Recently in Shanghai Music Scene Category

You might have seen a few people around town (myself included) sporting one of these rather fashionable Adventure of Strange Rock bags the last couple of months. As you can see, they come from the tour of the same name that Boojii and Duck Fight Goose put on a while back. They look amazing, are good quality bags and will make you at least ten times more attractive to members of the opposite sex. Promise. If that sounds like your bag, click here and buy a whole load on Taobao.

Hey thrillseeker, you need to get on this: Open Goat. That's not some crazy new drug that all the kids are on, it's the name of a brilliant event coming up on September 25 at 1918's new gallery space (694 Huai'an Lu, near Changle Lu). Yes, it's a while off yet, but it doesn't mean I can't get excited about it now.

Here's the deal, straight from the, err, goat's mouth:
 

A veritable orgy of artistic fertility, the OPEN GOAT welcomes all comers to take part in a fully democratic, spontaneous, feverish and potentially life-altering collective improvisation.

 

The set-up is both simple and beautiful. Hordes of musicians and non-musicians playing acoustic instruments, household items, or specially constructed noise-objects will fill the main gallery space.

The aim is to jam one hour (or potentially longer) of pure improvisation, just for the sick ear-pleasure of finding out what happens. 

 

Despite 关注ing them, I somehow missed that Shanghai-based punk band 77 have put up a couple of tracks on their Douban. I had it pointed out to me last night at LOgO and, sure enough, there's a couple of songs up right here. Give that link a click and listen to the tracks.

It's punk in the pure, old school form so if you dig that stuff, you'll like these. They're still a fairly new band, but hopefully this means more is on the way and that they'll be gigging some more soon. Keep an eye out for them anyway. 

Have you heard of this band called Pairs? They're alright y'know. I know this site is in danger of becoming Pairsology at times, but here's my defence for this post: 1) they're good; 2) they're one of the few bands who have been gigging among the tumbleweed of the summer; 3) this was the first show I'd been to in ages so I'm going to write it up. So there.

So this was the Trash A Go Go night with Toshi et al putting a bunch of bands on at YYT and then over at LOgO later on. Unfortunately things over-ran at YYT so Pairs didn't go on until gone 1am. Didn't matter, there were plenty of people packed into LOgO to see them. Naturally, they tore shit up on the small stage (they're one of the few bands who seem to fit that LOgO stage). Despite a shitty amp and it being ridiculously hot and sweaty plenty of people jumped around like crazy throughout the set. Rhys even took my request for 'The Neighbours Song', which features lyrics such as 'Harold and Madge'. Ace.

As a post script, LOgO's trouble with the fuzz continues. After the usual moaning about people being sat outside, a couple of policeman came in halfway through the night and shone a torch at the DJ. They didn't really say anything, just shone the torch spotlighting him for a bit until he turned the music down. It was a bit surreal. They keep getting those visits there, let's hope it doesn't become too serious.

So while posting has been a bit light here the last few days (it's been my time of the month), someone else has been blogging like a mad man. Check it out.

Meanwhile, the ever-reliable SmartShanghai has posted on the recent troubles of Yuyintang, Shanghai's most important live venue. I know it's kind of annoying when blogs just link to other people's articles without adding anything to it, but it's important and Morgan's pretty much nailed it, so here's the link.

Though I'm gutted there's no show there tonight (now that I finally have time to get to a gig), the real worry is next month - let's hope it won't interfere with all the goodness coming our way in September.

Volume 23 of Rock Radio, an online radio show about, well, rock, is out and it features Lu Chen, Xiao He, Glamourous Pharmacy and Joker among others. It's embedded right here so all you have to do is click play. Ace. Check out previous episodes here. This is the full track listing:

Seriously, it's like buses or something. 

UPDATE: It's all happening now. Action, action, action. Ho-Tom's gone and uploaded some amazing pictures done by friend of the blog Mojo Wang. Check them out here.

Zhulu Hefeng, the local-based label headed up by Sonnet and Pinkberry drummer Lezi, are continuing their ambitious plans to sign up every band in the world. Last we heard, they'd done a deal with French rockers The Nitwits and now the band have licensed them to become their official album sellers in China. They'll be flogging the album around Shanghai and also up in Beijing as well as trying to get the band a slot at one of China's 2,896 festivals taking place this year.

One of the best sites about Chinese music on the interwebs, China Music Radar, has had a refit. Very dapper it is too. This picture is just a teaser, I don't want to give away all their surprises, but I will tell you that the panda is safe. So that's good. That's it really. Check it out here.