chaile 拆了 - Live Music

Upcoming shows

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 04:10:46 -0500

Some friends have passed along information about shows coming up soon, and I thought I'd pass them on:

Saturday in Beijing: Modern Sky showcase, with Joyside, Re-TROS, and New Pants (Xin Kuzi), and special guests. My super-secret spy friend has told me that Yang Fan, former guitarist from Hang on the Box and frontwoman for the late, lamented Ourself Beside Me will be performing. I don't know in what context, though. Tonight at Namless Highlands.
Saturday in Shanghai: Shanghai Streets presents Beijing's finest, SUBS, along with Living Thin and Slit. Awesome.
Starting on March 24th, Microfabrique will be held every Friday. Both the 24th and the 31st feature one of my favorites, B6.
On March 25th in Hong Kong FM3 will play an in-store show at White Noise Records.

Sonic Beijing

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 05:16:38 -0400

Are you ready? Tonight's show is going to be great. I can feel it. And I'm sure they'll have copies of Dead J's newest release, Mental Imagery, which just came out on Modern Sky.

It looks like Modern Sky has some big news out now, as well - I'll post more after I finish reading it (I'm very, very slow).

In other news, this is the last show that I personally am going to promote. It's been a great run, and I don't see Beijing musicians slowing down any time soon. So keep searching, and keep supporting these artists.

This weekend

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 02:07:41 -0400

Two shows of note, both on Friday: One is Carsick Cars at the Old What? Bar. This is a good chance to see this indie rock trio at a small place. I'd suggest not being late; you never know how many bands will actually play at these shows, and if it's only them, they might start early.

I can't make heads or tails of the other: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, at 13Club. It appears to be a collection of musicians from lots of Beijing bands, but I don't know what exactly they'll be doing - it seems to be some sort of party, or perhaps a discussion. Here's the announcement, from the 13Club blog:

07月15日(周五) 摇滚乐畅谈会~~~“昨天  今天  和明天”

这是一次朋友聚会，来自摇滚乐各阵营的代表们将齐聚一堂，以喝酒为主，交流为辅，畅谈的主题是“昨天  今天  明天”本活动的宗旨是“不吐不快，不醉不归”，欢迎各位朋友踊跃参加。

艺人：高虎（痛仰）叶景滢（反光镜）胡松（夜叉）老猫（AK47）应鹏（军械所）赵宇（导言）王乐（挂在盒子上）IMITATION乐队等十余支乐队代表

唱片公司：徐凯鹏

乐评：赤潮

媒体：崔忠鹏/《口袋音乐》，《重型音乐》  郑长宇/《团结》，祁又一/ 精品/  郭小寒

网络：高地音乐网站： Pas  中国地下音乐网：尸体再现

演出策划: 刘浩  老杨（白糖罐）张惠/糖果文化  刘立新

铁托们：欢迎你们提出宝贵意见和建议~！

Time时间： PM09:00 Ticket门票：免门票 /free

To make it interesting, I ran it through Babelfish:

On July 15 (Friday) rock and roll will speak freely about can ~~~ "yesterday today and tomorrow" This is a friend gets together, comes from the rock and roll various camps' representative an oligomerization hall, drinks primarily, exchanges for auxiliary, spoke freely about the subject will be "yesterday today tomorrow" this active objective is "has to speak out, was not drunk does not turn over to", welcome fellow friends to participate enthusiastically. Entertainer: The high tiger (pain supine) Ye Jingying (reflector) the Hu pine (demon) the old cat (AK47) should the huge mythical bird (weapon) the Zhao space (introduction) the king be happy (hangs on box) the IMITATION orchestra and so on ten orchestras represents the record company: Xu Kaipeng le Ping: Red tide media: Cui Zhongpeng/"Pocket Music", "Heavy Music" Zheng Changyu/"Unity", Qi an/high-quality goods/Guo Slight Cold network: High ground music website: Pas China underground music network: The corpse reappearance performance plans: Liu Haolao Yang (sugar bowl) benefit/candy culture Liu Lixin Tito: Welcome you to propose the valued suggestion and suggests ~! Time time: PM09:00 Ticket admission ticket: Exempts admission ticket /free

So there you go. Participate enthusiastically, and remember, "Has to speak out, was not drunk does not turn over to!"

Weekly events

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 04:48:58 -0400

A short while ago, I got an email asking why I wasn't listing the regular shows by Dou Wei and Buyiding. The answer was because they're every week, and I was too lazy to put them in. So I thought I'd take a look at some of the weekly shows in Beijing.

