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Apr
5thJue Festival – Shanghai Night in Beijing: We Ain’t no Foes, Let’s Be Friends on The RainbowThis one might take the crown for tackiest blog post title.. it’s also the king of late posts as it comes a full 2 weeks after the fact but hey, Beijing is keeping me busy. To say that I had been looking forward to this show would be an understatement… Talk about this night started months ago after Friend or Foe visited Beijing last winter and it was finally here. Fuzzy Mood was scheduled to get things started over at the drive in. I missed their set and from what I heard before, that was not necessarily a bad thing. They’re good kids, trying hard and we’ll leave it to that until I actually hear what they’ve been sounding like the past few months. I’m sure Ruby has some choice words to describe them. By the time i got there, it was time to stand up and answer the question: Are you a Friend or Foe? The trio hit the stage like a bat out of hell an proceeded to rip through their catalog of high energy goofy Alienesque Rock n Roll. I’m not sure how else to describe their music really… it’s fast, it’s punkish, got tons of attitude and is about as unpretentious as it gets.. I mean we’re talk songs about “Snorting Clorox” which by the way is even better live than on the record ( Read the Review). I have this theory about how the band didn’t actually come from outer space but they were subjected [...]
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Mar
21stQuickslants: Shanghai Invasion, 16min fame, Dong Chorus, Tyrannosaurus Spring & MoreIt’s Wednesday folks so time to start planning the weekend shenanigans. If you’re anything like me, this one will be tough! plenty of intriguing choices on offer all around Beijing and they’re all quite diverse. I’m actually torn on this because some of them might be gems in the waiting.. here’s looking at you Yugong on Thursday and 2 Kolegas Saturday! Without further due, let’s dig in: Wednesday March 21 Hot Club @ Modernista: The usual offering of 1920s Django Reinhardt inspired and flavored Jazz in a lovely hutong setting. While description might be mundane, the music is everything but! These cats make their guitars scream, dance and weep all at once. Modernista has made their presence felt over the past few months in Beijing despite the cold weather. I expect things to get even better for them. UnionBunny @ Temple: Just for laughs and kicks, if J-pop / J-punk is your thing, you could do a lot worse than check out these girls at Temple. They can be fun good eye candy and the music is palatable, especially if you’re there with a few friends chilling. Last time i saw them play, I really felt like i was part of some Japanese Manga. Worth checking at least once! Thursday March 22d Dong Chorus/Wu Hongfei @ 2Kolegas These cats are really making the rounds in Beijing (as mentioned yesterday) trying to raise awareness about the ethnic minority music. I’m digging what they’re doing and the promotion effort they’re putting through. [...]
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Jan
13thWe Are Shanghai: Discover the Bands through a FREE 20 song samplerSomething is brewing in Shanghai and I don’t mean the same stuff they’re doing at Great Leap… The music community there seems to be toughening up and finding creative ways to get people involved and get the audiences out to the shows! And that is commendable…. I’ve gone on the record calling Beijing-based bands “lazy” and I stand by it… I’m not sure I can say the same about Shanghai based ones anymore: – A while back, they organized a concert where the bands paid the audience members 1 RMB to come and check them out! That is freaking awesome marketing! I can only imagine that they have a hard time drawing crowds down there despite them only having a few live music venues. That’s a display of creativity, the likes of which i can definitely get behind. – Now, 20 bands have teamed up and put together a 20 song FREE sampler for people to listen to them. This album is a joint effort by Shanghai’s own Zangnan Records, Luwan Rock and Twin Horizons. It looks like the guys behind the album reached out beyond their own immediate circle to get some real diversity in there. I’ve managed to hear about most of those bands all the way up in Beijing, especially Friend or Foe, Pairs, Rainbow Danger Club etc… Read an interview on Shanghai 24/7 by the man behind the project, Ivan Here’s the track listing: http://weareshanghai.bandcamp.com/ 1. Duck Fight Goose – Light is God’s Bread 2. Boys [...]
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Jan
10thTop 5 Best Chinese Albums of 2011: IZ, Ordnance, Hedgehog, Proximity Butterfly and LongshendaoMan it sounds so pretentious to say this… but it’s a title that gets headlines and scores high in search engines so deal with it. There are many reasons why this is not a traditional “best of”, main one being I can’t claim that i heard every album released in 2011 all around the country. From those I did hear though, and there were quite a few, there are a number of standouts.. let’s see how they go: IZ [ Kolengke ] If a steel mill could sing, that’s what it would sound like (thanks Sharon)! This has been one of the better records of the year and that for many reasons. It’s pretty darn different from anything available in China that I managed to get my hands on. If you know of something similar, let me know. Mamer and his crew just put together a beautiful cacophony of sounds and made it work. It’s dark without being too gloomy. The album is actually beautifully simple despite what seems like elaborate compositions with thundering bass lines and percussions. Back in the days, Kazakhs used to write songs about grasslands and plains where they roamed free. Nowadays, Mamer and IZ are city dwellers, it makes sense that they songs reflect their new lifestyle.This is an album that stands on its own in and outside of China as far as I’m concerned! It doesn’t need nor does it ask for excuses! Hedgehog [2011 DEstroy meMOries] yup, Hedgehog! The trio has been extremely [...]
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Mar
31stRainbow Danger Club delivers Dangerously Addictive New Recordsure, this is all about Beijing but I do like keeping an eye on what’s happening elsewhere in the China-based music stratosphere. So, when Wu Mao of Rainbow Danger Club (RDC) emailed me a few days ago about their new record, I rushed to get a copy. I remembered them from their New Atlantis EP last year which i did like so I naturally went in and got my hands on the new baby, Where Maps End. The cool cover was designed through a NeoCha contest and rocks… it’s quite befitting the album’s grandiose imagery and articulate song titles like “The Drunken Captain & The Firefly” or “To Where the Map Ends”… looking at the concept made me realize how much i miss physical concept album… There’s something magic about holding a well designed/thought cover with great art and liner notes. I’m not sure how to describe the songs on this particular one… the first words that come to mind are: beautifully structured. I’m not a fan of the indie label in general which RDC gets tagged with and this record is also beyond that generic label. I like it, I really do. Drown the Creatures has a simple but driving beat to it while To Where the Map Ends proves to be quite dreamy. Babies Grow on Trees, possibly my favorite on the album from a musical perspective, leaves me longing for stronger less harmonious vocals. Moon Song has that baroque feel that i’m a sucker for. Battleship is [...]
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
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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