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Nov
9thQuickslants: Dark Funeral, Bonfire Folk, Low Wormwood and more..TGIF may babies of the rock n roll… and it is indeed a good friday with more music than you can shake a stick at, especially tonight. Quickslants are picking up this late habit but i’ll try and get back on this horse sooner than later. In the meantime, let’s see what’s cooking in this musical pressure cooker Friday Nov 9 Bonfire @ 2Kolegas Randy Abel Stable and friends get together in the drive in and supposedly huddle around a good ol fire outside while singing about women, whiskey and outlaws. I love these guys and it ain’t no secret.. i just hope i can make it there in time to catch them play. i expect a late one. Metal Madness @ Yugong Hyonblud will releases their album with support from Ritual Day, Crack, Ready To Die, Jin Na Luo as well as Heavy Duty… this one is gonna be brutally loud by the looks and sound of it, especially for Hyonblud who are exploding in the metal scene right now. Their performance closing for Cannibal Corpse didn’t go unnoticed and the noise is real. this ain’t no cracker jack rock. Low Wormwood @ Blue Stream the lanzhou crooners are back in Beijing again.. they might as well just move into the city. I caught them a few weeks back at Jianghu and they were as good as ever. I expect the intimate nature of Blue Stream to add some charm to this one. IF not tonight, they also play [...]
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Sep
6thQuickslants: Indiechina Celebrates, Apocalyptica, Shufuland, Tuya Festival and more..There’s a mouth watering variety of great gigs coming your way this weekend folks. You want metal, you got it. you want reggae, you got it, you want pop, you got it etc… i’m pretty stoked about this one folks so let’s get it started! Friday Sept. 7th Apocalyptica @ Yugong So we might not have gotten Metallica in town but we get something close enough here.. The Cello version! Apocalytica has been making waves for years with their own take on the songs. The monsters of rock themselves have given them their endorsement and they are usually picky. Indie China Anniversary @Mako Indiechina.com celebrates 8 years of covering the scene and they’re bringing in the big guns for this celebration. We’re talking really big underground guns: Low Wormwood, Omnipotent Youth Society, Glow Curve as well as relative unknowns (for me) The Dyne. This might be one of the few chances people get to see OYS without it being silly crowded and sold out considering Mako has a bigger capacity than Mao at least. A great bill and a good celebration of people that have supported the music industry for a long time. That said.. 8 years and they can’t figure out how to make a poster for their big event??? WTF? Longshendao @ Mao Dreadlocks and linen with be all over the Mao pit as China’s reggae icons, longshendao, comes out to party! Expect a lot of funny smells in the air, good times, sing alongs and one hell [...]
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Jul
5thLow Wormwood Wins Best Chinese Band at Chinese Media Music Awardsit seems like the Lanzhou crew is inheriting the spot that Omnipotent Youth Society had last year as far as being the new media darlings. Not only content to have had a successful China tour and a lot of accolades for their Lanzhou Lanzhou release on Maybe Mars, they’re now starting to collect awards from the mainstream media!!! not bad at all if you ask me! Ladies and Gentleman, they are the proud winners of Best Chinese Band award for 2012 at the Chinese Media Music Awards for 2012 As much as I love the harder sides of rock, I still think that the only way for artists to generate name recognition is through Folk Music in China. It’s engrained in the culture, it can be accepted as non-aggressive/threatening by the general population despite controversial lyrics…. Here’s hoping that next year, this trend of underground bands winning big continues.
