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Hey buds. Didn't get a lot of sleep this weekend so I don't have the cognitive bandwidth to write my usual perspicuous, self-serious screed on a given band's whole deal and precise significance at this moment in time. Instead here are some random jams from a few groups playing Beijing this weekend:
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Above is My Own Private Alaska, a French trio who describes themselves as "piano punk core" and "abrasive-romantic-punk." Listening to these jams brings me back to the early 2000s, when all of a sudden hardcore bands learned how to play their instruments in different time signatures and write poetry. The band is vocals + piano + drums, and judging by the pictures and their recordings, I'd guess they put on a real barn burner of a live show. Hear it:
They're touring China under the aegis of Wang Ba Records, who has a track record of bringing solid — if stylistically all over the map — French artists through these parts. Opening sets are from Li Jianhong and Vavabond (check 'em out here), so the net result will be a long night of quality noise and intense energy. That's Thursday at School Bar.
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Beijing's local skweee crew is back at it, with a new batch of Nordic fellows making that fine, fine analog electro. Mesak was one of the original skweee dudes, having come to prominence with a standout track on Flogsta Danshall's seminal Museum of Future Sound comp. Wait, let's backtrack a second. If I lost you at "skweee," take a minute to read my interview with its OG founders Limonious and Daniel Savio, who played Beijing back in August. Where were y'all? Dada throws a 50rmb cover on the door and you dip out to Cafe de la Poste or something? The show was great. Nothing can compare with raw analog sounds blasting through decent subs. Shit will rock your kidney stones loose.
Anyway, Mesak is coming through with fellow Finn Claws Cousteau. They're kicking off their 11-date China tour in Beijing, where they're hosted by local skweee ambassadors Fløøød and Verktyget Vortglut Vurado Bukoda. Damn Einar pick a name.
By the way, that's Claws Cousteau rapping on the Ronskibiitti track. These guys with the names... Check it all out live on Friday, November 1 at Dada, when Mesak and Claws will also be releasing a new 7", Tiananmen Square Wave. Heh, analog synthesis jokes...
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Hecate just popped on my radar a few days ago. No idea where they came from or how many shows (if any) they've played but they sound pretty great on the douban. Kind of a '60s rock thing going on, but really deep down the magical Beijing psychedelic rabbit hole that has produced so many fantastic, underachieving bands. Name referencing an ancient chthonic moon goddess? Check. Weird effects and arbitrary panning on the vocals? Check. 3/4 waltz breaks? Check. Copious delay? Check check check check.
Some of the songs start out normal but then they go for a walk, drop a few tabs of acid, and return to the spot they started about 12 hours later, brimming with new insights into life, death, and how to get strange noises out of an electric guitar.
Also check out this one. It's like 10 minutes long so I can't even upload it: Hecate - "Shipwreck (demo)" Hecate's playing on November 2 at XP along with Gum Bleed and the (Beijing) Misfits. Here's one from the latter, because it's just as relevant to 2013 Beijing as it was to 1977 New Jersey. The maggots in the iron lung still won't copulate...
*** Happy halloween...
