Results tagged “yuyintang” from Andy Best

Sorry everyone. Youku user Laohutracy has put up three Pairs videos and this one is full length from the same show. Worth a watch. I dunno exactly how to describe it, low-fi noise-indie? Watch it and give it a go. 

This is a short clip from the end of Pairs' last Yuyintang set. Xiao Zhong (Rhys) invites someone else to play the drums and let's loose a bit. The song is the end of Yangpu Qu.

Chaotic Aeon: very influenced by Morbid Angel, but still incredibly exciting on their own right. Should be even better with a live drummer. Would desperately like to see them live in Shanghai sometime this year.

Here's a an excellent vid of Fearless playing their new track at Yuyintang last Friday. It's complete with vocals this time and at about 3.10 you can hear some awesome dual guitar work.

The venue is basically the meeting hall of the music scene. Music is the glue of everything that goes on there. You know, you meet up at the music hall, you're there for the bands, you find out where the next show is, that sort of thing. Without a good venue there is no music scene.

He is not talking about a large theatre where famous acts or international bands could be booked. He is talking about a community oriented space that is committed to letting younger locals have a space to express themselves and develop - and that's what makes a scene.

The Shelter, one of the city's most well-known bars in Changning District's Xinfu Road, was reported to be closed indefinitely over the weekend.

"We were told to close over safety concerns," Gary Wang, owner of The Shelter, said yesterday.

He was told it was an Expo issue and "we should be cooperative."

Officials with the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau said they were investigating illegal facilities as many pubs in the city were unlicensed.

Wang said he did not know the exact reason for the closure as all relevant paperwork was in order and the bar was not too noisy at night.

"We've been operating the bar for two years and I don't think that would be possible if we had been illegal," he said.

As Brad pointed out in the last article, the paper seems to see no problem with printing a glaring contradiction, in this case Wang's papers being in order, and an official counterpoint that does nothing to address it. 

I know I shouldn't expect actual journalism from that propaganda rag, but that article is terrible. At least they use softer paper than China Daily...and the print doesn't smudge my ass cheeks.

"But now it's more difficult; officials are much stricter about artists, foreign especially, having the proper visas, and all the venues must have the required licenses, too."

Implication: China used to be the Wild West, but now there's Rule of Law.

"Yuyintang was temporarily closed by authorities in 2007 for failing to have the permit needed for a show by the Beijing-based band Brain Failure."

Implication: This raid was superficially similar to the shutdown of the previous incarnation (Longcao Lu) of Yuyintang three years ago, so they are likely at fault this time, too.

Does Yuyintang currently have the "required licenses" and "proper permits"? I guess the "relevant department" couldn't be reached for comment.

"officials told the roughly 50 patrons that they were pulling the plug on the music due to capacity issues."

"They told me that the bar could not hold more than 100 people during the Expo because it's too small."

There were roughly 50 patrons, which is about half the 100 people the officials say the place can hold. Did the reporter think to ask why, if both statements are true, did the they actually shut the place down?

"They just said they were concerned that the venue would become overcrowded and unsafe."

That doesn't sound like a very good reason.

Putting aside the irony that on the same day, the Expo grounds were overcrowded and chaotic, and that the subways are dangerously overcrowded every morning and evening, and that every tourist attraction in Shanghai is overcrowded...the commerce officials didn't say, "Don't let any more people in," or "Ten people have to leave for this place to be safe." They went in, demanded identification from patrons of the bar, and confiscated equipment essential to the operation of the bar.

If Yuyintang didn't have the correct permits, why weren't they cited?
If the place was overcrowded, why did the officials confiscate equipment?

Do officials from the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce have the authority to demand identification?

Do officials from the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce have the authority to confiscate private property?

I'm not a scholar of Chinese law (if there is such a thing), and I don't know all the facts of this case (how could I, given such shoddy reporting?) but it seems that the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce acted illegally. If the government is now requiring businesses to obtain proper permits and licenses and adhere to the law, then at the very least, the government branch in charge of enforcing those laws should be held to the same standard.

