Shanghai DJ collective The Lab celebrates their second anniversary this weekend. As a sort of reverse birthday present, they've gifted us with turntablist wizard and mixologist DJ Kentaro. Kentaro is the 2002 DMC World Champion and a two-time DMC Japan Champion, so he knows a thing or two about scratching records. But don't just take our word for it. Kentaro's label Ninja Tune describes him thusly: Kentaro is a mad dexterous surgeon who slices and......

What's up this weekend? Plenty of things, but Shanghaiist plans to attend these two events for sure. Friday night, Phreaktion and DJ Siesta bring you Matrix & Futurebound at Club Bonbon. MC Stride does the vocals. From their site: Phreaktion brings you two of the current drum’n’bass icons in March: Matrix & Futurebound are responsible for arguably “THE” drum’n’bass album of the year – “Universal Truth”. The album has enjoyed much praise and massive success,......

Are you starved for techno? Real, honest-to-gosh techno? Well, Shanghai's Void crew has you covered. Several times a month they fill up LOgO and The Shelter to bring you the foot-tappinest, head-noddinest, neck-snappinest techno you ever could lay ears on. They've showcased both DJ Nomadico and Jason Hodges in Shanghai, and this Saturday March 1st they bring a little bit of Detroit and Berlin to The Shelter. We sat down with Shanghaiist football contributor and......

If you like your basslines rinsin' and your selektas rewindin', you'll be in broken-beat heaven this weekend. On Friday the 15th, Hospitality Shanghai sends Logistics and Cyantific to disinfect Club Bonbon. The duo will storm the emergency care ward to celebrate Bonbon's new status as a resident stop on the Hospitality tours. Cyantific is bringing an extra turntable just for us and will showcase his own brand of three-deck trickery. Still not satisfied? Then head......

Feeling a little "under the weather" (hah!) from all the snow we're getting? Those rapscallions over at Void have just the answer for you. On Saturday night, they're bringing respected house music veteran Jason Hodges to drop some bombs at The Shelter. From their web site:Following their successful mission at The Shelter opening party in December, VOID is back and will bring Canadian house DJ and producer Jason Hodges to the same venue on February......

Bonbon, also known as Asia's arm of superclub Godskitchen, hosts a wide variety of electronic music every single week. Two weeks ago, local crew Phreaktion brought DJ Marky to the decks. Last week, we interviewed Arthur Baker, who was preparing to rock the place. This week, our intrepid reporter braved Bonbon's ear-piercing sound system to bring you Sven Vath.......

Alcohol companies (especially in Shanghai) are known for their lemming like approach to parties (maybe it is the incestuous nature of their cliques). The latest trend is in throwing expensive "invite only" parties like the Hennessy Artistry series and this weekend’s upcoming Smirnoff party featuring Hard-Fi and DJ Sasha (gag). Just like at the Hennessey party, we loser expats aren't overly welcome (at more than one of these parties we have been told that our......

By Michael Ohlsson It's 1987 in my family’s suburban California home. I've just started high school. I'm in my bedroom making a mix tape. I'm trying to mix Afrika Bambaataa's “Planet Rock” with Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express” (the original song that is sampled in Planet Rock). In the room next to mine, my little punk sister is listening to crap my hip hop friends and I make fun of, like the Sex Pistols and Violent Femmes.......

This may get to you too late (unfortunately we have a 9 to 5 and can't blog on demand), but tonight, instead of sitting on your ass in front of the computer, stop by The Shelter and witness their first experiment with a four-piece (or more) band. Angry Jerks (last seen playing in Shanghai in March of 2007) from Nanjing, one of the tightest punk outfits this side of the Pacific, will be joined by......

It was inevitable. A week into the New Year and we are already saying goodbye to one of the city's few venues for underground bands. 4Live limped to a close last night after a year of struggling to make it promoting live music in the city of turntables (and laptops). Opening as a beacon of hope for those interested in the underground music scene the venue was plagued by internal management problems and an identity......

Over this weekend, Blue Frog celebrated its grand opening in Macau's Venetian in a glitzy event that featured performances by Shaolin monks, Australian DJ Alex Taylor and Shanghai's very own Sugar Mama and the Cotton Club Band. Apparently, quite a number of people flew over from Shanghai for the event (too bad for us, we were never invited). In this video, Blue Frog looks a lot more like a club than anything else, and certainly......

This coming Saturday, Antidote will be hosting Knifehandchop from Toronto and Sulumi from Beijing. Antidote organiser Michael Ohlsson aka DJ Ozone explains why he invited the two DJ's:These guys are producers, not just DJs. I've always been interested in music that is current, innovative, cutting-edge ... but also accessible. Not just experimental noise. And I love to share this new music with people. The music that Sulumi and KnifeHandChop are doing is very different from......

Please excuse us for what will be a day of light posting. We've been puking cosmopolitans and bile ALL morning from this really hot party last night at the Le Meridien that we didn't tell you about (hah! sometimes we prefer to keep the fun to ourselves), but even before we've said goodbye to the thousand diablos hammering on our head right now, we're already planning on where to get ourselves further plastered tonight. Long-time......

For all of those of you who stayed at home, hunched over the computer, waiting for an update on the happenings in live music this weekend....well, we apologize. Dust yourself off, pick up the shaver and take a shower, today is a big day for music. Getting things started early, 4:30pm at 4Live, are Taiwan indie pop duo, Natural Q. Seems to be the season for indie pop, after performances last month by Carrchy and......

Underground Resistance's first foray into mainland China last Saturday at The Shelter was truly a significant milestone for Shanghai's underground scene. DJ Dex aka Nomadico unleashed a set that's been described as a "real history lesson in dance music" — one that took the 800 or so revellers from the pre-electronic routes of modern dance music in the shape of parliament and James Brown, right up to the proper "electro" from the Advent ("program da......

