News to Ooze: Mao Live Awards, Zhang Si’An, Bad Mamasan and more

With concerts back on the menu, so are news and happenings, new records and what not. so what’s been cooking over in Beijing land?

The Redbucks, in their original incarnation, are pretty much done. Joining Daisy Sweetgrass and Chip, Luke has also departed Beijing. The remaining members don’t plan to sit on their thumbs though so look for them to get involved in other projects sooner than later.

Bad Mamasan has released their full debut album Jeanine The Wolverine online. you can download a copy on their website or even better, go ahead and buy a it from CD Baby or iTunes. I’ll have a review sometime soon but I can already tell you that Jaime and the crew have outdone themselves.

Good old Zhang Si’An has also released his latest album, Mandarin(e) Jazz through the usual channels. If that’s not enough, he’s also got an EP out at the same time, URANUS that’s got a few older songs. As if he wasn’t working hard enough, rumors have it the the Amazing Insurance Salesmen debut album is also almost ready. There’s gonna be enough music to keep Ruby busy over the next month.

Yugong Yishan has a one hello of a February planned so far with reTROS, Guitar Challenge, AIS+Rustic+Nucleus just to name a few. Here’s hoping that it’s gonna be acoustically pleasant. Honestly, I give them a lot of shit about the sound but that’s only because I love those guys.

Hedgehog has posted some new songs on douban and they’re not sounding too band. Rumor has is that Residence A is also making inroads with their debut album produced by Martin Rawlins. That’s one new record i have really high hopes for.

When I saw Omnipotent Youth Society almost a year ago at Mao, I had a feeling i was unto something special… they’re still the talk of the town and the accolades have not stopped coming. Word is that all their shows across China have been sold out without exception and they’re planning a new tour to keep up with demand. There might be also a new album out within the year which would be surprising. it did take them 11 years to get the first one out.

Mao Live has set the date for their 2010 awards: Sunday February 20th. Last year, it was a fun party with good performances by Nanwu and Hanggai amongst others. I expect this year to be even more packed.

Last but not least, one of my favorite Beijing music writers, Pete De Mola, has resurfaced from oblivion or whichever cave he’s been in over the past few months. Sure enough, he comes back and put together a great writeup on The Flying Mantas over at WLIB.

keep rocking