Well that was a nice little rest, wasn’t it? I did almost nothing for the past few days except eat, sleep, and look at fireworks. I also did some drinking. Anyway, vacation is over now and the party must continue! It will be a gradual acceleration for the next week or so though, as YYT remains closed and other happenings are mostly subdued.

Thursday:

Alec Haavik Friction 5-7

It’s been a long time since we’ve mentioned our first Featured Artist here at the Editor’s Picks, but he’s still there at JZ almost every Thursday, refining his special blend of music (largest two components: jazz + rock) and pushing it forward. They are still one of a handful of jazz bands this town with a strong band identity, and are something anyone with an open mind will enjoy. The Illusion Trio, with Chris Trczinski, Oleg Roschin, and me open.

JZ Club, 46 Fuxing Xi Lu near Yongfu Lu

9:00-10:00 Illusion Trio, 10:30-1:30 Friction 5

No cover

Friday:

Shelter Online

The Shelter has a website now. Or will tomorrow. Anyway, it will have a blog, schedule, giveaways, etc. Here’s hoping they do better with that than I do. Everybody knows you must have a party when you put a website up, and the Shelter’s will feature regulars V-Nutz, Drunk Monk, and Deville as well as near-regulars from Void, Sweatshop, Bananas and Antidote. There’s apparently an addition to the soundsystem as well.

The Shelter, 5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Xi Lu

10:00-late

30 RMB cover

Saturday:

Shimon

The high-profile event of the weekend is the return to Shanghai of an all-time great, Shimon, drum ‘n bassanator. Our own resident drum ‘n bassanators, Sweatshop, will welcome him. He’s been in it since the beginning and put out some of the most famous tracks the genre has seen. Heavy. With support from Apex, Siesta, Viceroy, Abbruzi Spur and JJ MC.

The Shelter, 5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Xi Lu

10:00-late

50 RMB cover

Zaogao

Well, it’s not Baijiu Robot, but the flyer style is eerily familiar, and the show has Mau Mau and Heatwolves, so…you know what it is. Here’s their own description, just because it’s tasty: “The messiest party this side of the Huangpu returns to Logo Saturday night to make congee out of your senses. Cover yourself while Heatwolves, fresh off the plane from the home of house, spills giant buckets of deep Chicago beats. Hold on to your pants as The Uhhhhh! splashes dangerous sexy electro recklessly. Watch yourself while Adept and Mau Mau wreck the place with jacking techno and fidget. VJ Maculate takes your eyes for a ride. No cover. Dress messy.”

LOgO, 13 Xingfu Lu near Fahuazhen Lu

11:00-late

No cover

Sunday:

Greg Luttrell Band Jam Session

An old favorite of the Sunday pick, because it’s always fun and because there’s not a whole lot of competition on Sundays: the House of Blues and Jazz jam session! Watch the awesome Greg Luttrell band, watch other dudes who come to the jam session, play some yourself, get a discount on drinks because you played, it’s all good! Plus it’s a warm vibe in there.

House of Blues and Jazz, 60 Fuzhou Lu near Sichuan Lu and the Bund

9:30-12:30

No Cover

Monday:

Willow Neilson’s Lightbulb Lives

You might think that this is a live performance of a concept album sequel and goes like this: at the end of the first concept album you thought the evil monster called lightbulb had been killed and the world could rest easy…But no! Lightbulb LIVES!

In fact, the last word is the plural of life, not the third-person singular present tense of the verb to live, and it refers to many lives that are organized around lightbulbs at night in the city of Shanghai, not to one individual lightbulb monster that you thought was dead. Willow is one of the best saxophone players in Shanghai and has broad musical interests (listed in the promotional email are: “Beats from Peru, Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico and modern electronic music are combined with modern jazz compositions, Yunnan folk melodies and sampled sounds of the city of Shanghai”) but hasn’t had a lot of his own shows here, so it should be cool. It will also feature the return to SH of awesome drummer and sometime roommate Alex Ritz, as well as Coco Zhao, Tibetan singer La Mu, Peter Scherr up from Hong Kong to play bass, and Steinar Nickelsen on keys. They’re also playing on Wednesday at YYT, but there’s a cover there and fewer musicians, so catch this one instead.

JZ Club, 46 Fuxing Lu near Yongfu Lu

9:00-12:30

No cover