News, Releases, Yada Yada Yada

Time for spring cleaning and with that lots of news to get out there First up, some releases to gear yourself for.

The biggest and most highly anticipated of releases is of course XTX’s Illusion, his first album in three years and his first under Modern Sky – give it a twirl over here. Still believe he got it? Other than his voice getting to much a tad too much machine assistance sounds like he still has it – particularity dig “I Will Change” and “Footsteps Near”. And if that wasn’t enough, he’ll be performing at the Workers Gymnasium at the end of the month – which I’ve been told – only the fifth time a Chinese band has performed there – following Zheng Jun, Xu Wei, Wang Feng, and of course Cui Jian.

Hardcore nu metal group Logic Control, who have slowly been gathering a dedicated fanbase for almost a decade now are finally getting around to having an album release – entitled Your Love Is The Reason For Draining Me – the album is sure to be filled with rallying calls, head dropping riffs, and plenty of finger pointing aggression – they will be throwing a big bash at Mao Livehouse next weekend, which incidentally is also the day customers can report to the government about fake products, with some friendly support from Forced Posse and Guinea Pig. Grab it there or on taobao here. I have a good feeling about this one.

Last week Shanghai indie folk troupe The Horde, yes, another expat Shanghai band (these financial whizzes sure know how to throw down I must admit) who released the ridiculously awesome Beijing Sucks last year, released their debut album, Consider Yourselves Conquered – grab it over at bandcamp. There’s a lot to like here, especially if you dig some Americana filtered through the China skyline.

More from down south, death-pop duo Death to Gaints, who went viral at the end of last year with their infamous “Anyone Can Learn To Count In Chinese” (if friends back in the US where forwarding it to me) recently unwrapped their debut, Blood Pours Out, for the world to sink their teeth into – fast, furious, with a evil sense of humor it’s a mischievous piece of work – just listen to their song “Jared Leto” and try not to grin. Head on over to bandcamp to pick it up (in free and premium editions) and catch the boys up in Beijing in mid-April.

And one more for the Shanghai team, Pairs, who I know, manage to release something like every month, have another one under the belt. Entitled Eltham Join – it’s Xiao Zhong, a mic, and a piano. And I thought their previous work was restrained. For anyone who enjoyed Pairs’ slower work on their last album, this is chalk full of that kind of nonsense, albeit with just a piano. And somehow it works – I don’t know how those cats pull it off, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t dig the hell out of listening Xiao Zhong moan and croon – as Adam wrote on Shanghai 24/7 there’s something innately human about Xiao’s singing that’s reassuringly fresh.

A little behind on these two as well – BeijingDaze gave wind last week about hard rock group Jacky Danny’s self-titled first release up on bandcamp now – for those looking to get in some high kicks and party like the sun don’t shine, this is definitely for you. The ambient noise junkies, Richard Doran and Michael Cupoli, of Cloud Choir have got a slew of releases available for easy download over at bandcamp, including a few new releases – perfect for drowning out that noise pollution outside with a little of your own noise pollution. Jacky Danny will be at Mao Livehouse on the 23^rd  (as well as have a proper release show in April) and catch Cloud Choir at XP on the 16^th.

Josh, over at SmartBeijing, let out the good word last week that a archive for Sub Jam – the collective/independent record label has been made accessible, which allows one to dig deep back in China’s experimental, avant-grade, and improv scene – from Yan Jun’s own personal material, to photos, articles, and more of Miji shows and other offshoots as well as music of course – it’s a nice way to kill an afternoon and get lost in some out-there music. 

Alright, enough of that – blah blah blah – more next week or so – Residence A is cooking up something new, Li Daiguo with something in April, Jingweir where art thou?, and more. Sorry for no soundcloud – maybe I\’ll put some in later today Follow livebeijingmusic1.0, livebeijingmusic2.0, and specifically for tunes from today livebeijingmusic3.0 and livebeijingmusic4.0 on Soundcloud. Phew.