With a spring in their step - LiveChinaMusic welcomes the new season with open arms - evoking its blooming spirit and reverberating fervor with a spry, buoyant, and riotous evening of rock and roll over at Yangpu’s new rock and roll headquarters - Mosh Space. Hangzhou’s Lonely Cookies are one of the indie scene’s most dynamic and affecting acts - crafting guitar pop with fire-cracker vitality and melodic charm. Meanwhile, Nantong’s Blue Liquid taps into a 90s alt sound with riotous affinity whilst finding that sweet spot between noise and pop. Finally, Abstract Abstract is one of the most exciting new acts of Shanghai, mixing jangly pop sensibilities with math rock finesse and scrappy indie zest.
VAS - the Shanghai livehouse staple (that has expanded to Nanchang and Beijing the past couple of years) celebrates its 7th anniversary with a powerhouse two-day lineup at their West Bund adjacent (and much larger) VAS est. Special guests of honor for day one include Shame - the five-piece post punk band from South London that’s been riding a wave of success since their 2018 debut Songs of Praise. Known for ‘bridging the personal and political with wit and fury’ in a flurry of dance-punk and brash rock & roll that’s supercharged. They’ll join seminal Xi’an post punk outfit Fazi, who have been on a tear these past couple of years, oscillating between the ethereal and sincere New Order-esque codas to their more mania-driven earworms that one can’t help but shake to. Rounding out the lineup is one of the scene’s most exciting new acts - Vanishing Queen - an electric eclectic cruise through the golden years of rock and roll in the 70s - garage, hard rock, psychedelic - up to the alt rock of Smashing Pumpkins and hard-edged rock of acts like Queens of the Stone Age.
Modernsky Lab continues to shine a light on Shanghai's emerging talent - with their Polymerize Lab series - giving bands a taste of the big stage - and giving folks here an affordable and rollicking good time. And they’re back this spring with a solid lineup featuring recently transported pop punk veterans Tiny Time; Old Vinegar - the Taiyuan-raised rockers who inject folk, industrial metal, hip-hop, and Xinjiang ethnic music into their exotic blend; and High Kick, who will be offering up their mix of pop punk, city pop, and indie rock.
VAS - the Shanghai livehouse staple (that has expanded to Nanchang and Beijing the past couple of years) celebrates its 7th anniversary with a powerhouse two-day lineup at their West Bund adjacent (and much larger) VAS est. Special guests of honor for day two include Chris Imler, an industry veteran and jack-of-all-trades in the Berlin indie scene. Besides generating rhythms for artists as diverse as the Golden Showers, Peaches, Jens Friebe, and Oum Shatt, he’s put out his own work - ‘skulking somewhere in the depths between Krautrock and industrial dance music’’. Joining him are Chengdu post punk techno electro rockers STOLEN, a festival favorite who will be presenting their new set before the release of their new LP. Rounding out the night are electronic duo Taiga. Made up of members hailing from Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, who have been taking their nomadic take of psychedelic tunes to new frontiers.
Guitar and bass duo Gong Gong Gong, made up of some of the underground scene’s old guard – Josh Frank of Hot & Cold and Tom Ng of The Offset: Spectacles - return to Shanghai. There’s a scrappy, stripped-back sensation to the way the duo maneuvers around the confines of rock and roll, allowing the interplay between the two instruments to create robust sound that ever hints at the presence of a snare, sculpting grooving, endlessly innovative melodies over stories veiled in cryptic allure and danger. Joining them tonight will be Beijing lo-fi rock duo Luxinpei, known for their jagged no-wave art punk. Formed by Ma Meng and Ma Yuan, they’re another of the key figures in the underground experimental scene at D22 in the late 2000s.
A killer lineup over at Mosh Space - with a trio of young bands from Hangzhou capturing the woozy sound of adolescence with vitality. Warm, inviting math rock - if we could stay- is the latest act to jump into the instrumental rock offshoot with a focus on melody and a twinkle of emo - approaching the genre with sentimentality. Meanwhile, Chocland.doc is one of the many newly minted acts to emerge out of the swelling shoegaze and noise pop scene. Last, Qi, brings a more anthemic indie flair to their sound.
