Bummer

So I finished up my dreary, depressed winter mix, "Bummer" just in time for beautiful spring weather here in Shanghai. Typical. Anyways, it's real long, and you can listen and download here:

Bummer by elnomo

That's my word. Here's the tracklist:

The Dude - "Bummer"
Wanda Jackson - "Funnel of Love"
Massive Attack ft. Hope Sandoval - "Paradise Circus"
Jimi Hendrix - "If 6 Was 9"
Tremor - "Caracol"
Flying Lotus ft. Dolly - "Roberta Flack"
Gil Scott-Heron - "Me and the Devil"
Cee Lo Green - "Bodies"
Jose Llaralade (Chancha Via Circuito Remix) - "Quimey Neuquen"
Massive Attack ft. Marina Topley-Bird "Babel"
Cary Ann Hearst - "Hell's Bells"
The Beatles vs. Diplo - "Eleanor Rigby" (Dan Battle Re-edit)
Santogold - "Starstruck" (Diplo Remix)
Barrington Levy - "Why Did You Leave Me?"
Tennesee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons
Gang Gang Dance - "House Jam"
Caribou - "Odessa" Junior Boys Remix
Kritical Audio - "Krup"
La Roux - "Bulletproof" Nacey Remix
La Roux - "Bulletproof"
Organized Konfusion - "Stray Bullets"
Joanna Newsom - "Esme"
Nosaj Thing - "Aquarium"
Mum - "Green Grass of Tunnel" Belle and Sebastian Remix
John Lee Hooker - "No Shoes"
Phoenix - "Fences"
Four Tet - "Love Cry"
Beck - "We Dance Alone"
Miike Snow - "Animal" Mark Ronson Remix
Caribou - "Jamelia"
Barrington Levy - "Send a Moses"
Grauzone - "Eisbär"
Underworld - "Dirty Epic"
LCD Soundsystem - "Home"
Bob & Gene - "Don't Leave Me Girl"

The Party Formerly Known as Bananas

First, there were no fun parties in Shanghai... then there was Bananas, and that was rad... then Bananas kinda started to suck, and that sucked... so NOW there's "The Party Formerly Known As Bananas" which is rad again.

Androgenous Disco, Naked Hip Hop, Gender Bending Electro, Freaky Deaky House

&

Pop Pop Pop!!!

Featuring the Dj's previously considered respectable:

Dj “Raspberry Beret” Razor, Dan "Purple Rain" Battle, Irresistible Trix

Visuals by ArtError

Plus extra special "All the Critics Love U in New York" guest:

Michna (the aritst formerly known as Eggfooyoung... seriously)

ghostly.com/artists/michna

What: The Party Formerly Known as Bananas

When: Friday, Sept 17th 10pm-late

Where: The Shelter 5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Xi Lu

Cost: 50rmb

Let's Go Crazy!!!

Eaton Canyon Royal Ensemble - When Doves Cry (Prince Cover)

