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.

Our concentrated and powerful MP3 Monday spotlight is on two out-of-town rock bands coming into Shanghai to play shows this weekend at Yuyintang. Music from both can loosely be described as "post punk", although the tag probably fits better with the former, The Fallacy, than the later, Streets Kill Strange Animals, but blah.

Just the facts:

Sept. 10: The Fallacy (post punk) w/ Boys Climbing Ropes (crap)

Sept. 11: Streets Kill Strange Animals (post punk / rock), Bigger Bang (dance rock), Pairs (kraut rock / funk / acid jazz)

So on these two nights, the bands you should be looking is The Fallacy on the former and Streets Kill Strange Animals on the latter. To my knowledge, neither has been in Shanghai before, and I have a half-assed theory that these two represent a younger generation of rock that carries on the depressive-yet-cathartic Chinese post punk tradition as initiated by Re-TROS and PK14. Younger Chinese bands taking cues from older Chinese bands -- warms your ingrained sense of Chinese nationalism. That's the thin basis for talking about both and recommending them here. If you had to trace the sound back further back to Western rock influences, one might think about Section 25, Gang of Four, Joy Division. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to talk about PK14 or Re-TROS without naming some of those Factory bands and Gang of Four.

The Fallacy is from Xinxiang in Henen, and have only been around for three years or so. These tracks off their demo sound like a much older band though. Good stuff. Disaffected youth. Perfunctory, repetitive bass lines. "Angled" guitars. Get depressed.



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So Streets Kill Strange Animals is from Beijing, coming in on Saturday to play with Bigger Bang and local roustabouts, Pairs. They're a newer act, formed in 2008, but from our meager internets research it seems they play at D-22 a lot. Here's a review of one of their shows on Beijing-based blog/label Pangbianr, wherein they are described thusly: "They were quite good: simple, catchy rock jams."

Their early recorded material on their Douban page is a bit rough, but sounds pretty cool all the same. Looking forward to that.

Last little item in out-of-town post punk news: one of our favorite post punk bands based in Beijing, IDH, is coming back to Shanghai on November 21. Get to know them here. They've been through another line-up change since that article but yeah. They're good. Douban page here.

Also, rumor mill item: The Fall might be doing a China tour. Get your hopes up.

Post punk... punk rock... rock rock... indie rock... bored teenagers.


The Fallacy play at Yuyintang this Friday. Event details right here. Streets Kill Strange Animals play the 'Tang on Saturday. Event details here.

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