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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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Dec
30thSu Yang @ Tango: The Warmth of a Wild Yellow River Delta FlowerJust in case you didn’t know it, Su Yang is widely recognized as one of the best folk musicians in China who rose to fame with his debut album, Xian Liang (Able & Virtuous), released in 2006. It was a big hit in the folk-rock world in China and remains popular and influential. The tunes of the album were mostly adapted from the folksongs of Ningxia, where Su grew up. It was almost to the year that he was in Beijing playing a major show to support his latest album, Living Like Grass,at the starlive( now Tango 3rd floor). That day, I chose to head over to 2 Kolegas that day for Lao Da’s CD release instead so i missed out. When he came back this past weekend, I actually almost forgot about it… heck, it didn’t even make my quickslants! Thanks to Weibo, I didn’t miss out! The show started a bit late by Tango standards and i didn’t mind at all. It meant i wouldn’t miss much. Turns out i didn’t miss anything he took the stage around 9:45 much to the delight of the 400+ folks of all ages in attendance! He didn’t waste anytime getting down to business and immediately went for the crowd pleasers.. thing is, almost every song on his two albums is now a crowd pleaser! He mixed things up tracks from both albums throwing in a beautiful rendition of 凤凰 (pheonix) that put everyone in the mood! I actually hadn’t really seen [...]
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Nov
24thThanksgiving Live Music Quickslants: Jianghu turns 5, F-Rock at tango and moreIt depends how you look at this one folks.. cup half full of cup half empty! Either way, there is no denying that some interesting shows are taking place on Turkey weekend so get out there dancing to drop off those extra kilos if you end up indulging. Friday Nov 25: Black Friday @ Mako: Juratt, The Randy Abel Stable and Not There will be traveling down to Shuangjing for an interesting mix of bluegrass, funk and psychedelic uighur rock. Where else but Beijing can you find such an eclectic mix of bands on the same bill? It’s called “The Black Friday Show” and you can get 40% off by dressing all in black. This is also one of the last shows for Juratt before he is set to release his upcoming CD in December. Big Folk @ Tango: Don’t know is it deserves the folk label so I’ll call it F-ROCK. Some interesting names are showing up on this bill with Tang Dynasty, Ma Tiao, Shan Ren, Chuan Zi and more…. Weren’t Tang Dynasty the forefathers of heavy metal in China? just saying…. Either way, great heavy lineup and an opportunity to check out a lot of bands in one go. Saturday Nov 26th: Jianghu 5th year Anniversary: One of my favorite hutong places celebrates their anniversary in style with old friends: Buyi, Slap, Lao Liu & Sand as well as Chaoren. I’m sure there will be musicians galore that night with Jam sessions that will go on til [...]
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Nov
9thMa Tiao sessions at Zajia Labs…. or how the mustang was tamedThere were pretty much as many choices on saturday as there was on friday of this past weekend with the jam over at xuanwumen as well as Ma Tiao Sessions at Zajia lab… add to that a secret little show by La Pegatina at 2 Kolegas… I debated long and hard heading to xuanwumen but unfortunately, it was just incompatible with the rest of the night. Ma Tiao at Zajia labs won out for the first part. I had been hearing about the zajia labs session for a while and was curious to check them out. Where the hell were they supposed to put the bands in such a small space? turns out they had a whole stage area setup across the hallway from the main drinking spot… Nothing too big, just a cozy little space that might seat 50 at the most with a workable sound system, at least for folk type acts. Ticket was on the steep side with RMB60 for one act but given the cozy nature of the performance, it’s justifiable… at least I didn’t mind! In true Beijing fashion, it started a bit on the late side but I still did manage to catch a good 10 songs before i ran off to 2 Kolegas…. but no matter how hard I wanted to like the show, something was missing: Soul and Spirit! The reason i like Ma Tiao back in the days was his edge and his passion as he performed…. it’s something sorely missing [...]
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Nov
4thQuickslants: Grassland Rumba, Autumn Descends, Ido Balance and Book SwapIs it already late thursday/early friday? goodness this week has flown by! They say that’s what happens when you’re busy having fun so here is hoping i had tons of fun because it did freaking fly by. So, another weekend looming with some pretty sweet and diverse choices to pick from. Let’s kick it! Friday Nov 4th: La Pegatina & Hanggai @ Mako: If you haven’t heard of “la Pegatina”, do yourself a favor and look them up. This Spanish motley crew has been heating up stages all over the world and they’re about to give Beijing a little taste of what the rest of China has seen over the past week that they been touring here with Hanggai. It’s a little rumba, some meringue, a side of Ska, a dash of reggae and a sprinkle of Cumbia just to name a few. Buddies Hanggai, who don’t really need an introduction anymore, are also on the bill and word is they’ve collaborated on a special version of Jiu Ge ( drinking song) just for tomorrow night’s shindig. Well worth the trek to shuanjing. See this Global Times writeup or check out this video from their performance at West Lake festival in Hangzhou Chun Qiu @ Temple: Kaiser and the boys are taking this thing seriously now after just floating around for a few years. The band is hungry and has new songs, picking up where they left off with their album. This show has been fairly on the radar over [...]
