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Dec
6th[Gig Review] 1984, The Second Coming – A Moshing Time with PK14
long time no yugong yishan it’s weird that what used to be one of my favorite venues has pretty much vanished from my regular list of pit stops… what better occasion to revisit it than to check out PK 14 along with an armada of Maybe Mars bands, especially after getting 10 questions with Yang Haisong. I made it there late thinking i would only be able to catch the headliners, but i did forget that whole Beijing time factor: when i walked in at 10:30, Skip Skip Ben Ben had just started playing. Great, I thought… i finally get to hear what the fuss is all about with these kids. well, after a whole set, I can honestly stay i still don’t get it. Nice voice, nice tunes, nice compositions and overall just nice… in a “cup of tea” kinda nice… I can see how they make a decent opening act but let’s just say the jury is out. To be fair to the band, there were a few moments during their set when i caught myself going..”not bad..” to few though. Next up was Rustic.. Lucifer et co. came out full swing playing a bunch of new songs, a nice thing to see. I’m always afraid of bands putting out 1 CD then getting lost in their own song. Not these kids.. I can’t say i’m a fan of the new material or the new musical direction. Just too vanilla IMHO… The difference between old and new material [...]
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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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Aug
8thQuick Slants: The Punk Uprising, Boredom BrigadeS, Backyard Secrets and a RantThis is really a boring summer musically folks. I love my Beijing bands but really, even the quickslants are becoming redundant with the same bands playing every week and in some case, 3 or 4 times a week. I understand that musicians must make a living as well but someone has to sit down and slam some sense into them about dilluting their brands. It’s just not doable any more and it’s hard to muster any sort of excitement as far as seeing some of them. I wish they could go back and see what Michael Petis did with Joyside and how they boomed after that. Anyone remember Pet Conspiracy’s monthly shows at Yugong Yishan and how much of a packed affair that was? I don’t mind so much Out of town artists are now doing a couple of dates a week in Beijing in case people can’t make it to one gig and they play different sides of town but not the local ones… loses all charm— it’s another type of Boredom Brigade. This week is looking a bit different though with some interesting one off gigs that might make me feel a little better about the scene and I’m quickslanting things i don’t usually do. Thursday August 9th 16 Min @ Temple I’ve loved these guys sound since the first time i stumbled on their douban last year but i still have not gotten around to seeing them live. Maybe tonight is the night! It’s an interesting fusion [...]
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Mar
7thGoodbye for SXSW- Super Nova Heart, Rustic Shakes, Carsick Cars Drives Ona lot was said in the comments on the lead up to this show in terms of band quality and who was deserving of spots over in Austin, none of it mattered come showtime last thursday at Yugong Yishan. I feared Yugong being overtaken by the lensless cool crowd but thankfully, that was not the case! A decent turnout of 300+ music fans were out to see a rare pairing of bands before they took off for Austin. I actually expected it to be too much, especially with Carsick Cars on the bill. The darlings of the Indie scene have been know to fill up the place. All the bands, rookies and veterans, had a chance to show up and be accounted for… did they? Deadly Cradle Death opened up the festivities with what I can only describe as noise. My untrained and unappreciative ears had a hard time figuring out if that was the speakers going bezerk or someone making random noise onstage. Not my cup of tea folks so make up your own mind! Next up was old ‘daze darlings: Rustic… I have a hard time thinking of that band without Rikki Sixx and I’m not the only one. For the first two songs, it was just bizarre seeing the band up there without the familiar high kicks, antics, gyrations and hip thrusts. The lack of chemistry was also noticeable! Many a time you could see Lucifer looking over his shoulder for a ghost, expecting a little something [...]
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Mar
1stLive Music Quickslants: Torturing Nurse, AIS Returns, 2 Kolegas Reopens & moreThis week has really flown by folks. It’s already Thursday and I’m bracing myself for a busy fun few days ahead! If you haven’t done so yet, go ahead at read jtdj’s review of the Pains show last Saturday. It has sparked a lovely discussion with over 20 comments and still going.. Great exchange on there! So, what’s happening this week? Thursday March 1 Bye Bye for South By @ Yugong I’m not sure yet whether I’m going to this one or not but I feel obligated! I might not care about most of the bands on here but they are getting ready to head to Austin where they will be the flag-bearers for China. I’m pretty sure Nova Heart is gonna bring the heat but all the others have not played in quite sometime and I’m not sure how/where they stand. I actually haven’t seen carsick cars play in over two years so if i want to retain my right to criticize them, I gotta at least make an effort. I’m also curious about Rustic‘s new lineup. I’m guessing it’s gonna be packed! Steerage @ Modernista A new Irish music outfit in Beijing by the sound of things… The way they advertise themselves is intriguing enough and they mention the word “ukulele” which is as far away from my idea of Irish music as can be. Could be interesting. Friday March 2 Ningxia Night @ 2Kolegas At last, those lazy bastard have decided to come out of the spring [...]
