Results tagged “clubs”

CNNGo went around Shanghai's bars and clubs recently in a confusing article about air quality. Confusing namely because they said they're testing for the best and worst, but only six bars/clubs make the story and, really, the only one that got lambasted was The Shelter, which had a ppm ([thousand] parts per million of criteria pollutants) of 350. Regular air quality in Shanghai is 230 and the U.S. FDA says 150 is in the high end of the safe zone. Because we needed an air quality meter to tell us that it hurts to breathe in The Shelter. Anyway, apparently one of the best places to go for a breath of fresh air is Sin. But while your lungs will feel clean, can all the ventilation there stop your soul from feeling dirty?

Maybe you've never heard of Onra or Arnaud Bertrand but you may actually recognize one of his songs, "The Anthem", which was featured in a Coca Cola ad for the Beijing Olympics starring 3D animated versions of Yao Ming and LeBron James.

        

Last Friday at Yuyintang, Nosaj Thing shone in his beat-heavy live set laced with synth sounds and slaps amid an obvious underlying hip hop influence. He worked the Akai Mpd-32 controller, laptop and audio interface and yes the crowd lapped it up.

Nosaj Thing, a.k.a. Jason Cheung, is a L.A.-based music producer whose geeky charm at first sight deceptively conceals his sinister and innovative musical agendas. At the age of 13, he molded his father's rudimentary PC that struggled with even Word documents into a Frankestein Intel Celeron home studio.

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Since Shanghai was named one of the five most improved places for gay tolerance it seems that nights around town have become bolder about nailing their rainbow colours to the mast.

Up-and-coming electronic hip-hop producer Dorian Concept, otherwise known as Oliver Thomas Johnson, will take to the stage come this Thursday at The Shelter. Having developed his own distinctive twisted sound, the 24-year-old Austrian has just released his debut LP and performed at this year's Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards a few weeks back.

                                  

Legendary hip hop DJ Stretch Armstrong of Steve Aoki's DIM MAK label played an energetic set at Bonbon last Friday. Playing with local DJs, Mr. Armstrong put on hits to please the masses and get down, dirty New York style. Staple Bonbon tomfoolery ensued with some puking, some dancing, and some sleeping at the booths (you know who you are! go home!). Check out his Myspace for a recap

We are pretty sure more than a few people are thankful that Mark Pritchard didn't pursue a culinary career in the end. The pioneering DJ, currently with cutting edge label Warp Records, has since moved on from his critically-acclaimed deep ambient music to the dark synthetic bass bleeps of Detroit-inspired instrumental hip hop.

A highly respected African-American DJ and producer, from the most influential city in the history of electronic music, has criticized the ranking system which is used by many clubs in China, particularly Shanghai, when deciding which DJs to bring to the country, as being useless.

Hmmm. Maybe we have a thing for Swedish guys in tightly tapered pants and white dress shoes? Don't tell the wife! Had a great time at JZ last night watching Jens Lekman and Viktor Sjöberg prove to us that a guy, a guitar and a DJ are more than enough to keep us happy on a Wednesday (at first, we were hoping for some kind of horn section, it being a jazz venue and all). Jens and Viktor worked beautifully together and really seemed to be enjoying themselves, in their own shy kind of way. Highlights for us were probably "A Postcard to Nina" (with backstory in English and Mandarin) and "A Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill" (we're suckers for a Warren G reference). Normally we'd post some photos and video clips, but we lost our camera's memory card and Taobao didn't deliver the replacement yesterday like they were supposed to. We don't see any Shanghai videos on YouTube yet or any photos on Flickr yet — so if you have some, send them our way (info at shanghaiist.com). And about the airplane dance, is it wrong that this is how we assume all people dance in Sweden? We highly recommend you head out to Glamour Bar tonight for Jens' final Shanghai show. And if you still need more convincing, check out these glowing reviews of his latest album.

                                   

Friday night Casino Demon and The Fire Balloon (both from Beijing) played with local band the Rogue Transmission at Yuyintang. The Fire Balloon started it off with some garage rock and popping tunes with a Beijing slant. The always-fun-to-watch Rogue Transmission put on a good set and kept the crowd moving, but Casino Demon was the real gem of the night, playing a hazy, energetic set. Recalling early punk like Richard Hell and the Voidoids and the Ramones (whom they covered with a surprisingly decent rendition of the "KKK Took My Baby Away"), Casino Demon has a refreshingly organic sound in the land of DJs and Techno Beats. Crunchy guitars, good ol' rock and roll drumming and some slurred singing. Sounds perfect to us.

In September, Shanghaiist reported that Wai Tan had gone really upscale and added a gay nightclub. We’re happy to say Club D2, by the same owners of the infamous Club Deep, is still going strong.

10 Hengshan Road , near near Yongjia Road 蘅山路10号, 近永嘉路

In checking out the Facebook page for Split Works, the promoters bringing Jens Lekman to China, we noticed the other acts Split has lined up. Here they are (with Shanghai dates/venues in parentheses): Roxy Cottontail (Dec. 4?/TBD), South Rakkas Crew (Jan. 8/Shelter), Future of the Left (Jan. 16/Dream Factory), Jose Gonzalez (Feb./TBD).

Cover: RMB 50

We have cleared up our earlier confusion. Here are the official Jens Lekman and Viktor Sjöberg show dates for Shanghai and Beijing:

UPDATE: Official China tour dates here.

By Jellymon, photos by Samuel Derwent Hussein Ming Tsang

Seems like it's that time of year. First, Void celebrated their one-year anniversary last month. Now Phreaktion, fronted by DJ Siesta, turns three. It's just more proof that drum and bass is not only here, but here to stay. So this weekend, they're giving you the presents by featuring Goldie and DJ Krust over two action-packed nights.

Think you finally found the perfect Halloween costume this year? The outfit that will put all others to shame? Then come down to Shanghaiist's Halloween Party on Friday and prove it to us.

In the past year, local techno strongmen Void have proven to be anything but. They've consistently rocked venues like LoGo and The Shelter every month, bringing one techno legend after another (see: Robert Hood, Traxx, etc). So it's only fitting that they celebrate their first birthday with not one, but TWO notable techno artists.

UPDATE: The best costumes for the evening will be awarded great prizes from Sherpa's! 1,000 RMB will go to the top male and female costumes, and the runners-up will get a case of Brooklyn Lager! Start getting your costumes ready today! (More details here.)

Yeah, that long holiday week is almost here, isn't it? Well if you want to tack on an extra two days, this might be your ticket. On Thursday night, Free the Wax is bringing Daedelus to The Shelter with his brand of hip-hop/synthpop/electronica. What's it sound like?

While dancing at the city’s newest gay nightspot, D2, our friends decided that pre-club etiquette in Shanghai is subpar and a little lesson from Miss Manners is in order. Feel free to add anything we missed in the comments section…

It's getting later in the month, which means it must be time for another Void techno extravaganza at The Shelter. Continuing the "Techno Pioneer" theme from Robert Hood's slamming set in June, this month the boys are flying in Traxx for a nonstop four-hour set of house & techno insanity.

20 Donghu Lu, near Huai hai Lu, 东湖路20号，近淮海路.

What we won't: Attitudinal door bitches and wait staff, preposterously priced weak drinks, and oh, the text messages they've been sending us twice a week for the last two years that we've had no way to opt out of.