Review: Wax Tailor at YGYS, James Pants at White Rabbit

Wax Tailor
RMB 110, RMB 80 (advance).
9pm. Yugong Yishan (6404 2711)

James Pants
RMB 70.
10pm. White Rabbit (133 2112 3678)

Two very different DJs were in town this past weekend, both equally eclectic, starting off with Wax Tailor at Yugong Yishan on Friday evening. Accompanying him was a cellist (which pretty much automatically guarantees him points in the “cool” factor), as well as a kick-ass flutist who worked up quite a sweat with her hootin’ and tootin’ (think Miri Ben-Ari on winds). Wax's style was somewhere in-between hip-hop and trip-hop, and his sound likened to DJ Shadow and Portishead; indeed, singer Charlotte Savary had a haunting voice that carried the same echoing quality of Beth Gibbons.

It seemed the entire French-speaking community turned out for this show, who comprised about 90 percent of the audience. The music was not bad, but the vibe just wasn’t quite up to par with the energy of, say, a DJ Shadow at Angel. Overall the mood was rather sleepy. In fact, Monsieur Tailor ended his show at 12.30am or so, stating that he was tired and needed to rest up for Hong Kong the following night. More pics from the event can be found over at the Beijinger online gallery.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town at White Rabbit approximately 24 hours later, the one-man band of James Pants spun a range of funk, old-school hip-hop and house, even dropping a Master P track in somewhere in the mix (and anyone that can get you to say “Uhnnhhh … na nah na nah!” in the year 2008 deserves props). He even brought along some cymbals and sang a few verses as well, which certainly woke things up. The one criticism we have of Mr. Pants, however, is that he didn’t start until his set until 1.30 in the @$%&*@#$% am. Thus, many an impatient audience member left in irritation before the show even started.

Had these two shows been bought together on the same night, perhaps we could say it was a glorious weekend. Unforuntely, they were not, and therefore, as individuals, we can only say they were adequately entertaining. But rest easy, Beijingers, for we expect Qbert’s Dec 4 show at Mix to be a winner.

Links and Sources
MySpace: Wax Tailor
Stones Throw: James Pants
MySpace: James Pants
The Beijinger Gallery: Wax Tailor
The Beijinger: Win a Copy of James Pants' Rhythm Trax!
The Beijinger: Review: New Pants at Yugong Yishan
The Beijinger: Review: Air at Yugong Yishan
The Beijinger: Review: DJ Shadow at Angel Club
Yugong Yishan
White Rabbit