Well today was the last live of the trip. So sad, however, the line up at YYT was quite promising. The three bands playing were Rank, Plastic Chocolate, and Vidulgi OoyoO. For the majority of the lives I attended, I had a penchant for showing up to lives at just the right time--usually able to predict how late the live would start with 5 or so minutes of the live actually start. I was unfortunate this time. Since my cousins had to stop by to drop some stuff off, it was pretty much ensured that I would not make the intended start time or even the typical ~30 minutes late start time. Upon arriving, I had already missed the first band. I was quite disappointed because I had thought that only Plastic Chocolate and Vidulgi OoyoO were playing.
When the next band took the stage, I was quite excited, recognizing guitarist--it was Plastic Chocolate. Previously, I had described Plastic Chocolate as a sort of unrefined Rega. However, I now must recant my statement. I would still say they are similar to Rega but vocals had a larger part this time. This time, the mixing for PC was way better than when I first saw PC at Mao, which is quite strange since Mao usually has much better mixing. In any case, the levels of each instrument were set perfectly for their style of music. Since I was able to hear each part clearly and without any of the instruments impeding on the other instruments' sonic space, it was easy to hear the intricacies of their songs. The vocalist/guitarist kept the chord progression well while the bassist kept the groove with appropriately complex lines. The lead guitarist added flair with equal amounts of riff and effects (in this case by effects, I mean amelodic sounds). The drummer kept in line with expectations with interesting beats. One of their songs(I think it was the second song), was particularly awesome because of how their levels were set. It began with a soft flowing ambiance, and all of the sudden WALL OF SOUND. It was quite the transition, since from where I was standing, the sound instantly filled the room at a level Just below what would start to cause discomfort--the perfect level for wall of sound. It's unfortunate that PC is still a relatively new band and is only going to start putting out a CD next month. PC's guitarist said they will put all their songs on Douban, though.
Vidulgi OoyoO is a Korean band who can be categorized as noisy post-rock band. I would like to say that they are similar to Boredoms (But I don't remember what Boredoms sound like and I'm too lazy to check). Vidulgi's set would be best described as WALL OF NOISE. Now, the difference between wall of noise and wall of sound, is mainly the fact that the levels of Vidulgi's were set at uncomfortably loud levels. Additionally, their extremely high gain settings coupled with extremely sharp treble sibilance made it difficult to hear what the guitars were playing. However, once locking onto the chords the music became interesting. Another issue was that the bassist, whom often provided a more melodic structure to the wailing guitars, was often buried in the mix. Basically, I'm just bitching about Vidulgi's mixing since it was quite a contrast to PC's. In the end, I still bought their CD for a much more reasonable 50RMB(fucka yuuu Quruli) since they did seem pretty interesting if you disregard the mixing.
Damn I missed Rank both times they played, though.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Qururi
It's awesome that a pretty major Japanese band would come to Shanghai to play. It's even cooler that they would be playing for FREE. Tim had mentioned them to me a while ago, but I never really got into them. In preparation, I decided to download some of their stuff. I first downloaded their album Team Rock per Frank's suggestion, however, I was seriously turned off by the amount of UNSK UNSK. Two of the eleven tracks were basically techno while the remainder were not lacking in any synth. Since listening and being incredibly turned off by that album I became to lazy and unmotivated to download more. I was also put off by their collab with Rip Slyme.
What a fool. At the live, there wasn't a single song with synth in it. The music actually was quite good. I would say they are Pillowsy with a bit of Mr. Children and maybe a tiny tiny bit of Tokyo Jihen?(Perhaps it might have just been one song where this was especially true). The vocals were a bit nasal like the Pillows but the way the vocalist sung was very very like MS trying to sing with intermittent cracks and a screaming quality to some of the higher and longer notes.
It was quite funny seeing the vocalist try to MC in between songs, since they knew next to no Chinese. At one point, he tried to relate to the audience by talking about TsingTao, at which point he realized he was not drinking TsingTao. They refused to speak Japanese despite various people including myself shout in Japanese to them. In retrospect, this was probably done out of respect to the rest of the audience.
