Album reviews online (German only)

German online magazine Musikreviews.de has posted another two record reviews of Chinese CDs in their collaboration with RockCon. Bands reviewed are Ordnance and Ourself Beside Me. In German only but worth a read:

• Ourself Beside Me: Ourself Beside Me (Review)
• Ordnance: Struggle (Review)

Artist of the week: Wanderlust

Wanderlust are a Tianjin four-piece act, that also performs under the name Carpet of Let and is playing a mixture of Bass/Fuzz Bass and Post Punk. They seem to be around since 2008, firstly performing in Tianjin and later in Beijing, being a regular act on the Zoomin Night of D-22. Good thing about them is that despite their short existence, they have upped a whole bunch of songs on their Douban page and have also three live shots from their D-22 excursions at youku.

Take a look at their song Psycho Killer or listen to Wickedness online.

Read more about Wanderlust …

Gig Reviews this week

It seems the attention of the week had been with the release of Subs album on the 23rd. Both BJ Daze and BJ Noise focussed their Friday night on the sublime performance of the so called Queen of Punk.

• 2010-07-23: Subs Album Launch Party @ Beijing Daze
• 2010-07-23: Subs Album Launch Party @ Beijing Noise

The guy behind Modern Sky Records …

“I hope that people from all over the world come to Beijing just for Modern Sky Festival with more and more international bands taking part. I want to the brand Modern Sky to represent the absolute ultimate in music,” Shen told the Global Times.

CMR just pointed out to this interesting interview by Global Times with the guy behind Modern Sky Records, the Modern Sky Festival and numerous releases in recent years. Who’s the guy? It’s Shen Lihui! Check it out …

New label in Shanghai / what’s up at Douban

Just a quickie on the way:

• Andy Best seems to have established his very own label! As Jake released, even though Andy mentioned it to be not online prior July 31st, Qu (as in 区 or district) is the name. Well done, let’s see some results!
• Alex of Beijing Gig Guide has upped another post about new songs that were uploaded on Douban. Bigger Bang, Super VC and Sparrow… well, not the creme de la creme, but still worth a visit
• In other news, Luwanrock seems to be fascinated about an expat band called The Dudettes, as can be seen by his shouts, last attempts and re-births.

Festivals, CMR and Helen Feng

Some kind of irony. Yesterday, Layabozi mentioned the great relationship Archie of CMR has with Helen Feng and by today CMR upped another article by Helen Feng about the topic of the year: the festivals.

Helen basically defended the big three etablished festivals, offering her criticsm and advice to the new frontier, the so called 2nd tier of festivals that sprung into life this year.

So, keep on reading …

And if you want to know more:

• Who is Helen Feng?
• Pet Conspiracy / Ziyo (Free the Birds)
• The big three: Midi / Modern / Zebra

Artist of the week: Subs

(Subs on Oct. 8th 2004 by Yoshito Katori)

In an attempt to revive the good old Artist of the Week posts, our first band are punk / indie Gods & Goddesses Subs, which recently released their new album Queen of Fucking Everything and have returned to Beijing after their nation-wide tour. What is to say about Subs, the one band that Mr. Andy Best is so fascinated about? They have energy, they have passion, they have raw brutality inscribed in their bodies and music. They started in 2002, have released in total 4 CDs, went on tours all over China and at least once to Europe! They had been on the cover of the Chinese Rolling Stones and are a fixed booking on nearly every festival.

Give it a listen over at Neocha EDGE as they have – friendly guys they are – published the complete record for streaming.  And while you are enjoying the riffs of Subs, read up on them at RiC…

Bandapart China Tour

This one just came in by Jon of YGTWO, who is actively promoting jazz and rock events in China: Bandapart, a Danish band is coming over (again) for a 5-city tour.  Here are the details:

Bandapart has been compared with Chicago’s avant-rock scene, the Icelandic “sound”, experimental jazz and Bill Frisell. The four band members are veterans of the Danish jazz scene, and all four musicians share a predilection for the playful and improvisational aspects of performing together. The band describes its music as a constantly varying journey through a colourful sound landscape. Guest musicians from The Danish Royal Symphony Orchestra, the Copenhagen jazz underground and New York’s downtown scene assist in adding nuance to Bandapart’s musical universe.

Zoomin Night – WLIB points out to the experimental D-22 scene

We Live in Beijing’s very own Pete DeMola pointed out to the experimental scene of D-22 and its regular gathering called Zoomin Night. With a steady audience and several die-hard fans the event series has seen performances of 心脏杂音，Fat City，路新配，Hot & Cold，憬观：像同叠，Soviet Pop，Jackson Garland，Sister Oriented，Birdstriking，守望，晚餐袜子，麻沸散，核桃室 and A4Destroyer, to name a few.

InMusic Festival 2010

The InMusic magazine is organizing the second InMusic Festival, once again in Zhangbei, with three stages and over 30  bands, including famed Panic! At The Disco and Killing Joke. Thumbs up to Beijing Noise for pointing out the schedule!

花舞台 (Flower Stage)

July 30th	July 31st	August 1st
15：45 玉麟军 (Army of Jade Kirin)	15：00 Tookoo	15：00 川子 (Chuanzi)
17：15 Subs	16：30 窒息 (Suffocated)	16：30 龙神道 (The Way of the Dragon God)
18：45 苏阳 (Su Yang)	18：00 Reflector	18：00 新裤子 (New Pants)
20：15 二手玫瑰 (Second Hand Rose)	19：30 扭曲机器 (Twisted Machine)	19：30 Psycroptic
21：45 老狼 (Lao Lang)	21：00 何勇 (He Yong)	21：00 郑钧 (Zheng Jun)
23：15 高旗 & 超载 (Gao Qi & Overload)	22：30 Killing Joke	22：30 Panic! At The Disco

黑舞台 (Black Stage)

July 30th	July 31st	August 1st
15：00 Dude	13：00 指人儿 (Finger Family)	13：00 堕天 (The Falling)
16：30 唐人街 (Chinatown)	14：10 卡木堂 (Kamutang)	14：10 郁乐队 (Die From Sorrow)
18：00 过失 (Demerit)	15：45 液氧罐头 (Oxygen Can)	15：45 Larry’s Pizza
19：30 左右 (LR)	17：15 CMCB	17：15 The K
21：00 春秋 (Spring Autumn)	18：45 糖果枪 (Honey Gun)	18：45 天堂 (Heaven)
22：30 夜叉 (Yaksa)	20：15 周韧 (Zhouren)	20：15 爽子 (Huang Shuang)
	21:45 面孔 (The Face)	21:45 AK-47

白舞台 (White Stage)

July 30th	July 31st	August 1st
15：00 杨千墀 (Kurty QC)	13：00 李漠 (Li Mo)	13：00 Pacalolo
16：30 跳猴 (Lucky Monkey)	14：10 海龟先生 (Mr. Turtle)	14：10 马条 (Ma Tiao)
18：00 大飞与摩天楼 (Da Fei & Skyscraper)	15：45 DH & Chinese Hellcats	15：45 南无 (Nanwu)
19：30 Pinkberry	17：15 The Bigger Bang	17：15 咖啡因 (Caffe-In)
21：00 耳光 (Slap)	18：45 The BLue Violets	18：45 虞洋 (Yu Yang)
22：30 简迷离 (Gemini)	20：15 逃跑计划 (Perdel)	20：15 山人 (Mountain Men)
	21:45 阿修罗 (Ashura)	21:45 CocoRosie

Further information:

• All information on the InMusic Festival 2010