Li’s Wen Jun deserved a mention, so did Zhang Chen of 24 Hours. As far as new artist goes, there’s nothing wrong with Nanwu winning but I would have liked to see The Amazing Insurance Salesmen along with Guai Li nominated at least. I’m surprised that Omnipotent Youth [...]
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Dec
31stYear End Music Quickslants: Free Birds, SUBS, MIDI & The King will Rock You into 2011Beijing’s music community is closing the year in style and starting things off with a bang. Some great shows are lined up for tonight, saturday and sunday, some of which can be considered must-see music.. let’s get this baby started: Friday Dec 31: MIDI Awards @ Star Live: The granddaddy of rocknroll awards in China is holding its second edition at the starlive with some of the better bands playing. Miserable Faith, Hanggai, Nanwu etc… are all on hands to entertain the crowd and hopefully collect a few awards. Audience is limited to 800 so check online if it’s not sold out yet. NYE @ 2 Kolegas: The drive in will be home to a gigantic party with Free The Birds, reTROS and one of my favorite newcomers to the scene, The Ghost Spardac. The party is probably gonna drag on til the wee hours of the morning especially with FTB’s Helen Feng hosting the MIDI awards before trekking over. very recommended. Cui Jian @ Worker’s Stadium: Steven Schwankert of City weekend called him “The King of F—-ing Everything” and i gotta agree. Whatever you think of him, Lao Cui has cemented his place is the annals of Chinese Rock. You’ll find him tonight joining the orchestra he started with for a greatest hits type of performance. He might be older but he hasn’t lost any of his swagger. Saturday Jan 1: SUBS & 24 Hours @ 2 Kolegas: There is just no freaking way in hell I am missing [...]
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Dec
16thMIDI Awards 2010 Announced… Ramblings, Predictability and SurprisesThe MIDI awards nominations came out yesterday on Douban and The Beijinger was kind enough to translate the list. I would have given my two cents earlier but a freaking chest infection is getting in my way. SO.. what’s the deal yo? It’s an interesting list and it’s really tough to find any faults with it because those are all deserving artists. That said, I question Miserable Faith‘s hold on these awards starting from last year. This year, they just put out an EP (4 songs) and that baby is nominated for album of the year plus has 2 songs nominated for song of the year. That’s not a very good statement to make because what you’re essentially saying is that the market lacks quality. I mean gee, 2 songs out of four? I have listened to both and they’re ok but definitely not Head and Shoulders above the rest. Sure the band has excelled with every live show I’ve seen, especially that memorable MIDI unplugged performance so all the kudos are deserved… but not for a 4 song EP that is really weak sounding. It’s still funny to see Suffocate put at the same level as Miserable Faith ( Best Hard Rock) and then appear in the Best Metal category. Same think with one of the original Oi bands, misandao, who is as punk as they get. That needs a category of its own. On the bright side of things, Shijiazhuang’s own “Omnipotent Youth Society” have made a huge [...]
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Dec
7thNews To Ooze: Mademoiselle, Lao Da and Ma Tiao records, new Free the Birds, Jacky Danny on DoubanYou’d think things would slow down in December but we’re just getting ready for a whole bunch of CD releases along with news about shows worth marking your calendar over: Mademoiselle will be releasing her long awaited CD on Tuesday December 14th at 2 Kolegas. This comes right on the heels of Lao Da (zhao Yiran) finally releasing his Live in 1998 record Friday December 10th also at 2 Kolegas. Gao Feng mentioned that there might be 2 roasted goats carved up on that occasion. Folk legend, Ma Tiao, will be releasing his latest record on December 17th at the Star Live. This one is sure to be packed so plan ahead. New year’s ever is looking busy musically all around Beijing with Cui Jian playing Gongti, AIS and Free the Birds at 2 Kolegas and a heap of other shows all around town. Finally some easy music updates. Free the Birds has uploaded a heap of older demos to their douban page. Smoker06 and Fucking Face06 are two personal favorites, I just wish they made them downloadable. Jacky Danny have uploaded a new demo called I do all these to please myself… just as good as their other songs! I know i;m hyping these guys but I’m really liking what i hear from them. I look forward to seeing them this sunday. Amazing Insurance Salesmen have updated their douban with a slew of demos for those who haven’t gotten around to listening to them before. Check out In The [...]
