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.
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.
Well, I'm not gonna give you a lecture about this geographical wonder here. Just wanna introduce today's single-"Dao Tang He", by Chinese indie/folk female singer Qianqian Zhang.
Though not related to the natural sight itself, the song's does address to a metaphorical river--- time. Zhang writes about the desire for life and youth, the remembering of the past, and the longing to go back into time... The beginning with strumming of guitar and the soft humming of vocal sets a vision like the running water. Zhang's vocal is crisp and ethereal. She's an indie-folk artist from mainland China who incorporates many elements in her music. It is amazing how she keeps slow songs full of subtle energy with her melodic chorus and well-developed tempo.
"New Pants will be heading to Indio, CA in April to perform alongside heavy-hitters Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, Black Keys, Duran Duran, The Strokes, Interpol, Kanye West, and others at this year's Coachella music festival. " see Douban page for New Pants
See full lineup for Coachella festival here.
btw, I'm getting a sore throat today... Come on, when is New York ever gonna warm up?
Here's one of my favorite tracks from their old albums--- "Paranoid Android". This masterpiece was released in Radiohead's third album "OK Computer" in 1997. The title derived from Marvin the Paranoid from Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxyseries of books. The song was inspired by an unhappy experience in a bar in Los Angeles.Starting with the mid-tempo acoustic guitar backed by shaken percussion, Tom Yorke's vocal entered with electric guitar spanning an octave and a third --- "Please could you stop the noise I'm trying to get some rest"... The rising vocal captures the inner struggle of someone who's trapped in his anxiety and paranoia, and just makes you wanna scream out. The emotion of accusing grows more and more intense with the distorted guitar solo. Its lyrics is dark and "paranoid", suggesting themes of insanity, violence and objections against the world of machines and capitalism.
Fourth album, "CITY" 
