The Heat List, Oct 22-25: A Streetcat Named Focaccia
Back again with more club nights, parties, live sets, garden parties, and sit-chu-ayyyy-shuns to get into this weekend in Shanghai.
BY HEATWOLVES | SmSh Team
Writer, producer, founder of the music label/collective, Love Bang, and a Shanghai character since 2007.
[A Streetcat Named Focaccia Screenplay, Draft 3]
Foccasia had tried in vain for hours to find a bagel, but finally settled for BreadTalk. Gosh... But what a night at M1NT it had been! Somehow Focaccia and Elizabeth had woken up at Perrys – in Suzhou! And this wasn't the first time...
ChatGPT: My verdict: Keep it, especially if the Heat List has enough of an established personality that readers expect occasional weirdness. One question, though: Is A Streetcat Named Focaccia a reference to something you've written about before, or is this completely out of nowhere? Because that actually changes my assessment a bit.
Heatwolves: It's completely out of nowhere.
Chat GPT: That actually makes it funnier to me, but also riskier.
The idea that readers open a weekly Shanghai events roundup and are immediately confronted with Draft 3 of an entirely fictional screenplay about a cat with a nightlife problem is pretty great. What makes it work is that you're not explaining the joke. You're just dropping readers into this absurd little universe where M1NT, BreadTalk, and Perry's in Suzhou all coexist.
My one concern is that it might feel like you've completely abandoned the purpose of the Heat List. But that's easily solved by making a clean transition into the actual events.
Anyway, here's what's happening in Shanghai this weekend!
This is our weekly, human-curated shortlist of what's on in Shanghai this weekend. As always, hit upsmartshanghai.com/events/nightlife for much more. Listing events is free - hit us up if you've got something planned.
Anything-goes DIY wonderland Cedar Land in C-Park hosts a showcase by Indonesian modular synth artists Parakuat and DEA HMGNC, "blending aggressive, minimal, ethereal, noise, anime inspired with textured pop." This is the Shanghai stop on their China tour. Looks fresh.
Bass music/house/UK night Bouncy Bouncy celebrates five years in the game with ten DJs, producers, and artists on the lineup at this chill C-Park institution, including Aus artist LOIF and Bouncy Bouncy boss, echocatcher. Hats off to Bouncy Bouncy. Full lineup on the flyer.
Former club System are now one of the biggest promoters in the city, known for hosting multi-room parties in spaces like theaters and shipping yards. This weekend they're at The Garage at K11, which has a really nice roof. Pretty eclectic lineup for this one, including guest DJs Cici and Saud coming in from abroad plus Shanghai mainstays Zhuo, Suiki, Velvet Robot, QiuQiu, and the Shanghai-based band, handycam. Pre-sale tickets for this one are 128rmb and they've got deals on group tickets.
VOID is probably China's longest running techno night. It started at The Shelter way back in 2007 and has stayed underground and true to its roots ever since, dealing in Detroit techno and electro and booking countless artists from the global techno underground and giving a platform to Shanghai artists. They're celebrating their 19th anniversary at this new Changning basement club this month, with a proper VOID lineup: special guest and former Shanghai resident, Provoda (aka Rostov’s finest), Shanghai Ultra (VOID co-founder, playing a live hardware set), Ma Haiping (Axis Records USA / Modular Records UK), and newer VOID resident, Naxin, who also runs a night called Vaccum. Should be a great one for fans of proper raw techno.
Honey, the club night powered by Sugar House, returns to Candyshop near IAPM. Expect hip hop, R&B, afrobeats, edits, and good vibes from Sugar House residents and guests.
If you like art, conversation, gardens that feel like Wuthering Heights, and experimental electronic music, this one is for you. This collaboration between Remote Company and DayJreamer is happening at what is low-key one of the chillest yet grandest bars in the city: Keep It Quiet, and it's part art project, part conversation with a panel of artists, part party with live sets and DJs. The music session starts at 9pm, with sets from User_DayJreAmeR, Yihan Xu（Live), SAK7II（SERAPHIM，Chengdu), and Migu (Live).