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Feb
21stBeijing Bands at SXSW 2012: a mixed bag!!Well folks, it’s that time of the year when we see the announcements about our beloved bands heading over state-side for SXSW. For the 2012 edition, looks like the Maybe Mars folks have decided to take in a mixed bag of acts: Rustic, Carsick Cars, Novaheart & Deadly Cradle Death It’s interesting to see the names on there with Carsick Cars being at their 3rd participation. Rustic is heading over there with a new (untested) lineup which is always scary in my book. I’m not sure why the band didn’t try a couple of warmup gigs before! They do get to play March 1st at Yugong Yishan and that might be the only chance to see them before hand. Deadly Cradle Death is basically noise on acid… Not sure how the hell they made that list but the locals in austin might piss themselves over this one. It’s their MO. The surprise addition to the list is Novaheart! The band just finished touring Australia with a few Maybe Mars acts so there seems to be a positive cooperation brewing between them fake love media. Congrats and good luck to all the bands.. regardless of whether i like them or not, they deserve some good wishes! Shanghai’s Duck Fight Goose is also one of the Chinese bands invited to the feast… There will be a send off show at dugong yishan on March 1st: http://maybemars.org/index.php/shows/sendoff-sxsw/?lang=en
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Oct
20thChina Underground Rock Radio: Alive & Well and Ember Swift at Number 2Well, who’d have thunk it… I’ve been completely missing out on the fact that there is a rock radio, much less that there’s a weekly chart on its 103rd week of existence over at Sina: http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/y/rockchart/ It’s just come to my attention and I’m extremely surprised to see some very familiar names on there like The Unsafe, Rustic, Queen Sea Big Shark, The Fuzz and…. Ember Swift. Now, not only am i surprised to see that there is this particular avenue for bands to get some recognition, I’m even more surprised to see that a foreigner is clocking in at NUMBER 2 for this week… Ember 子玉 is almost at the top with her song “Laowai – The Expat Anthem” How about that? Perusing through previous lists, you can even see bands like Long Shen Dao and Proximity butterfly listed. Ohhhh yeahhh Big big congratulations to Ember Swift for breaking through this chart with a band of made up of Laowais singing about a Laowai. Voting is open for next week’s edition of Rock Charts with Wang Bao 王宝和正午阳光 far ahead of the curve but you could still vote for the others and help them get higher up on there.
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Oct
5thKing of the Road hits 2 Kolegas for a Trashing night with Rustic, LSDemons, Bad Shit and SUBSwanna talk about silly crazy, pretty much out of control and borderline stupid chaos? then you’re referring to this past friday night when Trasher Magazine brought their King of the Road show to 2 Kolegas featuring Rustic, LSDemons, Bad Shit and SUBs along with skateboarders, free entry and open bar… yeah, you get my drift!!! I got there around 9:30 to find the placed jam packed and getting ready for Rustic. The crowds were fairly rowdy, mostly due to their advanced stage of liquid refreshment.. things were about to get interesting! Rustic, fresh off their UK tour was more than willing to play along matching the audience tit for tat: When the moshing caused cables to go unplugged, Lucifer just jumped in the audience for a little crowd bath keeping they away from the equipment… it was the usual Rustic extravaganza with high kicks, screams, swaying hips and stupid drunkenness. Next up was LSDemons who actually sounded and looked good. A seasoned veteran band used to dealing with trash talk, rowdy fans, mosh pits and chaos… They left quite a good impression as far as i was concerned and i would love to catch them again. They did have the crowd in a frenzy with rowdy shenanigans! At some point, Dustin (frontman) just walked off the stage to go grab a few beers and handed the mic out to some random dude that went up on stage for a couple of minutes… just really wild shit! At this point of [...]
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Sep
28thQuickslants: Bone Rock, Free Kolegas, Lao Da’s Revenge, Old What Turn 9 and moreOctober holidays are straight ahead folks with tons and i mean TONS of music opportunities in Beijing including festivals and what not…. Basically you gotta really try hard to not find anything interesting. I’ll do an October Holiday Quickslants later to deal with the flurry of shows next week. For now, here’s what the end of the week looks like: Wednesday Sept. 28 Bone @ Mao Live: Admittedly, I never heard of these guys before Ruby mentioned they were playing and I’m not sure what they are like. That said, they’re playing along with Residence A whom I have not seen in quite some time and same goes for Me Too. Yang Tiao is one that I’ve been meaning to check out for a while. Should be a good mid-week rocker Tha Knutz @ jianghu: Ok I admit it. I’m superficial enough to go check out a band based on their name sometimes! This would be one of those cases if I didn’t remember the band’s name popping out all over the city’s Jazz venues. Tia’s voice works really well for that lounge/jazz/soul mix even though she sounds like she might be having a few issues with really high notes. Still, Definitely worth a look IMHO. The songs repeating on myspace started giving me a headache! Thursday Sept 29: Marianne Dissard @ D22: I saw her two weeks ago at yugong yishan.. a prelude to her appearance at Black Rabbit festival. I enjoyed her performance despite the lack of a [...]
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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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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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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