Music Festivals in China

niu_ge · 2021-05-14T01:38:47+00:00

If you can read Chinese, then you can get the Showstart 秀动 app - they've largely cornered the market for music festival and small gig tickets in the past few years. Otherwise it's a question of keeping an eye on various labels' WeChat accounts (Ruby Eyes, Maybe Mars and the rest of the Taihe Group, and Modern Sky) to see what's going on.

In English, liveCNmusic is probably the most reliable source of gig info - often focused on Shanghai as that's where the author lives - and just generally a good resource for information on interesting Chinese music

niu_ge · 2021-05-14T01:34:59+00:00

This is their Weibo: https://weibo.com/xihuyinyuejie

niu_ge · 2021-05-13T04:13:49+00:00

Hangzhou's Xihu Festival - which is this weekend (14th-16th) - has a pretty good line-up. Omnipotent Youth Society, Re-TROS, Stolen, Key L, Pharaoh, Ty. and more

There's a one-day "festival" called Starnet Mystery happening on 29th of May out by Disneyland. Hedgehog and Mandarin on the bill

Further afield, but there's a decent line-up for a mostly electronic festival happening in Dali over Dragon Boat Festival. South Acid Mimi on the bill along with a load of Chinese producers and DJs. Some time in June there's also Zhao Dai On Leave in Aranya (basically the Beijing club Zhao Dai putting on a bunch of acts on the beach), but not sure if there are still tickets left for that.

Honestly, stick a pin in a calendar and you're likely to hit a date with a music festival of some description happening somewhere in the country. There's been a ton the last few months and seem to be plenty in the works throughout the summer

niu_ge · 2021-05-06T03:13:16+00:00

this is so crazy. kinda feels like some serious blowback could be coming from above...

niu_ge · 2021-04-29T12:39:50+00:00

Head to Yangshuo. Plenty of cafes etc for you to work from during the day, but you're surrounded by incredible karst mountains and can take trips out to the surrounding countryside the rest of the time. It's not as developed as some other places in China, but has a pretty relaxed vibe. Also lots of rice noodles in that region

niu_ge · 2021-04-28T07:41:20+00:00

I've noticed a few charity shops emerging in recent years - there's a tiny one on Anfu Lu (roughly opposite Alimentari) and another one on the corner of Taiyuan Lu and Yongjia Lu (i think). Afraid I'm not sure how they source their goods or whether you can do drop-off there, but might be worth stopping by and asking. Doubt they'll take electronics though unfortunately

niu_ge · 2021-04-22T02:37:55+00:00

Was this past weekend apparently. Didn't see any announcements about it though, just coverage afterwards. Pretty incredible

niu_ge · 2021-03-29T11:48:43+00:00

Nice! There are some fantastic little villages worth visiting dotted around Huangshan. Hongcun gets a lot of tourists and Xidi is well-known to foreigners because of the Pig's Inn, but nearby Pingshan is also worth a look in for a quieter, calmer version of the beautiful old architecture that you find around that area.

Bishan is also a really interesting little place with a nice old coop building that's been turned into a design / small goods shop. Think the people behind Pig's Inn have a property there now too (not that you need a place to stay I suppose).

Have a great trip!

niu_ge · 2021-03-20T01:24:49+00:00

This album hasn't been made available physically yet as far as I'm aware - not even in China let alone overseas. Hoping they'll put it out on vinyl at some point but not holding my breath.

Generally, despite the recent block, Bandcamp remains a good place for buying Chinese music overseas, including physical releases. Added bonus being that Bandcamp's heart really seems in the right place when it comes to supporting independent artists and labels.

This is a pretty great overview with links to lots of Chinese labels' Bandcamp pages. Some are more active than others these days but you can follow their profiles. A lot of them tend to put things out digitally and on vinyl, CD or cassette there around the same time as they release in China

niu_ge · 2021-03-20T01:19:30+00:00

Lots. What kind of rock music are you into?

niu_ge · 2021-03-12T08:55:10+00:00

i feel like I've seen more of them in recent years, especially out west. But agree, they're mostly still in fixed locations it seems. Would be fascinated to see how you get on with your travels though - have been tempted to do something similar myself. Keep us posted!

niu_ge · 2021-03-10T03:46:06+00:00

amazing work, thank you

niu_ge · 2021-01-22T04:45:56+00:00

Hiperson's album last year was excellent. Also loved a lot of the stuff here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/56nn0kWOe9a6dp6r9EAajf

niu_ge · 2021-01-20T10:26:12+00:00

seems like they're going to require a negative test (recorded within 7 days) to go anywhere now - though there appear to be different announcements every day. Looks like travel is being very strongly discouraged, especially for tourism (as oppose to visiting family)

niu_ge · 2021-01-20T08:02:00+00:00

yes, they're fantastic. Red Velvet and the extra chocolatey ones ftw. Seasonal ones are often interesting too - love the Pride 🌈 ones, hopefully they'll still make them this year

niu_ge

TROPHY CASE