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May
5thQuickslants: 3 years of Swap Games, Mademoiselle and Ditan FolkHiya… on music overload yet? Believe me, it’s only gonna get better! Following weekend 1 of festivals, we’re getting ready for a whole other round of sonic goodness Friday May 6: Chapelier Fou @ 2kolegas: French Electro Dance guaranteed to get your rear en moving. This one will see the hipsters of Beijing coming out in numbers, especially if the weather is right. That said, beware of getting there early, WHITE is on opening duties with their incredibly unappealing experimental noise. Dude & AJK @ 2 Mao Live: The guys from DUDE have been busy bees over the past few weeks touring various cities in China. Check out their comedic punk antics paired with the new age rock produced by Army of Jade Kirin. This is an interesting mix of styles for Mao to put together but then again, both bands have attitude. Saturday May 7: Book Swap & Board Games @ Sequoia Cafe: Yes, it’s back and this May edition is even more special: It’s the third year anniversary of our little event. My oh my, has the little child grown. To celebrate, we will have a special 1 for 3 swap to try and lighten our load. bring 1 book and take 3 away. 2 to 6 pm at Sequoia inside Jianguomen Diplomatoc Compound Ditan Folk Day 1 @ Ditan Park: The first day of one of my favorite festivals of the year. Supposedly, saturday will be sunny and you’ll have quite a few good bands performing from [...]
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Apr
12thIntimately Yours: Dongzi and Friends Delight the Jianghu AudienceLast monday at Jianhu was quite a rare appearance by good old Dongzi, who rightfully shot up the list of my favorite Folksters a few years back! Considering it was one of those weird bridge Chinese holidays where both Monday and Tuesday were off for most people, so a good opportunity for folks to come out and have a good time in the hutongs. For a monday night, or any night, this was one hell of a show. Dongzi continues to amaze me with the simplicity and intensity of his performances. The voice effortlessly navigates low and high pitches while the bass strings on that guitar get abused to no end for our musical entertainment. He played a few songs from his 十方 album, a must buy in my book, then proceeded to give us some of his newer compositions, due to be released soon. He delivered two solid – if not amazing- sets and had asked old friend Wun Tun ( Tongue/Mamer/Traveler) to play in between his two sets for a good 20mn. I’m not sure Wun Tun was in top form that day, he looked a bit frail compared to last time i saw him at Mako Livehouse. It wasn’t as packed as Jianghu was for Abaji but still, a respectable turnout considering the tickets were RMB60 for 1 act as opposed to the usual 30-50 bracket. It’s a testament to Dongzi’s ability that he can command a slightly higher fee! The turnout included the who’s who of [...]
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Apr
27thLive Aid for Yushu @ Mako: Great Display of Solidarity and Amazing showLast thursday, Mako Livehouse (not to be confused with MAO Livehouse) hosted a great live-aid type show nicknamed “A Prayer for Yushu” to raise money and awareness for the victims and survivors of the devastating earthquake that hit Qinghai a few weeks ago. It was the first event of the sort (that I am aware of) held in support of this disaster and what an event it was! I arrived a bit late so missed the 8:00 pm start but there was nothing to worry about as the show was scheduled to go on for a few hours.. and boy did it ever: There were plenty of scheduled performances by the heavyweights of the local Folks music scene, performing solo and even joining forces in some cases for impromptu jam sessions! I’d be lying if i said i kept track of everyone that played or that i actually knew who everyone was as i had no clue in certain cases and neither did some of the other audience members but we ate it all up and enjoyed every note (almost). The Performances: There were so many, almost too many, too keep track off but some were indeed mindblowing: I got in on time for Mamer, the kazakh eagle, who delighted the crowd with songs in Mandarin in addition to others in his traditional dialect. Dong Zi, Mr. Folk in China, came on after that and delivered a masterful powerful set that had the audience mesmerized! Zhou Yunpen (think Ray Charles [...]
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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