Recently I have blogged a bit about a new Shanghai indie label called Indietop (part of Soma). A lot of this came courtesy of scene writer Lisa Movius.
There are 13 bands signed to the label including blog favourites like Little Nature, Momo and Crazy Mushroom Brigade. Talking of the Mushrooms brings us to the reason for the post. Mushroom's frontman Pu Pu (仆仆) has just leaked (i.e. promoted) the track listing for the first release from the label on Douban.com.
So without further ado here it is (a lot of Chinese, sorry international readers):
试听曲目顺序：
001 蘑菇团-等待
002 小自然- Different world
003 钟茌-Chain of Desire
004 杜佳宣-我
005 MONOKINO（德国）- New kid
006 MOMO-小妖怪
007 王啸坤-菩提树下
008 苏丹-我们的爱情
009 LOTZ-老老欢喜侬
010 IGO-Super Virus
011 冷冻街-窃听机
012 十四行诗-stupid baby
013 33岛-King
001 蘑菇团-等待
002 小自然- Different world
003 钟茌-Chain of Desire
004 杜佳宣-我
005 MONOKINO（德国）- New kid
006 MOMO-小妖怪
007 王啸坤-菩提树下
008 苏丹-我们的爱情
009 LOTZ-老老欢喜侬
010 IGO-Super Virus
011 冷冻街-窃听机
012 十四行诗-stupid baby
013 33岛-King
I would strongly recommend going to the show and getting a CD too. The inside word is that the label boss needed a fair amount of persuading to sign the younger bands and we should send a message that it's a good decision by supporting and spreading the word. If the label keeps going, Shanghai bands can aim higher in the future.
Thanks for this; I hadn't seen the final line-up. One correction: not ALL thirteen bands are signed to Soma, most are just contributing tracks. Only Zhong Chi, Little Nature, Momo and Crazy Mushrooms are signed to the label. They were in discussions to sign Nanjing's Frozen Streets (http://blog.sina.com.cn/frozenstreet) last I heard. I'm glad they made it on - Soma was initially reluctant to include any non-Shanghai groups. Great young band, I hope they get more exposure.
Banana Monkey was supposed to contribute a track, but I guess disbanded too soon. And The Sonnet have turned into Banana Monkey.
You can hear a preview on the label site. It's an odd mix, like Lotz's Shanghainese-language rockabilly. What happened to 33 Island? Their 2007 Modern Sky album was so fun, and this is Chinglish syrup. Weird. But the rest sounds great, the label is rightly proud of it. Could be the big development that ShRock needs, especially if it proves the first of many.
HI Lisa, thanks for the updates.
33 Island. I saw them at their last YYT show and they were very good - if you like that sort of music. Their page states Syd Barret as an influence, that's about right. There's a video from that show at the Youtube channel.
here it is
I mean "what happened?" to them musically. Indietop.cn has samples of every song on the disk, played in the order of the list you posted. Island 33 is completely unrecognizable, quite the departure, and not I think a good one. I quite liked their first album, and most everything else on this one, so it's disappointing. Hopefully it will sound better on the final product.
Hey Lisa
Oh yeah. I listened to all the samples. I just want to support this but if we were being honest, all the songs' production sounds very syrupy and pop. Momo started off as a very garage sounding band back in the day. Little Nature too. I like their raw three-piece sound live.
Looking forward to the show.