That's right, it's out! Go get it at all the usual cool places!
Here's the breakdown real quick:
Cold Cave is playing Nuts this Friday (May 3rd), with The Maples to support. If you can't go on Friday, check out party punk band The On Fires the day before, supporting band's the same...
Trivia Night is now on Tuesdays and it's at Cliff's! Fans of Da Rasta's Pub Quiz will hopefully flock to this one from now on...
The Flea Market is back this month (May 20th - location to be determined), so bring your old crap and see if anyone wants it. If you need some old crap to redecorate, then you should come too!
Mr. Chelonian (海龟先生) is our featured band this month, come check out their rock and reggae stylings at Nuts on the 25th!
Top party this month: JCC from Guangzhou is doing her farewell tour, stopping by Nuts on the 31st!

Remember the End of the World in December? Conrank last month? Halloween at Moon? The Toga Party last September? In case you're oblivious enough not to have noticed, they were all Heavy Flow parties!

That's right.

Hard drinking, hard dancing, hardly remembering. That's what Chongqing's only recurring dance party has to offer and this Saturday should be no exception, despite the rough weekend awaiting everyone needing to make up for the Labor Day holiday...

But let's overlook the lapse in logic requiring people to give up their day off to make up for another day off and let's turn up to work hungover on Sunday, ready to screw up every task and maybe throw up in a garbage can.
Let's get retro, people, with DJ's Mr Weed and Mr Fitz spinning 70's and 80's disco, hip hop, dance, rock, new wave and one-hit wonders wonders wonders! Tickets are only 20元, 10元 if you get dressed up 70's and 80's style!

This Saturday April 27th 21:00
At Nuts Club: Shazhong Lu (near the corner of Hanyu Lu), 300m down from the South Gate of Chongqing University in Shapingba district.
沙坪坝沙中路重大A区南门下行300米（汉渝路交叉口）

It's that time of year again! If Mother Nature is on our side, we'll be throwing the same kickass block party we threw last year: burgers, carne asada, beer, music and RUSTY NAILS a drink proposed by our friends at the Whisky Society meant to rival the ubiquitous Turbo Shandy this summer!
Bring your friends, musical instruments and best manners (no, maybe not that) and come down to the Chicken Lady corner, right downstairs from Helen's in Gongrencun (Shapingba district), Monday April 8th starting at 4:00PM!

That's right, our april calendar is out!
Our recommendations for this month are:

Queen Sea Big Shark at Nuts on Friday the 5th, 20:30.

Check out the CQFC battle it out with the CQ Lifan for the Chongqing Derby, Saturday the 6th, 15:30 at the Yuanjiagang stadium.

Monday the 8th starting in the late afternoon is the Annual Gongrencun Block Party, bring your instruments and come chill with us downstairs from Helen's, at the shaokao area. Burgers and Meizijiu punch on offer!

Nuts is having a Punk Fest Saturday the 13th at 12:30 with a skate competition and eight bands, local and from out of town.

A Flea Market is going down at Rasta on Monday the 15th in the afternoon, come buy and sell stuff, cold beer in your hand!

Russian reggae star Stepa Style is hitting Nuts on Thursday the 18th at 20:30, but if you're more the highbrow type, “water dancing” show Water Rouge is opening on the same night at Hongyadong's Bayu Theater.

Thursday the 25th is a Whisky Society open tasting at Easigar on Beibin Lu. 150元, 250元 if you want your whisky with a cigar...

and...

On Saturday the 27th check out the latest edition of HEAVY FLOW!!! This time, we're doing a 70's/80's throwback for the annual RETRO PARTY with DJs Afanti and Goodweed. Tickets 20元, only 10元 if you show up wearing 70's and 80's style clothes!

The calendar will be available at every bar, café or venue that's cool enough to have it. Start looking!

The Mayans predicted it (maybe), so did Nostradamus and Tupac, there was even a movie about it… Yeah whether you believe it or not, the end of the world is coming… IN STEREOEO !!!

This month, Chongqing party crew HEAVY FLOW are throwing the party to end all parties and sit next to you as you embark on that great big Escalade in the sky. This will be your last chance to make out with random people, treat yourself to a liver scorching drink and dance dance dance as not 1, but 3 top notch DJs throw it down to that fatal mark of 11 :59, when it all comes crumbling down…

And if it doesn’t, then don‘t you worry, ‘cause this one promises to bang on to the break of dawn.

