Oasis Rant

The phone starts ringing. I’m going to ignore it before I remember I’m waiting for a delivery. “Hello,” I growl. “What’s that, Si? Oasis have cancelled? “Oh. Is this because of the … yeah … and the Tibet thing. Uh-hu. “Okay, well at least I won’t have to fork out an extortionate amount of cash to see a bunch of [...]

Laslo

1. The first tune you loved… When you talk about love … I mean, LOVE! … well it would probably have to be Life Is A Pigsty by that cherpy chat of pop, Morrissey. You know, he’s right, and it’s the first time a song has truly …. I mean, TRULY … said what I [...]

Talking About Music: How To Not Be an Idiot When Booking an Event

The word music comes from the Greek “Muse,” the mythical spirits of inspiration that would visit the artist and imbue his creations with the ineffable. It is guessed that due to the feelings that music can evoke beyond words it became the namesake art-form of the muses. William S. Burroughs famously echoed this sentiment in his statement “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.” Unfortunately, not all people are familiar with this idea.

Recent Developments at Layabozi

In the spirit of the (now not so new) New Year and new beginnings, there have been some recent and exciting developments here at Layabozi Towers we’d like to share with you.

First up, the team has grown, with the addition of Ed and Peter, who should help to no end in keeping content moving along [...]

Noise Doesn’t Have To Be Annoying

Since the first RESO (Reconstruct the Experimental Soundscapes of Ourselves) concert in April of last year, this collective has managed to bring in a number of experimental artists from around China and the globe to educate the relatively naive ears of Shanghai denizens on non-conventional music. The most recent gathering was at YuYinTang on Sunday night and it opened with Montreal-based Dirty Beaches, a lo-fi ‘call-it-pop’ project of Alex Zhang Hungtai.

When Pop And Punk Collide

Recycle, composed of vocalist/bassist Wang Yan, vocalist/guitarist Guo Feng, drummer Liu Zhong and vocalist/guitarist Zhao Lijie, is an example of what can happen when you mix musical genres. First of all, they are a punk band that advocates peace, love, equality, animal rights and, as their name suggests, environmental awareness. These values are somewhat inconsistent with the early years of punk that were developed in the 1960s when the pioneers of the genre—The Fugs and The Stooges—set the punk precedent of anti-social, anti-establishment behavior that has come to define punk.

The Buddha Machine in your iPhone

The Buddha Machine or Buddha Box was described as a beautifully useless gadget by the New York Times. (To me it is useless only if you consider meaningless the profound pleasure of sound and music). The Buddha Box is a strange magical gadget living where electronic music meets mantras, and where nerd music lovers meet technology. It has been used by Brian Eno and Gorillaz among many other musicians. Now, you can have this curious instrument in your iPhone. Read more about the Buddha Machine and its world here.

Further Update on Daft Punk Hoax: Have You Seen This Man?

It’s been a difficult day for many people because of the news about Daft Punk. Some people out there lost more than 500 RMB, one of whom was Julien. He was one of the five unlucky guys working for Andy, the organizer of the so called secret Daft Punk gig.