Wednesdays at Nameless Highland: Beijing New Folk

小河 (Xiao He), 周云蓬 (Zhou Yunpeng), 王娟 (Wang Juan), and 冬子 (Dongzi), Beijing's folk mainstays, play every Wednesday.

Wednesdays at Yugong Yishan, Thursdays at Nameless Highland: 窦唯和不一定 (Dou Wei and Buyiding)

Free improvisation, space rock, free jazz, etc. Often with guest bands and jam sessions.

There was also talk of a weekly Sub Jam event on Tuesdays at 2 Kolegas, but I missed the first one, and I haven't seen any mention of it on Yan Jun's blog.

More Sonic Beijing info

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:00:50 -0400

I talked to Jian Cui this weekend - he's one of the organizers of the new Sonic Beijing series - and I got a more detailed lineup. Details are on the event page. Added to the list is Godot, a post-rock band with members from China and Japan.

It's too early to say anything yet, I think, but Jian Cui is working on some exciting shows. If they come through I will be very, very envious of you all. Why did I decide to leave again?

Sonic Beijing

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 03:08:30 -0400

Nice! I've been waiting for a show like this for a while: Sonic Beijing Series #01. Shanshui Records have organized a show with Sulumi, Dead J, iLoop and Double Fish. Also playing are Hardoff (Japan?) and Municiple, who I'm not familiar with.

Here's the calendar entry.

This Week in Beijing: The French are coming

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 02:42:23 -0400

What happens when French performers invade Chaoyang Park? Bad jokes by bloggers.

Les Trans en Chine, a transplant of the French festival, has shows this Saturday and Sunday at the park, as well as a party at Tango on Saturday Night. The only two Chinese performers are Wang Lei (on Saturday at 17:30) and IZ (on sunday at 15:50). Big draw is St Germain, headlining on Sunday. Now you can see for yourself the guy that made the soundtrack to every single bar in Houhai.

Tickets for each day are RMB80, or RMB120 for both days.

Did you know that Blink-182 broke up? Neither did I. Beijing's punks did, and in response they've organized a tribute show. Each band will play a couple covers, in addition to their own songs, and the bar will show videos all evening. You even get a free sticker! Headlining is 再循环 (Recycle), along with TooKoo, 3+X, SKO, 咖啡因 (Caffeine, but they spell it Caffe-In), and 孩子的天空 (Children Sky).

13 Club, Saturday (2005-06-18) 9:30pm, RMB30/20 Students.

Also this Saturday: Brain Failure at the New Get Lucky, at Muma at Yugong Yishan.

This Week in Beijing: 72 Hour Party People

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 02:39:54 -0400

How do they expect us to pay attention to work, instead of looking forward to this weekend? It's crazy talk!

First up, right off the bat — SUBS is back from their 16-date tour of pretty much all of China, and is finishing up with a stop at 13Club. The show will be bittersweet, though, because it's officially the last show of Ourself Beside Me. Also opening is Another Idea. More show information is here.

Also that night is another party from Sunjam Collective, live at Yugong Yishan.

Saturday is even busier. There are four shows I want to see that night. My pick will probably be punk standbys Reflector, since they've brought up Wuhan's Rococo. While I hate to follow the pack and mention that it's a punk band made up of four cute women, I know absolutely nothing about their music. It's usually not a good sign when a band's website has lots of pictures but no sound files, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They are from Wuhan Fucking City, after all.

Other options for the night are Buyi at the New What? Bar, Black Cat Bone at Yugong Yishan, and Camel, Rebuilding the Rights of Statues, Niu Jiu, and String at the Old What? Bar. My question is, how the hell will they fit four bands inside the Old What? Bar? I don't think that many people will fit in the place, much less with equipment. Maybe they kick them out to the street right after their set. If any of you go, I want a full report.

Sunday afternoon there is the aforementioned Get It Louder Sound Performance. Just a reminder - they say to reserver your tickets by today, so send of an email ASAP.

I almost missed this one - Bedzoo Records is hosting a showcase of electronic musicians, most of which were featured on Bedzoo comp WEVA. Artists playing are Ariel0521, Double Fish, Me:mo, Jeven, ZaOYiN, 十口几点 (Shikou Jidian), and 小鱼 (Little Fish).

I'm looking forward to this one, especially to see Me:mo. He put out a good CD (self-titled) in 2003, and he's had standout tracks on the Charming Playlist, Dine Together With 7 People, and WEVA compilations.

And last, but not least, I have reports that Rebuilding the Rights of Statues is playing again on Sunday at the New Get Lucky.

Whew! That took a long time to type. See you there! Perhaps! Depends on which show you go to!

