OTS: Namo, Zhaoze, Horse Radio (Yugong Yishan 28.04.2015)

It’s nice to step outside your comfort zone from time to time. Which is a bit of a back handed comment, as all three of these bands I have profound respect for and have seen more than once. But I’m pretty shit at going to gigs by my own merry self. Simply put. But when I do muster up the courage, I’m often giddy at the surprises which I stumble into. Case in point: the Sound of the Xity – a fender-bender of gigs and bands, international and local, spread out across the week. While I found the festival to be lacking in terms of offering diverse and original lineups, for the lucky few who ventured out that first evening to catch Horse Radio, Zhaoze, and Namo at Yugong Yishan – well, they were in for a treat. While Horse Radio has slowly and almost unsuspectingly taken the Mongolian rock scene by storm, I was shocked at how much I missed the awe-inspiring guqin-infused post rock of Zhaoze and the quirky upbeat campus rock of Namo. A trifecta of fantastic sets making the show one of the best if the year.

Check out a heck ton more videos and pictures below.