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May
10thRock Coming of Age? Muma on Gap, SUBS on Adidas…..I’ve been noticing a trend over the past few months where more mainstream brands are reaching out to the “underground” rock scene and using them openly in commercials. Sure, pop stars have graced the sides of buses nationwide for decades… underground rock stars? not so much. Are we headed into an era where Rock n Roll is slowly becoming more mainstream in the motherland? I don’t really have tons of thoughts on this yet but I have noticed the trend happening more and more: Zippo sponsored a whole series of events a few years back. Tiger beer went out and organized their own battle of the bands. Converse reached out to Da Bang/Bigger Bang last year. Adidas made a splash by getting the extremely independent SUBS to be featured in their line of Adidas Originals. ( ht/ Neocha) and now, just this week, I noticed Gap has picked Muma alongside starlett Juliet Simms sure, I hate to see rock n roll’s image compromised and tainted with commercialism but when it’s done properly, I like it and think it fits.
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Jan
18thGig & CD Review: Muma & Third Party Returns – A Musical EvolutionI’ve been meaning to get this one out for a while but it’s been a bit hectic. I mean here I am in 2012 doing the write up for a gig from 2011. I would normally skip it altogether but we don’t get Muma & Third Party playing that often lately so here comes. I had been waiting a long time for this gig where Muma & Third Party, latest incarnation, come up to Beijing and give us the goods they’ve been working on for a few years. It’s pretty much a whole new band with new dynamics, even between the only two remaining members who are Muma himself and Mico ( I stand corrected on the original members). Yugong was decently full for the occasion despite it being a cold december wednesday evening. The place was decked out with floating banners that reflected a matrix-esque random pattern of numbers. The band is all grown up, wiser and quite dark… The voice still sets the tone for everything else around but now, the music follows and matches. it tiptoeing a line between industrial and gothic sounds, very much along the lines of NIN and Joy Division… heck, i might be able to argue if i cared enough that that particular wednesday, MTP did Joy Division better than Joy Division on some songs. The concert lasted almost 2 hours with the band going through some classics. I especially liked the reworked, more organic version of “feifei run” that had the audience [...]
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Dec
21stQuickslants: Second Hand Rose, Muma, Subs, Voodoo Kungfu and More (updated)Hellooo Beijing.. miss me? I didn’t think so either. Ruby did an amazing job keeping the show on the road while I was out on an ear-cleaning mission. Many posts/comments coming up once I catch up but let’s first get started with some quick slants as tonight (wednesday) has some pretty darn solid offerings. Wednesday Dec 21st Muma & 3rd Party @ Yugong Yishan One of the most intense performers I’ve seen this side of the big silly is back with a heavy hard hitting record. We’ve been waiting and talking about this one at ‘daze central for a few months already and the results will be heard tonight. I did get to sample a few of the new cuts and it’s very dark and industrial sounding (think NIN). I’m not sure how that’s gonna come of live, especially at Yugong Yishan. Still, Muma & 3rd Party are veterans coming off a national tour and this should be pretty darn solid. Second Hand Rose @ Tango: Good old funny veterans are back in Beijing playing a venue they have learned to control.. Their last gig over there was pretty darn amazing for the band’s 10th and I wouldn’t expect any less from the gang. They’ve also been out touring quite extensively this year so it should be quite tight. Cross-talk rock at its finest with a hint of drag and a whole lotta attitude. Thursday Dec 22nd Take a break and save yourself for the weekend…. It’s gonna be massive [...]
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Sep
6thMusic Videos and News: Rustic, AIS, The Unsafe, Muma and moreA couple of little ditties from the scene to hold you guys up! It’s looking like a busy weekend ahead but we’ll address that in the quickslants later this week! Remember The Unsafe ? I really dig the band and think they have interesting potential.. They showed up for an Ok set at the Punk Festival last month after the album release and even managed to get a music video out for “Don’t Look Back”. It’s got a little DIY feeling with a lot of gloom and doom. Worth a few minutes Rustic is ready to take over the UK finally… something they’ve been promised as part of winning the Global Battle of the Bands a year ago ( man, it seems so far away). The boys left Beijing this weekend and should be there by now. While this has been out for a while, I’ve only recently seen their video for “Girls are not yours”. It’s actually cute… not to be left out, the Amazing Insurance Salesmen, on hiatus while frontman Jean Sebastian is in France, also have a video out for the song “in the park”…. this one is a montage of footage from all over the place, mostly what looks like their performance at Zebra and GBoB. I like the concept if it’s really a concept with the “park” being a metaphor for the music arena out there. Video is only of Sina and I can’t figure out how to past the fucking thing in here so [...]
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Jun
16thSummersonic Competition at Mao under the radarapologies, yours truly has been a little busy lately with grad school applications and the such and this one almost flew by! Mao Live has started holding the summersonic elimination rounds earlier this week to determine which bands will be sent over to Japan and bear the Zhongguo YaoGun (Chinese Rock) flag high and proud! Things kicked off Tuesday night with Joker, Nanwu, Twisted Machine amongst others competing in the first round. Tonight, thursday June 16th, see the next round of battles with some pretty darn good names on the bill starting at 8:30 • The Falling • Birdstriking • King Statue • DF & Skyscraper • Voodoo Kungfu • Strange July Friday night, June 17th, it all comes to a close with the final elimination round that will have, amongst others, one hell of rare rare rare appearance by Muma & Third Party. I have not seen Muma on any listing in over a year as they just retreated to deal with various businesses and write new songs. Muma is one of the most intense performers I’ve seen in the mainland, channeling a mix of Jim Morrisson meets Joe Cocker… definitely worth a stop folks!
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Jan
27thSlants and Ramblings: Ember Swift, Helen Feng, Muma, Dude, XTX and morejust because the venues feel like taking some time off, it doesn’t mean musicians are! Here are some new to sink your teeth into. Xie Tian Xiao, who just won the MIDI award for best live performer as well as a rock performance award at the Chinese Pop Music awards, was has had a few issues with the boys in blue due to possession of a certain substance. Allegedly, members or reflector and Thin Man were also involved Ember Swift, our favorite vegan songstress, is more or less crowdfunding her next album.. I think it’s the first time ever that I know of an artist using this approach to fund a new release. Check out the information over on her website about how to get involved. Muma is practicing really hard preparing a new album that should be out shortly. This is gonna be the much awaited follow up to Velvet Highway. I did the guy’s style and look forward to catching the band play live sometime soon. Dude, on the other hand, has already finished recording their new EP and they’re getting ready to hit the road again for a road tour though various Chinese cities. Their formula of taking pop songs and punkefying them never gets old… Now, they’re also delving in video as you can see below with this hilarious effort for the Korean smash hit “nobody”… these guys are a blast and tons of fun: The praise is just starting for Omnipotent Youth Society… Their debut [...]
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.
17 Bands, Roast Lamb & All FREEWhat’s on Offer?
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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