One thing I'd like to note, is that Mao's sound guy really did a fantastic job tonight. It was amazing. when the drums first came in every note was chest punchingly deep--very defined and not boomy at all. The guitar and bass was balanced well with good definition from each, though I personally would've preferred the bass to be louder for a few songs (I might be just a LITTLE biased though hahah). One complaint I had was about their setlist. It was too short. I got to the livehouse at around 10. By 11 they left the stage. WTF, perhaps I was expecting too much, but I really think an hour is a bit short. They came up for an encore after their show and man, they used the ultimate encore killer: "Just one song, okay?". Though their last song was quite good, the show was too fucking short.
As a final note, 200 RMB for a CD is pretty ridiculous for China. Needless to say, I will be paying a visit to Jpopsuki. I did buy a shirt at an equally ridiculous price since I feel a bit guilty for visiting Jpopsuki.
What a fool. At the live, there wasn't a single song with synth in it. The music actually was quite good. I would say they are Pillowsy with a bit of Mr. Children and maybe a tiny tiny bit of Tokyo Jihen?(Perhaps it might have just been one song where this was especially true). The vocals were a bit nasal like the Pillows but the way the vocalist sung was very very like MS trying to sing with intermittent cracks and a screaming quality to some of the higher and longer notes.
It was quite funny seeing the vocalist try to MC in between songs, since they knew next to no Chinese. At one point, he tried to relate to the audience by talking about TsingTao, at which point he realized he was not drinking TsingTao. They refused to speak Japanese despite various people including myself shout in Japanese to them. In retrospect, this was probably done out of respect to the rest of the audience.
One thing I'd like to note, is that Mao's sound guy really did a fantastic job tonight. It was amazing. when the drums first came in every note was chest punchingly deep--very defined and not boomy at all. The guitar and bass was balanced well with good definition from each, though I personally would've preferred the bass to be louder for a few songs (I might be just a LITTLE biased though hahah). One complaint I had was about their setlist. It was too short. I got to the livehouse at around 10. By 11 they left the stage. WTF, perhaps I was expecting too much, but I really think an hour is a bit short. They came up for an encore after their show and man, they used the ultimate encore killer: "Just one song, okay?". Though their last song was quite good, the show was too fucking short.
As a final note, 200 RMB for a CD is pretty ridiculous for China. Needless to say, I will be paying a visit to Jpopsuki. I did buy a shirt at an equally ridiculous price since I feel a bit guilty for visiting Jpopsuki.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Booji + Duck Fight Goose
Tonight was Booji + Duck Fight Goose. This was planned by Andy Best and possibly Jake Newby at YYT. It was supposed to be an awesome night of music and some photography. I'm not sure who started--Booji or Duck Fight Goose, however, It doesn't really matter since at least three of the members (out of four) are the same for the two bands.
The first arrangement was a bit similar to Boyzandgirl. Their music was pretty ambient although more structured than Boyzandgirl. Their vocalist had a ton of reverb for a very wailing type effect. By the fifth song, people seemed to be really starting to get into it, which would have been awesome except for the fact that that was their last song. Only 2 band and you play a 5 song set?
Well, the reason why was because the main part I suppose was the photographs. It seems photographic art might be something I will never understand. It was basically a lot of nude pictures and people doing weird ass shit with their genitals--like making a joke on da fei ji and a lot of much weirder shit. In any case, this was definitely not something I was expecting. Can you say trolled?
Finally, the last band played. Though interesting, their music was too creepy for me. It was the kind of French circus type creepy music (Think Love Replica but more creepy). Perhaps if it didn't creep the fuck out of me, I might have really enjoyed it. As a side note, I'd also like to mention that the drummer for Booji/Duck Fight Goose is awesome. She played really interesting rhythms for every song and made it worth staying through the whole set.
The first arrangement was a bit similar to Boyzandgirl. Their music was pretty ambient although more structured than Boyzandgirl. Their vocalist had a ton of reverb for a very wailing type effect. By the fifth song, people seemed to be really starting to get into it, which would have been awesome except for the fact that that was their last song. Only 2 band and you play a 5 song set?