The city's most iconic spot for live underground music in Changning district remained shut last night for the fourth day after officials barged in suddenly on Friday evening, shutting down the popular entertainment venue that has been giving artists a voice in the city for the past six years.

Yes. In the Global Times. So come on. Let's have some more.

Beijing based pop-punk band Reflector are coming back to Yuyintang on April 3rd. Here's the event page at Douban. Talking of Yuyintang you can see their complete March line up in poster form right here - you'll need to read Chinese to get most bands though.

Jake wrote up the show here.

Finally got my Friday footage uploaded. This is from the Playful Warrior show at Yuyintang.

My own footage of Six Shot, and the busiest crowd of the night, won't upload because of the GFW and Shanghai Online's pathetic service some connection problems I'm having. 

First of all, this is the funniest photo ever and somehow a perfect fit for the band (Rustic). It's from their Hong Kong trip during their run in the Global Battle of the Bands comp. The red suit, shades and half-turn, the hostesses taken by surprise, one covering the face, one leaning out of shot and one with the stern look, the mama-san coming forward with the no-photo gesture, Rikki Sixx's snakeskin pants-clad backside poking in the side. It's pure gold.

But anyway. This Friday, January 22nd 2010 has the first clash I just can't decide since the scene got big enough to have more than one must-see show on in one evening. Let's kick off with the two shows.

At Mao, the Maybe Mars showcase with:

PK14
The Gar
24 hours
Rustic

At Yuyintang the "Puma Uncovered" I don't know what the f*ck it's about show with:

Ziyo
The Mushrooms

OK. So the Maybe Mars showcase speaks for itself. It's at Mao, the sound should be great and all the bands are great. It's PK14 headlining ... PK14.

The other show is called Puma Uncovered, with the 'Puma' taking headlining position in the promo material and the tag line also refers to a DJ ipod battle ... and then the bands are in there. It's annoying as a big bag of annoying things and I'm sorry if I get this wrong or something. But anyway - it's The f*cking Mushrooms and Ziyo (Helen from Pet Conspiracy's other band) at Yuyintang!   

Ah, my head hurts ... this one or this one?

But look again at which six bands are all playing in Shanghai on Friday night. If that doesn't get you out to a indie/rock show then there's no hope for you.

The Mushrooms played Yuyintang on New Year's Eve. Here was the report. The show was delayed from a police raid but it finally went ahead. As usual at their shows, it was packed, nuts and everyone sang all the words.

The video is of varying quality, but as it goes on you can hear all the fans singing and cheering the entire track. So, yeah, this is 为什么你爱他 (weishenme ni ai ta).

Not long back I wrote this post claiming that new Shanghai emo bands Double Control Where and Forget and Forgive were breaking through. I just want to say that this is not like two years ago when watching new bands was twenty people in the room and it felt a bit like hipster band spotting night.

To help matters, The Mushroom's have posted up another excellent demo at their page. It's their newer track wangzi 网子 and you should listen now right here. Regulars at the shows will recognise it straight away.

Great Friday night at Yuyintang and Candy Shop's first time to officially headline the venue on a weekend.

Check out their Douban page here and listen to the fourth track called 我们

So here was the line up for the night:

Candy Shop
Forget And Forgive
Lei Ren
Black Luna

The turn out was great and, as predicted, mainly local. There were a lot of students down and they were equally up to see Forget And Forgive, who are emo. You see, local students like their metal and their emo. Trust me.

I only caught the end of Black Luna's set. They are an all-girl pop rock group whose singer and band leader recently joined Candy Shop to replace Melody Li. The first thing I noticed was that they have a new lead singer, signalling that Sammi's move is final. Next up was Lei Ren who, by their standards, played a fairly restrained set of TV Theme covers and parody songs.

The first band that people got excited about were Forget And Forgive. They played a four song set of emo-tastic material. They switched between thrashy riffs and screaming and catchy sung choruses, all in the emo style. They are a new band and were quite good, but not good enough yet to ignite the crowd which was big enough to break into a mosh.

