For all you Chinese music lovers out there

Back when Shanghaiist came out with our Best Music of 2005 list, we caught a lot of flak for not representing the Chinese music scene with any selections. Far be it from us step up to the plate and address such critical flaws in our system, we pass the buck over to ChineseMusicBlog.com and chaile (拆了, meaning "opened"), who have more expertise than we could ever pretend to.

Chinese Music Blog is a site dedicated to reviewing Chinese pop music -- Mando and Canto -- in all of its wonder and glory. Their purpose? In their own words:

Chinese Music Blog is a place for Chinese music lovers. We write reviews, feedback, and our thoughts on Chinese album/singles that we love.

What could be more straightforward than that? We marvel at the depth of their knowledge and the lengths to which this blog will go to celebrate Chinese pop:

“德州的故事 De Zhou De Gu Shi” may be the first time Twins sing a country song. I feel like I’m at the countryside on a lovely sunny day when I listen to the song. I can almost see a huge prairie and herds of sheep.

Need a Chinese tune translated into English? Just post on their forum for translation requests and bickity-bam! You will finally know the meaning behind the words:

我爱你，爱着你, 就像老鼠爱大米

Meanwhile, over at chaile, creator Adam is on a one-man mission "to spread the word about underground music in China." He has some nice links about current underground music movements in Beijing and elsewhere, not to mention referrals to a number of sites where you can download tracks to get a feel for what "underground" means to Chinese music. Interestingly, it appears Adam now lives in Portland, Oregon.

If you notice that your favorite Chinese band isn't getting much play on either of these two sites, throw a link or two up as a comment to this post so that everyone can find out about the great music you are already enjoying.

Photo from ShanghaiStreets, another good site about Chinese music.