Well, the reason why was because the main part I suppose was the photographs. It seems photographic art might be something I will never understand. It was basically a lot of nude pictures and people doing weird ass shit with their genitals--like making a joke on da fei ji and a lot of much weirder shit. In any case, this was definitely not something I was expecting. Can you say trolled?
Finally, the last band played. Though interesting, their music was too creepy for me. It was the kind of French circus type creepy music (Think Love Replica but more creepy). Perhaps if it didn't creep the fuck out of me, I might have really enjoyed it. As a side note, I'd also like to mention that the drummer for Booji/Duck Fight Goose is awesome. She played really interesting rhythms for every song and made it worth staying through the whole set.
Friday, July 30, 2010
0093 Anniversary Live
I didn't go to a live last weekend or the 2 or 3 potentially good lives during the weekdays because my brother was here. However, despite being balls tired from getting 4 hours sleep max per day during this week, I forced myself to go.
Since it was the Rock 0093 3rd year anniversary, there were 7 bands today, and this was part 2 LOL. Part 1, on Thursday, had 5 bands, which I unfortunately missed. The first band, Five Pence, was probably a relatively new band. They played two original songs which sounded pretty good with interesting riffs--especially the bassist, who was pretty Tetsu-esque. The last two songs were, unfortunately, covers of Highway to Hell and Sweet Child o' Mine. It would've been nice to hear more originals.
One thing I realized is how difficult it is to be the opening band. Since the mood hasn't been set yet, it's extremely difficult to get the audience into the music--even with the more familiar covers that they played. The whole idea of stage presence is super important and it seems the more inexperienced bands struggle with this by letting the audience's mood control how wild they are willing to act instead of trying to go all out and forcing a change in mood like the more experienced bands.
I say this because the popular numetal band, Five Pointed Star, followed Five Pence. The vocalist of that band was able to get a great reaction from the audience because of his experience MCing. Though they are pretty established as a band, it wasn't as if a majority of the people there were already fans of them. In fact, I don't think even 25% of the people there were fans of Five Pointed Star because the couldn't even get a real mosh going like they did at Mao. However, they were also the only band of the night to play an encore because the audience enjoyed it so much by their last song.
It also might be worth noting that, it seems that numetal has a greater advantage of engaging the audience. It might be because Chinese people LOVE numetal, but I think it's at least partly because numetal tends to have these half time feeling heavy riffs that are easy to headbang to.
The third band was a pretty sweet band. I think it was called New Vector. They are a three piece instrumental band that I would liken to a more noisy, less refined, shoegazier Rega. Also, they are not as technical. But in any case. The three songs they played were awesome. Of course, Chinese fags had to ruin it. I heard at least 5 different people ask why they didn't have a singer. WTF? Do people come to listen to music or a singer? In any case, they were awesome and the people who didn't like them aren't. Haha.
At this point, I am unsure of the order. 8 bands is hard to remember and I'm balls tired. I think, however, it was Momo that played next and they are, well, Momo. Their singer was absent today and the guitarist was singing. Her singing voice is the super little girl sounding voice like on the openings of cutesy anime. Also, their drummer basically manhandles the drum. They sounded even louder than Five Pointed Star.
I think Momo was followed by Hanging Gardens, whom I have a hard time recalling anything special.
Little Nature seemed to be the big band of the night, despite being in the middle. They had a few interesting riffs, and seemed like they would be alright at first. But most of their songs ended up sounding repetitive and generic. Also, the bassist/vocalist, isn't much of a vocalist. Mostly sounds like punky yell screaming. This brings me to another point though, either Chinese people love generic songs and along with their pretty boy image makes them a good band in the eyes of Chinese people, or they were so pretty boy that their looks overwhelmed their mediocrity.
After they played, tons of people left--mostly girls. Which brings me to yet another point. Half the time, the audience is just trying to take pictures/film the bands. This is especially true in during the sets of pretty boys as one might expect. But seriously, everyone needs to take a step back and learn from TJ's Put Your Camera Down, which has pwn lyrics BTW.
There were two bands after Little Nature. The first was Joker, I think. Don't have much to say about them except, folk rock is not really my thing.
The last band, which was Old Doll I think, played some really technical stuff. They are a Blues/Country band and have a very small fanbase it seems, despite their technical prowess. I should write more but I'm too tired. Maybe I'll edit this post tomorrow.
