*** Mercury (photo by NASA) Whoa, seriously... fuck Earth. Circumstances have been getting too real. We're all being pulled backwards by this Mercury Retrograde nonsense for another 12 days anyway, so let's just embrace it and escape to Unseen Worlds. No better route than through sound. Got a few otherworldly musics drifting around town this week, from pianos, from synthesizers resembling borrowed alien technology, from Japan... *** First on deck is MONO on Friday at Yugong. More of that post-rock stuff. MONO is one of the biggest names in that particular racket. They're coming through China once again under the auspices of Chengdu's New Noise, who at this point are just running the table vis-a-vis post-rock in mainland China. Here's a bit of the presser: MONO are being highly acclaimed to be making “music for the Gods” and are often mentioned as one of the 4 big post rock bands in the world. The 4-piece instrumental band, formed in Tokyo in 1999, have released 7 studio albums. The band was praised by breaking boundaries after playing with the World Music Orchestra in New York. Mono are primarily a live band, and have toured worldwide several times and played all of the biggest festivals in the world such as Roskilde, Fuji Rock... Their live show tends to feature intense and emotional playing by the band members, as well as using extreme dynamics in their attempt to create an "unforgettable" live performance. Yes. Intense. Emotional. "Violently beautiful," even. Though MONO's fame has been built primarily on the bedrock of their reportedly transcendent live performances, they also have a formidable studio output. This time around, they're touring on a pair of new albums, Rays of Darkness and The Last Dawn. Heavy. Those aren't up for streaming yet, but here's their previous long player, 2012's For My Parents: This one's a bit pricy — 220rmb at the door — but believe: it'll sell out. We'll have kuaidi-convenient 180rmb pre-sale tix available via SmartTicket from Wednesday morning, so bookmark this one if you want to save a few kuais and guarantee your spot. More event info in the listing. *** Next up: Lubomyr Melnyk on Saturday at Yue Fu. Now, I know my tendency is to hype things up here. I'm rarely negative in my assessment of Beijing's limited selection of live music offerings because, hey: one must catch as catch can. Believe that I'm not exaggerating when I say this show is not my pick of the week, or the month, but my pre-emptive call as the standout live music experience of the year in Beijing. Before I say any more, here's a demonstration of skill: So what you're seeing there is a technique that Ukraine-born, Winnipeg-based pianist Lubomyr Melnyk pioneered. He calls it "Continuous Music" and describes it as such: "Transcendental Music that will carry you away on an immaculate journey ... where the protons and electrons of the mind will sparkle and come alive! ... it's unlike anything heard before!" (Emphasis his.) More technically: "Melnyk's Continuous Music is based on the principle of a continuous and unbroken line of sound from the piano --- this is created by generating a constant flow of rapid (at times EXTREMELY rapid) notes, usually with the pedal sustained non-stop. The notes can be either in the form of patterns or as broken chords that are spread over the keyboard. To accomplish this requires a special technique, one that usually takes years to master --- this technique is the very basis of the meditative and metaphysical aspects within the music and the art of the piano." Melnyk legitimately holds two world records in this department: fastest pianist in the world ("sustaining speeds of over 19.5 notes per second in each hand, simultaneously"), and most number of notes played in one hour ("in exactly 60 minutes, Melnyk sustained an average speed of over 13 notes per second in each hand, yielding a remarkable total of 93,650 INDIVIDUAL notes"). Yeah, who knows what the fuck that even means. I guess you have to use one of those cameras they track hummingbirds with to even quantify such a thing. Here's another video to just geek out to. KUNG FU TECHNIQUE: The music itself... is pretty fantastic. Sounds like an hour-long fadeaway. Dreamlike. Metaphysical. This show is being put on by Split Works but the original point of contact is Neil Fauerso, whom you may have seen standing up at various Comdy Club China events. I met Neil soon after he moved to Beijing, via an introduction from a mutual friend in the US based on a shared interest in fucking weird music. Back Stateside, Neil runs a label called Unseen Worlds, which gave Melnyk his first re-issue and led to a major career renaissance for the sextagenarian composer (Melnyk released three albums of new material last year, and is slated for a marquee performance at the Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo after his China dates). Here's an interview with Melnyk, worth a background listen for this quote alone: "What Hendrix can do on guitar, you should be able to do on the piano." Neil — who's no spring chicken when it comes to otherworldly sounds — describes Melnyk's live show as life-changing. So, I'm sold. And I'm selling it back to you. This one's a sundowner, 5pm start. There will be one set of Melnyk's unaccompanied continuous playing, and a second set where he will play on top of a recording of his first set. Don't take drugs, would be redundant. Full gig info here. *** One more, an alternative for Saturday night if you're looking for more of a local noisy rock vibe: Alpine Decline + Birdstriking at XP. Two bands I love, who've been scarce of late. It's Alpine Decline's first Beijing show in months and months — they just came back from a lengthy North America sabbatical / tour. They plugged back into their Los Angeles roots for a minute, in the process cooking up a hot remix with LA loft dub unit Pharaohs: While in LA, they also adopted a heavy-duty new sonic weapon: This thing's a trip. The Eurorack modular synth thing hasn't really taken off in Beijing, but I expect it will catch on pretty soon. Alpine Decline put this little beast together and toted it back to Beijing, where they've already used it to devastating effect at that UCCA gig with PK14 a few weeks back. They also toted it to my apartment yesterday as a form of sonic-physical therapy for my broken knee. It sounds unreal. Was talking with Jonathan from Alpine Decline about the idea of "future shock" in music; these modular synths — and their increasing accessibility to people who aren't just died-in-the-wool gear nerds — are opening up entire new worlds of unheard sounds. Pretty exciting, even if reading about it makes you roll your eyes. You'll feel it when you hear it. Besides providing the stage for Alpine Decline's revamped sound, Saturday is also the debut of a new lineup for Maybe Mars young Turks Birdstriking, who've added Penicillin's Wen Yuzhen on second guitar. This is the first lineup change Birdstriking's undergone since forming in 2009 (the original trio of He Fan on guitar/vox, Zhou Nairen on bass, and Wang Xinjiu on drums is still intact). It's a pivotal moment for the band, who just completed a lengthy UK tour with legendary psych troupe Brian Jonestown Massacre (screen the very well-produced tour doco above), and are poised to become the first Mainland band of their generation to play Hong Kong's Clockenflap festival next month. Think they're eyeing a major North America tour for next Spring, too. Big moves. Check out all the modular synth sorcery and double-barreled guitar maneuvers on Saturday, October 18 at XP. *** Recap: MONO = FRI 10/17 @ Yugong Yishan Lubomyr Melnyk = SAT 10/18 @ Yue Fu Alpine Decline + Birdstriking = SAT 10/18 @ XP Top/cover photo from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center