2015 Year in Review: Beijing's Best Concerts

While more than a handful of highly anticipated concerts were cancelled due to “the man” this year, here are the best gigs from visiting musicians we had the pleasure of experiencing over the past 12 months and that made us lose our minds in wonderment and ecstatic glee. 

Swans at Yugong Yishan (2/4/15)
Split Works truly wowed us this year with some amazing shows, but the show that really impressed us was Swans. After being a band for over 30 years, they continue to use their visceral approach towards music to explore the outer limits of sound creation. So unwilling to be taken out of their universe, Gira and crew would shame those audience members who thought it was acceptable to distract them with their phones. They put the fear of God into Yugong Yishan that night, with plenty of menacing glares, amazing sounds, and at an extreme volume. 

The Bug at Dada (3/20/15)
Being only one of a handful (two) clubs that we enjoy dropping by on any given night of the week, it could be said that we're at Dada entirely too often and that means that nights tend to run together. There was one clear exception – Kevin Martin as The Bug, Manga as MC and what seemed like the world's bass behind them. The crowd was also on fine form, partly due to Manga positing himself deep into the horde, hood up, spitting fire. The intensity of the two working together never relinquished and set an early (and unsurpassed) precedent for how alive and electrifying Dada could feel in 2015.

Magma at Yugong Yishan (5/30/15)
While lots of old acts reunite only to make a few bucks to pay for hair replacement surgery, every once in a while a legendary band comes to town to totally remind us all just how shitty modern music has become. Magma has been exploring the extraterrestrial regions of their home planet Kobaïa since the 60s. Between creating their own language and possessing excellent musicianship, Magma is the absolute pinnacle of the prog/art rock genre and everyone in the audience couldn’t help but loose their grasp on reality a bit at the sounds that were being made by these master musicians. 

Orchestra of Spheres at School Bar (9/29/15)
This New Zealand band was a huge surprise and brought with them a unique stage show that left people awestruck. With a sound sitting somewhere between Captain Beefheart, Group Doueh, and The Residents, Orchestra of Spheres obliterated School Bar. It was incredible to watch these young musicians slaughter their instruments to create unique and modern music that was the perfect fusion of dance party and avant-garde experimentalism. 

DMX Krew at Dada  (12/4/15)
There is a distinct line that separates your ordinary run of the mill DJ and the electronic musicians that take the genre to new levels, making use of drum machines, synthesizers, and years of dedication to hone their musical programming and production skills. DMX Krew is famous for his dirty club tracks spanning back from the 90s, with releases on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label. His performance brought us to another time, not too different from the Detroit house or UK acid techno scenes of 20-plus years ago as he rocked the dance floor for two hours with raw tunes that blew the minds of those in attendance.

Have any other shows that you'd add to the list? Stick them in the comments below so we know who to look out for come 2016.

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Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

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