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MP3 Monday: 2009 Hidden Gems

Five for the road - By Morgan Short, Dec 14, 09

We’ve been doing the MP3 Monday column fairly consistently for the past two years or so. It’s purpose is pretty straight-forward -- ideally, it's supposed to provide some audio samples, along with some bullshit hype for an upcoming show or DJ that weekend. It’s a pretty typical MP3 blog, although we tend to be more populist than not with who gets featured. If you have a look at the older articles, it’s a lot of big name foreign acts -- Handsome Furs, MONO, Au Revoir Simone, Jose Gonzalez -- and DJs. We even had one on Mobb Deep. I don’t really know what I was thinking. I guess I was really into gangsta rap that week -- it happens. Actually, it’s just easier to steal MP3s from people who are big and famous. It’s a path of least resistance thing...

Anyways, there have been a few more less well-known acts on MP3 Monday in the past year, and for this article -- the last MP3 Monday of 2009 -- here’s some stuff you should check out if you haven't already.

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This first one is from Beijing-based duo Hot & Cold, who were in town playing on one of last year’s biggest shows, These Are Powers at the Zhijiang Dream Factory. For me, they were one of the spazzy highlights of that bill, which also featured Carsick Cars and PK 14. This song is from their debut album “Any Monkey is Dangerous” on Maybe Noise (released in June of this year).



Here is the original MP3 Monday article. Here is the band’s MySpace.

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Sort of logical to slot this MP3 in here after Hot & Cold. White is the other band of Carsick Cars frontman Zhang Shouwang, who was also the producer on that aforementioned Hot & Cold album. White has been around in some form or other since 2005, although they released their debut CD in 2009 as a two-piece (the other member is Shenggy from Hang on the Box).



Here is the original MP3 Monday article. Here is the band’s MySpace.

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Randome K(e) is a groovin’, post-rockish act singed to Beijing-based Tag Team Records. You hear a lot about Modern Sky and Maybe Mars, but not so much about Tag Team. I don’t really know why, there's some good bands on that label. I guess they don’t get down to Shanghai much. Other bands on Tag Team are Arrows Made of Desire and Lonely China Day. Check them out here -- good podcast too. Random K(e) were in Shanghai for the first time in 2009 behind the release of their CD “Waiting”. This song is off that album.



Here is the original MP3 Monday article. Here is the band’s MySpace.

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Another band from Beijing. I didn’t plan it like that. Actually, IDH is a two-piece (three-piece these days?) from Mongolia. They had just recently relocated to Beijing, and were doing lots of touring last year. I managed to catch two of their shows in 2009, and out of all the post punk acts currently active in China, IDH are among my favorite. It’s kind of a cliché to call a band “unpretentious”, but when you can muster up that kind of honest emotion playing to about 8 people -- which is what they did on that rainy, shitty Sunday night in June at Yuyintang -- then it’s For Realz. Here’s one of theirs. Get depressed.



Here is the original MP3 Monday article. Here is the band’s MySpace.

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This last band, Fading Horizon, is from Nanjing, although they were in Shanghai at least twice in 2009, playing on Miniless Records label showcases. Here’s label impresario Hans describing the band: "Imagine a ruined city covered by polar night with huge alien warships hovering in the sky."

Not much to add to that. Good band. Looking forward to hearing more recordings and seeing them again in 2010.



Here's the original article. Here's their MySpace.

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