Wednesday, April 27, 2011

[New Pants] Live @ NYC, April 2011


The Beijing indie rock band New Pants rocked at Mercury Lounge@ NYC last week... It's kinda late update as I'm caught up with school finals recently... As always hoping to see some Chinese indie bands performing at New York, I decided to post these pics, despite of the outdatedness, from their live as way to advocate for their great music.




Monday, April 18, 2011

[2011 China'sMidi Festival]

Tis The Season For Rock 'n' Roll With Midi Festivals
China's No.1 outdoor rock festival is expanding this year to four cities in China starting this April 30th

Original posted on MusicDish*China: http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=12905

By Lin Xu

The 2011 Midi Festival will start in Beijing, the capital city that has witnessed the birth and twelve years growth of this festival, from April 30th to May 2nd. The festival will be held in Jing Langdao Park in the Mentougou district in west suburbs of Beijing. The performance list for Beijing Midi this year has created a new record, including hundreds of well-known rock bands from both China and abroad.

The legendary American hard rock band Mr. Big will make its first debut in China. Emerged in the late 80s, Mr. Big held its unique style among the hard rock bands. They not only excelled in various extremely technical fast-beat songs, but also whined with their melodic adagios. Their singles 'To Be With You' and 'Wild World' have become the must-listen introductory songs for Chinese rock 'n' roll youth. Mr. Big is sure to arouse nostalgic choruses with their performance in Beijing Midi on May 1st and Shanghai Midi on May 6th.

The ten-year-old punk band Mongol 800 is one of the best rock bands in Japan. They have inspired young people to love life and go after their dreams with their rebellious attitude. Apart from participating in Beijing and Shanghai Midi Festival this year, Mongol 800 will also be performing live with local Chinese bands at both Beijing and Shanghai's MAO Livehouses. Meanwhile, they are donating part of their ticket sales to Japanese Red Cross to help with the earthquake and tsunami relief.

Miserable Faith is often referred to as a milestone in today's modern rock scene in China. On their first debut this year on April 2nd, the band has broken the box record of rock performances in Beijing Live House with their high-quality live shows. Thus far, Miserable Faith has already played the north-western portion of their China tour, including performances in cities like Hohhot, Baotou, Yinchuan, Urumqi, Xining, Lanzhou, Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Anyang. Attesting to their massive appeal, Miserable Faith will be giving the closing performance at both Midi Festivals.

The Montreal-based rock band Your Favorite Enemies has recently played at Canadian Music Week Festival in Toronto where the band member and manager Jeff Beaulieu met up with MusicDish CEO Eric de Fontenay. This "DIY" band has managed every single aspect of its career based on their community values as they rose from their non-traditional music model since their founding in 2006. They are touring thirteen cities in China, appearing at both in Beijing (May 2nd ) and Shanghai (May 8th ) Midi festivals. Joining them will be over ten rock bands from Canada, Netherlands, German, Switzerland, Spain, Australia and Singapore.

Other participating domestic bands include established Beijing rock characters such as Liu Donghong & Sand, Nanwu, SMZB, Yaksa, Voodoo Kungfu,AK47, Brainfailure and Reflector. Some new bands are also showing. The Dancer for example is a new band founded in 2010 with familiar faces from some the biggest names in Beijing rock, including Liu Hao (Joyside), Dong Xuan (Hedgehog) and Wang Xin (Casino Demon). It should be one of the big hits among the new figures.

The festival series takes its second stop in Shanghai, the bustling metropolitan. The Shanghai Midi committee has strived to achieve their goal to "Rock Shanghai", and they are about to make it. The festival will be held from May 6th to May 8th in the Pudong Century Park in Shanghai. The Shanghai Midi will stick to the never-give-in spirit of the festival and bring a feast of performances. The Beijing band Free the Bird, formerly known as Ziyo will also join Midi in Shanghai. Other Beijing Midi performing bands that will continue to rock on in Shanghai includeTOOKOO, Yaksa and Reflector. In addition, some local bands representing the hardcore force of Shanghai's rock will be making their presence felt, including Top Floor Circus, Crystal Butterfly, Cold Fairyland, Mushroom Group and MusicDish*China favorite Boys Climbing Ropes. The Shanghai festival will also feature an electric dance stage, which is sponsored by the Shanghai-based well-known electronic party label ANTIDOTE, and will its strong line-up of DJs and high-quality music.

