Weekend Gig Guide Apr 21-24: Farewell to Mao Livehouse, LITE, Dangerous New Sounds, Le Villejuif Underground

We here at the Beijinger are happy to present Live Beijing Music's weekend gig guide, written by head honcho Mr. Will Griffith. Will has been running around Beijing for over four years, documenting the city's shows and the requisite onlooking drunkards with various cameras/sound recorder setups, losing plenty of equipment along the away in his attempt to capture Beijing's aural spirit. You'll occasionally catch him pogoing like a madman when he's not got a camera in hand. Take it away, Will ...

It’s gonna be an emotional as Beijing loses one of its prominent venues – Mao Livehouse. But if you’re gonna go out then why not with a bang. And from the looks of what the rest of the weekend has in store for us, I think Beijing will be just fine. So toss away the jackets, grab an afternoon cold one, and hit the town this weekend. And as always, check out livebeijingmusic.com to sneak a peek at what May brings forth.

Thursday, April 21

Tag, Out to Sea, Comp Collider at Temple
Live Beijing Music and Temple kick start their Thursday night outings once again with a evening of dangerous new sounds including indie rock sweet spot hitter Tag, an improv drum guitar duo Comp Collider, the latest project from power couple Dan Lenk (Death Narcissist) and Michael Cupoli (Noise Arcade), and up and comers Out to Sea (出海部) a post emo rock outfit made up of Beijing students looking to cut their teeth. Support the troops and check first sighting of bands that’ll soon be making a splash. Free

Hell City, The Demonstrators, Ai-You, Discord, Mean Bone, D-Crash at Mao Livehouse
After much speculation and dragged out negotiations, Gulou's pride and joy, Mao Livehouse, says farewell with an appropriately epic four day bash featuring just about everyone who ever cut their teeth at the venue. Night one goes full blown punk lineup that includes vets Hell City, The Demonstrators, Ai-You, Discord, Mean Bone, and D-Crash. RMB 120

Juju, Early Bus, MC Junior & DJ Tindex at Old What? Bar
Local promotion team Borderless, run by the fiery and enthusiastic Ting Ting, closes up shop (Ting Ting moves to Cold Neo) with a sexy lil showcase at Old What? that includes alt rock trio Juju, ska veterans Early Bus, and reggae MC Junior. RMB 30

Friday, April 22

Residence A, WHAI, Twinkle Star, Steely Heart, SUBS at Mao Livehouse
Night two of Mao Livehouse's tearful farewell brings out some of indie rocks finest, including Residence A, SUBS, and Steely Heart. Come get some. RMB 120

Emptybottles, TouMing Magazines at School
New Guangzhou label, Qiii Snacks Records, are on tour and they're bringing the heat in the form of Taiwanese punk band TouMing Magazine and Hong Kong math emo trio Emptybottles. Exciting sounds that I can't wait to put my ear to. RMB 80

Le Villejuif Underground (FR), Pet Conspiracy, Jajatao, Da Bang, Huzi x  Edo at Yugong Yishan
Cold Neo rallies up a red hot lineup at YGYS including grunge revisionists Jajatao, who just finished recording their debut album and are about to head out on a nation wide tour. Joining them with be electro rock veterans Pet Conspiracy and Da Bang as well as French garage rock outfit Le Villejifu Underground whose psych-rock mild mannered vocalisms are a hoot. Groovy stuff. RMB 120

Birdstriking, Mr. Graceless at DDC
Two of Maybe Mars vanguard bands, Birdstriking and Mr. Graceless, return after a winter hibernation in celebration of Menthe Project, a platform aimed toward building the bridge between China and Europe. But really, I’ve most excited to see what indie rockers Mr. Graceless have been cooking up. RMB 80

Devils at the Crossroad, Voltron at Temple
Temple’s original house band, stoner rock trio Devils at the Crossroad, return for one night only as singer Joris returns to where where the three made a pack with the devil and conjured up balls to the wall rock and roll that goes back dandy with a whiskey. Witness! Free

Abel & Hawke at Caravan
Randy Abel and Chris Hawke join forces for one evening bringing you tunes of old - Abel originals, covers of Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zant and more. RMB 40

HangTian & MaoJo Hand Band at Jianghu Bar
Late nineties singer-songwriter HangTian whose sharp and rich lyrics won acclaim from Chinese audiences presents his new rock band – their first performance. RMB 180

The Diders, The Blanks, Swinging Barbarellas at Hot Cat Club
Catch new acts The Blanks, a noise punk duo and the Swinging Barbarellas join The Diders for some Fangjia Hutong mischief. Free

Saturday, April 23

Nine Treasures, Suffocated, Logic Control, Four Five, Liquid Oxygen Can, Thank Ray, Mega Soul at Mao Livehouse
Night three of Mao Livehouse's farewell pushes aside emotional for a epic, festival worthy night of the metal scenes hottest commodities including speed metal legends Suffocated, pagan metal faves Nine Treasures, and melodic nu metallers Liquid Oxygen Can, amongst many more. RMB 180

The Molds, Comp Collider at fRUITYSPACE
Alt-rock band and Beijing fixture, The Molds. A band that has been resurfacing more and more after a gig sabbatical, hit up fRUITYSPACE for a late afternoon jam alongside new drum guitar duo Comp Collider. RMB 50

LITE (JP) at Yugong Yishan
One of Japan’s leading instrumental groups LITE bring their thrilling and emotional compositions, progressive, edgy riffs and complex rhythms to YGYS. RMB 150

Heat Mark, The Hotline, Secret Club, DayDream, Three King at School
It’s a D.O.G. hoedown at School as the label/promotion team celebrates the birthday of superstar Dan as they bring their rooster of bands including dance punk trio Heat Mark and britpoppers Secret Club to join Shanxi rockers Three King. RMB 80 (ladies free)

Le Villejuif Underground (FR) at DDC
Paris-based Australian singer-songwriter Nathan Roche presents Le Villejuif Underground, his garage rocking, psychedelic-infused tunes to DDC to rattle your brain. RMB 60

Vurado Bokoda, Xu Guoqing at MOMA Post Mountain Space
Sound artist Vurado Bokoda (Einar Engstrom) and visual artist Xu Guoqing present their newest live exhibition ‘Floating’ at 8pm to create a fusion of various forms of media audio, video, text, dance and other specific field domain interactive performance. Free

Better of Alive, The Felling Tree, Moor Hick, Zhege, Kyle Wagner Band at Caravan
Kick back with five fresh diverse sounding bands at Moroccan eatery Caravan including indie pop outfit Zhege and bluegrass group The Felling Tree. RMB 50

Wan Jianguo at DDC
Classical music composer and conductor presents his latest album Slow Train tonight at DDC along with some friends. RMB 50

Source Code, The Three-Quarters Dead at Temple
Killer metal band Source Code releases their new EP, Force Life, so get your devil horns out and lets make mayhem at Temple. Free

Honky Tonk Country Blues at Hot Cat Club
Members of the Randy Abel Stable, The Groove Collective, The Beijing Dead, Zhen Ren, Hutong Yellow Weasels, and the Night Crawlers come together for a special night of music. Free

Tong Yan at Snail Hostel
Folk artist Tong Yan former resident of Dalian, who moved to Beijing and then Guangzhou, where she released her beautiful sophomore album last year. She returns for an intimate performance at Snail Club. RMB 60

K.K., Scotch, Heroin Dounut, Blue Knight, Tow’Z at 13 Club
It’s Korean student night at Wudaoku’s music hub and just have a look at those bands names – Heroin Dounut anyone? Color me intrigued. RMB 50

Sunday, April 24

Children's Cinema, Muppets, Super Lads,  Bye Bye Noise at Mao Livehouse
Day four of Mao Livehouse's farewell kicks off early with an afternoon session featuring power pop and indie rock up and comers including Children's Cinema and Bye Bye Noise. RMB 80

Escape Plan, Residence A, Wenqi Li, Self Portrait at Mao Livehouse
Expect a very emotional night as Sunday night brings the last of the last farewells for Mao Livehouse, featuring the venue's flagship bands (under their owners label too), including indie pop giants Escape Plan. RMB 300 (8pm start)

Grapes of Wrath, Black Mint, Poshangcun, Next Door Band, 鹿先森乐队 at ModernSky Lab
Mao Livehouse, still alive and kicking for the time being – knock on wood, hosts an evening of some of the indie pop scene’s unsung talent, bands with large followings and mainstream appeal including Poshangcun, Black Mint, and more. RMB 60 (2pm start)

Zhou Ziyan, Nathan Borofka, Duan Pian, Mingxu at School
It’s another ‘Boogie Folk Night’ as pop-folk artist Zhou Ziyan, the ultra talented Nathan Borofka (who just released a new album), indie-pop folk duo The Hangover, and also artist MingXu take the stage. RMB 40

Zhege (J个) at Jianghu Bar
Hailing from various locations across the globe, Zhege (J个) is a group of like-minded individuals with intense personalities and a shared love of attention who have created some ultra friendly, energetic indie pop. RMB 50

Scratching Beijing at fRUITYSPACE
A multidisciplinary arts platform that started in Beijing last year, Scratching Beijing combines dance, performance art, theatre and music for a diverse helping of creative energy. RMB 30

Liu Donghong at 69 Café
Blues breathing folk-turned renegade Liu Donghong brings his popular homegrown style to the petite 69 Café on Nanluogu Xiang. RMB 50 (4pm start)

Spontaneous Ensemble at 69 Café
Experimental fusion improv outfit lets it all out this Sunday at 69 Café. RMB 50 (9pm start)

Beijing Dead at DDC
Turn on your lovelight cause Beijing Grateful Dead tribute band is hey to welcome in the warm weather. RMB 30

Phew! Still hungry for more? For events, videos, and photos from Beijing's thriving music scene, head over to Live Beijing Music.

Images: Live Beijing Music, courtesy of the organizers