Weekly Update: Eck$’s and ಠಠ’s

By Josh, 2015年 12月 3日

All bundled up with nowhere to go? Got you, as usual. Here’s some Chicago trap, Shanghai punk, LA alt-pop and Aussie grind to get you through the ice winds ahead:

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First up, the Trap Don boys are back at Dada tonight with a real humdinger: Lucky Eck$ from Chicago. Gotta say, I’m feeling pretty anti-Trap after seeing this guy Hucci play Dada last weekend. Worst shit I’ve ever heard. Getting old I guess? Hucci is just an extreme, straw man, depressingly successful version of trap I guess. Just the sound of a gun cocking endlessly over a 60bpm kick with this one white dude by the bar in a wife beater LOSING HIS SHIT the entire time. Poor taste. Packed though.

Anyway, this Lucki Eck$ guy seems more appealing. Here’s a lil’ tune of his produced by the great FKA twigs:

Another treat on the table for tonight is a live set from ubiquitous sad boi about town Bloodz Boi. Despite the fact that he DJs 330 days out of the year at Dada, Bloodz barely ever plays live. He’s been pretty active in the (bedroom) studio lately though. Here’s [ 贵 族 生 活 ]: “ᴍʏ ɴᴇᴡ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ/ᴍɪxᴛᴀᴘᴇ ᴡ/ @3ʙᴀɴɢᴢ , ᴡᴇ ᴛᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ɢɪʀʟs, ᴍᴏɴᴇʏ & ᴏᴜʀ ɢᴏʀɢᴇᴏᴜs ʟɪғᴇsᴛʏʟᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ ғᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴛs ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴜsɪᴄ. ᴡᴇ ᴀɪɴᴛ ʀɪᴄʜ ʙᴜᴛ ᴡᴇ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ʀᴏʏᴀʟ. ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ.”

Chyeah. 50rmb on the door, additional support from Shackup and Mean Jerk.

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Round Eye with Steve Mackay (photo by Alessio Avezzano)

Moving on. This Friday we’re hosting another spin from Shanghai wildmen Round Eye. Last time through they were touring with legendary Stooges saxophonist Steve Mackay. I was lucky enough to organize an improv jam with Steve and some other local Beijing noisers at the time. Sadly, Steve passed away in October. RIP to another legend.

Onto new business: Round Eye’s in town this time to release their latest, a cassette out now on Nasty Wizard Recordings. I’m all about the Round Eye but hot damn if they haven’t outdone themselves here. Their Side B opens up with some weird, jagged piano loop and a certainly illegal sample of someone’s rendition of “Blue Suede Shoes” (Carl Perkins maybe?). From there it’s basically all the usual Round Eye elements — electric guitars, saxes, drums — run through a blender and about 100 tape delays. ? Fuckin cool:

Round Eye’s touring up with fresh-faced Shanghai punk band Zilu. Shanghai’s been churning out the quality punk rock lately. Dirty Fingers was the best punk band I’ve seen all year. In addition to Temple, Zilu’s also heading up a pretty nice bill tonight (THU Dec 3) at School, Beijing’s punk mecca these days, along with them Diders, Shouchu Legion, and Quickshot. Here’s Zilu in action:

But the main attraction is ROUND EYE, Zilu, Motorbike Girls, and special guest Noise Arcade in his LAST EVER show until the following week. Friday, Dec 4, Temple Bar, 9:30pm start, FREE!

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Another one for Friday: Julia Holter at Modernsky Lab. Already laid the foundation for this one with my interview with Holter earlier in the week. If you missed that:

“Holter, who’s touring behind her latest long-player Have You In My Wilderness, has built a steady stream of critical acclaim, melding a classically pop aesthetic with more idiosyncratic elements like field-recorded outside sound and a tendency to deconstruct her own voice through layer upon layer of loop decay. Lyrically she relays an eclectic, hyper-literary, B.A.-in-humanities vibe, personalizing stray elements of Greek tragedy, Modernist novella, and contemporary poetry into a highly impressionistic melange of word and sound.”

Sample:

So that’s Julia Holter, plus an opening set of minimal modular pop from Alpine Decline + Charm, on Friday Dec 4 @ Modernsky Lab. Doors at 8:30pm, music 9ish I guess.

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Onto Saturday. There are two big corporate events going down, the better of which is VICE’s little get-together for US experimental/maximal rock heavyweights Battles and Moon Duo. But, really, fuck VICE. You should be checking out Scrotal Vice, I think. Far less bullshit fashion posturing going on with these Aussie bastards:

Scrot Rot! From the presser: “Formed in 2011, the self-described ‘extreme post-op power grind’ band combine elements of jazz, punk, and grindcore, and are one of the most entertaining and wild live shows currently in Australia.”

Sold. Scrotal Vice is playing two shows in old Beijing: Saturday at Temple with Jajatao, Free Sex Shop, and Shochu Legion, and again on Sunday at School with D-Crash, Demerit, those Diders, and “mystery new band” (spoiler alert: it’s a Domer joint).

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RECAP:

Lucki Eck$ = THU Dec 3 @ Dada

Round Eye Tape Release = FRI Dec 4 @ Temple

Julia Holter = FRI Dec 4 @ Modernsky Lab

Scrotal Vice = SAT Dec 5 @ Temple & SUN Dec 6 @ School

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