Loreli, the cultural platform for emerging artists, writers, and musicians in China, turns the ripe age of two! With a steady stream of interviews, articles, and events bringing the creative minds of Beijing together, the platform has become a crucial part of the scene here in Beijing and has only grown and evolved since its incarnation. The team celebrated in style, and by style I mean, unhinged lunacy and debauchery, at Temple this month and while my brain made have expunged quite a bit of it, the camera, that suspicious non-judgmental third eye of mine, was there to capture the mayhem on hand. Every band’s set essentially turned into a circus, from Boss Cuts‘ surf rocking brass enhanced set, to Tavey Lean & The Solid Gold Machine’s happy-go-lucky entrée (like they need any more people up on stage with them), and The Sardine Is Back And The Wheel Is Broken’s madcap, semi-improvisational blues punk, which pretty much let anyone and anything on stage with them, including random audience members and friends sprouting nonsensical, strangely fitting poetry jams whilst a terrifying piñata ‘baby’ danced front and center. Yeah it was a pretty wild night that somehow never collapsed in on itself. Graceful pandemonium. And that my friends, is the magic of Loreli. Happy Birthday!
Prologue/Epilogue: So before my night turned into the above, I swung by Floso, the vinyl, clothing joint just west of the Temple/Dada complex. It’s pretty legit. Fine peeps, even finer vinyl, and besides throwing an electronic workshop every Wednesday there, they occasionally put on small events. I catch L+R, the electronic producer whose output has mostly been with Ran Music. Kicks all kinds of ass. Another shoutout to EA Livehouse, the forsaken awkward disco themed bar stuck between Dada and Temple. They were hosting a rap battle of sorts, with some local talent facing off against some expats. And these folks were not messing around – serious talent on stage. Found myself popping in and out to rile myself up. A reminder that EA Livehouse may just have it in them after all especially if they put their money on the hip hop scene. Gotta give credit where credit is due. Even the décor (which changes every other weekend I feel) has a surreal tacky charm about it.
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