Tartars – Scenes in Colors

Shoegaze that’s busting at the seams with evocative potency and rich details, Ningbo’s Tartars make a grand entrance on their sensational debut Scenes in Colors. Using colors as a gateway to the synesthetic experiences that shape our lives early on, Tartars are very much in the schoolhouse of lo-fi dream pop that’s dense in its sonic textures – giving its muddier, more turbulent walls of sound a more visceral adolescent veneer – and allowing its melodic noise pop undercurrent sweep you away. It hooks you from start to finish.

宁波的Tartars乐队在他们引人注目的处女作《Scenes in Colors》中呈现了充满感染力和丰富细节的Shoegaze音乐。Tartars深受低保真梦泡音乐的影响，使用色彩作为通往我们早年生活中形成的共感体验的桥梁。其声音质地稠密，将混沌、动荡的音墙裹以生动的青春外衣，使旋律性的噪音流行底色为听众带来强烈的情感冲击，从头至尾都深深吸引着听众。

https://music.163.com/#/album?id=190322642

Lost Soul Paradise 迷心 – 都市金阁寺

Anchored by a pair of musicians working at the top of their game – producer/bassist/singer HAO and keyboardist/singer D娃 – Lost Soul Paradise’s debut Urban Kinkakuji Temple looks to capture that acute feeling of loneliness in a bustling city. The Beijing trip hop act out uses the road paved out by acts such as Massive Attack and throws in a wealth of influences – from dream pop, new wave, city pop, and progressive house – to craft an album that feels both retro and contemporary – never letting its pop sensibilities sour the final product.

迷心乐队的首张专辑《都市金阁寺》由一对顶尖音乐人HAO（制作人/贝斯手/歌手）和D娃（键盘手/歌手）主导，想要捕捉繁忙都市生活中的孤独。这张专辑的音乐风格深受Massive Attack等大师级Trip-Hop乐队的启发，并融合了梦幻流行、新浪潮、城市流行以及前卫浩室等多种元素，打造出一种既有复古韵味又不失当代感的音乐体验，而其流行音乐的听感也从未影响作品整体质感的高级。

https://music.163.com/#/album?id=191443895

The Upside Down 完美倒立 – Bubble Night 夜色碳酸

Chongqing’s The Upside Down continue their descent into disco-laced urban pop on their latest LP – Bubble Night – all but abandoning their more guitar-heavy dream pop roots. It’s a neon-smear synthpop affair, one that aims to capture the magnitude of emotions that a single night (or bubble) can contain, and while its soft touch doesn’t always work to their benefit, it certainly helps it go down smooth akin to a glass of crisp bubbly.

重庆的完美倒立乐队在他们最新的专辑《夜色碳酸》中继续着融合了迪斯科的citypop之旅，几乎完全放弃了原本更加倚重吉他的梦泡根源。这是一场由霓虹色彩涂抹点缀的合成流行派对，捕捉着一个夜晚所能够包含的最大的情感广度。尽管其柔和的处理手法并非总能发挥最佳效果，但无疑有助于它像一杯清爽的气泡酒一样顺畅下喉。

https://music.163.com/#/album?id=188987933

The post New Music: Tartars, Lost Soul Paradise, The Upside Down first appeared on .

Early Park 鳄梨帕克 – 海和山 (Changsha/Self-Released)

Me and My Sandcastle – Where Is My Wanhuatong 不翼而飞的万花筒 (Shanghai/开壳音乐)

The Upside Down 谷完美倒立 – Sweet Dive (Chongqing/草台回声)

RollingZoos – Sweet Orange  甜橘色 (Hangzhou/Self-Released)

I’ll call you  (feat. 汤梓琪) – Blusher 红脸蛋 (Beijing/看看月亮LOOMUP)

Favours! 偏袒 – Goldfish in the Pool (Xiamen/StreetVoice)

Supertt 超人田田- 大冒险 (Chengdu/草台回声)

Gavintoo 白天不亮 (feat. Torte Bus 拖特巴士) – Summer Shine (Guangzhou/Mintone Records)

LOFT BEACH – 3：00 午后版 (Shanghai/Netease)

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A week back, Luuv Label and BFC hosted Mood Swings, a three-day festival of music that looked to capture the shifting and budding relationship between music and one’s state of mind complete with an open-air rooftop party overlooking the Bund. With an onslaught of producers, bands, and artists with each night offering something different, the festival truly did capture that moodiness of the seasons, as audiences warmed themselves up last Sunday night by dancing the night away to the bubbly, synth-pop indie tunes of three bands who broke big last year with new releases – Chongqing’s The Upside Down, Hefei’s Tidal Pool Blue, and Xi’an’s Young & Dumb.