Since it was the Rock 0093 3rd year anniversary, there were 7 bands today, and this was part 2 LOL. Part 1, on Thursday, had 5 bands, which I unfortunately missed. The first band, Five Pence, was probably a relatively new band. They played two original songs which sounded pretty good with interesting riffs--especially the bassist, who was pretty Tetsu-esque. The last two songs were, unfortunately, covers of Highway to Hell and Sweet Child o' Mine. It would've been nice to hear more originals.
One thing I realized is how difficult it is to be the opening band. Since the mood hasn't been set yet, it's extremely difficult to get the audience into the music--even with the more familiar covers that they played. The whole idea of stage presence is super important and it seems the more inexperienced bands struggle with this by letting the audience's mood control how wild they are willing to act instead of trying to go all out and forcing a change in mood like the more experienced bands.
I say this because the popular numetal band, Five Pointed Star, followed Five Pence. The vocalist of that band was able to get a great reaction from the audience because of his experience MCing. Though they are pretty established as a band, it wasn't as if a majority of the people there were already fans of them. In fact, I don't think even 25% of the people there were fans of Five Pointed Star because the couldn't even get a real mosh going like they did at Mao. However, they were also the only band of the night to play an encore because the audience enjoyed it so much by their last song.
It also might be worth noting that, it seems that numetal has a greater advantage of engaging the audience. It might be because Chinese people LOVE numetal, but I think it's at least partly because numetal tends to have these half time feeling heavy riffs that are easy to headbang to.
The third band was a pretty sweet band. I think it was called New Vector. They are a three piece instrumental band that I would liken to a more noisy, less refined, shoegazier Rega. Also, they are not as technical. But in any case. The three songs they played were awesome. Of course, Chinese fags had to ruin it. I heard at least 5 different people ask why they didn't have a singer. WTF? Do people come to listen to music or a singer? In any case, they were awesome and the people who didn't like them aren't. Haha.
At this point, I am unsure of the order. 8 bands is hard to remember and I'm balls tired. I think, however, it was Momo that played next and they are, well, Momo. Their singer was absent today and the guitarist was singing. Her singing voice is the super little girl sounding voice like on the openings of cutesy anime. Also, their drummer basically manhandles the drum. They sounded even louder than Five Pointed Star.
I think Momo was followed by Hanging Gardens, whom I have a hard time recalling anything special.
Little Nature seemed to be the big band of the night, despite being in the middle. They had a few interesting riffs, and seemed like they would be alright at first. But most of their songs ended up sounding repetitive and generic. Also, the bassist/vocalist, isn't much of a vocalist. Mostly sounds like punky yell screaming. This brings me to another point though, either Chinese people love generic songs and along with their pretty boy image makes them a good band in the eyes of Chinese people, or they were so pretty boy that their looks overwhelmed their mediocrity.
After they played, tons of people left--mostly girls. Which brings me to yet another point. Half the time, the audience is just trying to take pictures/film the bands. This is especially true in during the sets of pretty boys as one might expect. But seriously, everyone needs to take a step back and learn from TJ's Put Your Camera Down, which has pwn lyrics BTW.
There were two bands after Little Nature. The first was Joker, I think. Don't have much to say about them except, folk rock is not really my thing.
The last band, which was Old Doll I think, played some really technical stuff. They are a Blues/Country band and have a very small fanbase it seems, despite their technical prowess. I should write more but I'm too tired. Maybe I'll edit this post tomorrow.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Surpise Live!?
So, I happened to check YYT's site again today and I found out that there was a new band live today. They had no information other than that there was a show. I reluctantly went because I was feeling lazy, but good thing I went. It was a free show. Not many people were there probably because it wasn't advertised very much. There were 4 bands. I only caught the last bit of the first band and it seemed like some kind of metal ballad or something. Kinda cool. The second band, was kinda metal but I would liken it more to hide's band Zilch (think Mr. Jones) but with some melodic vocals as well. The vocalist untrained but could definitely sing well if she had some training. The third band was a punk rock band who I think has only been playing for 1 year or something. Their riffs were really simple but with time, they could become pretty good.
