*** Getting into real autumn mode here. While Chinese nationalism is the last thing I want to promote at the moment (google: "Hong Kong"), the fact is we have a long holiday coming up on Wednesday. The temperature should be nice (BJ usually strong-arms the weather into compliance for 10/1, as it does so many other things), and there's quite an eclectic mix of hybrid-genre live music gigs to attend. Here are eight for the Octo break: *** First, another quick shoutout to the Goushen Record Release on Wednesday, October 1 at School Bar. Wrote a bit about this one last week, so I won't repeat myself except to say that Goushen, and in particular their frontwoman, Lenz, are some of the hardest grinding rock'n'rollers on the Shanghai music scene currently. Kind of a bittersweet moment, as Lenz is dipping out to the greener pastures of Australia after a quick tour to release their brand new record, Dio Cane: So yeah, I'd say head to School on 10/1 to show a DIY Shanghai band some love. Full gig info in the listing. *** If you're less into hard rock / metal / punk hybrids and more into "Asian folklore, sound art, Chinese opera and rock", maybe check out Dawanggang on Wednesday, 10/1 @ Mako. If my recommendation alone doesn't hold enough water, here's what BBC has to say about it: Dawanggang is the shifting-lineup ensemble project of poly-genre multi-instrumentalist Song Yuzhe. On Wednesday he kicks off a Fall tour called Water From Breaking Gold with the all-star lineup of himself on vocals / eight-string banjo / guitar, Li Tieqiao on sax, FM3's Zhang Jian on organ and sampler, Quentin Manfroy on flute / bass, and Li Dan on percussion. Song Yuzhe is one of the true originals on the Chinese folk scene. I'd say this one's well worth a look for a slightly off-center, partially bent out of shape take on "world music" in Beijing. Ticket is 120rmb, or 100rmb online presale. More info here. *** One more for Wednesday: Dutch prog quintet Lesoir at DDC. This is actually Lesoir's third time through China. They just can't get enough. And they have the crew at This Town Touring hosting, so they're in good hands. Whenever I talk to foreign bands thinking about touring through China, my first piece of advice is: "Expect to lose money." My second is that if you're trying to "break into the local market" or whatever, plan on repeat trips. This Town gets it, and Lesoir is blazing that particular trail. This time around, they're touring on their latest album, Transience. Check it:

A nice fit for the intimate space and Dutch-beer-friendly environment of DDC, I'd say. More info on this one here. *** Next up: Swiss bass clarinet + electronics trio DEER. I saw these guys in Hong Kong, where they did a live score for these super creepy Belgian films. They just did that set last night at Zajia, but don't sweat it if you missed it. DEER's got two more gigs lined up for Beijing. They play on Tuesday at XP with Li Jianhong, Liu Xinyu, and Vavabond, then again on Thursday, 10/2 @ Meridian for Yan Jun's MIJI series alongside drone violinist Yan Yulong and improvised synth-silence duo Soviet Pop. All very abstract and cerebral stuff. Here's a bit on DEER's live schtick: "One single Note of a bass clarinet, played three times, calm and quietly breathing. This is the source of and by DEER, the raw material, which finds step by step its way through a bunch of electronic devices. At first hardly audible, then more and more intense, layer by layer is added to the sound. Small sound miniatures are processed by additional devices and one after another the sound layers are piled up to a massive, complex soundsculpture. From one single note arises a hypnotic, oscillating wall of sound – psychedelic, minimalistic, exhilarating beautiful." Mmm. Yes. Stream some DEER music here and catch them on Tuesday 9/30 at XP and/or Thursday 10/2 @ Meridian Space. *** Moving right along... Danish hard rock / pop punk unit Clean Boys kick off a two-week "Railtrekking China Tour" on Friday, October 3 at School. Clean Boys have kind of a bratty punk aesthetic paired with a riff-heavy hard rock thing going on. They describe their sound as "Tobacco based punk-rock." Should fit right in at School! Here's the "official" video for one of their newer jams, "In Limbo": Clean Boys kicks off their China tour on Friday, October 3 at School with local support from Bye Bye Noise and HoTLine. They'll be back in Beijing on the other end of the tour as well, with an October 18 gig at DMC. More info on that one as we receive it... *** Again: if you're less into heavy rock punk shit and more into loopy avant jazz shit, you'll want to skip School on Friday and head to Jianghu for Feint East, Strike West. That's Beijing free jazz proselytizer Li Tieqiao's long-running improv concert series, now in its 45th edition. Damn. This time around Tieqiao (sax) is joined by clarinetist Sylvian Kassap and cellist Didier Petit. Here's a sample of each jazzman's respective thing: This one should be very nice. Probably will get crowded as Jianghu's performance space is pretty tiny. Get there early and bring a date maybe? More info here. *** ONE MORE: on Saturday, October 4, DDC hosts a one-day, DIY festival rager called Purple Toad. Think this one was thrown together by three of Beijing's finest Dan(n)'s: Dan Taylor (The Harridans / Luvplastik), Dann Gaymer (Guiguisuisui), and Daniel Lenk (Luvplastik). Here's what they have to say about Purple Toad: "Hey you lucky lot! Us lovely folks over at DDC have bashed our heads together and selected some of the finest talent in all of Beijing to come and play at our live house for the upcoming Purple Toad Festival. We have psychedelic rock. We have punk. We have folk. We have deranged, skateboard wielding, industrial, gothic blues! All the bases have been covered. We will also be holding an exhibition of the otherworldly and beautiful art of miss Anya Chalina (An Exciting local painter who has been working with some of our festival’s artist on their upcoming releases). As if that wasn’t enough, drink deals will be thrown into the mix to keep you suitably inebriated over the day’s festivities. A hoot and a half we think! Come and support independent, creative musicians and artists. Enjoy the upcoming holiday in style!" Sounds super great. The event kicks off at 4pm and will run into the late late hours with live sets from Wang Shengnan, 16 Mins, The Harridans, MeToo, GuiGuiSuiSui, Luv Plastik, The Beijing Alchemsits, and Super Bad. The ticket for all of this is 40rmb, and that includes a bottle of Panda Beer to boot. Hot damn. I write about Guiguisuisui like every other week; stream his latest jams right here. Here are what the other Dans are up to lately, and will presumably bring to the Purple Toad: *** Recap: Goushen Record Release = WED 10/1 @ School Dawanggang: Water from Breaking Gold = WED 10/1 @ Mako Lesoir = WED 10/1 @ DDC DEER = TUE 9/30 @ XP & THU 10/2 @ Meridian Clean Boys = FRI 10/3 @ School Li Tieqiao / Sylvian Kassap / Didier Petit trio = FRI 10/3 @ Jianghu Purple Toad Festival = SAT 10/4 @ DDC