*** Steve Buchanan Enjoying that APEC weather?! I sure am. The four shafts of light that are able to penetrate my landlocked hutong apartment are looking real, real bright. But what is brightness without the darkness to give it meaning? Gotta cross wires every now and then to give life definition. Kind of a yin / yang thing. This week there are a lot of oscillations around town, between dance and music, shape and formlessness, noise and signal, in dive bars, in dance clubs, in record stores. Reset your system with this selection of offbeat electronics: *** First up: tomorrow night, XP's Zoomin' Night hosts Geneva-based composer, media artist, multi-instrumentalist, and electric tap dancer Steve Buchanan. This guy has a pretty deep CV, but here I'll focus on his specialized instrument, Bucussion. Basically a mic'd up tap-dancing surface, Buchanan has developed an interactive dance + percussion tool over eight developmental generations, aiming to create a unique platform (literally) on which to showcase his twin interests, dancing and composition. He explains: The technique is centered on the feet, though Steve Buchanan uses the saxophone as an additional percussion orchestra. Although, the sounds are represented by digital means, no simple drum computer sequences, no "just push a button" sample work is utilized. As the artist states: "I love to dance, and that means work and sweat!" Amen! Here's what this thing looks like:

Steve Buchanan E.106st from steve buchanan on Vimeo.

Craaaazy. Click through more Steve Buchanan audio and video documents here, and see his Bucussion performance for yourself tomorrow (Tuesday) night at XP with local support from Charm and Liu Xinyu. *** Next up in weeknight electronic skullduggery: on Thursday, Mako hosts Volume 2 of a series called Fake Hope. What hope isn't fake, really? This particular troupe of electric noise enthusiasts is led by Sheng Di, aka Dee, leader of the band 汨Mii. Dee's been lurking the Beijing fringe music scene since moving up here from Shandong around late 2011. Mii is his amorphous, free-floating gestalt of a "band," with no consistent lineup or sound. The only constant, besides Dee himself, is Dee's abused, nearly life-sized Chucky doll. Creepy shit. Here's a glimpse: Mii's joined at Mako by new "chiptune pedal abusing" Guiguisuisui alter-ego DJ Guigz, which is "samples of retro Gameboy and NES games with original 8-bit beats and live Gameboy/guitar pedal abuse, it's a horror show of lo-fi dance beats." Neato. 9:30pm start. The cover price is listed at 1 kuai on Douban so I guess it's a pay-what-you-feel kind of situation. More info here. Mii / Dee is also playing at that new Fruityshop record store on Saturday, but there's no info online for that one. The Fruityshop gang — led by ambient electronic + guitar palimpsest weaver Me:Mo — has been doing some free Saturday in-stores lately. I'll investigate that whole scene this weekend and get back to you... *** Also on Thursday: Dada hosts a night of electronic exotica. This one features Alpine Decline playing a set entirely comprised of modular synth insanity. They are promising "aural confusion, tingling scalp, synapses popping off like cheap firecrackers, behind the curtain drones..." Wonderful. Also on the bill is local producer Menghan, a young Beijinger who's starting to break into some of the darker corners of the electronic music underground here. Here's one of her more recent tunes: On the DJ side of things: JCHAN will hold down the decks at some point in the night. This family man and Beijinger co-founder also moonlights as a hip hop mixologist and intensely misanthropic industrial music enthusiast. He opened up Dada's Halloweener and, by all accounts, slayed. Mr. Chan just started a Bandcamp to showcase his skills. Here's a little taste: So this one's a free weeknight gig. Visuals will be amply supplied all night by LAVA's VJ Vuh-Jay-Jay, so that'll be a treat. Get the full lineup + more gig info right here *** Last up, and least fitting the theme: Da Bang on Saturday at Yugong. Da Bang (formerly Bigger Bang) is Modern Sky's marquee "dance punk" or "electro indie" act now that Queen Sea Big Shark has jumped ship. They've been pretty quiet this year outside of the obligatory festival slots, but they've been hitting the pavement on a China-wide tour since October 5, and it wraps this weekend at Yugong. Reason I'm including them here is that the band has been crossing a few wires in Beijing. Drummer Li Nan has been popping up at Zoomin' Night, collaborating with White+ drummer Wang Xu on a few percussion-only gigs. He opened for Kid Millions at last week's Zoomin' Night, playing an impressive trap kit + electronics hybrid set. He and Da Bang's guitarist also played an all-gear set opening for White+ at Dada about a month back. This is a trend I've been eyeing all year — two trends, actually. A lot of indie rock scene vets are gaining interest in electronic music, most recently exemplified by White+ dropping the guitar and drum set to tackle more DJ booth, dance-oriented live sets at Dada. Also, the drumming thing... I predict that Beijing will see a lot of all-percussion ensembles playing out next year, catalyzed by last week's Man Forever gig. Anyway, Da Bang is playing at Yugong Yishan on Saturday. White+ is opening, which I heard really pissed off some people at Modern Sky. A little inter-label acrimony (White+ rides for Maybe Mars) is very healthy, crossing wires and hopefully generating new results. Here's a new Da Bang song, "TV," as featured on their tour trailer vid: *** That's a lot to process... get out there and bend your own circuits this week.