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Nov
3rdHalloween Shindig at 2 Kolegas: Rusty Birds & Rustic, Amazing DH, interesting 24h and welcome The KAlex over at Beijing Gig Guide labelled it his gig of the week and I agree on principle. A lineup of this quality is worth checking out for surprises are bound to happen… and they did! Free the Birds came on first for a quick set so that Helen could get on a plane to Europe for the upcoming Pet conspiracy tour there. This might have been the worst performance of theirs that I’ve seen to date ( and you know how much it pains me to say that). The performance was uninspired at best with 3 out of 4 songs sounding bad, almost as if the band was too rusty and hadn’t played together in years. I’ll leave it to that! 24 Hours, which i had been hearing about for a while turned out to be one hell of a good surprise. The trio was rocking with a mix of 70s flavored punk & rock. The band sounded tight and looked extremely comfortable on stage and the audience bought it! It’s actually really hard to describe what they sounded like other than 70s flavored with a modern take..some flashes of Iggy n the Stooges, if they had gotten started today. The K was up next and they actually dressed up for the party! I never heard their name before it appeared on that night’s bill but seems like they been around for a while and they even have a CD to their name. They were a bit all over [...]
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Oct
27thHalloween Music Quickslants: of Freaks, Fetishes, Big Sharks, Girls and Free Birdsit’s gonna be a costumes, costumes and more costumes this weekend for a special freaky edition of the quickslants… Beijing goes hogwild for halloween when all the freaks come out the play and sure enough, there are plenty of live shows to match any weirdness you might have in you. Thursday October 28th: Purple Smog @VA Club: Beijing’s one and only Jimi Hendrix cover band takes center stage at VA, around the corner from the Lama Temple. These guys only been around for a few months but they’re making wave in Beijing… I think Ruby might be trying to start an official fan club for them. The guys are good and the music classic! Friday October 29th: Halloween comes Early @ Mao: get a head start on the festivities when Girls Are Waiting to Meet You, Nakoma, The Others and Nanwu come out to rock your make up off. This is one hell of a strange lineup with huge differences in style but it’s hallowen i guess. This will be your one chance to catch GAWTMY for a little while as the band will be taking an extended break. Nakoma was good at Battle of the Bands and I look forward to seeing them again. and gotta love Nanwu Saturday October 30th: Things get sickly interesting here folks with great shows all over goddamn Beijing… I mean we’re talking A list of styles!!! They’re Still Singing @ 2kolegas: don’t look but the 2 K folks are really getting back into [...]
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Sep
21stYugong Yishan turns 6: re-TROS fun, Free The Birds wardrobe malfunction and Longshendao grows.And then it turned six! some people might argue about how old the place is and what not considering it’s only been in its current location for 3 years but that’s a debate for some other time. Last friday was more about celebration and there was celebration to be made. The bill was appetizing and the price right at RMB50 for 5 entertaining bands. I got there on time to catch the reTROS. Now here’s a band that polarizes and draws a heck of a lot more conflicting opinions than even Xiao He. A lot of people like them and a lot of people loathe them… I’ve seen them a few times by now and I actually happen to like them. The music is not always my cup of tea but they are entertaining. In many ways, they are like Handsome Furs but they rock more! I really like Liu Min’s energy on stage and how she manages to play bass, drums, keyboards and sing at the same time. They have that habit of looking at each other a bit too much but it’s alright by me, I’m entertained enough by their playing. and that name, “rebuilding the rights of statues” is one of the better ones to come out of China. Next up was ,Daze favorite, Free the Birds with Ubuul making his official debut as Mao Mao’s replacement. I don’t need to rehash how much i like the bands and especially the lead singer who was in tip [...]
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