Its not every day that internationally established DJ/producers make it to Chongqing, and very few make the return.  DOSHY on the other hand loves this city and has made coming back a bit of a habit ever since transplanting to Guangzhou from Berlin earlier in the year.  If it's an earthquake that happens to bring the world to an end on Friday, the crowd inside Nuts Club will likely rage-on unknowingly, as DOSHY's bass heavy music is of seismic proportions.  Check out this live set he did for Amsterdam's Red Light Radio:

Heatwolves is another DJ who has professed his love for Chongqing on numerous occasions.  The man behind legendary Shanghai party night LOVE BANG, returns to Nuts Club to help us celebrate the apocalypse, though that's not quite how he sees it:

 "We're flying back to Chongqing this weekend with a suitcase full of exclusive songs, gummi sharks, and Love Bang T-shirts.  Good news - the world won't endon Friday.  Remember, Heatwolves called it.  Expect lots of bass, lots of love, some hip hop, and no Christmas music - big up to HEAVY FLOW for hooking up the show.  Really looking forward to playing with DOSHY and JCC."

Over the past few months Chongqing has played host to some of the biggest names in the Chinese indie-music scene, and the Month of May promises to be no different as heralded acts, both foreign and domestic get set to rock the once dubbed 'cultural desert.' 
Fresh off of their Chongqing debut back in March, Shanghai live music and party brand 'The Antidote' make their return to Nuts Club, this time with Danish electro-soul/rock duo Reptile and Retard.  If March's 'Antidote,' and the press Reptile and Retard have garnered is anything to go by, Saturday the 8th of May promises to be a good one, as the consensus seems to be that their live show is a spectacle not to be missed. The charisma and showmanship of the band's singer 'Reptile,' who while touring China last year, became known for his stage antics including jumping off of speakers, crowd-surfing, and a great deal of crowd interaction, all while  the other half of the duo 'Retard,' provides the musical backdrop to Reptile's gospelesque voice, creating bass-heavy electronic music with a laptop, effects pedals and a custom key-tar, as given the Danes praise as one of the must see bands in China this year.  Antidote's mission of creating a party, as opposed to just a concert is always bolstered by DJs to keep the night going, and this time around will feature Shanghai via America DJ Ozone, as well as 1 or 2 more yet to be determined.

Later in the month the live-party atmosphere continues on Thursday the 20th, when French electro-rockers P.U.S.S.(and acronym for Party Under Sexy Skirt), also make their Chongqing return.  After the success of last November's appearance at Nuts Club, when they had the near capacity crowd dancing and singing all night, Alliance Francaise and local promoters Fresh World Promotions(FWP), have teamed up once again to bring the high-energy out-fit back to the Shapingba live-house.  Recently signed to Chinese indie label Modern Sky Records, P.U.S.S. has been building steam in China with tours the past few years, and the partnering with Modern Sky can only bode well for their presence within the middle kingdom, and we should expect to be seeing more of the Frenchmen in the years to come.

The following day, Friday the 21st, the highly regarded Maybe Mars, record company out of Beijing, bring their Independent China in Stereo series to Chongqing for the first time.  Having recently returned from a stint at the prestegious South by South-West(SXSW) in Austin Texas, and a tour of America's North-east, Maybe Mars began a push to further the brand's reach domestically with Independent China in Stereo, a series of concerts showcasing 2 or more of the label's best bands.  Volumes 1-4 were contained to China's east, venturing into Hangzhou and Shanghai, but the company are now making their way out west, in ironically, China's Southwest with Vols. 4 and 5 in Chongqing and Chengdu respectively, this time bringing along label heavyweights Carsick Cars, and relative newcomers 24 Hours.  Carsick Cars, having garnered press from the likes of The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Newyorker, and The New York Times, to name a few, are one of the best and brightest acts in the Chinese music scene.  Drawing comparisons to The Sonic Youth(whom they've toured and collaborated with) and Nirvana, Carsick Cars are guaranteed to bring out a good sized crowd of locals to see the progressive noise-rock trio.  And with 24 Hours' "hard primal beat" dance-rock, also in-tow, Maybe Mars' first-ever Chongqing showcase will be nothing short of a rock & roll riot!

[originally published in Chongqing Currents magazine]