Shanghai No.1 Taoist DJ Party, every Thursday @ Dada

I somehow got a weekly gig here in Shanghai... it's been a while since anyone's allowed me back in their establishment to play within a month of my last dj fiasco. But, the guys down at Dada know what time it is, so they threw me a bone. Here's the press info, if you're into that kind of thing:

EVERY Thursday after 10pm...

- "Shanghai NO.1 Taoist DJ Party"

- Resident DJs Dan Battle (elnomo), Blaise Deville, Ozone, Steve
Bamford, Trix, and friends heat up Thursday nights with smart but carefree eclectic music -- using ancient Taoist wisdom to help select the perfect tunes -- from rock to disco, from funk to electro, from trip hop to tech-house and global rhythms. Free entry.

每周四10点以后

"上海NO.1 Taoist DJ Party"

上 海常驻DJs Dan Battle (elnomo), Blaise Deville, Ozone, Steve Bamford, Trix, 还有其他的朋友，他们会用电音将周四晚上沸腾起来。用道教的智慧去选择完美的音调--从摇滚到disco，从funk到电音。

And here's a song you might hear this Thursday:

NYGz - Giantz Ta Thiz

Old News

Yeah yeah yeah... the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been around for a while now, and their latest album, "It's Blitz!" came out in, like, January, not last week or something; so it's not like I'm hipping you to anything mindblowingly new or so underground you'd never find it by yourself. But this albums been on my mp3 player for months now, and pretty much every song is the jam. Here's the one that strikes the "awesomest" harmonic with me:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dragon Queen

Oh yeah... I have a blog.

My friend Maile just reminded me, I have a blog! I had pretty much forgotten as the Chinese government has blocked all blogspot sites (as well as facebook, twitter, youtube... god forbid the citizen's of China get to see that new Britney Spears video, they'd probably rebel against society and demand big gulps and sweatsuits for every citizen). Anyways, at one point I thought I could work around it using a proxy server, but the people running the Great Firewall of China are in a constant arms race against netizens to keep them from accessing information, and they figured out that proxy servers were allowing people to do just that: inform themselves of what's happening in the world. At any rate, now I have a VPN, so for the moment I can blog again... who knows how long it'll be til someone figures out how sabatoge VPN's and we're back to the stone ages again. Whatevs. My main point is, for now at least I can incessantly rant online again, and if you don't live in China (or you've become and internet tech dork in order to keep downloading porn in Beijing), you can easily read it.

Thanks Maile for reminding me I should upload music again. Miles and I used to rock out to Black Sheep's first album in middle school in like 1991, and that's still probably one of my favorite-est ever hip hop albums. I think "The Choice is Yours" was the first song I ever did the freak train to so, obviously, I have a real soft spot in my heart for these guys. They sort of quietly came out with a second album, "Non-Ficiton" three years later that was also great, but slept on, and then released "8WM-Novakane" in 2006 or 07. Also slept on. I wonder what the hell Mr. Lawng and Dres were up to in the 13 years in between albums. Anyways, these guys are like a fine wine, getting more complex and subtle as they age; though nostalgia wins out and I'll always like their first album the best. That said, this is my jam at the moment, gotta play it like 3 or 4 times every time I hear it. So, with out further obnoxious ado, this one's for all you Shorties out there, especially Maile:

Black Sheep - Shorty

Workaround

So it's been months since I posted here, because I'm in China, and the great fire wall has blocked all blogspot websites. I recently just found a way around this, so hopefully many more musical posts to come. For now, here's one:

Northend - Tee's Happy

Chino Latino Seis, tonight @ Hamilton House

Did I mention I'm sorry for only posting event listings lately? Well, here's a song then, too:

Dj Negro - Lluvia

And here's the event info:
Chino Latino returns to Shanghai's chic Hamilton House for the sixth installment of this smokin hot Latin dance party. Put the “P” back into Picante as you shake your culo to classic and electro-Cumbia, super Salsa gems, Brazilian jungle sounds , and Afro-Caribbean and Latin soul. Globetrotting Hipster dj's elnomo and the Melkman (aka. el Lechero) select South American flavors with visuales fantasticos provided by Arterror.

Details:
40 RMB Entry includes Free Drink
Thursday May 14
9pm til Late
2 for 1 Mojitos from 9 to 11
137 Fuzhou Road (Corner of Fuzhou Road and Jiangxi Road) 福州路137号，近江西路

Shanghai Millionaire, in like three hours

(click on picture for biggerness)

Sorry to keep just big-upping my own events, but, well...