Logo has become the spot of choice for musicians and djs who are in town to put on special "unofficial" gigs and tonight DJ Dex aka Nomadico is going to burn up the decks. Last Saturday he got the crowds grooving to his elctro beat at the Shelter and we hear there was an impressive turnout. Tonights show will be for all those who either missed seeing him at the Shelter or just can't get......

Saturday looks to be a big night for all you DJ lovers out there and will pit the underground vs. the above ground.......literally. Dex aka Nomadico, of the Underground Resistance, is set to blow away the electronic music crowd at the Shelter (underground in a bomb shelter). While at Bon Bon (above ground in a tall tower) DJ Qbert will amaze the crowds with his scratching. Let the battle begin. Saturday Dec. 1st Dex w/......

If you are like us at Shanghaiist..... then weeks in advance you strategically map out a strategy to maximize potential fun for the weekend. So here are a few noteworthy events coming up that we think should not be missed and we are always (sometimes..maybe) right when it comes to picking events. The 8th of December will be a big night with PK-14 back in town as is Coldcut w/ DJ Nu-Mark and Pfadfinderei. PK-14......

Back in the office and just can't concentrate on work? Here's a bunch of useless links we gathered that you can entertain yourself with (while pretending to look oh-so-busy)! The Opposite End of China pulls out more old China news from the New York Times archive. Eye-catching headlines include: "Moslems capture West China cities", "Sinkiang capital falls", "Mohammedans capture Urumchi, Nanking may send mediator", "New state is formed by Eastern Sinkiang", and "The Living Buddha......

Here, Shanghai, were your favourite stories for the month of October: Most Voted: 1. Sexy Beijing's Sufei revisits Shanghai 2. The women that make your children's toys 3. "Lovely" Chinese teachers rejected by rowdy British students 4. People, we live in the world's second least green and livable city 5. India's China envy Most Commented: 1. "Lovely" Chinese teachers rejected by rowdy British students 2. Keanu Reeves sighting at Yu Yuan 3. Free Burma, YES,......

Still looking for something to do for Halloween? Here are a few parties that should be worth checking out. If you are stuck hanging around People's Square head over to the MOCA where you will find (besides interesting art) a wicked Halloween party featuring lots of killer tunes from Bananas Soundsystem. For those who aren't keen on going downtown, head out to Xujiahui where Harley's Bar will host Banana Monkey and more Banana DJ music.......

In our 10 years of clubbing life we have never seen anything like this: The DJ with the fast fingers is Jeff Milligan and if you like him you can see him live at Air Bar this Saturday. His website says: Jeff's highly technical, three/four turntable style put him in high demand across North America and by the age of twenty, Jeff was playing the Midwest circuit (Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland etc.) and nationwide, all over......

Comments below don’t necessarily represent the Shanghaiist’s point of view or opinion regarding the Canadian government (we don't want them to hold a grudge and kick us out of Canada too!)… we just received it recently from the Busdriver promoter and thought it was kind of funny… shows are still on in Beijing and Shanghai…..and we are as giddy as a school boy in the girls locker room to see Busdriver play live! “Nothing......

The JZ Festival came to a roaring close today, unfortunately with a much lower afternoon turnout due to the rain but once again a satisfying mix of music, fully dug by those of us who did attend. But we skip ahead -- first back to details of yesterday's festival. Saturday Saturday was a very successful day for the festival, drawing medium-sized crowds again in the afternoon and selling out completely the evening portion. The......

The second day of the JZ Festival went well, with another bout of perfect weather and slightly cooler temperatures. The afternoon crowd was about the same as the first day, nearly filling up the relatively small amount of space in between the buildings at the New Factories where the concerts are being held. The musical pattern set on day one seemed to hold through the second day as well, which was: begin the day with......

Even though today might be Friday, for many of us it isn't the start of the weekend. With the upcoming National Day vacation period approaching, many people are stuck in their offices over the weekend to make up for the extended break. This has carried over into the live music scene, with only a few note worthy shows before the craziness that starts next week. The Jazz it Up week of music continues with a......

Tonight 8pm NEXTSTEP @ Vintage Living 3F, 2068 Nanjing Xilu, by Yongyuan Lu, T: 6249-0469 Calling all Shanghai entrepreneurs! Come meet new faces and get to know other like-minded individuals at this week's NextStep event which features Tony Mustafa of Essential Finance. All are welcome, no membership required, and no cover charge. Wednesday 8pm Shanghai Skate Nights @ Shanghai Concert Hall 523 Yan'an Dong Lu (near Xizang Lu) The bi-weekly Shanghai SkateNights continues to gather......

September is quickly sliding into history, which means for all us music fans that the orgy of music festivals Shanghai will experience in the first weeks of October is almost upon us. And of course Shanghaiist is here to bring you the latest in festival news..... The 1234 Beach Rock Festival - A scrappy fighter always getting knocked down but never going out for the count (did that make sense?). Postponed once again, it is......

Another week, another round of rumors floating around. Looks like the Busdriver show is going to happen and is scheduled for October 13th at 4Live. What makes it even more exciting is the fact that Yacht, Portland DJ extraordinaire, might be opening for him. Yacht is currently on tour with Architecture in Helsinki and in the past has toured with LCD Soundsystem. Seeing both him and Busdriver on the same stage makes us wet our......

As the weekend starts Shanghaiist is giddy with excitement. Not because this weekend is overly exciting (though there are a few good shows out there), but because this weekend marks the unofficial end of the summer music drought. Next week Coolio and Avril Lavigne with both be in town (where are our media passes?), AK-47 along with Brain Failure and Top Floor Circus will hold a special pre-1234 Beach Rock party and the following week......