*** Hope you had a good solstice. So much sunlight, I barely slept all weekend. Too much summertime business to conduct. Too many outdoor hangs. Too many Swedish holidays to observe. This weekend is a bit quieter on the music front but here are two things happening on Saturday night. You can go to one or both, they're on the same street. *** First one is Cracker at Mao. Morgan says there's some kind of joke to be made about a band called Cracker playing a show organized by Split Works but I can't figure it out for the life of me. Anywho, Cracker is this alt-rock band that was really big in the '90s. I'm a fan of that specific genre, like mid-90s alt radio one / two / three-hit wonders. Somewhat of an archaeologist when it comes to it, actually. The Wallflowers, anyone? Barenaked Ladies? Eagle Eye Cherry? Marcy Playground?!? Cracker went a bit deeper than those ones, I guess. But they never really popped up on my radar. Before my time, and their singer is a big music IP rights guy, so their stuff isn't so accessible on the world wide web. He even beefs with websites posting their lyrics, thus depriving untold numbers of random internet people the pleasure of encountering such sterling witticisms as: 'Cause, what the world needs now Are some true words of wisdom Like La la la la la la la la la la 'Cause, what the world needs now Is another folk singer Like I need a hole in my head (Sorry dude.) Not even being ironic, fully endorse that sentiment. Here are some official Cracker vids, which were probably illegally uploaded but how else are we gonna promote this show here? So, yeah. We're dealing with some damn solid alternative rock here. Curious what the turnout will be for this, especially among Chinese fans. Did the '90s MTV thing ever catch on here? Guess the U.S. Embassy thinks so, as they're funding the tour. They really have their finger on the pulse, those U.S. diplomat types. Just deeply into quality tunes. Cracker plays on Saturday, June 28 @ Mao. Tickets are 80rmb at the door, which is already pretty reasonable, but you can grip a real steal of a pre-sale deal (60rmb) online right now. *** As an added bonus, the Cracker show also features an opening set from Ajinai. Ajinai is a Mongolian folk band, so this pairing makes absolutely no sense, but fuck it. Ajinai is awesome. Used to see their founder / singer / principal horse-head-fiddler Hugejiletu play impromptu sets at Amilal a lot back in the day, around 2010, I think just after he'd quit Hanggai. For my money, Ajinai is way better than Hanggai. Less rock schlock, more genuine, deeply felt, inherently musical compositions. They've been working on their self-titled, debut album for what feels like years now. Think it's pretty much done now and will be coming out in July. You can stream it now on Xiami. And here's a rad MV for one of the jams on the upcoming disk: Ajinai is opening for Cracker on Saturday at Mao. *** Well that's already an unnatural enough mix, so why don't we throw a little SKWEEEEEEEE MIIIIIXXXX on top of it? OK! The latest Scandinavian electronic music producer with a ridiculous name using predominately analog gear to come through town is none other than skweee legend Randy Barracuda. At first I couldn't tell if it's Randy like short for Randall, or an adjective modifying a sexually excitable barracuda. Then I stumbled upon this jam and was pretty sure I knew which he meant: Oof. Ketamine strut. Seen that maneuver once too often. So yeah, naturally Mr. Barracuda is coming via China's official ambassadors of squelchy northern European dance music, 87fei87. Antidote is also teaming up for this one for some extra promotional firepower. That skweee is just too infectious. No one's safe. Oh yeah, skweee.. if you're just encountering that odd little construction of a word for the first time, maybe check this interview with the guys who invented it. Randy himself defines skweee as "the b-side of pop music," which sounds about right to me. Here are a few more tunes from the barracuda's... where does a barracuda live? Den? Lair? I'm going to go with Lair, that seems like the vibe of where Ursula from The Little Mermaid was crashing and I'm pretty sure she was hanging out with some barracudas. They're like, villains of the deep right? Or is that eels? *** RECAP: Cracker + Ajinai = Saturday, June 28 @ Mao Randy Barracuda = Saturday, June 28 @ Dada