OTS: Da Bang, white +, Late Troubles (School 22.08.2014)

Back in the ‘point and shoot’ game folks – for a while, I though I wasn’t gonna be able to pick up a camera unless I had my ragtag team of numnuts to shoot alongside with. Well, I cracked – there’s something so satisfying about these lo-fi camera outings which gets my blood going. Especially, when you come across a night like this one – where the rain was so heavy, not a soul could step foot outside of School – turning the joint into a humid, damp, steamy fever dream where the audience’s only outlet for comfort was the music. And boy did School supply –

Da Bang, who I had just about written off, blew the roof off; white + took it one step further by adding another drummer to the mix; and Late Troubles brought a friggin ukulele. A strange evening indeed. Check out more below.

Chen Xi, of Snapline, is one talented son of a bitch. So even a pet project, like his solo electronic (and yes, ukulele) project Late Troubles, promises at a whole other side of the artist that shows serious potential.

But what I took most away from his set was Chen Xi should sing in Chinese more, and ukuleles make everything that much cooler. Color me intrigued.

The evolution of white + has been a trip to watch. What started as the side project of Zhang Shouwang, morphed into a duo when The Gar’s Wang Xu and since then has turned into a entirely different beast.

This is rock and roll filtered through an electronic mindset, that’s growing more and more ambitious with each outing. Carsick who?

However, it was Da Bang who stole the show – here was a band who since tapping into the indietronica well couple years back, has stammered in their approach. Too soft, not enough edge, and just all around lazy. But tonight, there was a fire in Pupi’s voice and the band was hungry to let School know they have plenty more to give.

Surprises like this that keep me coming back for more.