Podcast Five: Top Floor Circus "Karaoke Forever"

It's really too bad about the sound at Logo. People were saying how shit it was for that night, but its been that shitty for a while... I thought Random K(e) got a raw deal when they played there, as well as Fucked Up. There's just not that much you can do when the equipment is totally ass. The better bands make the best of it, but in the end, if bands aren't logistically able to play for the audiences what they're capable of, the show ends up being meh for everyone.

I hope Logo decides to actually fix that shit. They're the only venue with the stage at floor-level, which is a recipe for really the best concerts. It's good to see big shows with professional sound on big stages, like at MAO, but the small ones with the stage at audience level are always the ones you remember.

For me, I remember when Mortal Fools did The Ramones there, AV Okubo, Angry Jerks, and Snapline -- all those were good because the stage was right on the ground, and the bands were leaning into the audiences and screaming into their faces...

So fix you shit, Logo! It can't cost that much... and I'm sure the German minimal DJ guys who play there most of the time are thinking the same thing anyways...

I like smaller gigs too, but I think YYT is about right, perhaps the Weihai LU 696 Live Bar too.

As much as Mao is a good venue and it will be amazing when bigger audiences get in there ... the YYT gigs that are sardined and go off moshing are the best.

Jake was saying that how the sound quality at Mao suddenly reminded people that sound can be loud and clear, and that's it's the norm.

Although, it seems that the Logo show was below it's own standards.

I remember when Hedgehog at Logo was one of the most talked about gigs on the scene.

@Andy & Jake: haha, regarding the sound of Shanghai, I am not trying to be a bastard ;) as you said, I guess the most bands have not yet received enough coverage around Shanghai, and touring is still nearly non-existing, compared to "Crystal Butterfly", "Top Floor Circus" and "Cold Fairyland". If you talk about what will break out, I cannot speak about it, as you have to be in-scene Shanghai to know about it. So, keep up the coverage and if possible post more songs ;).

So far I've been 2 times to Mao Livehouse and I did not find the sound so good, especially at the Pet Conspiracy show, very loud/bassy sound, but may be it was more a matter of mix.

On the show itself, the 2 first songs were fun, the act was good, they have good presence, so far so good, but after 2 songs i really got bored and left. In the end, it all comes down to music and here, it hurts. But then, I missed the naked girl.. Ah the naked girl... But I am losing track. Back to the venues comment.

Overall, I agree that YYT & Live Bar II are definitely better suited today for Shanghai scene needs. But that's true that these Tanghui/Logo shows had a special taste... Good ol' times....

Ah, and Mao has that Zhijiang Dream factory curse feeling around it, don't you think? Brrrr

*Shameless self-promotion here* If you saw Crystal Butterfly and The Mushrooms already 5 times and want to hear something different, we'll play Friday night with 3 other bands at YYT *End of shame less self-promotion here*

Hi Bistoo

This is the gig you are talking about right?

So other readers check it out, it's one more option.

As for the Mao sound, it's definitely the mix. Pet Conspiracy don't take too much care of the sounds as a lot of it is provided by laptop, I thought. It was a great show, but like I said, it;s not my type of music either.

On the opening night Life Journey played and they sounded perfect. There's definitely the potential for a fully professional sound.

Nope, this is this one on Friday.

The first time I was in Mao, the sound did not strike as bad, so I guess it was good. It s like a referee in soccer, if you notice it, it's bad.

The missus tells me a said Chongqing instead of Chong Ming on the pod. Whooops.

Also, Shabi is a mandarin expression, not to be confused with gangbiyangzi.

Andy

You also just typed 'a' instead of 'I'.

Northern Git.

@Jake&Andy: on retrospective when listening to other podcasts from the Beijing scene (of the Tag Team Records), why... don't u do a drunk show? http://www.tagteamrecords.com/podcast.php --> Yellow Fever 1, with the not-edited-out part of the podcast about the confetti... ;)

Why not drunk and called "Yellow Fever" ...

In that order, cos I don't drink and I'm not a wanker.

:)