The last band was a student trio. They were the only rock band I've seen in China so far. And by that, I mean just good old rock. Probably the band that fit my tastes the most so far. Their first song was good but nothing spectacular. What I really enjoyed was their second song. It was a heavy riff rock. Perhaps a bit similar to B'z. Quite good stuff. The third/last song was less awesome but also had it's moments. Fuck, I wish I remembered Chinese names better. Then I could Douban.
The last band was a student trio. They were the only rock band I've seen in China so far. And by that, I mean just good old rock. Probably the band that fit my tastes the most so far. Their first song was good but nothing spectacular. What I really enjoyed was their second song. It was a heavy riff rock. Perhaps a bit similar to B'z. Quite good stuff. The third/last song was less awesome but also had it's moments. Fuck, I wish I remembered Chinese names better. Then I could Douban.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
gimme a discount YYT :o
Man, it seems like every weekend is spent at YYT. They need to give me a fucking discount card. In any case, today's show was Ze Lu He Feng's showcase or something. It seemed pretty promising on douban, but I guess I didn't really listen enough.
The first band was Pinkberry, I think. And it was just some kind of poppy rock. Kind of reminded me of Japanese girl bands like Zone. They got a mini mosh going, but I couldn't really get into the music. Also, their vocalist looked like a Gundam Pilot.
The next band played very soft mando-poppy songs. Should've known from the overly cute vocalist. But their bassist had mad skills--definitely the best bassist I've seen in China so far. I heard they found him as a sub recently or some shit. God, my Chinese sucks. The guitarist seemed to be really good also. Everything he played was exceptionally clean. However, he seemed to limit himself to more simple chords and the like. Sometimes it confounds me when I hear exceptional musicians play mandopop.
The third band, whom I also have yet to figure out the band name was the only band I enjoyed tonight. They were kinda like a more melodic and slightly softer Boyzandgirl. At first, they reminded me ALMOST of Noodles (I say Noodles and not Pillows because noodles is more ambient and less melodic than the Pillows) but that could've been my imagination. We'll see if I can get a copy of their CD eventually.
The last band, of course the most popular, was... well I don't even know how to categorize them. It was like punky disco pop or something. It seemed like a lot of girls seemed to enjoy it. I guess it was cause the guy was good at MCing or something. I don't fackin know I can't speak Shanghainese.
The first band was Pinkberry, I think. And it was just some kind of poppy rock. Kind of reminded me of Japanese girl bands like Zone. They got a mini mosh going, but I couldn't really get into the music. Also, their vocalist looked like a Gundam Pilot.
The next band played very soft mando-poppy songs. Should've known from the overly cute vocalist. But their bassist had mad skills--definitely the best bassist I've seen in China so far. I heard they found him as a sub recently or some shit. God, my Chinese sucks. The guitarist seemed to be really good also. Everything he played was exceptionally clean. However, he seemed to limit himself to more simple chords and the like. Sometimes it confounds me when I hear exceptional musicians play mandopop.
The third band, whom I also have yet to figure out the band name was the only band I enjoyed tonight. They were kinda like a more melodic and slightly softer Boyzandgirl. At first, they reminded me ALMOST of Noodles (I say Noodles and not Pillows because noodles is more ambient and less melodic than the Pillows) but that could've been my imagination. We'll see if I can get a copy of their CD eventually.
The last band, of course the most popular, was... well I don't even know how to categorize them. It was like punky disco pop or something. It seemed like a lot of girls seemed to enjoy it. I guess it was cause the guy was good at MCing or something. I don't fackin know I can't speak Shanghainese.
SO MUCH YYT
Another day, another night at YYT. To the much appreciated recommendation from Frank da Tank, I went to see the Maybe Taiwan... live at YYT tonight. The three bands were The Pairs (which have gotten much attention recently), Birdstriking and of course, the headliner--BoyzandGirl.