I arrived in time to catch Hefei’s Tidal Pool Blue – a brazen indie pop band that leans hard into the 80s city pop crossed with kitsch synth pop aesthetic. A bit too schmaltzy and superficial for me, and lacking the punch needed for a band of this nature to really make their mark, there’s nevertheless no denying the melodic chops of the band. And highly recommend their debut EP 太阳可以是蓝色吗 from last fall. 

The Upside Down were perhaps the highlight for me tonight. The Chengdu band has always had a noiser rock and roll streak beneath their disco synth veneer – giving their live sets kinetic and ethereal energy – always ready to jump into the next beat with aplomb and gusto. And yeah – lots of catchy singles in their catalgoue. 

Closing out the night for me was Xi’an’s Young & Dumb, a laid-back mix of simmering dream pop and jangly indie pop. While the band, fighting the frigid night winds, didn’t quite gel with me as much as their recordings, there’s a lot to like here – from Li Yimeng’s gentle yet potent voice to almost effortless melodic heft of their songs. Will have to catch out in more closed settings next time round. 

All in all, a fine close to a heavy musical weekend for this editor – the last for many many months. 

The post Gig Recap: Tidal Pool Blue, Young & Dumb, The Upside Down (2021.03.21) first appeared on .

The Upside Down 完美倒立- Dawn Echo

Chongqing indie rockers The Upside Down wowed fans earlier this summer with the release of their lush and slick sophomore LP Dream Tide which showcases the band’s beating disco heart. This electro pop cocktail is at its fullest on their single ‘Dawn Echo’ and their accompanying music video, which shows off the band’s new sheen and trajectory. Infectious. 

今夏早些时候，重庆独立摇滚乐队完美倒立发行了一张制作华丽精致的新专辑《曳梦潮汐》，展现了乐队跃然舞动的迪斯科情怀，令粉丝们为之倾倒。其电子流行风格通过专辑中单曲《Dawn Echo》及其音乐伴奏影像表现得淋漓尽致，展示了乐队新的光彩和发展可能。过耳难忘。

Wang Meng 王萌 + Yu Miao 于淼 –  Grain Rain

Visual artist and new media producer Wang Meng gets to show off his intricate visual designs and world-building on the music video for ‘Grain Rain’. As one half of the musical project, which also features maestro guzheng player Yu Miao, the song ‘Grain Rain’ is the perfect encapsulation of the duo’s seamless fusion of classical Chinese music and atmospheric electronica. 

视觉艺术家兼新媒体制作人王萌在《谷雨》mv中展示了他复杂的视觉设计和构建世界的能力。作为音乐项目的一部分，同时和古筝大师于淼合作，这首《谷雨》完美地融合了中国古典音乐和大气的电子音乐。

The post MV Weekly: The Upside Down, Wang Meng + Yu Miao first appeared on .

Silly Function – Youthless

Rising noise pop act Silly Function, out of Wuhan, strut their valor on the crisp, lean, and agile EP, aptly named YOUTHLESS (a combination of useless and youthful). While in no shape or form are they reinventing the wheel here, there’s a simple pleasure to the band’s directness, finding fulfillment in tightly wound melodies that feel as rash as the emotions spearheading them. A bit reckless, a bit melodramatic, and a heck ton of fun. 

