Shanghai Streets Music

I while back I added a new blog to the CBL called Shanghai Streets. It’s a photoblog covering life in Shanghai. It has had some good shots. My favorite so far is probably these shopping girls, but I really like this building, and this picture of Taco Popo, a decent attempt at Mexican that I’ll always remember fondly. So there’s a photoblog to keep your eye on. You’ll also notice that zanhe.com (mentioned in a previous comment on Shanghainese) is using Shanghai Streets’ images (with permission).

Anyway, recently Shanghai Streets has expanded its scope to cover Shanghai’s local music scene. This is pretty great, if you ask me. People in Shanghai complain about a lack of a good local music scene, but I think the truth is that most people aren’t aware that they can regularly go see metal, hip hop, punk, and indie rock shows in Shanghai. I was only dimly aware myself until recently. Shanghai’s offerings might be sort of pathetic for as monstrous a city as it is, but Beijing does not have the monopoly on a Chinese local music scene.

Shanghai Streets: Music is a group music blog. The group members post reviews of local shows they have seen. Perhaps even more useful, though, is the calendar which lists all the upcoming underground shows. You won’t see all these in That’s Shanghai.

Micah recently brought a great site to my attention called SmartShanghai. It’s an awesome site, but it looks like it mostly caters to the rich expat clubbing niche. Shanghai Streets fulfills a different need. If you’re in Shanghai and you’re at all interested in the local band scene, be sure to check it out.

There are three shows coming up this Saturday alone. Too bad I’ll be moving into my new apartment all day. I’m definitely going to go see Cold Fairyland and the Verse on Monday.

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. I have heard that there are indeed lots of muzik shows in Shanghai,but it’s a pity that I am in
    Hangzhou.In my memory,the nearest muzik show I’ve seen was a show in Zhejiang Media and transmission college(2002).I can still remember some bands,just like “rainman”(hip hop),”reflector”(punk)-I am crazy for their smashing music,and so on.hehe~I still keep the ticket in one of my book.

  2. Thanks for the praise and the links, John. The photos you picked were some of my favourites, too, althought I still don’t understand why so many people like the shopping girls.

    Comet – Most of the shows at Gua’er are in the afternoon, meaning if you really wanted to, you could take the train to Shanghai on a Saturday morning and go back that night. Some of us went to see Reflector a few weeks ago — there’s a review here , and pictures here and here.

  3. Thanks you,Twisted Mister.I’ve seen the pictures of reflector already.Your advice sounds great.I will think it over.

  4. “Rich expat clubbing niche”? Wtf? Actually, SmartShanghai is used by about ten to twelve morons who know zero about music and jabber about which trance dj is the best. The forum is infested by obnoxious promoters who desperately try ram their lame ass events down people’s throats. In short, the website may look pretty but it blows. Hence the need for an alternative forum for upcoming show notifications and reviews. Enter Shanghai Streets….Ta da!

    Also, “The Streets” is a much better name then Smart Shanghai.

  5. Good to know there are shows in SH too. We’ll have something to do besides drinking and getting bored next time we are in town then. Just hope to see some new faces there – we’ve seen almost all the bands play in Beijing.

    Do they sing in Shanghaihua? It’d be awesome.

  6. Calvin opened for Sasha? Amazing. That’s the kinda stuff I like to hear! For those who don’t know about DJ Calvin, he is the famous DJ in Hangzhou and Shanghai – two cities, together holding over 20,000,000 in population.

    Got the link from the “Shanghai Streets Music” link. Peep this for pix, too: http://www.smartshanghai.com/en/nightlife/gallery.php?gal=469

  7. Damn, Kun beat me to it.

    Anyway, it’s nice to know that Shanghai isn’t a complete musical wasteland. Now if they could just get a start on speaking Chinese properly…

  8. I hear Paul van Dyk at the Rojam was much better than the Sasha show: smaller club, less pretentious. Pics here:

    http://www.smartshanghai.com/en/nightlife/gallery.php?gal=476

  9. smartshanghai.com is catering to EVERYBODY interested in shanghai nightlife, dining and culture. we are certainly not catering expats only, as over 50% of our users are of chinese origins – a chinese version of the website is in the pipeline. we do not pretend to be perfect, but we are probably the most up-to-date webzine – @I>3 Poop: any suggestions on improving our website are welcome.

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