Candy Shop have come on miles and miles. They have a full set of good material and an energetic show. For whatever reason, they really appeal to the local crowd and from the get go people were up for the show. After a bit of teething with the sound in the opening track, they ripped into their set and the audience went for it. The band were well prepared for the night with badges and stickers to give out as well as a couple of signed posters. They really gave the student crowd a taste of an energetic gig with jumping and dancing and I'm sure they won many new fans.

Also, after calling him out on the podcast, blogger Swiss James did in fact come down. Nice one mate. To be fair, if you follow his blog you'll know that James likes his rock.

I used to blog a bit about the area I live in and how it was turning into a hipster paradise, also named the F-visa ghetto. The gist was that I noticed it was becoming a destination for music  and music people. I predicted it would grow as it was both downtown and had plenty of cheaper rents (within the context of Shanghai prices). 

A little over a year ago I saw Beijing band Gala play live at Yuyintang. Revisit the review here. The surprise was how popular they were and that YYT was packed with student fans who you wouldn't normally see at a rock club. After a bit of research I discovered it was because they had the underground equivalent of a hit single with their song Young For You, which you can check out at their page here if you want to know what interests the local kids who are not necessarily actively into indie music. 

塑料拖鞋 (Plastic Slippers)雷人 (Lei Ren)

Back in the heady days of September 21st 2009, Jake reviewed the kick ass Bigger Bang show at Yuyintang. Here is the review.

the bigger bang ! 大棒 ！ ／ in shanghai from Tim Franco on Vimeo.

Just a month ago, Jake told us of a video shoot for Shanghai indie-pop act Bang Bang Tang (Lollipop). The Yuyintang footage plays a very small part but if you watch carefully you will see Jake's blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. 

Once upon a time, not that long ago to be honest, SARS was 'over' and the Yuyintang collective were yet to open their own venue. Various people were hovering, looking to get some shows started downtown, away from the Yangpu micro-scene. We're talking the turn of '03 - '04. For a time, they tried Harley's Bar in Xu Jia Hui. In case people get confused, shows there did cling on until, for a time, 'old Yuyintang' and Harley's ran simultaneously.

Not so long ago in a galaxy not very far away, I linked some of LOS's stuff on Neocha and mentioned the upcoming Miniless showcase at Yuyintang.

There seems to be quite a commitment to the music and the artist side of things - is that more important than being a successful business?

Actually in today's society or music industry, the power of promotion are far beyond music itself, and I think every people with a healthy-normal brain should understand that. But, well, maybe we all had a failed-brain so we think, at least at this period of miniless, we'll focus more on music. And if the music could inspire the others and ourselves, that's a successful business to us.

Just trolling around Neocha and came across this at the Loudspeaker page. Both of these nights could be an absolute riot if they are packed and it gives you the chance to check out ten good Shanghai bands in one block. I would quit my job to make sure I got to both of these unhindered.

Hanging Gardens are great guys and they love music. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they always seem plagued by either sound problems/tech problems or indifferent turn outs for the bands they are supporting. 

Up From The Underground is a documentary film about Shanghai indie pop band Hard Queen's CD release show. The kind people at Daedalum Films have now made it fully available online via Vimeo. And here it is.

Up from the Underground from Shanghaiist on Vimeo.

I managed to catch the band live when they closed out the night at YYT after the Happy Avenue show. Read the review here. They perform well and have a solid set of catchy traditional rock with acoustic driven hooks.

I mentioned how I bartered with Xiehan of Ourself Beside Me for their set list after the show. Well Jake Newby just stole his one ... and he got the cooler one too. Curses! 

Creature headlined the first night of Splitworks' Straight Oota Canada festival at Yuyintang but alas they were post-pop, indie-pop-disco something or other. Just imagine a lot of falsetto vocals, cowbells, whoop-whoops and 'we rock the house's to a disco beat ...in costumes.