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Aug
31stQuickslants: Darwin Backfires, Maybe Mars Grows, Yang Meng Returns and moreExciting little weekend ahead folks with some genuinely interesting gigs planned over the course of the next 3 days. As much as last weekend was a little blah, this one is pretty darn solid with some hard decisions to make, especially looking at Friday and saturday. My gig of the week goes to the Bad Mamasan EP release without a doubt but i would have loved to checkout some of the bands at YGYS the same night. oh well, can’t have it all. Friday August 31 Li Dong @ Blue Stream The Ningxia folksters and good daze friends venture into the western side of the city to Blue Stream bar promoting their album and new line of T-shirts. It’s always fun to have the guys singing in a smaller intimate venue like this and maybe a nice opportunity to enjoy their rooftop while you can’t see the pollution outside. Yang Meng @ jianghu Yang laoshi returns from a long long trip home and mini tour of southern China in support of his solo album: The Sun City Diaries. If you’ve heard ChunQiu play their acoustic sets, then you know what to expect! He has a beautiful voice and is a joy to listen to! It’s also an opportunity to get back to Jianghu and enjoy it with old friends as the venue’s days are numbered. Definitely a good option on this Friday. Young Young Young @ Mao Live A good solid lineup of young bands making their mark in the [...]
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Mar
15thFree Music for the Masses: Beijing Post-Rock Compilation!For all the Post-Rock fans out there (BD, you’re excluded from this one!) local label 1724 records has put together a great little compilation album featuring 6 of the city’s Post-Rock bands: Illness Sickness, pentatonic, The Grinding Ear, Glow Curve, Sparrow and Hualun. You can grab the download for free, yes, FREE! on their bandcamp here. Or if you’re like me and have to have the physical CD in your hands, come along to Mao Livehouse tomorrow night to pick up a copy and see 4 of the bands on the compilation play!
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Dec
7thNews and Tidbits: Twinkle Star, Juratt, Steely Heart, Devils, Opeth and moreIt’s been quieter than usual over here with gig reviews mostly because it’s been quite repeptitive over the past few weeks with nothing too exciting. There will be a gig review of the Dawanggang show from Saturday night but not much more… a few news and notes though: I got to see Twinkle Star a few weeks ago and was really pleased by their performance. If you don’t know who Twinkle Star are, don’t worry! I didn’t either until a saw them and realized it was a new name for Alt Senior. These kids are fun with Zhao Meng and Haitao swapping turns at Bass and Vocals. I liked their energy and even some songs. Sure, it’s pop rock but it’s well executed and definitely well presented. Yet another new venue in the area that we’re gonna have to keep track of is Blue Stream Bar, down the street from Gulou 121. Remember the amicable Slash that used to work the sound at Jianghu? well, this is his new pet project and it’s essentially been described as a smaller Jianghu with better sound system. I haven’t been there myself but it’s already picking up some steam with shows by Dong Zi, Buyi and more. Gonna have to check it out soon. If you are interested in Chinese Music, then you should be following Jon Campbell’s blog. Even away from China, he is keeping an eye on the scene and providing candid opinions about what’s happening. See his very interesting take [...]
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Dec
6thLive Music Quicklsants: Aussies, Albums, Awards … and Santas!Well, BD is escaping the snow and heading off to sit on the beach in sunny Australia, so you’ve got Ruby on quickslants this week, Which means I get to plug the shows I’ll be heading too! And there’s some good ones in the mix too, looks like I’ve swapped BD for a couple of Aussie bands, there’s also an awards show, 2 album launches and a Christmas pub crawl. Who says things slow down over the winter? Wednesday December 7th: Splitworks 5th Anniversary Party @ Temple The lovely peeps over at Splitworks have brought us many great shows including last year’s JUE Festival and this year’s Black Rabbit, so come out and help them celebrate their 5th birthday. They’ve even brought us a present – chillwave legend Chad Valley with support from Streets Kill Strange Animals. Parkway Drive @ Mao Livehouse Aussie hardcore hits the ‘Jing! Tickets ain’t cheap for this one, but as someone who’s seen these guys before at a festival, they’re totally worth it. And it’s conveniently close to Temple, so you can join the party afterwards …. Thursday December 8th: Steely Heart Album release @ Yugong Yishan These indie rockers have been getting better and better each time I’ve seen them. They’ve been working hard on their debut album, and are launching it with support for Brain Failure and the always awesome Ghost Spardac. Flounder & Illness Sickness @ Gulou 121 Another Aussie band touring the Middle Kingdom, Flounder have worked there way up north [...]
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Nov
27thThe great Beijing gig crawl: three venues, five bands, one great night in the ‘Jing.Sometimes I wonder if the sheer amount of shows on in this city is a blessing or a curse. There’s been countless times I’ve wanted to split myself in 3 to make sure I don’t miss anything. Saturday was one of those nights. After a mellow Friday hanging out 5 mins from home at Old What I was really to tackle the challenge of the Beijing Gig Crawl and try navigate my way to three shows I wanted to see on the same night. First up Hot Cat for Illness Sickness. I first saw these guys a few weeks ago at Mao, originally going because a) Residence A were on the bill, b) I know IS’s bass player and wanted to check out his band and c) they’re post-rock, my current obsession. One of the things I love about post-rock is that it can build from the softest plucking of the guitar to the full force of a metal band and back within one song and this is something IS do really well. They played two new songs at Hot Cat which were a bit heavier than the ones on their douban and I’m really liking the new stuff. Hot Cat’s sound system doesn’t always play nice and I’ve heard a few bands struggle with it, IS used it to their advantage though, they were loud, but not too loud that people couldn’t stand up front. Another thing I like about these guys is that they’re super organized, they have [...]
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Nov
9thQuickslants: Brain Failure, re-TROS, Wu Hongfei, Fish and Low Wormwood…last week was a small but fun set of musical offerings that culminated with 2 fun performances by La Pegatina and some pretty crappy stuff b Ma Tiao and Mitabe…still, I won’t let that get me down a look forward to some good rock n roll in the next few days starting tonight! Some interesting gigs with RE-TROS, Novaheart, brain failure, flying mantas as well as Low Wormwood to look forward to. Let’s see how it all adds up: Wednesday Nov 9: F**king the Trouble @ Mao: Residence A and Flying Mantas headline a nice heavy night at Mao where I coincidentally have not been for a long time. It might be time to head back over there! Both Ruby and I are extremely taken by that band’s live performances and I’m dying to catch the Mantas with new bass player. The lineup also includes some new names: Illness Sickness and Pirate Pistols. Not a bad wednesday offering. Liu Yusi & friends @ Jianghu: human boombox, Liu Yusi, headlines this now weekly series every wednesday at Jianghu with local country bluegrass roots acts. It’s also free which ain’t bad y’all. Tonight’s guests are the Ring Road Ramblers…. nice name! Thursday Nov 10 Ding Fenghua @ Jianghu: Film director, producer and folk guitarist, Ding Fenghua, is your host for this calm and quiet night over by the hutongs. I have not had the pleasure of seeing him before but by all accounts, it sounds like it could be special. One of [...]
The Mini Skinny
What once started as my personal ramblings has morphed into the number one collective resource about underground live music in Beijing and China. All bands, all music, all Rock n Roll, all the time with a little side of eclectic topics.. best of all, it's still as BIASED as ever
Ganbei!!!!
'dazeFEAST 2012 - June 23rd at 2 Kolegas.
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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
Can of Worms?
- 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