This past weekend was a messy blur, both considerably blurrier and messier as the weekend started on Wednesday for me. On Wednesday, DJs Damon, Steve Barker and myself of Upstepper Sound laid out some classic and modern reggae before and after the performance at Yugong Yishan of one of China's only Reggae bands, Long Shen Dao. If you've not seen this band before, I highly reccommend them. They're certainly different from other local bands musically and philosophically, and add to the ever colourful pallette of live music choices in Beijing. Of course, purists may argue that they are not "purely" reggae, which is true. The band members come from rock backgrounds and this is evident in their music. These guys are following their own path with their music and I can respect that. Three of the band members have dreadlocks, which certainly adds to the on stage charisma of the band and aesthetically at least suggests some commitment to reggae music and culture. Lyrically the message is very "roots and culture" with many of the songs taking the messages of love, peace and unity. Some songs were simply suggesting the crowd should "yaobai" (sway or shake). Thursday saw an impromptu visit to Beijing by one of Drum & Bass music's top upcoming producers from the UK, Spectrasoul, where I saw a solid, mixed crowd of Chinese and Foreigners get down til very early at China Doll. For a late night drink after most of the other clubs have closed, it seems China Doll is becoming the late nite boozing choice for many in Sanlitun. Friday night was another smorgasbord of sonic delights, with Tag Team's showcase at 2 Kolegas, Junglecat at MAO live and 2 of asia's Top Techno Titans, Takkyu Ishino and Beijing's own Mickey Zhang at Tango. I haven't seen Tango this packed in some time, as Japan's Ishino laid out some funky techno with considerably more warmth and groove than anything else on offer in the Capital city. Any techno DJ in town who missed this set really missed a chance to see how techno should be done, and Mickey Zhang also showed his recent european tour has certainly tightened up his own techno thang.