Get it Louder

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 17:05:58 -0400

This weekend is the Beijing edition of the Get It Louder Exhibition, featuring artists and designers from around the world. Of interest for us is the Sound Art Performance, featuring Sun Lei (aka 718), Wang Changcun, Li Jianhong, and Fu Yu and Jia Haiqing (together known as 8gg).

Regular readers already know Sun Lei/718; the electronics wiz played at the Dashanzi Art Festival, and has released two albums already this year. Li Jianhong was also at DIAF - the Hangzhou resident worked up a dense music incorporating, among other sources, a TV with a contact microphone over the static. The others are new to me - Wang Changchun, from Harbin, will have a CD out on Belgium label Sub Rosa, and 8gg are a audio/visual duo working in "multimedia art, web art, interactive art, visual/music installation, interactive music, aleatory music, experiment (sic) theater." Aleatory! Yeah!

The show is a bit untraditional: it's a free event, but tickets must be reserved in advance.

Please send your Name, Gender, Age, ID number, Occupation, E-mail, and which events (presentation or/and sound performance) you want to attend and why to getitlouder@163.com.

Deadline: June 9

We will announce the list on June 10 at our website.

Sounds a bit strange to me, but they've reserved a place for me, so why not?

Get it Louder: Sound Art Performance. Tango Club (near the South Gate of Ditan Park), Sunday (2005-06-12), 2:30pm-5:00pm.

This weekend in Beijing, +1 Edition

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 01:44:31 -0400

With the May behind us, it seems it's time for a breather. But don't rest too much, because there are shows to see!

On Friday metal fiends Spring and Autumn headline at Nameless Highland. Opening for them are AC/DC cover band The Dirty Deeds.

Nameless Highland, Friday (2005-06-03). Dirty Deeds will be done fairly cheap - RMB30.

On Saturday, megaphone screamers 挂在盒子上 (Hang on the Box) and Tookoo are also at Nameless Highland. Saturday (2005-06-04), RMB30/20 Students.

Also on Saturday is a bit of an enigma. 13 Club is hosting a "Red Party." What does this mean? I don't know. Folk singers Wang Juan and Li Hongjie are performing, there will be traditional singing, poetry (from Yan Jun and others), and I really don't know what else. You're encouraged to wear red. Full text is below:

06月04日(周六)     要多火有多火——13CLUB红色主题PARTY
    没有别的意思，红色仅仅代表我们自己，仅仅代表这一天的风格。我们是民谣的、翻唱的、诗歌的、即兴的……我们自然也执意，就像红色——要多平静有多平静，要多萌动有多萌动。

当晚活动：
演出：李宏杰与乐队  王娟  刘冰
经典翻唱：祁又一   朱光宇  应鹏
诗歌：颜峻  尹丽川    朱老剑客  郭小寒  莫小邪
即兴：李铁桥   刘立新
嘉宾：吴虹飞  彭洪武

欢迎各路大仙儿到场：~~~~~！~！~·#
Time时间： PM09:30  Ticket门票： 20RMB

活动须知：本次活动为“红色主题”，提倡所有来宾均以红色系着装，入场可获赠酒水。
红色颁奖——从所有红色系着装的来宾中评选出命题奖和幸运奖，并奉上神秘奖品

活动须知：本次活动为“红色主题”，提倡所有来宾均以红色系着装，入场可获赠酒水。
红色颁奖——从所有红色系着装的来宾中评选出命题奖和幸运奖

地点：【13CLUB】Tel: 82628077  81126597  89818458  QQ349643393
E-mail（演出联络）: 13club@sina.com   13records@vip.sina.com
地址：北京海淀区蓝旗营161号成府路西侧路南（北大东门向东，清华南门向西）
乘
车路线：乘731  331  825 628  951

749  355 307 小5路  小16路运通
110          路公车到
“蓝旗营” 下车,
或乘 726 375 743 320支 732支 825 628路到“蓝旗营东站”下车，路南即是。

13CLUB承接各种文化活动，欢迎单位和个人加入合作。

13 Club, 9:30, Saturday (2005-06-04). RMB20.

And last, but not least: That's BJ reports that Ping Pong Party will be joining Dou Wei and Buyiding.

Yugong Yishan, Monday (2005-06-06), 9:30pm, RMB30.

This week in Beijing

Thu, 26 May 2005 11:32:12 -0400

First up, on Saturday, is a tribute to Joy Division. 新裤子 (Xin Kuzi, New Pants) are headlining, even though they sound absolutely nothing like Joy Division. They are infectious pop punk, though. 重塑雕像的权利 (Rebulding the Rights of Statues) and Joyside support, along with two bands I don't know: 仙都 (Xanadu) and 菩提萨多 (Re-Nirvana, according to the flyer). We'll see.

