Hot & Cold’s set often touched on minimal synth traditions of simple repeated melodies (when there is a melody to speak of), raw and bleak (or reverb-saturated) vocals, and stripped down rhythm compositions. However, Hot & Cold is definitely not another band of the Dead Luke/John Maus variety. There is no danger of inappropriate melodic lushness or oversanitized synths replacing vital shapeless noise, only an obvious lack of adherence to any one musical classification, an intelligently programmed drum machine, and post-apocalyptic lyrics.

This Saturday, June 19: a going away party for some of our friends and the Spring. Come by for veg-friendly food and drink, from 5pm til way late. La Loupe and others will perform. Bring some food so we don’t run out!

Two highlights: Zombies dedicated to Jay Reatard (“We’ve known him since he was 17. He was supposed to come here but… he fucked up”) and a Johnny Thunders cover that prompted an overenthusiastic Chinese fan to somehow short-circuit the guitar and cause a small delay.

Liked this band Which Park from Dalian.

Offset: Spectacles are putting out a cassette tape on tuesday June 15 at D22. I found out they’re going to be releasing tapes for several Chinese bands and the bassist also makes a zine. So we made them this flyer.

Be Persecuted is from Jiangxi and they didn’t move around a lot but they did SHRED. I’ve never heard a bigger sound at a show in Beijing.

Xiao He did his thing, which last night involved some tried and true passages from his looped acoustic/incomprehensible high-pitched rambling playbook. Maybe it is comprehensible to someone with better Chinese, you be the judge.

Saw the Spex again at Mao.

Things looked different when I walked in. Ajinai usually dresses all in traditional Mongolian garb, but tonight they were wearing street clothes, metal shirts, and cargo shorts. It was nice to see them with their hair down and tattoos out.