MP3 Monday: Pains / Downstate / Trash
By Morgan Short, Feb 20th, 2012 | In Nightlife
MP3 Monday is a weekly SmartShanghai column, serving up mp3s from bands living and making music in China (or coming to China, or thinking about coming to China, or whatever). Copyright holders: if you would like your song removed, please email us here, and we'll honor your request promptly.
Monday afternoon hype train leaving the station with a few show recommendations for this weekend…
Big ticket for this weekend is New York indie pop band, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, playing at Mao Livehouse, hosted in town by Split Works as a pre-emptive strike for their Jue Festival music and arts events showcase in March
Music is that sweet, fuzzy, happy indie pop, shoegazish stuff -- they get compared to The Pastels, Smashing Pumpkins, and Belle and Sebastian a lot. Sound like your thing? Their latest is 2011’s Belong, produced by Flood, a massively famous engineer, mixer, producer with credits on everything from Erasure and Depeche Mode to Nine Inch Nails, and also a bunch of Smashing Pumpkins albums… so that kind of makes sense.
Here’s one from that:
Tickets status: According to the organizers, the 120rmb pre-sale tickets are sold out. Snapped up on Taobao they were. However, you can get advance tickets at the 150rmb door price by stopping by the Split Works office during business hours yourself and picking them up, or, failing that, turning up on the night of the show. Not sure if this one will sell out, but make sure you’re there on time on Friday in case it does. 8:30pm is when the doors open -- if you show up then you should be able to get in fine.
This Saturday night is a release party for the first PAUSE:MUSIC record of 2012 -- locally-based producer Downstate is finally submitting his first Shanghai release, “Farewell Static” for city-wide approval. A sometimes guest at ROM, Sub-Culture and a few other bass / electronica nights around town -- and he also does a weekly every Monday night at Dada -- Downstate’s stuff is 8-bit, glitched melodies against degraded broken beats, layered synth hooks and arpeggios, swathed in a scratchy VHS videotape damaged sci-fi movie sort of aesthetic. Stoned headphone or smoky half-empty dive bar listening. Pretty interesting stuff. Here’s a super special advance download.
Cover for that show is 50rmb, and that nets you a free copy of this release.
Check back later on during the week for an interview with Downstate.
Competing for your affections this Saturday night is the curtain call for local punk / garage / 50s rock promoter group, Trash a Go-Go. Stick a fork in them, they’re done. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years -- and not living ON the rock, MAN -- Trash a Go-Go were your only stop for punk rock in Shanghai, combining a few punk-oriented local bands with touring bands from out of town to wonderful effect. From Dead Elvis to The Routes to many more, some of the best concerts in over the last few years were Trash A Go-Go shows, and it’s a real blow to our live music calendars that they’re moving on. All three dudes behind the group are still in Shanghai, however, so we’d expect some sort of follow-up in the coming months.
Saturday night’s concert sees a headlining set from The Barbacans, capping off a seven-date China tour with this final show at Yuyintang. Here's a vid of them going at it. Also on the bill is Shanghai’s only hardcore act, The Instigation, back on the stage with a new guitarist and singer. Head on down and give him the Rollins treatment.
Sayonara, Trash a Go-Go. Cheers for the rokkkkk.
Monday afternoon hype train leaving the station with a few show recommendations for this weekend…
Friday @ Mao Livehouse: Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Big ticket for this weekend is New York indie pop band, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, playing at Mao Livehouse, hosted in town by Split Works as a pre-emptive strike for their Jue Festival music and arts events showcase in March
Music is that sweet, fuzzy, happy indie pop, shoegazish stuff -- they get compared to The Pastels, Smashing Pumpkins, and Belle and Sebastian a lot. Sound like your thing? Their latest is 2011’s Belong, produced by Flood, a massively famous engineer, mixer, producer with credits on everything from Erasure and Depeche Mode to Nine Inch Nails, and also a bunch of Smashing Pumpkins albums… so that kind of makes sense.
Here’s one from that:
Please install Flash Player
Tickets status: According to the organizers, the 120rmb pre-sale tickets are sold out. Snapped up on Taobao they were. However, you can get advance tickets at the 150rmb door price by stopping by the Split Works office during business hours yourself and picking them up, or, failing that, turning up on the night of the show. Not sure if this one will sell out, but make sure you’re there on time on Friday in case it does. 8:30pm is when the doors open -- if you show up then you should be able to get in fine.
Saturday @ The Shelter: Downstate Album Release
This Saturday night is a release party for the first PAUSE:MUSIC record of 2012 -- locally-based producer Downstate is finally submitting his first Shanghai release, “Farewell Static” for city-wide approval. A sometimes guest at ROM, Sub-Culture and a few other bass / electronica nights around town -- and he also does a weekly every Monday night at Dada -- Downstate’s stuff is 8-bit, glitched melodies against degraded broken beats, layered synth hooks and arpeggios, swathed in a scratchy VHS videotape damaged sci-fi movie sort of aesthetic. Stoned headphone or smoky half-empty dive bar listening. Pretty interesting stuff. Here’s a super special advance download.
Please install Flash Player
Cover for that show is 50rmb, and that nets you a free copy of this release.
Check back later on during the week for an interview with Downstate.
Saturday @ YYT: (The Last) Trash a Go-Go feat. The Barbacans
Competing for your affections this Saturday night is the curtain call for local punk / garage / 50s rock promoter group, Trash a Go-Go. Stick a fork in them, they’re done. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years -- and not living ON the rock, MAN -- Trash a Go-Go were your only stop for punk rock in Shanghai, combining a few punk-oriented local bands with touring bands from out of town to wonderful effect. From Dead Elvis to The Routes to many more, some of the best concerts in over the last few years were Trash A Go-Go shows, and it’s a real blow to our live music calendars that they’re moving on. All three dudes behind the group are still in Shanghai, however, so we’d expect some sort of follow-up in the coming months.
Saturday night’s concert sees a headlining set from The Barbacans, capping off a seven-date China tour with this final show at Yuyintang. Here's a vid of them going at it. Also on the bill is Shanghai’s only hardcore act, The Instigation, back on the stage with a new guitarist and singer. Head on down and give him the Rollins treatment.
Sayonara, Trash a Go-Go. Cheers for the rokkkkk.
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