Worst Shows of 2013: Half Chinese at the Astoria, January 23

I shouldn’t complain about free shows, but Half Chinese at the Astoria wasn’t even worth the $2.10 I spent on transit or the ~hour-and-a-half I spent in transit and enduring a shitty opener (form of dude at a laptop).

Half Chinese’s We Were Pretending To Be was one of my favourite albums of 2012. I’d missed them multiple times, so I was stoked to finally see them. But they played for about fifteen minutes, and most of it sounded like they were tuning. There was scarcely a string of recognizable notes.

Half Chinese still play often enough, but their fifteen-minute sound-check that cost me time and very little money was enough of a rip-off to strongly dissuade me from ever seeing them again.

Visit their Bandcamp page to listen to ALL the sounds I expected to hear at the Astoria.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Half Chinese - We Were Pretending To Be (Sad Game)

Don't forget about Half Chinese.

That's a note more to myself than anyone else. In the heaps of local bands I discovered in 2012, Half Chinese, one of the first local bands I liked, almost got lost in the shuffle.

Half Chinese's debut full-length We Were Pretending To Be opens in pretty standard indie rock fashion with "Horse Did Whinny," a catchy song that bounces along with the added sheen of plinky mandolin. But it's the following track "Hatchi" that better reflects the album's overall direction, tightly mixing melody with ripping guitar lines over propulsive drumming. Half Chinese also dissolve into more free-form explorations with songs such as the lyricless, essentially instrumental "China Creek" which creeps with subtle, lingering, slowcore guitars, creating a dim undertone before erupting in scorching, uncapped, discordant squalls.

In circular fashion, We Were Pretending To Be returns to pure pop with songs like the clarinet-backed "Boomerang" and the zippy "Little Moon Beam" which cruises along a singular synth-line and wraps up with another catchy, noise-infused rocker ("Goodbye Farewell") and finally bids adieu with another subdued ambler-with-a-big-chorus "Ever Crowley."

Perhaps my perception has been knocked awry by the force with which even the most free-form songs on We Were Pretending To Be hit, but even such songs can't help but feel concise - deliberate - like there's a palpable temperance to the album. Although Half Chinese pretty much bee-line to their point with full focus and seem to know exactly how to get there, they still sound very patient and unrushed. It's impossible to know how well thought out the songs on We Were Pretending To Be were, but with such rocking fun, it's best to just sit back, enjoy the feel-good ride and not think about it.

Download We Were Pretending To Be in full and entirely for FREE on Half Chinese's Bandcamp page.

Someone Please Tell Me When Half Chinese Is Playing

Because they totally fucking melt my brain.

I heard about this local Vancouver band from a friend this past summer. So fucking good. Very propulsive, catchy rock buried under a crunchy layer of searing guitars, slabs of noise and tinny production. Check out their MySpace page here.