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Apr
2ndDong Chorus at 2 Kolegas: Dreamy Polyphonic Folk Views and a Little RantAbout a month ago, I had never heard of the Dong Minority 侗族大歌 nor did i have a clue about their musical proficiency, the uniqueness of their delivery or the imminent danger of extinction facing their folklore… Now, thank to a series of shows they did in Beijing over the past few weeks, it’s all changed. It’s not the first time that they get a bit of attention as Amy Tan had already covered this highly musical ethnic for NPR Music. I caught them at 2 Kolegas on a thursday night, 2 weeks ago, hoping to enjoy the show in an intimate setting with what promised to be a fantastic bill: Dong Chorus and Happy Avenue. At least one of them would deliver the goods. Things kicked off quite early, 8:00 pm, which is quite an exception to the norm over at the Drive-in. Sure, the band didn’t come on til 8:30 but there was a decent sizable crowd considering it was a Thursday and the the entrance fee was CNY80. The setup was quite simple and the evening moved pretty much at the same pace: Wu Hongfei, incivilian clothing, would read and explain what the next song would be about immediately followed by the band delivering said song. There was a beautiful variety displayed.. Some of the songs were love songs, others just nature praise, there were a few sad soppy ones as well. The girls’ sole instrument was their voice and they made it count in beautiful ways [...]
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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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Mar
20thHedgehog, Unregenerate Blood, Fever Machine Music Videos, MIDI Trouble and Dong updatesIt’s been one hell of a busy weekend with all the gigs from Jue, BLF and other gigs.. I’ll try and get to them later in the week. There were some gems especially the Steve MacKay and Black Cat Bone Gigs. There were also some good comments thrown around at the Jon Campbell talk that might get their own post later. In the meantime, some news and ramblings MIDI Trouble May is around the corner and there’s absolutely no updates coming out of the MIDI camp concerning a location or a lineup. The lineup is more disturbing because pretty much all the bands that matter have been signed to Modern Sky’s Strawberry. I’m sure they’ll pull a big coup last minute but still, I’m worried. Their Shanghai festival is confirmed though for end of April. Dong Chorus Tours Beijing Wu Hongfei and the Dong Chorus are pretty much on a mini tour of Beijing…how about that? Instead of playing a bunch of cities, they have decided to cover every major venue in town. Yugong and Mako have already happened, next up is 2 Kolegas Thursday March 22 and Mao Livehouse March 25th and Jianghu on March 29th.So if you thought you missed out like i did, do not despair. 3 More chances to catch them. In case you don’t know about them: the Dong Chorus was chosen to be the Intangible Cultural Heritage of The World. It dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China, which has [...]
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Mar
8thQuickslants: Women, Insurance Payback, Re-TROS, Jue Festival, the Bookworm and moreoh yeah babay.. it’s heating up in Beijing and I’m not talking about the weather that’s taken a dip again. Beijing is finally fully awake and we’re getting to that point where it’s tough picking which show(s) to go to. This Saturday is a prime example with good stuff all over the goddamn city from 798 to Tango with both Jue Festival and the Bookworm Literary Festival starting. So, to quote The Beastie Boys: Let’s Kick it… Thursday March 8th: Women’s Day at Starfish: yeah, it’s a restaurant but the amazing Jess Meider is playing two sets between 6 and 8 pm, there will be whiskey cocktails courtesy of Stephanie Rocard and your truly. A cool celebration of women’s day in style to get your evening started! Randy Abel Stable @ Temple: How about that? what celebrated Women more than good old honky tonk tune from Beijing’s reigning kings of americana? I ran into Randy yesterday who casually mentioned new tunes and a possible marathon set with many songs touching on the topic of the day: Women… what can i say? grab a bourbon and holler along about double-timing, heartbreaking significant others. Light & Love at Mao: Not to be left out, Mao Live is putting together one a power punk show with some of Beijing’s underground female-fronted bands: First Medal, Cool Fish and more. This one will be a young student affair most likely and could be a cool little distraction for the early Gulou crowd. Friday March 9th: [...]
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Dec
29thQuickslants: Mantas Release, D22′s Last Stand, Ningxia Returns and moredamn damn damn… another year goes down, another calendar thrown out, a few more gray hairs and it’s the end of 2011 folks! Let’s see it go down in flames. Last year, the lineups for NYE shows were mighty impressive and it was pretty darn hard to pick one. This time around, it’s a bit less mind blowing but nevertheless solid… The big big big event is of course what is being advertised as The Last Big Shows at D-22 with their prodigal children sending the place off with the right fireworks…. so, let’s see what we got! Thursday Dec 29th: I don’t Rock @ Mao: This is actually called “I don’t rock but I’m truthing” which makes me wanna throw a bunch of jokes in there regarding the musical ability of some bands on the lineup… but I won’t! Residence A is the sure highlight of the show but you also have Lazy Camels, Gray, Elenore and You Xi that could prove half decent. Either way, it’s really the only decent gig in town that I am aware of. Friday Dec 30th: Gar, Snapline, AVO @ D-22: One of the last two giant nights at D-22 with some interesting performances. Gar is a mysterious band that keeps us guessing with rare appearances. I’m still not 100% sold on their so-called influence but they have a decent record. Snapline is bleeh but AV Okubo is a force to be reckoned with. The wuhan kids are rarely in Beijing and worth [...]
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Nov
9thQuickslants: Brain Failure, re-TROS, Wu Hongfei, Fish and Low Wormwood…last week was a small but fun set of musical offerings that culminated with 2 fun performances by La Pegatina and some pretty crappy stuff b Ma Tiao and Mitabe…still, I won’t let that get me down a look forward to some good rock n roll in the next few days starting tonight! Some interesting gigs with RE-TROS, Novaheart, brain failure, flying mantas as well as Low Wormwood to look forward to. Let’s see how it all adds up: Wednesday Nov 9: F**king the Trouble @ Mao: Residence A and Flying Mantas headline a nice heavy night at Mao where I coincidentally have not been for a long time. It might be time to head back over there! Both Ruby and I are extremely taken by that band’s live performances and I’m dying to catch the Mantas with new bass player. The lineup also includes some new names: Illness Sickness and Pirate Pistols. Not a bad wednesday offering. Liu Yusi & friends @ Jianghu: human boombox, Liu Yusi, headlines this now weekly series every wednesday at Jianghu with local country bluegrass roots acts. It’s also free which ain’t bad y’all. Tonight’s guests are the Ring Road Ramblers…. nice name! Thursday Nov 10 Ding Fenghua @ Jianghu: Film director, producer and folk guitarist, Ding Fenghua, is your host for this calm and quiet night over by the hutongs. I have not had the pleasure of seeing him before but by all accounts, it sounds like it could be special. One of [...]
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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