Notes from the Underground: (Angry) weekend preview

To be completely honest, every time a “loud, angry” band comes down from Beijing, we can’t help but compare it to a line from Nick Hornby’s famous novel High Fidelity in which he pens:

“It was like these guys who suddenly shaved their heads, claiming they’d *always* been punks”.

A lot of livid metal comes from the capital and only a select few live up to their “famous band from Beijing” label -- and lucky for you, tonight at Tang Hui, that buildup rings true. Famed metal/rapcore boys Yaska grace the tiny first floor stage. We can testify to this after seeing them featured in a MIDI documentary a few years back -- is it a Lincoln Park reincarnate? Yes, yes it is -- but it’s a must for anyone who has any interest in anything loud.

So that’s Tang Hui -- and as written last week, we’re going to just let ‘em go. If they make it, we’ll support them. If not, enough’s been written -- those in the biz can tell you they’ve seen a change this week as far as their marketing … which is a good thing. So good luck to yous.

Now, a setting that we are going to talk about is Shuffle -- there is no reason why they shouldn’t be a front-runner in the live-music bar race. So why are they not? They book good weekly bands (see: Ferris Wheel), are not far away (see: 30-second walk from the old (sniff) Tanghui), cheap (see: 10 RMB Carlsberg all night/every night).

Support Shuffle.
Support Shuffle.
Support Shuffle.

There, we said it thrice so you have to go.

Another reason? Saturday night they’ll house Xiao-Min is a Robot. They call themselves “grunge” but that doesn’t quite do it justice. Lead man Bai Yu is almost as well known as a poet as he is a musician, and the sound can range from slow folkish ballads to Beck-ish where-the-hell-is-he-going-with-this-not-that-I-care-‘cause-it’s-cool experimental songs. It’s not a normal rock show -- and that’s why you should go.

Also, it’s gotten loads of coverage, but we like Tootekool and B6, so we’re sure that the pairing of both tonight at Fabrique will sit quite nicely. Speaking of sitting, if you want to, we suggest getting there around 8:30 pm, as the 6kuai for any drink runs 9-11.

Get out this weekend, please.

There, we asked nicely, so you have to go.