Chamber pop with an avant-garde edge and expansive art pop veneer, Wang Yiling struck gold on her ambitious, singular, and captivating LP Ode to Wither from last year. Steering clear of the often bland and vapid arrangements found in Chinese folk music, Yiling, along with an arsenal of instruments (strings, accordions, clarinets, cello, and even Indian organs) and maverick performers at hand (including Hadi Marvian and Jukka Ahonen of FluFlaFen), has created arrangements dense in their layers and rich in their details. It’s all capped by the singer-songwriter’s restrained yet impassioned voice and a poetic poise not afraid to peer into the darkness of our lives. Delicate and elegant, the band is in the midst of a nationwide tour and will be performing at YUYINTOWN’s new Cube space.
Free rock and roll kicking off at 11PM! Sure, why the hell not? Yuyintown Basement hosts two scrappy, twisted rock and rollers for a special after-hours party - including the gritty and electric frenzied punk outfit Moya - arguably the best new act to hit Shanghai last year - and FYB, aka Fuck Your Birthday - the grungey math rock duo split between Wenzhou and Shanghai - equal parts melodic and uproarious. The perfect spot to blow off some steam after a long-winded boozy dinner pregame.
A decadent blackened metal feast to gouge on tonight at Cave Art Venue as some of the gnarliest black, death, and war metal acts join forces. Featured bands include Anteinfierno, whose unyielding dedication towards the essential aesthetics of this genre - howling riffs of violence, chaos, and 666% pure blasphemy - is straight up Bestial. Also on hand is Nanning’s GROST, who use dissonant intervals and chaotic walls of noise to simulate states of collapse or madness. Plus, Nanjing’s Destroy the Redemption, Shanghai’s own Katharnum, and the mysterious and awesomely named GOATAPOTHEOSIS. Righteous.
Punk rock gets its due finally here in Shanghai - as Cream Club - the gloriously grubby and cool underground spot along the Huangpu River in Pudong, hosts a punk festival! And what a spread - one that highlights the emerging and hardened punk sounds of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and of course Shanghai. On the menu, you’ve got Suzhou Oi! punk act Never Regret; Hangzhou-based ska-shaking, punk rockers The Chicken Punk; local street punk act The Stirrers (whose members reside at Cream Club); Hangzhou hardcore thrash punks Ripper; female-fronted punk trio CatFight; seasoned Shanghai party punk rabble rousers Round Eye; and the mysterious post-apocalyptic punk rock act 单位组织的活动. Expect a friendly, rowdy mosh-pit-prone crowd.
It’s been wondrous seeing some of the scenes in Southeast Asia merge and exchange with one another over the past couple of years - a testament to how much music plays a universal role in our lives. Case in point - Manila dreampop act Megumi Acorda - a supergroup of sorts formed by The Strange Creatures’ Megumi and featuring Evee Simon (July XIV, Spacedog Spacecat), Bijan Gorospe (The Strangeness, Grows), Kevin Ingco (Memory Drawers), and Jerros Dolino (Spacedog Spacecat) - finding their way to China with the help of some of our scene’s most wistful. Capturing ‘the synchrony of the melodic, fuzzed out, and the personal’, the band hits up Cave Art Venue with support from one of my favorite new acts this year - Handycam - with their rustic, nervy art rock sound.
For anyone with the need to block out the dissonance in their life, there’s no better remedy than this year’s edition of Post Shanghai - a showcase for the rich post-rock scene Shanghai and its neighboring regions contain, twisting itself in new directions, subverting everything we thought we knew about the genre. From hefty and potent experimental instrumental rock outfit An Corporation - not afraid to infuse grandiose sound with an apocalyptic edge; to the evocative, visceral, and emo-inflicted arrangements of Shanghai’s Nerve Passenger; and finally, the poignant, narratively lush arrangements of emerging instrumental rock outfit No. 26 Negative.
Chengdu-based producer Wu Zhuoling is known for her ambient-laced soundscapes and multi-layered dance rhythms. Dank, dense, and atmospheric - her cosmic electronica combines modular synth sounds with ethereal vocals - its nature-informed meditative qualities blossoming into uptempo techno euphoria. Meanwhile, electronic club staple SHAO oscillates between a no frills minimalist techno junkie who haunts warehouse raves across the country, and a more ambient-leaning sound explorer looking for peace of mind amongst the sonic static. Dance off those weekend cobwebs and roll into the new week in style.
