Over the weekend, Shanghai-made expat band Moon Tyrant released their debut album Future Superhuman with a party at Yuyintang. Consisting of four musicians from Panama, Tasmania, New York and New Jersey, they play old school rock n' roll with a jazzy metal twist. Shanghaiist's Bo Hershey caught up with one of their members, bassist JC Heinbockel, who chatted with us about their new CD, the local music scene and what's next for the band. In case you didn't get the CD at the release party, you can check them out on their Bandcamp page Douban page, and soon on iTunes! more ›

In case you were hoping for something fun to do on a Thursday and you didn't already know about it, Time Out: Shanghai is celebrating their first year of existence at Gosney & Kallman's Chinatown. You're invited. more ›

You may remember them from our Thanksgiving Rocksgiving charity concert: Rainbow Danger Club. The local indie band is now hosting a competition to design the cover for their next album, and they're willing to offer you 1200 RMB if they choose your design! more ›

Stockholm native and "electronic futurist" Axel Willner a.k.a. The Field will be heading to Yuyintang on Saturday and is one of this month's must catch acts. Not only has he toured with !!!, LCD Soundsystem and Juan Maclean, he's also built up quite a name of his own. more ›

They were one of the four bands who were sweet enough to play at our Rocksgiving charity rock show bash, and they're well worth a listen if you didn't get to hear them there. Luckily, Duck Fight Goose has put some of their newest tracks up on NeochaEDGE. From their upcoming first EP Flow, these songs epitomize some of the awesome weirdness capable of coming out of the Shanghai scene. Take that Beijing! more ›

An 80's time machine must have rolled into Mao Livehouse on Friday night. Either that or Queen Sea Big Shark. Photos by Jeremy Breningstall. more ›

How unfortunate is it that of all shows for the power to blow out on in Shanghai, it had to be Brett Anderson's? While we in the West barely remember Suede, it seems China still has a hankering for their smoldering tunes - the show sold out of its 400 presale tickets within a day! All that means is that, in the end, there were at least 400 disappointed fans. more ›

Nothing against Carsick Cars mind you, but it's kind of annoying that they (and the Beijing scene) always seem to hog the stage in international media. Finally, finally, a report on Shanghai's thriving indie rock scene has been spotted... on The Miami Herald. The Mushrooms and Top Floor Circus are mentioned and the piece goes in detail about the worries the local scene has about the Expo. Worth a read! more ›

One of the best live shows to hit Shanghai last year was Canadian indie band Handsome Furs' energy packed set at Yuyintang (we're not just saying that, it was top on our list of Best Music of 2009), so it's awesome to learn that they're coming to China yet again at the end of summer. more ›

Good news for all local bands (or people who want to form a local band): seminal rehearsal space 0093 is up and running now, according to Kungfuology's Jake Newby. Says Jake, 0093 is now outfitted with eight large practice rooms and is "a few blocks down the road from their original space on Lingling Lu. The new address is 1228 Quxi Lu, near Dapuqiao Lu and the nearest metro is Luban Lu on line 4." more ›

Oh come on! Shanghai only just finally got a decent mid-large venue for rock acts and now Mao Livehouse might soon be a goner. Allegedly, says China Music Radar, the owners of the real estate that Mao Livehouse sits on have decided that they can make a ton more money by tearing down that area of Red Town and turning it into... well, nobody's sure, though CNNGo says "high-rise apartment complex." Update! The organizers say that reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated: "Soma and Bad News (the Japanese investors) are committed to continuing Mao regardless of the physical space. The landlord has assured them that if/when they lose the lease, it will be with ample advance notice for them to find a new venue." Phew, good to hear! more ›

Tonight, take it back to the old-school with British DJ Andy Smith at The Shelter. Since 1998 Andy Smith has been releasing multi-genre mix albums, segueing vintage funk, R&B, and soul with doses of contemporary hip-hop . When his mix-CD The Document hit the streets back in 1998, it became the soundtrack for a generation who had heard Coldcut's Journeys By DJs but needed to hear more - The Document filled the void. He was also the touring DJ for Portishead some time ago and worked on their first two albums with them. more ›

Sounds B-A-N-A-N-A-S for sure, but according to the Shanghai Cultural Information website, her Gwenness is headed for a concert at Shanghai Grand Stage on May 5. Calls to the booking number have only led to an automated voice and her personal website isn't helping to solve the mystery either - the latest thing it shows is concert dates for last year's No Doubt tour. Will Shanghai be seeing some o' dat LAMB, or is this some sophisticated scam? more ›

Looks like we can't go a month here without running into another indie sensation these days. Lucky for us! Portland, Oregon-based poppy punky act The Thermals, who've been lauded by NPR, Pitchfork and The Onion's AV Club, are heading to Yuyintang on March 15. Yeah, which means you need to get to the venue early if you want a chance of watching them without being drenched in the sweat of a hundred other bodies. At least in March the garden won't be chilly? Listen to them here. more ›

