Live 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 tag he put on them. Apparently, the band has a few tricks up their sleeve for this gig folks… I’m really curious!

The Argies @ 2Kolegas
Argentinian punk ska coming to visit Beijing… I don’t think i’ve ever seen an Argentinian band before, ever. That’s enough of a novelty factor for me to go catch them.
They’re currently touring all of Asia behind their latest release and i’ll be curious to see how it’s going for them. I like checking out hungry new bands like The Argies when they visit town as it gives me a good basis for comparison with local acts as far as musicianship and general skill levels. Update: The K and Early Bus will be on hand to open the festivities.

Saturday May 5th

Book Swap & Board Games Meeeting @ Sequoia Cafe
The monthly meeting where you get to chill for an afternoon, drink some coffee/juice, and exchange books or play some board games with cool people. You can’t go wrong… Come and chill!

Hanggai Festival Day 1 @ Mako
The throat singers have outdone themselves this year with tons of really cool acts on the bill. I’ll have a more detailed post later about it presenting the band but if you’re not at the bookswap, you better be there. It Starts early folks but it’s gonna be rocking.

Flaming Bday @ Mao Live:
Ruby has her Bday folks and we’re gonna celebrate it in style: The Onfires ( “the bastard lovechild of the B52s and the Sex Pistols”), REsidence A, Amazing Insurance Salesmen and Twinkle Star all on the same bill.
That’s basically some of my favorite bands in Beijing and we’re gonna have one hell of a party over there, bar none. Actually, Bday or no Bday, this is one hell of a rocking party and it would be a shame for you folks to miss it. See you in the mosh pit!

Sunday May 6th

Hanggai Festival day 2 @Mako
I’m actually looking forward to this one even more than day 1. The bands on here are some of the most intriguing i’ve seen in a long time. await my next post folks.