In summer 2011, during August 4th to August 7th, the Ocean Midi Festival will be held in the Olympics Water Park in Rizhao, Shan Dong province. Rizhao, with its longest and widest beach in northern China and low pollution levels, is know as the "garden city" in China and has been rewarded the United Nations Habitat award. Apart from the rock 'n' roll stage, Rizhao Midi will also hold the largest ocean electronic party in China! Fans around China and worldwide will party throughout night and embrace the rising sun over the sea together.

The final stop of Midi is the Yangtze Midi Festival being held for the second time from October 1-4 during China's National Day on the Yangtze Shiyezhou Island in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province. Shiyezhou Island has witnessed the success of Midi last year, and will no doubt become one of the most influential spot where China's youth culture mixes with rock, as the muddy ground has become an unforgettable experience of Midi fans.

The year-round 2011 Midi Festival is run under the theme with "Love the Bears!". Midi will hold series of live activities in corporation with animal protecting organizations, and together with fans to protest against the abuse of bear bile.

Monday, April 11, 2011

[Spring Offensive] Every Coin

My friend Alice today shared me with a song and it was really awesome.... dark, edge, and alluring. The band is called Spring Offensive (what a name) and is an Oxford local band. They are touring in the UK now and hopefully can make to US in the future. Watch this--- "Every Coin" by Spring Offensive.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

[Ze' Hwang 黄小桢]"大溪地" (Tahiti Taiwan)

大溪地 by Missj Musicjournal
Ze' Hwang has only released three albums, <赏味期限> in 1998, <Ze' Hwang 2> in 2001 and No Budget in 2009. Those first two albums were not very widely sold, but Hwang became a model for the following indie musicians in Taiwan because of her natural style and poetic rock. After 2001 Hwang just released several singles and became a DJ. The third album in 2009 was mainly a collection of old pieces. Though not a productive artist, Hwang has been holding on to her own style and proved it worth the wait for her fans.

Today's track is from her first album, named Tahiti Taiwan (Tahiti is a place in Taiwan) . Hwang was born in Taiwan. She was sent to US at a very early age. Because of nostalgia, Hwang applied for exchange program in psychology in Taiwan at college, and joined guitar club on campus, where she set off for her music career. The beginning slow-pace violin and the laziness in the vocal set a feeling of nostalgia and sadness. With the entering of guitar the emotion got to release. The ups and downs of the vocal, and the switch between guitar and violin in the background sends the emotional rise-and-fall of the singer.


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

[Jack Johnson] Break Down~


Acoustic guitar always gives you a good mood. As I walked in the wild wind today in NYC, this song came to me in my iPod and made me suddenly feel at ease... Jack Johnson, "Breakdown" from the album "In Between Dreams".

Hush.... the wisdom is in the trees...

Monday, April 4, 2011

[Lou Reed] Perfect Day & "Concerts for Japan"- April 9th, Japan Society.


"Perfect Day" is the all-time-classic of Lou Reed, the guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of the legendary rock band "The Velvet Underground". The song was also included in the original soundtrack of a 1996 Scottish film "Trainspotting" directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh.

Lou Reed will appear at "Concerts for Japan" at Japan Society this upcoming Saturday-- April 9. Apart from him, a group of musicians will be performing including the the American Minimalist composer Philip Glass. For a more complete performing list see here.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

[Mondialito] Nuage

Nuage by Missj Musicjournal
Today's track is from a Japanese indie band--- Mondialito. Founded in 2002, Mondialito received fairly good reviews from Japan, France, Hongkong and Taiwan. The vocal's soft voice, the light sound of acoustic guitar and the background of electric sound combine to generate a dreamy atmosphere.