Quickslants: Hellcats, Mantas, Metal Battles, Sound of the Xity and more

This end of March/beginning of April period is kicking ass, taking names… And there’s no escaping it baby! These quickslants basically carry over into next week thanks to the ballsy folks from Sex in the Xity who have pretty much taken over Beijing from April 1-3 with shows all over the freaking city spawning all genres! C
There’s a lot to get to so let’s get started without any further delays:

Thursday March 29

Dong Chorus @ Jianghu
I went out of my way to catch these guys last Thursday. They didn’t disappoint! beautiful harmonies, really interesting outfits and just all around special. I’d see them again. Be warned though that even though they might announce Wu Hongfei on the bill, she doesn’t play. I actually got quite ticked off about that at 2K but what the post. Still, worth checking.

Friday March 30

Hellcats/Mantas/Beatles @ 2Kolegas
Put on you dancing shoes an come on over baby… The hellcats will be swinging it, The Flying Mantas with surf things up and might show you a couple of surprises. The Beijing Beatles can take care of the fab side… This is an early candidate for gig of the freaking year and I expect to see 2 Kolegas hopping til the wee hours of the morning. Christmas, purveyors of idiotic rock, also on the bill. gonna be an interesting one.

Saturday March 31

Mademoiselle @ Modernista
Yes, spring is back and so are the lovely tunes of one Marie Claude Lebel. The Montreal Mynx is back in action after one hell of a long break and I couldn’t be happier for it. It’ll be a chilled night hopefully at modernista sipping red wine and listening to good gypsy rhythms.. maybe even throw in a little dance or two.

Dolan @ Mao Live
The newest and latest from the breed of inner mongolians moving from metal to traditional grasslands sounds. Dolan comes from the shadows of Ego Fall (metal) and they’re managing to find their own little sound, different from those of Hanggai or Ajinai. I believe Dian Fu M Band is also on the bill that night. If you’re used to rocky side of Hanggai, go check these folks out. They actually have some interesting albeit monotonous melodies.

Devils & Pirates @ Temple
I’d recommend this show on strength of the poster alone…really cool artwork! The last time these two bands played together, they tore the roof off Mao Livehouse and showed us one hell of a good time. I don’t expect this to be any different! To quote KISS: they” wanna rock n roll all night and party everyday”. It’s gonna be one hell of a party over in Gulou…. I’ve heard from many folks that the Devils are getting tighter/better and I gotta agree with that. I think that the increased frequency of shows is really helping them! The Pirates will be pirates and deliver their hard rock… I wonder how Dave would sound like if he did a cover of AC/DC’s Sin City, Bon Scott style.

Sunday April 1st

Metal Battle Finale @ Club 13
As I wrote earlier this week, 5 bands will compete for a chance at playing the biggest Metal party in the world: Wacken. This one is gonna be loud, brutal, heavy, melodic and scary, all in one. My money is on Evilthorn or The Falling to take the crown but I’ve seen bizarre things happen in these competitions. Still, this will be a good opportunity to evaluate the situation of Metal in Beijing.

Yunggiema & Dawanggang @ Jianghu
This kicks off the sound in the xity’12 edition. Yunggiema hails from the himalayan peaks and brings that unique flavor to Beijing. Fused with dawanggang‘s sharp as a razor melodies, we will be in for a treat people. This one won’t be about rock n roll however. We’re talking purity of sound and melodies that will send shivers down your spine… I expect jianghu to be full for this one.
Note that sound of the Xity is holding 3 different events this night with Hao Yun at Mako amongst others.

Monday April 2nd

Low Wormwood @ Mako Livehouse
More sound in the Xity’12: Lanzhou’s favorite folksters, Low Wormwood, come back to Beijing and revisit the scene of the crime (ie their last show here). It’s good grassroot folks, well done and executed and it does work magic for the crowd. I was a bit disappointed at the live versions of some songs last time i saw them but they ca pull off one hell of a gig.

330 Metal Festival @ Tango
As a follow-up to the night before, Suffocated and Friends get together at 13 Club to celebrate all things heavy and good about life. Die From Sorrow, Bad Mamasan, Moyi, The Face and pretty much all the old guard will be there. If you want to see who the kids in the metal scene look up to these days, you need to go no further than this night. Sometimes though, I feel like it’s the old boys club and they’re not really allowing any new blood in there. Starts a bit early at 6:30 pm. Tickets are reasonably priced considering the caliber of bands present.

WHAI & Skarving @ 2Kolegas
also part of Sound in the Xity ’12, Ningxia’s latest and greatest, WHAI, takes the stage with their strange breed of experimental prog rock. Ruby is deep in love with these guys but I have yet to be sold. I can’t find consistency with performances as likely to be great or mediocre. Skarving is back in business for some Ska and their little lady helper, Hai Xia is back in town so expect extra melodic tunes.

Tuesday April 3rd

Wu & The Side Effect + Nucleus @ 2 Kolegas
Lao Wu’s birthfay, 2 Kolegas, Ningxia bands… do you really need me to say more? I expect roasted lamb, flowing ales, drunken antics and good music. Consider the bands there, don’t be surprised if there’s a surprise lidong appearance. guess what? this is also a sex in the xity’12 event.

Quirky Laowai Rock @ Mao
This one actually good get funny. ‘daze friends, Dude make their return to the stage and they have some new material. Actually, they’re in pretty advanced stages of recording. Christams (gee, twice in one quickslant) do their thing as well… I’m curious about Lure whom i haven’t seen since they signed up to Modern SKy. They were tight and funky back in the day, albeit quite poppy. The kind of band that has a crossover potential because they’ll never be offensive.

one hell of a long quickslants folks… and this one barely covers some of what’s happening over the next 7 days. As usual, your mileage might vary and you should check Beijing Gig Guide for more shows that you might like. Get all the Sex in the Xity’12 information over here http://www.mosh.cn/special/yx2012.
see ya in da pit