The On Fires | BeijingDaze

May
3rdLive Music Quickslants: Hanggai Festival, IZ, Book Swap & Board Games and an On Fire Bday

I’m not sure I’ve entirely recovered from last weekend’s musical onslaught.. really folks! MIDI rocked the shit out of me, especially with an awesome Miserable Faith performance. Ningxia Night on Monday was special as usual and so were the other days.. Still, It’s thursday and time to see what else is happening over the next few days.. This one is not about quantity, it’s about quality so I’ll make it short and sweet: Thursday May 3rd Bad Apples @ Temple: Them bad apples are back again after a few months hiatus.. why do i feel like i wrote this before? They’re a good band that is fun to watch but extremely frustrating to me because they can’t seem to get to the next level despite all the talent they have. Here’s hoping this time around, the troops are ready for a good battle and they can get over the hurdle. Temple is not a bad place to get started. I expect Kris to be shredding his new baby for it’s first field test. Friday May 4th Iz @ Mao Live One more chance to watch the masters of modern progressive dark folk at work. I’ve heard some pretty good things about the shows these guys have done over the past week and I’m quite excited to see them in a place like Mao Live where the sound will resonate nicely. I might even be tempted to grab the new Mamer records but i’ll have to get over that freaking price [...]
Apr
26thQuickslants: The Busiest Music Weekend in the World I think

seriously, I’ve lived in 4 continents, countless cities and seen my share of shows but nothing compares to the musical onslaught that is about to be unleashed on Beijing over the next 5 days. It’s actually mind blowing and busy enough to make a music fan go insane trying to decide where/what to do. This set of quickslants is just for the regular shows in the clubs/venues. Here is the my guide and list of picks for the May Mayhem of Festival that i’ve done separately . Shall we get started? (pic shamelessly ripped from http://www.zazzle.com/ Thursday April 26th La Souris Deglinguee @ Yugong Talk about a blast from the past. This band was a crowd favorite in France and I never thought i’d catch them in Beijing of all places. These French punks have been around since 1976 and they’re still rocking their ass off with some cool live shows. If you can’t catch them at MIDI, this is your chance to see them on their own. I expect a heavy French presence tonight. Friday April 27th Acoustic Brain Failure @ Jianghu: Last time these cats got together to do this, i missed it. Thankfully, they recorded the whole gig and put it online as a proof that they got the chops and can play their instruments. I like what they do and I love how they’ve been doing it lately so I would expect Jianghu to be extremely packed for this one. Nova Heart EP Release @Yugong Somehow, [...]
May
19thQuickslants: Hanggai, Mantas, SUBS, Ghosts, Kingdoms, Hellcats and return of the Arrow

Holly smokes is this looking like a busy weekend in Beijing… stop me if you’ve heard this before but there’s a whole lotta rocking to be done. I’m almost glad I won’t be here for this as the ‘daze crew if off checking out the rock scene with our buddies from DUDE. Still, for those of you in town, there’s a lot to see with some impressive lineups throughout the city. I mean you can’t go wrong with any venue this end of the week starting today Thursday May 19 oh man… I don’t wanna be in your shoes Beijing. There are some tough choices to be made tonight with what seem to be a bombastic lineup Flying Mantas @ Mao Live: Our buddies on the Mantas, along with The Clamps, bring out the retro sounds on them Burns guitars for some old school goodness! I’ve heard reports of their mini tour in Beijing and that it’s going fairly well with the Mantas on fire but The Clamps side a bit off. Still, if it’s good music you’re after, this is not a bad place to be. Hanggai & Christian Zehnder @ 2Kolegas: The inner Mongolians have been spending a lot of time at 2 Kolegas lately with more shows there that before I reckon. Tonight (Thursday), they’re joined by Swiss Jazz virtuoso Christian Zehnder. It’s a bit unclear as to whether they’re playing together or if there’s separate sets but it might be a good opportunity to check them [...]