冉冉升起的噪音流行乐队Silly Function，来自于武汉，新近发行了一张EP，恰如其分地命名为《YOUTHLESS》（颓废与活力的完美结合），鲜活轻松的音乐展示了他们的努力和勇气。虽然在形式上，他们没有过多的颠覆以往，但乐队的坦率却带来了简单纯真的美，在萦绕的旋律中找到满足，深深感染着他们的情绪。一点突然，一点夸张，确是无限乐趣。

• Bandcamp: https://sillyfunction.bandcamp.com/album/youthless
• Netease: https://music.163.com/#/album?id=89917757
• Xiami: https://www.xiami.com/album/qy7vXg9307f

Mimik Banka 表情银行- Vitamin D 维他命D

Beijing’s Mimik Banka are back with an irresistible four-track EP that complements their genre-sprawling LP from last year, while even hinting at the further possibilities of where they could take their sound. Gracefully waltzing between bombastic synth pop to ethereal downtempo mood-setters without ever losing sight of the band’s core strengths, mainly their acute sense of melody, the band has never felt more in control (and enjoying themselves while they’re at it). A surprise that proves Mimik Banka have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. 

北京的表情银行乐队带着令人期待的四首歌新EP回归乐迷视野，这是对他们去年推出的那张风格多样的全长专辑的一种补充，同时预示了乐队在未来创作发展的某些可能性。在华丽的合成器流行乐和飘逸的缓拍情绪电子乐之间优雅流畅地旋转变幻如同翩翩而起的华尔兹，乐队未曾忘记自己的核心优势，对旋律的敏感性，也从未感到如此的收放自如(同时也乐在其中享受这种控制力)。这张专辑是一个惊喜，它向我展示了这支乐队是身怀绝技的，

• Netease: https://music.163.com/#/album?id=90008943
• Xiami: https://www.xiami.com/album/CodtK818dd3
• Bandcamp: https://mimikbanka.bandcamp.com/album/d-vitamin-d

Zhu Wenbo – 30 Minutes on Earth

Experimental Beijing musician Zhu Wenbo finds sociological pleasures in his latest release on his label Zoomin’ Night, 30 Minutes on Earth. A sound collage of sorts, the concept revolves around eight musicians from around the world (most active organizers in their respective scenes) who each contributed and recorded thirty minutes of themselves performing in an open space. From there, Wenbo layered four tracks onto each side of the cassette tape, blending these diverse settings into a seamless ‘globalized’ stage. Soothing in both concept and execution. 

北京实验音乐人朱文博在由他个人厂牌燥眠夜新近发行的专辑《地球上的30分钟》中找到了志同道合的社交的乐趣。这是一组音乐的合辑，邀请八位来自世界各地的音乐人（都是各自领域中最活跃的代表），每一位都提供一段自己在某个开放空间的30分钟的演奏素材。通过这些素材，文博将它们叠混为两支音乐作品，灌入磁带的两面，将不同的音乐奇思融合为“全球化”的音乐表达。这张专辑从创作理念上到灌制发行都令人为之欣喜动容。

• Bandcamp: https://zoominnight.bandcamp.com/album/30-minutes-on-earth

The Upside Down 完美倒立 – Dream Tide 曳梦潮汐

Indie rockers The Upside Down, who hail from the hot pot capital of Chongqing, shed their noisier rock and roll skin and emerge with a softer more finely tuned electro-pop skin on their sophomore LP Dream Tide. While the hushed ethereal voice of singer Huang Jing remains, the dream pop angle they rode previously has been reformatted to make way for a disco-led electro sheen straight out of the 80s (or Daft Punk’s new trajectory). It goes down nice and smooth nevertheless, even if you yearn for some of their heavier, reverb-friendly sensibilities to appear (ala ‘Vanished Song’). 

来自火锅之都重庆的独立摇滚乐队完美倒立发行了第二张大碟《曳梦潮汐》，磨去了首张专辑喧闹的摇滚表层，这批新歌呈现了精致的电子流行内层。主唱黄晶寂静飘渺的嗓音还在，但其梦幻流行的风格已然被八十年代迪斯科（或者说Daft Punk的new trajectory）取代。专辑整体不坏，尽管你可能想再听到《海滩上的无人钢琴》那样更摇滚的作品。

• Netease: https://music.163.com/#/album?id=87076106
• Xiami: https://www.xiami.com/album/yimzR1b86e5
• QQ: https://y.qq.com/n/yqq/album/000rN3IY0WqOYW.html

The post New Music: Silly Function, Mimik Banka, Zhu Wenbo, The Upside Down first appeared on .