2010草莓音乐节: Strawberries, Sunshine and, um, Some amazing music.

[littlealex]

Reposting(ish) from my gig blog because this was an epic weekend that needs to be recorded in more place than one.

note: obviously this is mostly about bands. I'll update... you know... eventually... about the people I was with and the other random stuff I saw.

Comments

[littlealex]

It wasn't my fault I didn't see Perdel! I didn't know how long it was going to take me to get there. I should have known an hour would not be enough...

I don't know what song, or if it was even a Carsick Cars song, but my friend swore it was. So... I probably shouldn't report hearsay, huh? ;)

I remember you posting Dingke! He is pretty much adorable ♥

I didn't really know what Confucius Says was about, so I assumed from the name that they were some sort of folk band or whatever. INSTEAD I GOT ROCK AND ROLL.

Yes! I thought it was part of the update email I sent you? Anyway, they have a new drummer, unless the old one has had a haircut and some facial reconstruction... You can see a video of the performance here. But yeah, Marry is not subtle at all. It is a bit boring. *shot*

Reflector was amazing! They were so much fun and so high energy, and the crowd absolutely loved it. I was impressed. Music shop boy's co-worker was there selling CDs so when I visited and asked what he was seeing he said "the quiet guy Peng Tan, and Reflector. You HAVE to see Reflector." Sadly I didn't get to tell him afterwards how much it rocked, but I told his girlfriend, haha.

You'd know if you were reading my blog! New Pants left Modern Sky over being put on the Strawberry lineup without their permission (amongst other things I'm sure) so SuperVC stepped in. I have been hearing some really uncool things about Modern Sky lately, it's giving me a bad feeling. Industry bullshit aside, I was happy to see SuperVC again. ALWAYS entertaining. And little Liu Tao has really come into his own. ♥

I did stop at XTX for a song, but the rock was killing my fangirl pop rock high, so I left. Also I was really tired.

I didn't get to MIDI! The Strawberry lineup was too good! But next year I hope to make it over one of the days at least. It sounds like a bit more of a hippy fest.

PS I got a twitter for the gig guide/blog if you can follow that easier :) twitter.com/beijinggigguide

[pho50]

Yeah I remember you telling me about the new drummer. Don't mind me.

And yeah, how can you keep me updated if I don't read your blog!?! It's just been a hard couple of weeks. I haven't even had the energy to go to douban for many days.... New Pants left Modern Sky? WOW.

~Liu Tao is adorable~ had to be said.

Hmmm now I'm thinking maybe I don't have any energy BECAUSE I haven't been to douban for many days...

"I did stop at XTX for a song, but the rock was killing my fangirl pop rock high.." HAHAHA, so funny.. & totally understandable!

I'm going to be in the office all by myself tomorrow w/ no appointments so I think I'll have a chance to check out Strawberry Festival videos AND your awesome blog!

Are you going to ck out the new Kimutaku drama, Moon Lovers? keke that was random...

[littlealex]

Oh man has Moon Lovers already started? I'm so bad at keeping up with dramas. I'm following Kaibutsu-kun at the moment. It is hilarious. Perfect for Ohno. I'll probably get around to Moon Lovers soon...

There are some interesting discussions going on:
http://www.beijingnoise.org/2010/04/rock-in-china-declares-independence-puts-the-smack-down-on-d-22/
and
http://www.chinamusicradar.com/?p=1363
if you want to see what the English-language China music bloggers have been up to the last couple of days!

I hope your energy is up! :D

[pho50]

Huhu you just caught me reading it! I finally checked in at douban and saw Andy Best's post mentioned beijing gig guide so I started there and ended up at your blog. I haven't read Max's article yet, not sure I will - like you said tldr lol. Plus I get weary of these of all these Chinese music bloggers who thrive on controversy and bashing. I don't follow Max's blog so it may or may not apply to him, can't say. But geez w/o reading anything but yours and Andy's post, it seems really simple that well yeah, the Western media is going to talk about bands they can easily find information on in English. And who else is sending their bands abroad? So why blame Maybe Mars for doing a good job with marketing? They're paving the way and others are going to learn from them - the good and the bad. Argh. It's a slow process. And you know what TODAY I FOUND G-ELEVEN's CD & CONVENIENCE STORE's TIDE EP AT YESASIA! Hell yeah!

I enjoyed your post which made a lot of SENSE. I love seeing Andy link to you. The Chinese indie blogging scene needs you - insightful, articulate, even-keeled and nice. That's payback for saying I'm intelligent hahahaha.. but no, I really mean it. And really it's people like Andy, Jake, and you (that's about all I keep up with) writing about the lesser known bands in English that will get help get them noticed by the West. Mmmm and what's the huge deal getting recognized by the West... I would imagine Chinese indie bands would be happy to be recognized and appreciated in China. Ok, now I'm rambling... and I may not even be saying anything apropos as I didn't read Max's post so...

I do feel more like myself today, thanks. I think I got my mojo back when I listened to 猴子D by the Gar today. I need to post that.

Moon Lovers hasn't started yet.. uh I think it starts this coming week. I saw the poster/ad for Kaibutsu-kun and thought WTH? I'll ck it out if I have time before classes start again.

[littlealex]

If you want to read what's gone on without reading the whole article, go to the beijingnoise article I linked. Don't bother reading Max's whole article, but what follows is some great discussion. Even if nobody paid attention to my comments *sulks* ;) But basically I think everyone is saying much the same things - that the word needs to get out, but it sucks that there is only one word getting out. The other link, to China Music Radar, is also good... I think CMR is a good blog to follow if you're looking for more.

mmm, Gar. I have 圈 stuck in my head at the moment. ♥

Kaibutsu-kun IS a bit wth, but that's mostly because it's a manga-turned-drama. It's pretty fun, though, if you're looking for some mindless entertainment. It helps that this is about the most animated we ever get to see Ohno (the guy in the lead role) which just makes it adorable.

[pho50]

You, me and Alex on the front row rockin' the Strawberry Festival! Such a nice dream...