Weekly Update: Snow Caps

By Josh, 2015年 11月 24日

Alpine Decline returns in full rock’n’roll raiment on Saturday at School Bar

Let it snow? In China that’s really a choice that gets made, albiet above our heads. All we can decide is the roof under which we’ll avoid the heavy elements swirling about the air, and what sounds will drown the howls outside. Here are some…

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First up: Risteard Deorian, the prodigal fast son, returns to Beijing tomorrow night (WED Nov 25) at Ritan Park Moroccan restaurant/rum bar/live music haven Caravan.

You might remember Deorian from tearing a hole in Beijing’s rock/noise underground some years back through his two most prolific projects: Lowbow, his gold lamé suit-clad damaged blues-noise act, or Cloud Choir, his maximalist drone project, both with Michael Cupoli of Noise Arcade in tow:

Or you might remember him from being a big-deal talking head on CCTV, or from his hit Youku web series The Super English Show and Beijing Street Eats, or from that huge billboard he was on in Xizhimen back in the day, or maybe on account of a baijiu-fueled conversation you once had with him at a place and time you can’t recall.

Anyway, Risteard’s been gone but he’s back for a spell to unveil his latest project, DMh. From the horse’s mouth:

“The recordings were all done over a period of five days with single takes and no overdubs. Each take is named after a known mental illness; which each songs represents. DMh had been suffering from imaginary, serious illnesses and had to return to his homeland of Ireland. After months of intensive care he has been brought back to health.”

Hit up Caravan tomorrow (Wednesday, November 25) for the official release of DMh’s Hooray, I’m cured!, plus supporting sets from thruoutin and Noise Arcade. Free, 9:30pm start.

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fRUITYSHOP‘s the place to be for the following two nights, I’d say. On Thursday (Nov 26), they’ll host Dunedin ambient techno producer Kolya and his partner in crime, VJ Lazer Light, aka current Red Gate artist in residence Erica Sklenars. Caught these two the other night at Dada, when they took the stage from QT and stole the show. They say: “KOLYA X LAZER LIGHT is the multidimensional amalgamation of hardware electronic artist Kolya and psychedelic light witch Lady Lazer Light (Orchestra of Spheres VJ) from New Zealand. Deeply rooted in techno, raised on noise. Kolya accents textural soundscapes with thumping minimal dance beats, while Lazer Light’s live video mixing and projection mapping onto crafted objects works to transform spaces into cosmic new environments.”

Here’s a sample of the sounds + 3D-mapped sights to expect on Thursday night at the vinyl shop:

Local multimedia support from Noise Arcade + Jefske. Free, 9pm start.

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工工工

That’s followed up on Friday night with a nice spread of experimental/improv guitar music. To wit: veteran shredder Li Jianhong will pair up with wailer Wang Ziheng for an improvised guitar+sax duo performance, followed up by 工工工, the recently named duo of Hot & Cold’s Josh Frank + Offset: Spectacles’ Tom Ng. Also joining the bill is laptop composer Yang Wenliang, whom Josh Frank describes as such: “He’s got a cool Lynchian/Taiwanese film vibe, cinematic slightly krauty stuff.”

Sounds perfect! No material online for any of these specific combos, but here’s a recently uploaded cut from Mind Fiber, Li Jianhong’s minimalistic improv duo with his wife Vavabond, from the pair’s intermittently updated China Free Improvisation label:

That’s Friday, November 27 at fRUITYSHOP, 20rmb ticket, 9:30pm start.

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Finally: both gig of the week and poster design of the month go to Duck Fight Goose + Alpine Decline on Saturday (Nov 28) at School Bar. Shanghai’s Duck Fight Goose has been scarce in Beijing of late: last time they came through was for BEME III, over a year ago. There’s been a lot going on under the hood since. As a whole, the band’s been working on a new album to follow up Sports, their killer 2011 dystopi-rock slow-burner. New Duck Fight Goose should come out early next year if all goes according to plan.

On the side, band leader Han Han has been extra prolific through his solo alias GOOOOOSE, checking back in to the capital for this year’s BEME and releasing a slew of tracks for compilations released by China electronic underground tastemakers such as Svbkvlt and Do Hits. Here’s Han Han for the latter:

Another one rumbling around the 2016 rumor mill is that Han Han will reboot his own DIY label, Miniless, which has been more or less dormant since I interviewed him about it in September 2011.

All great news! But this show’s really a double whammy as it also sees Alpine Decline returning to the stage in full rock’n’roll formation after six months of nerding out exclusively on their shiny new Eurorack kits. On Saturday, A.D. — joined by PK14’s Yang Haisong on bass — will play a full set of brand new material from their forthcoming long-player Life’s a Gasp, or, as I like to call it, “dammit I’ve already heard the best record of 2016, guess I can go home early.”

No preview materials for that one available unless you’ve heard my phone ring in the last six weeks. Just show up at School Bar on Saturday around 9:30pm for the live download. 80rmb cover.

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RECAP:

DMh + Noise Arcade + thruoutin = WED Nov 25 @ Caravan

Kolya x Lazer Light + Noise Arcade x Jefske = THU Nov 26 @ fRUITYSHOP

Li Jianhong x Wang Ziheng + 工工工 + Yang Wenliang = FRI Nov 27 @ fRUITYSHOP

Duck Fight Goose + Alpine Decline = SAT Nov 28 @ School Bar

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