While less heralded than Beijing, Shanghai boasts a robust and eclectic music scene. Despite the city's constant influx and exodus of people, this year has offered a boon of releases from remixed metal to straight-up Mandopop and everything in between. Discover your new favorite local band in this chronological five-part series.
Hello Money: Old Man Strength
Released: Jan 30
Buy the album: Bandcamp
Follow: Facebook
Style: Reggae-rock
The reggae rockers said goodbye to the city in style. They followed a Shanghai rock tradition mixing a record release show with a farewell show. Old Man Strength features 15 infectious tracks that made them favorites on the live scene for five years.
Chen Lee: Such As
Released: Feb 2
Buy the album: Xiami
Follow: Douban
Style: Urban Folk
For years, Chen Lee has been among Shanghai’s hardest working musicians as frontwoman of Daydreamer. On her solo debut, she hits a nerve with the urban folk stylings that’s so popular with the wenqing (aka. hipsters) these days. Tracks like single ‘走马’ have already wracked up over a million listens on streaming sites like Xiami.
No VPN? Watch the video on Youku.
Spondees: 72
Released: Feb 22
Buy the album: Bandcamp
Style: Indie rock
Since 2008, this trio has been haunting the city’s livehouses with raucous live shows and a genre-shifting take on indie-rock. They follow up last year’s 长长格人 with another diverse disc that seems them at their sludgiest (‘Blue Moon’), funky (‘All Your Dreams Come True’) and hard-driving (‘Wish I Had.’)
Nuriver: Ocean Blue Conscious
Released: Feb 28
Buy the album: Xiami
Follow: Douban
Style: Nu-jazz
The local nu-jazz production group continues to mix pretty jazz lines, boom bap beats and unexpected samples. They’re already hard at work on their fifth disc, Santa Monica Luv, which is slated for an early 2016 release.
Lawrence Ku Trio: Pictures
Released: Mar 3
Buy the album: Xiami
Follow: Douban
Style: Modern jazz
The Californian guitarist has been a JZ staple for years, leading the 10-piece funk group Red Groove Project. Ku indulges his modern jazz side with Pictures. A mix of originals and rearranged standards like Bill Evans’ ‘Never Let Me Go,’ it was recorded live over four nights at the JZ Club.
No VPN? Watch the video on Youku.
Nahash: Old Relgion/New Skin, Nashash/To Die
Released: Mar 20/Mar 23
Buy the album: Old Religion/New Skin, Nahash/To Die (Bandcamp)
Follow: Huashan Records Bandcamp
Style: Noise
The former Laura Ingalls continues to explore the harshest regions of darkwave with his black metal inspired Nahash project. On the double EP Old Religion/New Skin, he links up with his old Death to Ponies compadre Ivan Belcic for some gutteral growls and other nasty noise. It’s been a busy year for Nahash whose Huashan Records has been an anchor in the city’s growing experimental noise scene. They’ve also split releases with To Die and released a mixtape with Noise Arcade to coincide with their Malaysian tour. For more, check out our interview with Nahash and Five Things that Laura Ingalls won't miss about DJing.
AM444: Dark Show
Released: Apr 3
Buy the album: Bandcamp
Style: Electronic soul
Guizhou born singer ChaCha and Dutch producer Jay Soul have crafted a hypnotic take on trip-hop on past classics like Eye Wonder and Rooms. Despite living continents away, the partnership has only grown stronger. After touring European stadiums with French superstar M, AM444 have emerged with a rawer sound. With the support of Beijing-based Kaiguan Culture, they returned to Europe this summer and are eyeing an Australian and China tour this year. For more, check out our feature on AM444.
For more Sounds of Shanghai, check out: Part One Part Three, Part Four and Part Five.
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