Tigerstyle (feat. Bikram Singh) - Nachna

Meanwhile that track kills cobras.

'Nuf Said

Chino Latino Cinco esta noche!!! (Tonight)

Don't be tarde!

Toy Selectah - Bumpin Time! (Sistema Local Mexmix Vesrion)

Endless Winter Mix

Last year I tried to throw a party called "Malcontent" based on the emotions sad, depressed, stressed and/or angry, a backlash against all the happy fun time partying we're always doing these days. We organized "Malcontent" on a Tuesday night (worst day of the week ever) in late February at this bar called The Hut, and it sucked. It was cold and rainy and five people showed up. I now realize the fatal flaw in my thinking; a downer party has to be held alone, in your room, preferably in your pajamas, probably drinking or chain smoking cigarettes. So this year I've updated the concept with an Endless Winter mix that can be downloaded alone and listened to in the solitude of your own cold Saturday afternoon. If you're in Shanghai right now, you know what I'm talking about, right? Anyways, here's the mix, recorded in one shot on turntables on a miserably cold dark and rainy Thursday afternoon.

elnomo - Endless Winter Mix

More Music

My friend Willie told me to post more music on my blog, and honestly, what the hell else do I have to do? So here are two songs that have nothing to do with eachother, or anything really. Just good music I recently heard. No pictures, no interesting tie in, no nothing.

Easy Going - Do It Again

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Deja Vu

New Weekly at the Shelter

Free entry, and free booze til midnight. Can't beat that, not even with a stick.

More Sad Music

Maybe it's the weather (3 weeks of constant cold and rain), maybe it's the endless occasions for drinking and shallow conversations in Shanghai, or the irregular sleep patterns or whatever. Bottom line, sad music is my shit right now. I think I need to go out and buy myself some tappered, skinnly legged black jeans and frown a lot.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Oh, and some people here in China have told me that the download links aren't working for them. If you have a problem, I'd say use the rapidshare link, not zshare. Holler if you have any problem with the links.

Chino Latino featuring ZZK Records

It's on like ping pong. Anna Browne, aka Annita Cumbia Selectah, just rolled into town from her whirlwind tour of the world (Starting out in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Rio and Salvador Brazil, to Paris, India, Hong Kong and currently Shanghai, finally ending up in Tokyo this weekend). Anna holds it down with ZZK Records, a fantastic label and club night that's based in Buenos Aires and putting out some of the most zany electro-Cumbia madness you've ever heard. She's here to see what Shanghai's got to say about this new movement of bedroom dj's and producers from Buenos Aires and beyond reappropriating old cumbia gems and using their brains, hands and laptops to make hot new dancefloor/club burners. Still not convinced? Here's a little taste:

Zonora Point - Huachita Rica (Douster remix)

Chino Latino Cuatro
Wednesday, Feb. 25th at Shelter (5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Xi Lu)
20rmb entry, come early for free mix cd's, stickers and flyers from ZZK Records, y'heard?!..

Good Song, I Think.

Not much to say at the moment, but this has been my jam of the week:

Supermayer - Hey Hotties!

Daft-er Party

So the rumor on the street is that Daft Punk will be coming to Shanghai this Friday, but the whole thing is shrouded in mystery... like you have to shell out 500rmb to get a "ticket" which is a bar code on a piece of paper, and then you leave your phone number at the ticket office, and get an sms the day of the event telling you where they'll actually be playing. (This whole media hijnk is also especially rad for us Bananas kids, because we're doing our once-every-few-months party the same night, and guess who are target crowd is?... Pretty much the sort of people who are going to lose their shit about Daft Punk being in China for the first time ever... lucky us!)

Anyways, at Bananas we like French electro-house as much as the next hipster... so come join us after you've had your mind blown by probably the best/biggest electronic music act in the world. Venue kept secret until you look at the flyer. To buy tickets, go to the door of the Shelter and pay 30rmb... The door guy will show you the secret cave entrance to get to the party. Once you are inside the venue, you will not be able to send or receive any sms, so all further secret communication will have to be done by talking to people and gesturing through dance moves. Maybe it will be the guys from Bananas playing, maybe it will just be two french musical geniuses in robot masks... only one way to find out: show up!

Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (JoolsMF Bandwagon Remix)

p.s. This is an UNOFFICIAL (d)after party, to the party that no one in the city can confirm is real or not, but that doesn't mean it won't be totally rad... it will be. Rad.

