Music Roundup: June 2009

After a hectic month of festival-hopping, it seems local bands are taking something of a break in June. And can you blame them? All that traveling around the country (Modern Sky’s Strawberry Festival in Beijing, the Midi Festival in Zhenjiang, the Zebra Festival in Chengdu and all the one-off shows in between) would wear anyone down. Carsick Cars has been especially busy, being one among few select local bands – if not the only one – to participate in a festival outside of China, playing at this year’s Estrella Damm Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona alongside the likes of Aphex Twin, Ghostface Killah, Sonic Youth and Bloc Party. Perhaps this was why the release of their second album was pushed back a month. (You Can Listen, You Can Talk will finally be out June 26.)

Speaking of Ghostface (see photo, above), the Wu-Tang Clan member will be in Beijing at The Star Live on June 13. If all goes as planned, it should prove to be an interesting show, what with this being a “pilgrimage” to his “spiritual homeland” and all.

In other homecomings, we are happy to announce that regular outdoor music seems to be making a return, and just in time for summer. The first official on-the-grass event at 2 Kolegas goes down on June 7, with a Sunday afternoon show starring Hanggai – who can do one better than GFK and take you on a musical pilgrimage to their spiritual homeland of Inner Mongolia.

Bigger news still is that Stone Boat Cafe, which never fully recovered with musical goings-on following the Olympics, seems now to be slowly coming out of hibernation. They’ve got a couple of gigs lined up for June, starting with world music from Beijing hodgepodge Zoya on the 12th. Happily note that all events at Stone Boat Cafe are free – as are all events at Ginkgo and Maison Boulud. The former will begin hosting unplugged acoustic sessions with local bands every Thursday night; meanwhile, the award-winning French restaurant has begun filling up weekend evenings with jazz from the posses of Xia Jia, Moreno Donadel and Liu Yuan.

Last but not least this month, experimental composer/musician Yann Tiersen – the mastermind behind the seminal soundtracks of Amelie and Good Bye, Lenin! – will be in Beijing following up on his 2007 tour. His back-to-back shows at Yugong Yishan on June 19 & 20 are not to be missed.