Another six-band lineup over the weekend – and gotta say – it’s a bit exhausting. Pretty much five straight hours of bands, in the dingy walls of Tango (a venue that’s equally overrated and underrated). This is my second marathon band outing this month and I’ve learned that by band number five, the fatigue sets in, the crowds get smaller, and the enthusiasm is harder to muster. Which is a shame cause sound-wise alone, I was most impressed by what Fazi, outta Xi’an, and GDJYB, from Hong Kong, brought to the table. The former remains one of the indie rock scene’s most energetic performers – a feverish anthemic post-punk ensemble that’s not afraid to dip their toes into pop hooks and crowd-plashing melodies. The latter – a fuzzy, empowering math pop-rock quartet that delivered the goods. The guilty pleasure of the evening came from Taiwan’s indie-pop group SoulFa, a shameless adorable city pop riff on The Beatles, who had girls downright smitten with their gloriously cheesy and yes, catchy songs (half of their set might have been playful banter much to the bemusement of the crowd) – I really wanted to hate them, but now I can’t get some of their songs out of my head. The evening kicked off with a somber set from Xi’an post rockers Weirdo Room (whose set sadly I only caught the end of), followed by Beijing’s own indietronic duo Nocturnes (sporting more than a few killer new tracks and perhaps the best lighting rig and accompanying visuals of the evening) and dance punks Future Orients. So yeah, some serious bang for your buck.
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