Sharebee is the way to share

I just realized that I've been wasting time uploading stuff with zshare when sharebee.com is faster and sends your files to like 5 different sharing sights. Don't get it? Then consider yourself lucky that you don't spend as much time as I do in front of a computer uploading crap onto the world wide web. Anyways, sharebee, it's my new shit. And here's the proof, another gem from the Santo Chino crates:

The Invaders - Latin Lips

If you're confused, you have to click on one of the links (zshare, rapidshare, megaupload, etc...) to download from that sight. Maybe I'm the big time luddite, but this is exciting news to me.

Santo Chino, you're my hero

Meet Santo Chino, aka my friend Chris. He's decided to take a two month bike and train adventure around southeast Asia (this, after a solo motorcycle trip across China two years ago), leaving me in Shanghai, insanely jealous, but also happy to earn a few extra duckets covering his regular Friday gig at Glamour Bar. Right before leaving dude came by and gave me some music that he likes to play so the dj transition would be relatively seamless... and he totally sonned me on what it means to dig! Jeez, while I'm out looking for common denominator jams to get cash a paycheck with, he swears he's "not a party dj" and is quietly finding some of the weirdest and coolest shit I've ever heard and reminding me that pandering to the masses sucks. Can't really do justice to this guy's taste in music in a few quick links, but I wanted to share a few of the ones he gave me that I found to be most brain numbing-ly rad.

The Revenge - Night Flight
(stick with this one... it's a slow burner that get's interesting around minute 5)

Lunar Jam - Over and Over

Quince - Genetrix

Tallest Man On Earth

You know, djing gets boring sometimes... real boring. I'm pretty sick of trolling blogs for the next booty-shaking dancefloor killer that's going to make everyone go nuts and hopefully get me laid. I'm also sick of listening to music that's supposed to make you happy. I mean, come on, it's February, its cold, spring is a long ways off still, the world is in crisis in so many ways, and I've got more issues that scottie's got tissues. Give me the soundtrack to that, eh? Enter "The Tallest Man On Earth" with the album "Shallow Grave." Nothing quite like a man just crooning over his acoustic guitar, and that's pretty much what this whole album is. The Tallest Man On Earth, aka Kristian Matsson from Sweden (no, not the guy pictured above) is probably getting compared up and down the blogsphere to early Bob Dylan which I'd say is a pretty hefty, yet surprisingly fair, compliment. The major difference is that this guy can SING... and the tradeoff being that he's not exactly the lyric/poet genius that Dylan was, but still a breath of nostalgic, sad air for a guy like me who spends my days combing the internet for sweet spot party jams that make the ladies say "Oooh"

The Tallest Man On Earth - Where Do My Bluebird Fly

Like it? Buy the album, "Shallow Grave" on the label Mexican Summer.

RM-Bananas

RMBananas
In times of economic downturn, we turn it up.

Watch your pocketbook, 'cause BANANAS is back on the market and ready to sell out at rock bottom prices.
Friday, February the 13th is the day China's famous pink 100 yuan bill turns yellow as Bananas inflate the Shelter (5 yongfu lu near fuxing xi lu) again, leaving you wondering what happened to 40% of your gross net.

It's time to cash in those savings bonds forRMBananas, because that's the only currency that's going to matter in Shanghai for 2009! Get in on the ground floor with this musical investment, because we'll be going strong til the big crash.

Featuring: discount bin hip hop, corner cutting electro, price slashing dancehall, frugal funk, low budget bmore and liquidating discohouse.

On the ones, twos, threes and fours:

el no mo' money (www.myspace.com/elnomo)

and back by popular demand

DJ Kamikaze, aka Stack Bundlz (www.myspace.com/handsomeboyhensel)

plus special value-for-money guest:
DJ Passion, aka Supply and Demand (www.myspace.com/djpassion78)

• 10pm til you get your money's worth
• 30rmb entrance
• The Shelter, 5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Xi Lu

Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want)

Lagos Jump madness

So the guys over at the Strut label put out this amazing comp last year which followed up a 3 disc series in 2001 picking out some major gems from the Afrobeat scene in Lagos, Nigeria back in the 1970's. I'm not going to get all musicologist on that ass about the historical significance of these recordings or anything, I just know they're completely blwing my mind right now. This latest release, "Nigeria 70's: Lagos Jump" is a lot weirder and more psych/rock influenced than the earlier "Nigeria 70" which was more straigh up Afrobeat funk. Anyways, here's a little itsy-bitsy taste...

Ify Jerry Crusade - Everybody Likes Something Good

Go support this amazing label and buy the whole album!