OKVLT13 summons the ghost of legendary Shanghai screen actress Ruan Lingyu (who tragically took her own life at the young age of 24) — through gothic arts, fashion, dark music, and the projected visage of Ruan herself. Held at alternative fashion hub OKVLT13 (located in the historical slaughterhouse 1933) there will be a lecture from silent film aficionado DJ BO, as well as a fashion show, a DJ set from Mang Menling, and a screening of The Goddess, often hailed as the pinnacle of Chinese silent cinema - which will get a live goth score courtesy of artists like DJ BO, guitarist UJ, and Cai Bingru on erhu. Radical.
Metal fans find sanctuary over at Cave Art Venue this weekend as they host a fine spread of no-frills theatrical metal acts. On the menu, you’ve got Hangzhou neoclassical avant-garde metal act Libris Mortis, not afraid to throw a funk into their sound. Also on hand are heavy metal Zhejiang act Freezing in Time, Hangzhou metalcore group Burn the Plains Dark Fire, death metal act Blood of Life, and new wave melodic metal act Ahimsa, from Ningbo. Head bang the night away.
StreetVoice is taking over Yuyintown Basement this spring with two gigs, putting a spotlight on some of the freshest and most exciting acts in the indie world. Night two features Xiamen-raised Shanghai-based indie pop Peach Illusion - whose affable, wistful lyricism and jangly synth pop have made them audience favorites; rising Shanghai twinkle emo stars dinner in haze, who tap into the earnest sounds of math rock-inflicted Midwest emo with spirited affection; and Hangzhou’s yooha, tapping into woozy psych pop with lo-fi relish.
trigger’s Ear Against The Amp series returns with another round of extreme sounds (think harsh noise and power electronics) and a very special guest in the guise of Meesje - the Dutch experimental noise musician who uses everyday objects to obtain an auditory effect somewhere ‘between the low-frequency hum of a radiator and the loud noise of a neighbor's haphazard bathroom renovation’ Joining him is YAMAHAHA, bringing the noise via his modular synthesizers and vintage noise gadgets; fellow harsh noise soloist ZK, and the tag team combo of Zhu Yinjie and Guo Yihan. Bring your earplugs.
Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Soul Revival is on a mission to bring back the raw, live sound of 1960s and 70s Vietnamese rock and soul music. Sweet grooves that blend rock, soul, jazz, Vietnamese ballads, and traditional instrumentation, covering a ‘whole gamut of sounds that were popular during the Golden Era, from raw, heavy funk and psychedelia to slower, emotional ballads’. Vibrant, electric stuff that should make for a blast of a show.
A solid double-header at Mao Livehouse - San Ren is a rustic and wild-eyed Sichuan flavoring of rock and roll, who have been garnering a hefty fanbase over the past year with their spirited, unruly, and fierce sound - a guitar-driven stadium-ready fusion of folk, psychedelic, and alternative rock that calls to mind bands like Omnipotent Youth Society, No Party for Caodong, and Buyi. Meanwhile, Chengdu’s Time Is Running Out, who meld together a bit of Radiohead falsetto cooing, some synth-infused new wave swagger, and lots of Britpop bombast, have been rising through the ranks over the past five years, honing in on a sound that seems to be catching fire with young Chinese audiences.
