Upcoming Beijing Events: Kiwese, Ketchup, Bohan, 工工工

By Josh, 2017年 9月 18日

Hello! We live comfortably in the shadows but there’s too much happening this week to stay domestic. Feels like old times! Here’s the cream of the crop coming at you (in Beijing) from Wednesday through Sunday:

Handy guide:

– 9.20 & 22: Kiwese pres. The All Seeing Hand
– 9.22: Bohan Phoenix @ Omni
– 9.23: 工工工 @ fruityspace
– 9.23 & 24: Ketchup Festival

There’s something in the water in Chengdu and Kristen Ng is one of the ones putting it there! Last time pangbianr caught up with Kristen (about a year ago) she’d just opened a new space (NU Space), which she’s built into a must-stop shop on any self-respecting DIY artist’s China tour map. She’s also kept up her Kiwese side acting as a conduit for visiting New Zealanders, and to that end she’ll return to Beijing mid-week to unleash her new solo technoise act Kaishandao and Wellington unit The All Seeing Hand, which Kristen describes thus:

The first time I saw The All Seeing Hand was on a darkened high ropes course. It was the last night of Camp A Low Hum 2012 and the remaining punters were floating around in that special state of mutual derangement so often reserved for the last night of music festivals.

Whether it was the three silhouetted figures thrashing beneath an enormous eye, the breakneck, body-pummeling drum rolls, bass-heavy synth screams, or the likelihood that the entire crowd was tripping on acid, there was immediately a sense of the occult about this band.

“Oh my god, what is this?!” yelled someone in the crowd.
“This is mind control!” shouted another.

Was this mind expansion or mind control? Inspired performance art, or visions of the possessed? Whatever it was, that night in the forest, we looked into the eye of The All Seeing Hand and everything changed.

Tour kicks off in Beijing this Wednesday (9.20) at School Bar and follows up sloppier on Friday at Temple.

WED 9.20, 9pm
The All Seeing Hand, Kaishandao, E/N/T, 不在话下 (not in catalog)
VJ: C.A.I.N.
School Bar (53 Wudaoying Hutong / 五道营胡同53号)
ticket: 80rmb

FRI 9.22, 10pm
The All Seeing Hand, None, Hind Brain
Temple (206 Gulou Dong Dajie / 鼓楼东大街206号)
ticket: free

Full tour schedule here

On Friday night, NYC based rapper Bohan Phoenix rounds the last leg on what’s been an extended China tour with a big Do Hits shindig at Omni Space. More than just a tour, this has been kind of an immersion experience for Bohan & DJ TOY, who’s gone along for the ride. They’ve done a deep dive in each city, meeting with local musicians, promoters, artists, and whomever else, finding a thread of emerging youth culture in each corner of China they’ve touched down in and documenting it. Look forward to some kind of video series coming from this team after their tour wraps.

In the mean time, go to Omni Space (aka “the new Jiangjinjiu”, same complex as the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center near Qianmen) on Friday night, where Jason Hou will present a new A/V set, Howie Lee will tease a new collaboration with Dutch E Germ of Gang Gang Dance, and Bohan will “Phantom of Opera that shit and then ghost”:

(Incidentally I actually did see The Phantom of the Opera at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in 2015, was cool.)

FRI 9.22, 8pm
Bohan Phoenix & DJ TOY, Howie Lee & Dutch E Germ, Jason Hou
VJ: Thoid & veeeky
Omni Space (9 Tianqiao Nandajie / 天桥南大街9号楼)
ticket: 150rmb

Just two brothers, trying to make it work in the big city. Stripped down crypto-blues charity organization Beijing Haibaoshen Foundation is holding a fundraiser on Saturday evening to support the Big Apple dreams of local boys 工工工, who want to transcend the cardboard simulacra we must inhabit here in Beijing and lay down their latest masterpiece in New York City itself. The event is also the release of their latest recorded effort, Rhythm n’ Drone, which might sound a little something like this:

SAT 9.23, 4pm
工工工 tape release
Fruityspace (3 Meishuguan Dong Jie / 美术馆东街3号)
ticket: free

Last but not least: Ketchup Fest, a little DIY multiple-venue mini-fest by filmmaker Cab and Dirty Fingers drummer Alex. Lots to love on this thing, which happens this Saturday and Sunday (9.23-24) across three venues (DDC, Temple, Fruityspace), encompasses multiple genres and also throws in some fun extras like pop-up markets, talks and food.

Readers of this publication will be most interested in the Saturday evening show at DDC with Gao Jiafeng, GogoJ, and Dirty Fingers, and in the Sunday afternoon portion of the festival (4pm on 9.24 at fruityspace), which features bruising post-No Wave (maybe-wave?) quartet Not in Catalog and Li Jianhong’s first set post-fatherhood. Bonus round later that evening at DDC with the grand finale featuring the unlikely pairing of SUBS and Dawei!

SAT 9.23, 9pm
Dirty Fingers, GogoJ, Gao Jiafeng, Anxt
DDC (14 Shanlao Hutong / 山老胡同14号)
ticket: 80rmb

SUN 9.24, 4-7pm
Li Jianhong, Not in Catalog, Dirty Fingers (unplugged)
Fruityspace (3 Meishuguan Dong Jie / 美术馆东街3号)
ticket: 60rmb

SUN 9.24, 9pm
SUBS, Dawei, Lonely Leary, 4 Channels Club
DDC (14 Shanlao Hutong / 山老胡同14号)
ticket: 80rmb

Full Ketchup Festival program here

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