Yuyintang’s New Face series continues its transition to becoming YYT Channel - both looking to expand on the series' potential and redefine themselves as a hub for aspiring artists in Shanghai and beyond. For their eleventh episode, they’ve got some serious contenders - including emerging Shanghai post-rock act Film No. 26, who recently won the Yuyintang Battle of the Bands. Also on hand, Hangzhou math rock act WHOCAR, seasoned indie pop outfit Two Birds, and the suspiciously yet intriguingly named no channel, but... (a gig guide writer’s nightmare of a name).
With only one more week on Yuyuan’s Specters live-music-o-meter, the rock and roll safe haven is ratcheting up the noise with a string of rollicking shows. Tonight features jangly indie rockers Fulcrum, who canvas across shoegaze, psych rock, and anthemic Britpop with conviction; as well as crunchy power trio Doppler Drive, Buddha Beat, and finally, Rage Against the Machine aficionados Riot Symphony, looking to capture the ‘gritty energy of 90's grunge and the raw intensity of Nu metal’.
Thailand post-rock band Inspirative, whose slow-burning, soaring guitar-driven music has garnered them a diehard following over the last decade, returns to China to indulge post-rock fanatics across the country. Beautifully transcendent music - the band is known for their mastery of reverb and for going ‘big’ each and every track - not hesitating to bring in vocals to reach those emotional highs. Post rock catnip - this is the band’s third rodeo over the past couple of years, so expect a nice full crowd.
Rehearsal space Rock Shanghai celebrates the bands grinding it out in Shanghai - the lifeblood of the underground scene with a killer showcase over at Cave Art Venue. And what a spread - from heavier acts like operatic death metal stalwarts Urizen Society to rugged grunge purveyors PRANK - rubbing shoulders with garage rock peddlers Hey!Lily! and Britpop aficionados Burley Quay. Should be a diverse, riotous night of tunes.
Cream Club is picking up the pace (and slack) as they aim to give the indie scene a new home base (or at least give one in Pudong) - with an impressive November schedule. Tonight features three young-blooded acts that have been making waves over the past year, including Hangzhou’s Reclock, who have been amassing fans left and right for their tender, evocative post-rock vignettes. Also on hand, jangly indie pop via Abstract Abstract that injects their sound with spry math rock finesse and even some scrappy indie charm, and the delicate and ethereal emo math rockers Zhuyouhui.
Heavy shoegaze act out of Yogyakarta, Indonesia - Sunlotus are making their China debut after Shanghai’s Pale Air hit up their home turf a year ago. Traversing across 90’s grunge/college rock ala Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins to the transcendent soundscapes of bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, to even more experimental poisons like Boris and William Basinski, it’s a potent blend that hits hard. The band will be joined by Zhejiang’s Serious Desperado - the young emo noise rockers inject their sound with hard-edged angst, muscular musicality, and a youthful vulnerability; as well as Shanghai’s shoegaze aficionados Pale Air, who bring hazy dreamlike allure to their walls of noise, and finally, effects-loaded gaze duo Velocity Season from Ningbo. Heck of a way to close out the weekend.
