Reviews
Boys Climbing Ropes’ “Except for the Darkness”
Boys Climbing Ropes is an emblematic Shanghai band. They are a representative sample of the local bestiary, as is their sound. The characters behind the band have continued to grow in the wilderness of Shanghai’s indie music scene. You should not overlook this as a minor detail. It’s a great asset for these punk beasts.
Vampire Strengthened
The weight of expectations has not weakened Vampire Weekend.
K’Naan’s “Troubadour”
Emma proclaims, “This is K’Naan: Hooray!”
The Knife’s “Silent Shout”
New writer Sara claims that The Knife’s Silent Shout will wake you up.
Lions of Puxi The Album
The Lions of Puxi are a popular and high profile reggae band on a mission: escape from the Shanghai jazz ghetto. They’ve played at Yugong Yishan and Dream Factory, been featured on ICS and adverts in taxis, performed at the JZ Music Festival, and now they have their first CD out.
Sulumi “Chaotic Dances the Function”
This is Alicia’s happy beginning on Layabozi. Full disclosure: Author has the name of the artist tattooed on her butt. Everything she says may be biased. But you should read this review of 8-bit artist Sulumi anyway (or maybe because of that).
Li Daiguo’s Handmade
The external aspects of Li Daiguo’s performance inevitably grab you first: his stage presence and look are quite striking, and then there’s the sheer number of instruments he plays, but he’s also quite simply one of the most interesting cats I have met and listened to in Shanghai. With this album I’m thinking he might be more than just interesting, too…
The Myth of MONO
It’s not Post-Rock. It’s Ghost-Rock.