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Mar
29thQuickslants: Hellcats, Mantas, Metal Battles, Sound of the Xity and moreThis end of March/beginning of April period is kicking ass, taking names… And there’s no escaping it baby! These quickslants basically carry over into next week thanks to the ballsy folks from Sex in the Xity who have pretty much taken over Beijing from April 1-3 with shows all over the freaking city spawning all genres! C There’s a lot to get to so let’s get started without any further delays: Thursday March 29 Dong Chorus @ Jianghu I went out of my way to catch these guys last Thursday. They didn’t disappoint! beautiful harmonies, really interesting outfits and just all around special. I’d see them again. Be warned though that even though they might announce Wu Hongfei on the bill, she doesn’t play. I actually got quite ticked off about that at 2K but what the post. Still, worth checking. Friday March 30 Hellcats/Mantas/Beatles @ 2Kolegas Put on you dancing shoes an come on over baby… The hellcats will be swinging it, The Flying Mantas with surf things up and might show you a couple of surprises. The Beijing Beatles can take care of the fab side… This is an early candidate for gig of the freaking year and I expect to see 2 Kolegas hopping til the wee hours of the morning. Christmas, purveyors of idiotic rock, also on the bill. gonna be an interesting one. Saturday March 31 Mademoiselle @ Modernista Yes, spring is back and so are the lovely tunes of one Marie Claude Lebel. The [...]
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Jan
11thQuickslants: Folk for the People, Bad Mamasan, Wan Xiaoli, Tea Quintet, Ma Tiao’s New Album, D-22′s last show and moreI’ve been trying to get the quickslants in early this week mostly for tonight’s show at Mako in support of the young Hasetie’er. Friday is gonna be one of those “it’s fucking hard to pick” which show to go to day with solid ass lineups all around town. Let’s get this baby started with my recommendations Wednesday Jan 11th: Hasetie’er : You’re Not Alone @ Mako Mamer, Dawanggang, Wu Tun, Dongzi, Zhang Weiwei, Liu Kun, the Jam Band, Mural, Yerboli (the younger) and more join their musical talents to support a night of giving. The folk community in Beijing/China is amazing in terms of pulling their resources together and helping out those in need! Be there, it’s gonna be amazing! Thursday Jan 12th: Liu Kun @ Jianghu: Low Wormwood’s frontman, Liu Kun, seems to be hanging around Beijing a lot lately. I oughta ask him about his favorite lanzhou mian place in this town when i get a chance. His brand of folk is quite interesting, earthy with western influences. Quite appropriate for a venue like Jianghu. Judging by how popular the gig was at Mako a while back, Jianghu might be packed. Ma Tiao Album Launch @ Tango: Well, the album is out. Ma Tiao has literally been around every show played in Beijing this past month. He popped up at Yugong Yishan during Muma’s performance. He was there at Tango during Su Yang’s show and he’s been promoting his new release. The New album is called “Master” or [...]
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Nov
11thDouble Take on Low Wormwood’s Lanzhou Lanzhou: Soft and Warm, Like a Lanzhou Beef NoodleChinese Indie Music Lore goes something like this: Folks from Maybe Mars saw Low Wormwood perform live, they immediately started the Maybe Wood spin off label to sign them up and record their 2009 album, We Can’t Help Kissing Each Other. I’ll have to ask them about this at some point. Anyways, with the band playing Beijing this saturday at Mako Livehouse, I thought it was a great time to delve in and review their latest album: Lanzhou Lanzhou BD on Lanzhou Lanzhou The opening and title track, Lanzhou Lanzhou 兰州 兰州, for this record and the video that went along had me really excited from the get go! There’s something about this new trend of having a bluesy folk sound that makes songs appealing and earthy. 那只船 (That Boat) has a lovely flamenco after taste without really being a flamenco song with some interesting ad-libs in the middle parts.. it’s sure to be a popular one live. The other winner on the record is 一个和一万个 (one and 10 thousands)! It’s dreamy, subtle, rich and in-your-face all at the same time! It could be from anywhere in China but really sounds like Gansu would if it were a song with hints of Mongolian and even bouddhist melodies. The rest of the album is solid but without being as special as the above-mentioned songs! It almost sounds like the guys spend too much time listening to old John Denver records and watching HBO’s deadwood… At the end of the day, it’s [...]
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
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'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