the Beijinger

Staging Giacomo Puccini’s operatic classic Turandot at the National Stadium seemed like a good idea on paper, especially with Zhang Yimou directing and renowned tenor Dai Yuqiang in a lead role. Tickets ran up to RMB 8,800 for the best seats, which, as you’d expect, offered a pretty great view. For those sitting above field level, however – which is to say, the vast majority of those in attendance on Tuesday and Wednesday – paying any price was probably too much.

From the opening chord of Jean Sibelius' symphonic poem, “Finlandia” – a bold, brassy, suscitating growl – to the end of intermission, when the musicians retook their seats, the audience inside the Beijing Concert Hall on Friday waited 75 minutes before Midori Goto, the woman they had come to see, appeared onstage wearing a gray dress and familiar smile.

Hungry Bird by Clem Snide

The album that Clem Snide broke up over when it was recorded in 2006 is finally out. Needless to say, the band is also back together. Straddling the alt-country and indie rock genre, they return with darker, more foreboding lyrics. Frontman Eef Barzelay maintains his soft, twangy wailings but lacks in the whimsical memorability found on previous albums. With verses like “Not everyone will die/ but no one is promised they’ll live” propped up against melodic guitars, banjos and trombones, the songs are resigned and wounded. The esoteric lyrics still cut deep, but these ten tracks will take a few listens to stick. JP

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21st Century Breakdown
Green Day
Ever since Dookie, Green Day has garnished their three-chord punk records with the odd polka, raga, rockabilly, acoustic or vaudeville experiment. Each one was a good track, though jarring in the context of their albums. Now those genre-bending investigations finally pay off. 21st Century Breakdown is a flood of influences that swashes and purls through hoarse guitars, sweet ballads and hollered punk anthems. Whereas American Idiot gorged on indulgent ten-minute symphonies, 21st Century presents taut overtures fastened by lyrical and musical buckles. Take it as a treasure chest and not a scattering of doubloons – a triumphant addition to Green Day’s already sparkling catalogue. MJ

The Eternal
by Sonic Youth

It’s easy to criticize bands like Sonic Youth when they start doing things like teaming up with Starbucks and making radio-friendly music. But now, the coolest rock band since The Velvet Underground are back in the zone with this indie release off Matador Records.

Apart from a few lukewarm tracks like “Antenna” and “Walkin Blue,” that trademark guitar and tribal drumbeats will call back fans of Confusion Is Sex and Daydream Nation for a new revolution. The disaffected adolescent spirit nearly lost since Murray Street is once again reincarnated on The Eternal – otherwise, why else would Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon be howling “anti-war is anti-orgasm”? WG

                            Ratatat's Mike Stroud does magic with a distortion pedal

It’s feels a little beside the point to write about the Ratatat show, because you were probably there. Everyone else in the city was.

I don’t mean that in an “everybody who’s any anybody was at THIS show” kind of way, but more that there seemed to be, by my rough estimate, about 17 million people inside of MAO Livehouse last night.

Downtown Production
Brain Failure
Brain Failure was one of the first Chinese bands to be classified as punk rock, but you wouldn’t know it from their latest album, which sounds more like a mixture of classic rock, blues and ska. A majority of the tracks are quite mellow and pleasant – adjectives usually not reserved for those of the School of Punk. Still, palatable can’t be worse than offensive, and Downtown Production is definitely nice on the ears.

This fourth album features the well-publicized collaboration between Brain Failure and Chuck D – one of the first alliances of its kind, at least when it comes to seminal punk bands from China working with seminal figures in American hip-hop.

It has been three years since Queen Sea Big Shark released their self-titled debut album. And they finally had their new album Wave land in Beijing in October, spaceship style. (Check out the pictures of their album launch in our gallery.)

Their first album had only English songs; maybe they got tired of answering "why do you sing in English?" Because three and half Chinese songs (2nd Track Glow in Dark is half English half Chinese) are included in this new album. Lead singer Fu Han's extended voice singing in Chinese glows with the electronic effects, especially in the titled track Wave.