Described as a punk duo, this band consisting of a guitarist and drummer, have been playing a lot of shows recently. I think this was the third or so time in like 2 weeks. In any case, this band is definitely not something I like. I think they are pretty good trolls to be honest. The drummer plays with just a floor tom, bass drum, hihat, ride(i think), and snare. The guitarist had her sound set to already pretty high gain on the Marshall and her main effect, a Boss DS-1, was pretty much set with all knobs max. In the first song the drummer, who is also the vocalist, was screaming indiscriminately into the mic and sticking it into his mouth at some points WTF. The second song began with him standing on top of the bass drum and he was just screaming random shit again and hitting the floor tom while standing on the bass drum. For their last song, he even brought the floor tom and the hihat into the crowd and let the crowd play along with him. Troll much?
Birdstriking, a band from beijing, was really quite good. This punk rock/noise band has a good bit of ambient feel going on. The guitarist has a lot of pedals, and uses them pretty well. He also used two mics. One with no effect and the other into some kind of echo for a really interesting vocal. This band, unfortunately, wasn't powerful enough. They couldn't do it. Despite this, I would definitely like to hear more of this band. Too bad it seems like most bands here don't sell merchandise after their lives.
BOYZANDGIRL. Man, as I said many times before, I really like post-rock a lot more live and mostly only live. Recordings often times just don't do it. Everything sounded way better live than it did in the recording. When they opened, I pretty much was already into the music. Jumping and headbanging pretty much by myself. By the third song I look back and OMFG THEY DID IT they were TOO POWERFUL. Fucking Sing for China, man. Even birdstriking, who were gonna leave, came back to see why it suddenly got so live-ly. Jumping around pushing each other. THIS IS HOW IT"S SUPPOSED TO BE. At one point a guy hoisted a girl on his shoulder and was in the middle of the mosh like that. And at the beginning of the next song, Another guy had a guy ride his shoulder and there was an on land chicken fight LOL. The show was pretty fucking awesome. Though I do think the vocals could've been more forward. It was barely audible. Everything else had a pretty good balance though. At one point also, I think the girl hurt her fretting hand, but the show went on. A trooper. They came back at the end for an encore, and I got one of the drumsticks the drummer threw into the crowd. :D
Described as a punk duo, this band consisting of a guitarist and drummer, have been playing a lot of shows recently. I think this was the third or so time in like 2 weeks. In any case, this band is definitely not something I like. I think they are pretty good trolls to be honest. The drummer plays with just a floor tom, bass drum, hihat, ride(i think), and snare. The guitarist had her sound set to already pretty high gain on the Marshall and her main effect, a Boss DS-1, was pretty much set with all knobs max. In the first song the drummer, who is also the vocalist, was screaming indiscriminately into the mic and sticking it into his mouth at some points WTF. The second song began with him standing on top of the bass drum and he was just screaming random shit again and hitting the floor tom while standing on the bass drum. For their last song, he even brought the floor tom and the hihat into the crowd and let the crowd play along with him. Troll much?
Birdstriking, a band from beijing, was really quite good. This punk rock/noise band has a good bit of ambient feel going on. The guitarist has a lot of pedals, and uses them pretty well. He also used two mics. One with no effect and the other into some kind of echo for a really interesting vocal. This band, unfortunately, wasn't powerful enough. They couldn't do it. Despite this, I would definitely like to hear more of this band. Too bad it seems like most bands here don't sell merchandise after their lives.
BOYZANDGIRL. Man, as I said many times before, I really like post-rock a lot more live and mostly only live. Recordings often times just don't do it. Everything sounded way better live than it did in the recording. When they opened, I pretty much was already into the music. Jumping and headbanging pretty much by myself. By the third song I look back and OMFG THEY DID IT they were TOO POWERFUL. Fucking Sing for China, man. Even birdstriking, who were gonna leave, came back to see why it suddenly got so live-ly. Jumping around pushing each other. THIS IS HOW IT"S SUPPOSED TO BE. At one point a guy hoisted a girl on his shoulder and was in the middle of the mosh like that. And at the beginning of the next song, Another guy had a guy ride his shoulder and there was an on land chicken fight LOL. The show was pretty fucking awesome. Though I do think the vocals could've been more forward. It was barely audible. Everything else had a pretty good balance though. At one point also, I think the girl hurt her fretting hand, but the show went on. A trooper. They came back at the end for an encore, and I got one of the drumsticks the drummer threw into the crowd. :D
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