Category Archives: Charity

JUE | Music + Art 2013 Mixtape by LOVE BANG (Heatwolves! and DJ Caution)

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Here’s a little mix that Shanghai DJ collective Love Bang (aka DJs Heatwolves and Caution) put together on the occasion of JUE | Music + Art 2013. It contains tracks from almost all of the JUE 2013 artists, including but not limited to Grimes, Gang of Four, Frank Turner, AV Okubo, How To Dress Well, Cinema Soloriens, SLV and many more, interspersed with Shanghainese gems from the Super Ayi Cleaning Team.

The mix is loaded up onto the official JUE 2013 Morning Tears souvenir USB stick, which is 50 RMB with all proceeds going to official charity partner Morning Tears. The USB is 4 GB and also comes with JUE posters, MVs and lots o’ love from the whole festival team.

Peep at the track listing below and stream the whole thing from Soundcloud.

1. BAWANG Intro
2. Gang of Four – “Outside The Trains Don’t Run On Time”
3. AV Okubo – “Old Game”
4. Frank Turner – “Four Simple Words”
5. Let’s Get Weird and 黑暗 with 排球女将
6. Cinema  Soloriens – ??? ripped from YouTube
7. Zhongshan Park – “Wut R Treats?”
8. AM 444 – “Interloop 2″
9. Grimes – “Vanessa”
10. Downstate – “Mist”
11. Ital – “Dub Me for Tonight (Saviour’s Love Megamix)”
12. HONEY, 蜂蜜!
13. Grimes – “Genesis”
14. Super Ayi Cleaning Team – “Tigerwoman”
15. S L V (Downstate & Hamacide) – “Toi”
16. Acid Pony Club – “P.O.P – Scratch Boom”
17. Little Yellow Bird Gonna Help You Out
18. How To Dress Well – “Lover’s Start”
19. WUT DID YOU STEAL??
20. How To Dress Well – “You Won’t Need Me Where I’m Goin’”
21. Kikuyu – “2 Appointments (Super Ayi 阿姨机器人 Vocal Remix)”
22. SHANGHAINESE SIGNOFF, 再见

Fundraiser for Liang Heping

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As BeijingDaze and Beijing Gig Guide have reported, Saturday night China rock legend He Yong is hosting a benefit concert for Liang Heping, another original star of the scene and, as Jonathan W. Campbell reports, the musician responsible for the first notes of “Nothing To My Name” at the 1986 Let the World Be Full of Love Concert. Liang was in a car accident last summer and the rock community is all pitching in to help him out. Besides He Yong, there will be appearances by Secondhand Rose, Thin Man, Liquid Oxygen Can, Ma Tiao and more. There will also be a silent auction with memorabilia from  Ding Wu, Hao Yun, Xie Tianxiao, Reflector, Twisted Machine and others with all proceeds also going directly to Liang Heping. Reminiscent of when the China rock scene was literally 12 young men crammed into a tiny room listening to tapes or playing guitar, it warms our corporate-shriveled hearts to know that in the end, everyone is always watching out for each other.

Oh goodie – here we go again. International artist (Elton John) calls out an enemy of the state (Aye WW)

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Back in 2008, a certain Icelandic singer dedicated her song “Declare Independence” to a certain part of China that has famously been trying to do just that for over 50 years. Last night, Elton John dedicated his Beijing show to infamous dissident artist Aye WW.

While most probably not as seriously or damaging as the Bjork incident (which was 4 months before the great Olympic coming out ceremony in 2008), it begs the question “Why won’t these primadonnas ever learn or think what the potential consequences of these actions might be?”.

Promoters across China work hard in the margins, trying to incrementally increase their ability to do more and at the same time increase choices for the Chinese public. In fly cosseted stars on their private jets, stay in their Chinese presidential suites for a night and think they will solve the problems of a nation by embarrassing the state in their own back yard. Then fly out, back to their mansions in Cannes surrounded by sycophants that tell them how brave they were and how significant those actions will be, and we are left to clean up the mess.

So what are the consequences likely to be? Most probably an increase in the already expensive and weighty Ministry of Culture approvals process. Most likely more scrutiny for international artists wanting to come and play China and subsequently less variety and frequency of shows. Life post Bjork was tough here in China…

Progress is currently being made and artists of all stripes are arriving every week to play China’s big cities  sharing messages, friendship and collaborating with fans and artists here. Soft power is a very real phenomenon, and has very real results.

