the second band, though, well, it was boys climbing ropes. what can i say? i just really really like watching them in concert. they’re really just on point now. i brought a friend of mine from work to see them play last time and he mentioned just how good the drumming was – and its like they have all cylinders clicking now. i cannot recommend going to see them live in concert enough.

UNiXX was billed as an “angrier smashing pumpkins,” “the cure, but louder” or “hong kong’s darkest band” – all of which i am down with. and they seemed like really nice guys (they lent jordan a guitar when he broke a string in the middle of his set), very good musicians, but the end result was just stuff i wasn’t really into. sorry.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

friday night reviewed here my thoughts: xiao yoi (lead singer of pinkberry) was ill, and the crowd was clearly there for sonnet so they had trouble getting the crowd into it. candy shop had to do this terrible promotion for jaeger which killed any momentum they had. sonnet had some great danceable franz ferdinand-esque tracks which i really dug . . . a lot of experimentation with loops and dubs and electronic sounds from a sampler, which i did not dig. boys climbing ropes continue to rock and continue put on a great show. i am a huge fan.

saturday night photographed here by jenn wong and here by me. boys climbing ropes continue to rock and continue to put on a great show. i am a huge fan. st. vincent was fantastic – lots of experimental insturmentalation sounds combined with a beautiful voice.

this absolutely awesome shot of xiao punk from the halloween show by gregory perez

photo by gregory perez

duck fight goose opened. i don’t think the expat heavy crowd really got into their experimental rock and instrument doodling, but i thought they played a tight set. they really had to fight against everyone showing up for bcr.

boys climbing rope got on stage – and it was wall-to-wall people in yuyintang. and they really got the place moving. xiao punk got everyone jumping and dancing despite the tight space – while the interplay between jordan, morgan and devin was really really tight. they just played a energetic show, despite some sound issues.

the new cd – which was released at the party – is also fantastic. honestly, if boys climbing ropes was from portland or new york city or manchester, they’d be all over the indie circuit – reviews on pitchfork, playing on your local college station, everything. the cd is great. the live show is great. if you live in shanghai, and like live music, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be at the next boys climbing rope show.

yuyintang graffiti: