*** Hey kids. The Feola is on the granddaddy of all visa runs -- dude had to go all the way back to the States this time -- so I'll fill in this week as best I can until normal MP3 Monday programming resumes next week, in which he'll treat you to a 30,000 word sociocultural, hagiographic essay on some crazy obscure noise musician who bangs two steel rods together while screaming into a guitar pickup and cutting himself or some shit. Welp. Holidays are fast approaching and that means two things: a bunch of live venues are shutting down to "have a rest" and a bunch of venues are kicking it up into overdrive to lap up a visiting crowd of kids just in town for a few days. Not much seems to be going on at Old What and Hot Cat for instance, but Saturday night at Yugong looks to be the biggest local bands show they've ever hosted. Like ever in the history of ever. That bill looks better than most music festival bills… Anyways, here's four shows at four venues for each of the holiday nights. You can go if you like! Up to you! ***
Wednesday, September 18: Residence A EP Launch @ Mao Livehouse
Here's Residence A, fresh back in from performing at Summer Sonic in Japan and kicking out their brand new record, The Love of this Era. This is the band that everyone in Beijing agrees on and wants to see nice things happen to. They're super polite and affable, they're "hard-working", they really give it their all when performing. Charismatic dudes. Should be a pretty good show for Wednesday with this album release, as they've been building up a real solid local fan base for the past few years now. Last time I saw them perform at Temple bar they had like 100 spazzy kids show up just to see them and said kids PEACED THE FUCK OUT right after they played. Probably the right move because I think your MP3 Monday correspondent was fake djing after and I just spacebar click on 30-year-old MP3s all night. Nobody needs that shit. Anyways, here's a viddy of one of their recent Mao Livehouse shows. Music is that anthemic indie dance rock stuff. Fun, cathartic, powerful, but still very polished. I bet these guys practice a fair bit. But, yeah, no MP3 downloads. Get yourself to that show and drop some real currency on the new record. Support local blahblahblah. Residence A is at Mao Livehouse this Wednesday night. Support from Glow Curve and Larry's Pizza. Entry is 80rmb. Starts 9pm. *
Thursday, September 19: Vintagefair vs. Retrodance @ 2Kolegas
This one's not much of a rrraaawwk show per se but the weather is cooling down a bit and maybe so is your desire to enjoy the outdoors patio thing over at The Dos. Do it while you can before Beijing gets dickhead cold. So Thursday afternoon, the drive-in live venue is hosting something called Vintagefair vs. Retrodance, which is exactly what it says on the tin: a vingtage market with a bunch of independent vendors selling hip stuff, rolling on into a bit of a dance party in the evening hours. Dunno. "Retrodance". What is that? '80s? '50s? Probably a bunch of crunchy Bob Marley reggae jams, who knows. Oh, wait, it's Swing Beijing, doing dance demos and getting the crowd going with some swing music. Alright. That sounds nice then. That could be fun. Probably it will be like the movie Swing Kids but with less Nazis. Here's that big hit from Cherry Poppin' Daddies. KA-BOOM. YOU'RE WELCOME.
Another option for that Thursday night is the Cock Rock Night over at Mao Livehouse. A bunch of boys in tight leather pants are doing up some hard rock super inspired by G'n'F'n'R, AC F'n' DC, Motley F'n' Crue, and stuff like that. Jacky Danny and more. Those are always pretty fun shows. The obligatory "Knocking on Heaven's Door" cover is always a sight to behold. Details here. Vintagefair vs. Retrodance is Thursday afternoon and evening at 2Kolegas. Kicks off at 4pm. 40 beans to get in. *
Friday, September 20: Post Punk Night @ Temple
Bit of a rarer show over at Temple Bar for a Friday night. A couple of post punk bands on the bill: Streets Kill Strange Animals -- a very good band that one -- joined by Girl Kill Girl AKA "The Band that The Gal from Hang on The Box Is Doing Now, Hey, She Was Like on The Cover of Time Magazine in 1998 or Something". Temple bar is the go-to venue for shows in the Beej these days: there's always a crowd, beer is cheap, and it's just a nice atmosphere to put on a show, probably for those very first two reasons. Sound quality is not always the best but word on the street is that the club is looking to put in a new PA. Right on. Anyways, this might be your last chance to catch Street Kill for a little while. The band is striking out on like a 20-date China tour, spreading the word to cities all over China. Check your local SmartLijiang.com listings for show details. Here's that rad song from Hang on the Box because I don't want to mess with Modern Sky copyrights for a Streets Kill Strange Animals song and maybe this one is so old now that it's public domain.
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Saturday, September 21: Yugong Yishan 9th Anniversary
Here's the big one for the holidays. Yugong Yishan turns nine years young with a massive line-up of nine top-billing Beijing bands and DJs playing really disparate genres of music. Pretty neat actually. They are thus: Carsick Cars, Long Shen Dao, WHAI, Zhui Xingzu, and Nova Heart. DJs: Dio with Mickey Zhang, Ouyang with Eddie LV, DJ Blackie of Syndicate ill repute, and The Man, Mr. Weng Weng. So you've probably heard of most if not all of these people before so I don't have to get into it too much. Here's a song from Carsick Cars. Pretty obscure and little-known track this one. It's like nobody has ever heard this one before. So weird. Hopefully by including it in this article right here I'm helping to break this band a bit. They need the push. Expect this to chart massive real soon.
Best part of concert? Cover is only 50rmb in advance and 80rmb at the door. Seems like they could have easily gouged people for 150rmb-200rmb tickets for that one. Good for YGYS. Congrats to them. Head down and raise a glass and celebrate some Beijing original music and a bunch of damn DJs playing other people's original music! Have a good holiday! Yugong Yishan 9th Anniversary concert it this Saturday night at YGYS. Pre-sale tickets are 50rmb. 80rmb at the door. A poster exhibition starts at 7pm. Show at 9pm. ***
