That's Shanghai September 2008 edition just came out and you can see the articles I mention here.
Not as much good coverage as last month, but that's OK. Last month was especially good ... remember?
Before I get to Lisa Movius' Rockpile column I should briefly mention the Wang Wen review on page 29. I quote
Unlike the band's high energy live performances, their recorded material ...
Hmmn. Has the reviewer been to one of their shows? I have, and quite recently too. They were typical of a meandering post-rock band. Low energy. That's not a criticism, it was a reasonable recreation of the energy levels on the CD.
Now, I was impressed with the Rockpile column for a third month in a row. Let's be honest, I'm always impressed with anyone who appears to agree with me on bands and music. Equally, if you don't agree with my picks - you don't know anything. Ahem. This month is another pick, this time Little Nature. I have seen this band three times and wrote up the first time for Shanghaiist back in March here. They were the standout band that night despite their Happy Birthday closer. I most recently saw them at the Jiao Ban night at Yuyintang where I was happy to see they had stayed together and started to get a following.
Lisa talks about that night and reports that all three bands (Momo, Crazy Musrooms and Little Nature) met with Shanghai based Soma Records and walked away with deals. This is amazing news for me as they are the three bands I have been relentlessly tipping all year. I especially want to have the Mushrooms on CD. It does however beg the question, who the f*#^ are Soma Records? Obviously not the Scotland based dance label. Hmmnn, Lisa any chance of a fill-in in the comments? If not, I may have to do research, oh no.
These are good picks from Lisa. The Mushroom's CD will be especially good and these are all bands who have room to improve, mature and produce great songs given the chance to record. Let me finish by re-linking (sorry older readers) the demo we did for CW with Aric Queen that features two full songs by Momo (then Happy Strings). The demo that was followed shortly by Aric and CW manager Colin leaving the country. We will still make it if another host and backer come in ...anyone ...no ... sniff.
Oh, I have just seen Lisa's comment on an older entry that coincidentally explains something about Soma Records.
Soma is Shanghai's second and only extant indie rock label. It is owned by Lao Yao, aka Jamyang Yeshi, formerly singer of band Chan, then a solo artist and producer with the first indie rock label Fanyin. The other two directors are DJ Tadi Yan and Crystal Butterfly singer Li Pang. Formed two years ago, their only album to date is the new age/folk "Easy World" out last December and by Shanghainese singer Sarah Zhong Chi, who sings in English on subjects of animal rights, environmentalism and vegetarianism.
Unfortunately my articles for Billboard and That's about Soma are no longer on-line. I'll see if I can find copies of those.
The guys there, all old friends and rockers from "my" generation of ShRock, have been reluctant to get involved with new bands, so I'm quite glad about their recent conversion. This fall they have five albums coming out: these three, a compilation of young Shanghainese bands (see October's column for more), and Zhong Chi's second album. I was over there last week and heard the in-progress Mogu, Momo and Ziran tracks - and they sound awsome!
Thanks Lisa
By the way. Is Urban Anatomy the main place to link your writing these days? I see that Movius.us is still blocked. That'll be due to something else that uses the same server.
I can post the old Soma articles here if you like.
Actually, That's is a tiny portion of what I do; my main job is for the fashion industry paper WWD and its affiliate publications, and then I also write a lot for Art in America and various other art, travel, business, etc publications.
So, I no longer have everything collected in one place. I should have a new site up in the next few months. I didn't know about the "something else" on the same server - care to enlighten?
Hi Lisa
I think Micah can step in if i'm off here as he's a techie. But, your site is hosted on a server ... a computer/ group of computers that also host many other sites or services. If your server has another web site that offends directly then the IP or whole service (service, for example Blogspot) may get blocked. It's the easy/practical option. Then it's bye bye your site by geography.
Second thoughts, let's NOT have a detailed discussion of this on my site :)
kyqvr
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kyqvr
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