Grandmaster Flash in the Pan

Been a while. I've been wanting to post about my experience opening for Grandmaster Flash (in April) for a while now, finally getting around to doing it. The basic statement I want to make is "Grandmaster Flash is a washed up jerk face." Ok, ok, dude like invented djing and shit, is now 60 years old and I guess deserves some respect for his contributions to hip hop, but that doesn't mean homie has to be a total prima donna punk. From what the promoters told me, their whole experience with him focused around his complete lack of respect for them and outlandish demands for superstar treatment. So not keeping it real. I was told two weeks before the show that I was only allowed to play house music, so I tried to prepare a total mind-blowing house set for the night... then an hour before getting to sound check the promoter told me that I could play hip hop, but just not the songs on GMF's "Do Not Play List" (see picture above). Seriously?!... I would think after 40 plus years in the game he'd be comfortable enough with himself and his accomplishments that he wouldn't be fazed by anyone playing anything before him. Like I'm going to steal his thunder or some shit. Whatever. Anyways, I played a pretty sloppy unprepared set of hip hop and disco that wasn't on his list, and half way through my set his entourage of two dudes (there to set up his equipment) came into the dj booth and basically just acted like they had good reason to hate me. Awesome. Finally I was told to finish playing, and while helping to do the switch over these two dudes (who's claim to fame is being Flash's roadies/cousins or whatever) gave me much attitude about breaking down my gear quickly so that Flash could get on. After clearing out the booth for him, they proceeded to play Gangstarr's "Take it Personal" on loop for like twenty minutes while the man of the hour was busy relaxing in his tour bus outside the club and everyone in the club lost interest. Boring. Finally, finally finally, Flash got on the decks and proceeded to rock it pretty much like any frat party I've ever been to (except his scratching was worse and he did a lot more obnoxious yelling at the crowd). I know ten dj's in Shanghai alone who could have played a better set than he did. Dude didn't even mix two records together once. Every transition was him yelling over his baby scratches and then bang, into the next Naughty by Nature song. What a disappointment to find someone who's earlier musical contributions to hip hop were so inspiring is now so washed up, plateaued out, grumpy and simply bad by modern day standards. Did anyone out there hear his latest album? Terrible. This guy has not pushed the envelope at all since the 80's. Meanwhile, here are a few tracks by a few people who continue to rep it (and if I had to guess, would be a lot more fun to hang out with than Mr. Grandmaster).

Afrika Bambaataa - Metal (ft. Gary Nauman and MC Chatterbox)

Datashat - Stop the Message

Take Away Bananas Photo

This is also happening soon!

Bananas is back from the afterlife and dishing up all the platers that matter...

Try out specials!
From Kung Pao Pop to Egg Foo Funk, 1000 Year-Old Hip Hop, Eight Treasure Electro, Diced Disco Delicacies, Sweet & Sour Soul and Braised Spicy Breaks our menu has something to delight every palate.

Please to enjoy the mysterious local feast from the comfort of your own Shelter (5 Yongfu lu near Fuxing Xi lu). 30rmb delivery (entrance) fee.

On the Woks and Twos:

Kamikaze - Stinky Tofu

elnomo - The Drunken Shrimp
Choyce Kutz - Chop Sticks

Ten minutes after it's over, you'll be hungry for more!

And here's a song we'll play:

Malente&Dex - Gipsy Kings

This is happening soon!

Yeah, that's right, me and Mr. Tsang acting our age on the turntables, playing wacky Funk Disco and Hip Hop from when most internet users weren't even born yet.

Like this one:

Melba Moore - Love's Comin' At Ya'

Oh yeah, hip hop's still good.

I've recently hit a wall with blog house, fidget electro and all that stuff the kids are into these days. If you ask me, Crookers can bite it man. I'm over it. I feel like the genre peaked like a week after I heard my first Justice song and now it's a bunch of people trying to cop that style and not doing it very well. Sure, the Ed Banger phenomenon was interesting and there's a lot of talented cats putting out electro records, but is that really what I want to listen to in my headphones on the subway? No. Meanwhile, I had the realization that people are still making dope hip hop records.
Case in point:

Tanya Morgan - Alleye Need (Ft. Piakhan)

Another Rainy Day

I recently returned from nearly two months in sunny, friendly, fun, beautiful and tropical Thailand to cold, rainy, mean, stressful and generally unpleasant Shanghai... and I've been wondering why I subject myself to life here. Today's another rainy one. Fortunately I have a pile of records to listen to that Onra dug up in Guangzhou and left at my place in Shanghai after his show here at the Shelter last year. This joint from Singapore has been particularly helpful in me accepting my fate of living in a huge city with crappy weather, many unpleasant locals who spit on your shoes and a complete lack of awesome curries.

1) Peggy Tann - Kan Ku Bawa Pergi

2) Peggy Tann - Rentak Bunyi Hujan ("Rhythm of the Falling Rain" cover)

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.