Everyone knows and appreciates Mr. Aye and his efforts to stand up for the rights of the Chinese nation and her people – the foreign media cover it on an almost daily basis. If Elton wants to do something valuable for China, why not play a benefit concert for orphans; or how about spending some time in Beijing understanding the issues, then going home and writing an op-ed for a global publication about his experiences and thoughts? Nah, let’s go for the easy one: call out my “mate”, get some headlines which never hurt global Elton PR and get the fuck out.

Thanks Reg…

 

Sichuan’s second festival

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Another day, another government sponsored festival. This latest one is a 5 year collaboration between one of Sichuan’s second cities, that of Mianyang (绵阳) and organizers (we’re not sure who just yet). The media kit certainly is an exercise in hyperbole, in the words of these organizers:

  • “China’s largest and most comprehensive outdoor music festival to date.”
  • 700 performers (constituting 88 bands) will play over four days.
  • The festival site itself will boast 300 portable toilets and 140,000 sqm, of which 15,000 are dedicated to camping.
  • daily peak attendance of 50,000 with 100,000 over the course of four days.

Lucky China will see the return of the 1980′s soft rock band “Extreme” (remember the song More than Words) as well as many of the usual suspects that you’d expect to see at the other festivals around the country. Go Chengdoo has much more on it HERE.

big love festival, mianyang, SichuanFor techno enthusiasts, you’ll be pretty stoked to see the names John Tejada and Jeff Mills on the bill :-)

This week in snapshot

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We’ve been a bit quiet on the writing front this week. Things have been crazy at work and we’ve been living off the fumes of our Ayi Jihu story. That went way bigger than we could have imagined. Viral madness…

Anyway, this doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. This is the best of the on and offline music business in China for this week:

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“Show of Peace”

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OK, so in the last week, there have been a slew of comments on our “Show of Lies” post way back in January. There are only two commenters, but they are certainly sticking the boot in.

Show of Peace is an initiative by the “social entrepreneur” Rick Garson. We were hugely skeptical when it was first announced and even more skeptical when Garson himself confirmed Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas for the event at a press conference. LG and the BEP’s subsequently confirmed there were no such confirmations.

The postponed date (October 10) is fast approaching and there have been no updates to the official site. However, the commenters have drawn attention to a new producer, Jacqueline Beaudette. Said commenter is less than complimentary about Jacqueline, but sure enough, her Facebook profile features a picture of the Show of Peace logo.

We suspect this one will run and run.

Show of Peace “postponed”

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Well, hot damn.  We’ve been a little bit cynical about the Show of Peace since we heard about it.  You can indulge in our cynicism HERE and HERE.  We were torn all the way through (no, really – we ARE into good causes and have no problems with organizers using music to draw attention to/ raise money for them).  On the other hand, we were never convinced with Show of Peace’s intentions/ causes, but enough said.  No more knife twisting.

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Sing for China, the album

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In September 2009, Beijing based label Modern Sky took three of their bands on a road trip across the US of A.  You can read all about it HERE.  It was the subject of some fierce debate.

The tour was actually a precursor for Modern Sky’s ambitious Sing for China album, which was in the making for a couple of years, and was released in January this year.  It was a Herculean effort: 44 tracks spanning 3 CDs, featuring artists from all over the world, with a predominance understandably to Modern Sky artists.  Independent record labels Kill Rock Stars, DFA, Vice and 4AD are represented, alongside a single banner name: Yoko Ono.

You can see the full tracklisting HERE, and you can see the 4* average review HERE.

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ZZXY Respond on the Show of Peace

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After the negative publicity following the 13th January announcement that 50Cent, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas would be headlining the Show of Peace on April 17 in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium, and the subsequent refuting of those confirmations by the artists themselves, the Radar has been contacted by Rick Garson’s PR company with a clarification statement.  In it, ZZXY have said that they “believed at the time of the press conference that the artists would be attending”, which is strange, because Lady Gaga’s show in Japan on the same night as the Show of Peace has been sold out for some time.  Apparently though, Lady Gaga might still make an appearance.  Perhaps she is a magician as well as a pop star, able to be in two places at once.

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