Saturday, 2005-05-28, Nameless Highland. RMB30

But before that, That's Beijing says that Buyi are back in town for a show at the New What? Bar, the one on Guanghua Lu. It's a good chance to see them on a small stage.

Friday, 2005-05-27, New What? Bar. RMB 20.

Notes on Saturday's show

Tue, 17 May 2005 08:58:49 -0400

As noted in the comments, the New Music/ experimental/ electronic/ etc. show, originally listed as last Friday, is actually this coming Saturday. Oh, and it's now Digital Soundscape, not Beijing New Sound. I suppose there are enough people performing in the show who aren't from Beijing to warrant the name change.

Organizer Yan Jun has posted a very detailed summary of the lineup (also with the note about Friday's show at Nameless Highland). Interesting bit that I hadn't heard before: C-drík / cdrk / Kirdec, who played a few great shows here in March, is back again, as part of his plan to play shows in every single country in the world.

This show keeps getting better and better. I'm glad I got sick last week.

(Also Yan Jun helpfully points out that the South Gate Space/Theatre is inside the 798 Factory - phone number is 6437-9737.)

The only sad news is that, as usual, there's another show I'd really like to see. Saturday (that's 2005-05-21) at Nameless Highland: Brain Failure, Ourself Beside Me, Rebuilding the Rights of Statues. Nuts.

Something old, something new

Tue, 17 May 2005 01:53:21 -0400

On recommendation from Ben, I've put up an events calendar. I'm not always the best at catching interesting shows - or as this Dashanzi bit shows, finding out where and when they are. So I figure instead of just doing the This Week in Beijing posts (which will probably continue), I'll also use this calendar.

Also, I've opened user registrations. For now, this just gives you the ability to add events to the calendar. Since there's just a small number of people using this site regularly, I haven't added anything more than that. Anything else you'd like to see, let me know.

More music this week

Tue, 10 May 2005 16:18:47 -0400

Via That's Beijing: Tonight at Yugong Yishan: RandomK and Mike Steele. Danwei mentioned RandomK before, with a description from band member Jon Campbell "RandomK (experimental soundscapey rock a-la Godspeed, Mogwai plus laptop/effects twidling)". Sounds right up my alley.

Yugong Yishan, Tonight (2005-05-11), 9:30pm, RMB30.

Also from That's, and also at Yugong Yishan, Yan and Hang on the Box have a show Saturday, 2005-05-14, 9:30pm.

Man, I need another vacation.

Update: Jon mentioned this in the comments, but it got blocked by my spam filter. The band is actually RandomKe, and Mike Steele will play "heavy" music. I hope it's befitting of his superhero name.

Dashanzi Art Festival Shows

Tue, 10 May 2005 01:23:57 -0400

The Dashanzi International Art Festival is in progress, and this week and this month there are three music events that look very interesting.

This Friday (2005-05-13), Yan Jun has organized a night of electronic and experimental music.

ORGANIZER: Xiao He, Lao Yang, Li Jianhong, Sun Lei (718)

ARTISTS: Marqido (Japan), Zhang Jian, Wu Quan, Wang Fan, Yan Jun, 718, Li Jianhong, Lanzhou Noise Society, Wang Changchun, Jackson Garland (USA), Eugene Martynec (Canada)

I'm really excited about this.

The show is at the White Theatre, which I assume is somewhere in Dashanzi, although I don't know where.

The following night (Saturday, 2005-05-14) features Sichuan electronic musician Wang Lei with, oddly enough, Cui Jian playing trumpet.

Wang Lei, the Sichuan electronic music star who is gaining more and more appreciation, will perform with Cui Jian on the trumpet. The duo worked so well in Beijing last autumn that both stars want to go on working together, this time for DIAF 2005. DJ Girls will give a little international feel to the whole

Ooh! DJ Girls!

This one's at the Yan Club, also in Dashanzi.

And the following Saturday (2005-05-21), Xiao He has organized a night with what seems to be every single folk musician in Beijing:

ORGANIZER: Xiao He

ARTISTS: IZ, Hu Mangge, Zuo Mingliang, Zhong Lifeng, Zhu Fangqiong, Wan Xiaoli, Yelang, Wang Juan, Zhou Yunpeng, Du Kun and Xiao He.

At the White Theatre.

No excuses, folks. In the span of a week and a day you'll be able to see the people behind Beijing's new music scene and the folk scene, and Cui Jian will play trumpet.