SmartShanghai | Ride the Lighting

Ride the Lighting

By Morgan Short, Dec 3rd, 2008 | In Nightlife

From critically-acclaimed indie pop, to thrash metal, to touring post rock, to local up-and-comers, Shanghai's throwing it all against the wall this weekend. One of these is bound to stick for you.

Thursday, December 4

Corrupt Absolute @ Yuyintang

Yuyintang welcomes Hawaiian thrash metal band Corrupt Absolute on their way through Shanghai, spreading evil all over the PRC. This is the truest metal show I can remember in Shanghai for the past while so if you like to keep it evil, don't miss out.

Oh wait, remember when Napalm Death played at Absolute House?

Anyways, they've shared the bill with a who's who of the hardcore/metal world: Slayer, Mastadon, Hatebreed.

If I played a show with Slayer, that shit would be going on my resume: typing at 45 wpm, holder of a G-class driving license, conversational French, and I was in a band that played along side Slayer -- they were totally chill.

Support acts are cream of the crop in terms of local aggression: Loudspeaker, Chaos Mind, and Five-Point Star.

Cover: 40rmb. Starts 9pm

Jens Lekman @ Glamour Bar

Jens Lekman at Glamour Bar. The big ticket of the week, Jens should be bringing out all the introspective, thoughtful fans of modern pop. Good for if you like it mellow with a hint of wryness, and are down with the Garden State zeitgeist of our modern times.

He could use some more songs about cool swords, the end of the world, orcs, flaming armageddon, wizards, and shit like that, but, hey, that's just my opinion.

Cover: 100rmb (incl. a drink). Starts 9:30pm

Friday, December 5

The Shy Tall Mighty @ Yuyintang

This is the third trip to Shanghai in recent memory for Nanjing punk act The Shy Tall Mighty, and if you missed them the first two times, you dropped the ball. I can't lie, I dropped the ball. But I've been seeing and reading good things about them on the internets all day and am looking forward to this one. If you like the old school punk rock, stop in at Yuyintang to check them out.

Cover: 30rmb. Starts 9pm

Indie Top @ Zhijiang Dream Factory

A carpet bombing of local bands take the stage at the spacious and roomy Dream Factory for a label showcase of all the freshly-singed bands on Indie Top. Indie Top is a fold of the Soma record label, and was put together to help foster, mold, and construct the Chinese rock superstars of tomorrow. Or so I hear. I don't really research these things, I just believe what people tell me. Music styles run the gamut from pop, to trip hop, nu metal, punk pop, indie rock, and misc.

The concert features a full dance card with thirteen bands in all, with the key acts being Momo (erstwhile Happy Strings), Crazy Mushroom, Zhong Chi, Little Nature, and Sonnet. With friends of all the bands alone, this one should be a well-attended bigger concert, and should provide accurate representation of what-the-kids-are-into-these-days.

Cover: 50rmb. Starts: 7:30pm

Saturday, December 6

Candy Shop @ Live Bar

Candy Shop are a newer six-piece and play the nu metal but make it a little bit more syrupy-ey, and electronic-ey. Kind of like Evanescence but a little happier. Guest band is Big Ant, whom I've never heard of. But I really like the name for some reason.

Cover: 30rmb. Starts 9pm

Hualun @ Yuyintang

Wuhan post rock act Hualun take the stage at Yuyintang and should be interesting to check out, as they just had a successful appearance at the ModernSky Music Festival (so the promoters tell us). They're touring behind their first album "Silver Daydream" (that's a pretty post rock-sounding album name) and are joined by local on-again-off-again band Booji.

Booji is a pretty interesting act that at one time was comprised of members of all the better Shanghai bands: 33 Island, Banana Monkey, and Hard Queen. Their early shows, way back when Brad Fergusson was managing Live Bar, were really, really good, and if you saw them, you always thought that they would be rich and famous one day. I remember someone turning to me and saying, "Man, they would really dig on this shit in New York." Or maybe it was me who said that and I was trying to seem "with it."

In their subsequent concerts, it always seemed that they were fighting a battle of being a post punk band, a no wave band, or an art noise band, no doubt reflective of the different members' tastes and musical aspirations. It's led to infrequent performances and constant line-up changes.

Anyways, it should be interesting to see just who is in the band now and what kind of music they've decided to come up with. I bet it's going to be mad arty.

Cover: 40rmb Starts 9pm

Tagged: Live Music Event Previews