Well they did it. The Koreans finally did it. Rumors have been spreading about projects in America, Germany, UK, and Brazil but the Koreans built and dropped the bomb first. What I’m talking about of course is the Hitchhiker video "Eleven", which not only destroys all music and video art but at the same time creates everything that was known or will ever be known. A music video so perfect and so equally horrible it will change the landscape of what is even considered audio or visual. Both the song and video were created entirely from producer Choi Jin Woo a.k.a. Hitchhiker. Woo is one of the resident technicians at SM Entertainment, an experimental K-Pop lab rumored to be funded by the Korean military, churning out artist like Girls’ Generation (SNSD), Super Junior, EXO, f(x), and BoA on a daily basis. First Woo recording his three year-old daughter’s voice for the main vocal loop, then went on to learn motion capture techniques, 3D graphics, and video editing technology to create the "Eleven" video. I put a call out to you Shanghai club owners or promoters to jump on the Hitchhiker’s train before it’s too late. Hitchhiker (히치하이커) – "Eleven" Another game changer was the Lubomyr Melnyk show last night at the Shanghai Symphony. Melnyk invented the continuous method of playing piano, a layered style of music that is perfect for transcendence. He describes himself as a messiah of pianists: “I know for fact that there is no pianist in the history of piano playing who could even attempt to perform one of the larger pieces I do…Neither their mind nor their fingers could even start to play these big pieces”. Turns out Melnyk has the chops to back it up with world records in piano playing speed and he showed Shanghai the real deal last night with this Split Works show. This week’s live music scene is a little sparser so we are going to take things back to the club and feature music from two upcoming weekend dance gigs. First is Lola’s Friday anniversary show with Pete Herbert & Dicky Trisco followed by Saturday’s Ramon Tapia at Arkham.

Pete Herbert And Dicky Trisco

are celebrating Lola’s fourth anniversary Friday in style with Pete Herbert & Dicky Trisco. Their lineup this weekend continues to prove that they ain't running no amateur night. Unfortunately the club is mostly visited by models, socialites, and scoundrels, leaving me at the velvet rope peering in like a Studio 54 reject. Pete Herbert, one half of Friday's lineup, is a personal favorite of mine for his disco house remixes. He got his start by working at the London record shop Daddy Kools then proved himself a formidable DJ and made some noise with his Eskimo Recordings tracks as Reverso 68 and his solo Maxi Discs releases. Keeping the spirit of classic 90’s house, disco, and Italo while at the same time keeping the sound fresh is one of Herbert’s strong suites. Playing a back-to-back set with Mr. Herbert is long-time collaborator Dicky Trisco, who started out with his own nu-disco label Deep Freeze back in 2001. DT more recently has been involved with the Maxi Discs label which features artists such as Ray Mang, La Royale, and Marius Våreid. Other producing projects include his work with Boogie Corporations and the Electronic Boogie Band along with his endless stream of disco edits. You might find the DT playing Glastonbury or the many Disco Deviance parties around the world but this Friday he is playing a special set just for Shanghai so put on those dancing pants and head down to Lola. Sleazy McQueen - "I'm Tired" (Pete Herbert remix) Disco Deviance - "Everyone Can Do It" (Pete Herbert & Dicky Trisco Edit)

Ramon Tapia

Local promotion group Footprint is back to their old tricks and bringing in respected Belgian tech-house producer Ramon Tapia this Saturday at Arkham. The son of a revolutionary Chilean musician, Tapia has over 50 releases of his own and has been featured on over a hundred albums. Raised on the music of Kraftwerk and Quincy Jones in Holland he soon moved to Belgium where he started his DJ and producer career turning heads in the techno world. One of my favorite projects from Tapia is back in 2010 when he resurfaced some classic Strictly Rhythm records and updated them with a Tapia flare. Constant remix requests from artists like Paul Weller, DJ Sneak, Armand van Helden, and more has helped Tapia become a household name in the world of tech house across Europe. As a working class man of techno I’m expecting his set at Arkham to be both innovative and crowd pleasing. Footprint has brought together six local DJs to get the night going with MIA vs. Charp, DJ Doggy vs. Max Shen, and Misloop vs. Love Bang playing back to back sets. I’m told this is a warm up show for Footprints big three-year anniversary party in November. Ramon Tapia- House Assignment Move move shake shake now drop drop drop drop. ***