So those free Maybe Mars tickets we told you we'd give away earlier this week - good job to Sean Dickinson and Stephanie Liu for being the quickest on the draw, sending us emails so quick the contest was over almost as soon as it began. For the rest of you, even if you have to pay that 80RMB at the door, it's totally worth it. Not only will you get to see Chinese rock gods P.K. 14, girl rock powerhouses Ourself Beside Me, dancey anthem wailers 24 Hours and fun pop punk newcomers Rustic will be hitting the stage as well. Plus, drinks at Mao Livehouse (570 Huaihai Xi Lu near Hongqiao Lu 淮海西路570号 近红桥路) always fall on the cheap side! more ›

• Cityweekend invites you to get as Shanghainese as your lily white ass possibly can: eat like them, act like them and drink like them? Ugh, we'll pass on the green tea whiskey, thanks. [Cityweekend]
• Congratulations! Shanghai sports poster child Yao Ming is going to have his own lil' Yao this summer. Somebody break out the cigars! [All Headline News]
• When a listener implored him to stop speaking Shanghainese, Radio host Xiao Jun said "this audience member, please roll yourself into a balland then roll yourself out of this city you so hate or the presence of of these people you so hate." Hilarious! [Chinasmack]

Musical legend Bob Dylan will be making a short stop in Shanghai this Spring while on his Asia-wide tour. The raspy-voiced guitar pluckin' counterculture icon (before, we suppose, counterculture was corporatized) is scheduled to play on April 6 here, according to China Music Radar. Two days before that, he'll be in Beijing, and two days before that he'll be knockin' on Hong Kong's door. We haven't been as excited for the older generation of music lovers in this city since... er... Eric Clapton? more ›

Jake Newby is Associate Editor of the new Time Out Shanghai (which features more on the acts Duck Fight Goose and Boys Climbing Ropes in their January launch issue). He also runs his own music blog at Kungfuology.com, where this article is also posted. more ›

This week, Shanghaiist takes a look back at their favorite shots from various Shanghaiist contributors through 2009. If you want to contribute your photos to us, it's a super easy process - just tag your favorite Shanghai shots with "Shanghaiist" on Flickr or send it to us by email (photos@shanghaiist.com) and it'll show up in our Flickr pool. more ›

Last year's JUE Festival was an awesome one-two punch of art and music that hit us in the dead of winter. This year, SplitWorks has been kind enough to push it back a couple of months so that hopefully we won't freeze our little booties off trying to get to their shows. JUE 2010 will be from March 12 to 29. But who will be showing? more ›

Given how sensitive officials are about the Shanghai World Expo (we hear from one anonymous magazine worker that the slightest jokes about Haibao are censured heavily from even expat mags), we suppose this news is kind of inevitable. Still, it is to our great disappointment to hear that Top Floor Circus' anti-Shanghai tune, Shanghai Doesn't Welcome You is now nowhere to be found. more ›

Photos by Jeremy Breningstall. more ›

We've told you before of Indie Heart Attack, the weekly music event at Not Me which gets a bunch of Shanghai's music-loving mavens to show off their playlists. This Thursday, they're welcoming former Shanghaiist contributor Jake Newby to man the tables! more ›

Anke Stockburger and Han Fei, who were the first people who emailed us about free tickets. Thanks! Your names will be on the guest list - just show up and enjoy the show! As for the rest of you who emailed in, we highly recommend you come anyway. The Toxic Avenger (myspace here) is an awesome act to catch. He'll be playing at Not Me (21 Dongping Lu) on Friday night, starting at 10pm. Check out this and other shows you can see around Shanghai this weekend in our midweek music preview. more ›

But first! An announcement to make. One of the acts we're most excited about to catch this weekend - The Toxic Avenger - has generously offered us two free tickets to give to Shanghaiist readers. That means YOU GUYS. more ›

Helping to kickstart the Halloween weekend is Portland, Oregon-based electronic dance/performance art duo YACHT. Originally the solo project of Jona Bechtolt (who also contributed his electronic wizardry to indie-pop group The Blow), YACHT grew by one in 2008, inducting Claire L. Evans as a full member, just in time to add her no nonsense vocals to their newest album See Mystery Lights. more ›

Shanghaiist lists all the live music performances you might want to check out from Wednesday to Sunday this week. For fun things that aren't live music, take a peek at our Pencil This In (out every Monday!) more ›

WEDNESDAY more ›

Life Journey (旅行团), a Modern Sky rock band originating from Guangxi, closed out the lineup Saturday night at the newly opened Mao Livehouse in Red Town (formerly WTF, Candy Club, etc.). The free show was well-attended, with an estimated 800 bodies filling the vast audience space. more ›

Mochipet joins Antidote for a China tour, hitting Shanghai's Shelter club on Saturday, Aug.15, 2009. Mochipet is a renowned electronic music producer on a world tour. His style is mad eclectic and delightfully hard to define, tongue-in-check and always ahead of the game. We swapped emails with him during a rare week of rest in his California home. more ›