Little Nature (小自然) – Colorful | Shanghai pop rock

Shanghai pop rock band Little Nature and their song COLORFUL.

More info:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/Little_Nature

A picture and a story: HOTB, 1999, Shenyang, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts

In 1999, September to be precise, HOTB together with Yan Jun and David of Chineserock.com ventured to Shenyang to perform at the 光大銀行瀋陽戸外揺滾節, the Everbright Bank Outdoor Rock Festival.

The above picture is being featured in David’s book Inseparable and taken from his Facebook archive.

For HOTB it had been a major gig, only 14 months (July 1998) after their first live gig at the Scream Bar. Yan Jun later published his impression on the Luxun gig in his book UnderUnderGround.

Psycho Candy – Go Down | Changsha Britrock

Changsha’s PSYCHO CANDY and their 2007 GO DOWN.

Lineup: Vocal/Guitar: Coffee & TV; Guitars: Mars; Bass: 磊哥; Drum: 阿迪

Read more:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/Psycho_Candy

Selling out – the give-away-product music and survival of the smartest

In today’s societies money is key for personal well-being, guarantee for the basics of human needs, including food, water, healthcare and a place to crush. And like most people we have to earn money in our daily jobs, working our asses off for one purpose or another. The same is true for music artists.

So in which way can an artist survive in today’s world of downloadable music? Where does selling out starts and what is commonly accepted? How can one and who can stay upfront in the race towards success?

Read more …

AK 47 – Unstoppable | Beijing Metal

AK 47 stands for a new modern noisy hardcore metal that cannot be really described. You have to watch and listen to them, you have to enjoy one of their concerts to know the energy and the anger that this combo is spreading amongst the audience.

Usually wearing a brown uniform with a red AK 47 cloth wrapped around their arm they look more like a army war troop on execution course, but this is not what they are about! They want to spread their music full of power and not bombs full of death as another indivual name G.W.B.

They have released their debut record Chu Fa / Start Off in 2006 and their second record Unstoppable in December 2008. This song is the title track of UNSTOPPABLE and the remainder of the songs are available for free download at AK 47s douban page.

Read more:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/AK-47

Yaksa – 舞.悟 | Beijing Metalcore

Metalcore legends YAKSA, hailing from Beijing, and a song from their latest EP.

Formed under the name Nevermind in Sichuan in 1995 by Hu Song (Vocals), Wang Yue (Bass), Li Yu Chuan (Guitar) and Liao Xiang (Drums), the band changed their name into Yaksa and moved to Beijing in March 1997. At the end of 1998, the following lineup was fixed: Hu Song on vocals, Jiang Jie on guitars, Wang Yue on bass and Chi Gong Wei on the drums. Yaksa became more and more involved in the underground scene of Beijing until at the end of 1999, it stood out as the representative hardcore band of Beijing.

More info:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/Yaksa

New Vector – “For what we’ve sacrificed”

New Vector is a post rock band from Shanghai. Listen to their song “For what we’ve sacrificed …”.

More info:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/New_Vector

Demerit – live or die | Beijing Punk Rock

Demerit is one of punk musics best-known ambassadors in Beijing. In classic “street punk” form, before becoming popular in Beijing, honed their craft and earned their fanbase through extensive touring, including such prominent venues as the Qingdao beach music festival. Straight up energy and aggression the band has changed little since its inception, choosing instead to stick to its timeless punk-rock roots and values. Can I get an Oi?

More info:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/Demerit

DUDE – Nobody | Beijing Punk Rock

DUDE is an international band, playing all types of music ranging from pop to punk to good old rock and roll. The band’s story began in 2007 by three foreigners, American Cody (lead singer), Frenchman Matt (bass guitar / vocal, formerly in French punk band Straightaway), another Frenchman Jeremy (guitar / vocal). They started out playing classic American pop songs (The Eagles, R Kelly, Stevie Wonder), but after a while turned into a Pop Punk / Hardcore band, feeling the impact from the U.S. all-star big band “Me First and the Gimme Gimmes”. During the 2008 Spring Festival, Zhou Yongzhi (lead guitar / vocal) and Hou-kai (drum) joined to form a complete lineup. They played a selection of Chinese songs, and began to play the most widely circulated Chinese-language pop songs by adding poison and turning them into a Pop Punk / Hardcore, like “poisoning” the name of pop songs.

This is their song NOBODY from their Douban page.

More info:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/Dude

Hedgehog – Sand Hammer | Beijing Indie Rock

Hedgehog, like many of the best bands in Beijing, was founded in the miracle years of 2004-2005, in January 2005, specifically. For some inexplicable reason they didn’t seem to make much of an impact early on, but we first met them when they played a series of concerts at D22 in late 2006, during which time they very quickly became one of the favorite bands. In late April 2007 they performed a concert that smashed the sound barriers and created such an uproar that within a month they had catapulted into position as one of the most talked about underground bands in China.

This is their song SAND HAMMER of their 2011 record 2011 DEstroy meMOries.

More info:

• http://wiki.rockinchina.com/w/Hedgehog