Last year Swedish band Immanu El played their swelling, cinematic post-rock to a near full Nuts Club.  They're back once again courtesy of Chengdu promoters New Noise, and if even 1/4 of the girls that were there told their friends about the blond hair, blue eyed, oh-so-dreamy Strangberg twins(the band's founders) and their good tunes, there's a good chance that tickets might be hard to come by.  So even if you prefer SISU girls to high-quality live music, you've still got a reason to shell out ¥80 for a good time.  

Check out their latest effort "Under Your Wings I'll Hide" below, and see them live Saturday, May 11 at Nuts Club. 20:30

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）

That's right, big week indeed and it starts today!
Monday the 15th is the beginning of the end for Da Rasta and they're putting together a flea market of sorts, with folks coming to buy and sell their stuff. It will also be a chance for you to leave with some Rasta history, as the owners are letting go of everything, breathing a sigh of relief and moving on to other adventures...
Da Rasta was the first foreign-owned dive bar in Chongqing and will be closing after more than two years of operation. To leave y'all with good memories, they'll be doing one last Movie Night on Tuesday (we're told Sexy & Wacky will be the theme), one last Trivia Night on Thursday and one last blowout on Saturday the 20th, starting a few minutes after 4pm. BBQ as usual, big kegs of beer and a buttload of baijiu, come say bye in style to the little bar that could...
Now if we say “big week”, we can't be just talking about Rasta right? Right you are!
Thursday is also the Chongqing station of Russian reggae star  Steppa Style's China tour. We are told by people in the know that Steppa's not only a singer but also a kickass reggae DJ, he will be bringing stuff like this to Nuts Club. Check it.
Other than the lack of advertising savvyness of the promoters, we know very little about the Water Rouge show that's opening on Thursday at Hongyadong's Bayu Theater, but it will be around long enough for us to have a look later. Nevertheless, if you're into the high arts rather than the arts high, check out this all-European troupe perform “water dancing”... 
Shanghai DJ/producer NiChiFanLeMei on Friday, read here.
And some rock-infused hip hop on saturday with CMCB, more details later...
Lazy entry over. Big week yo.

Whether you like spending hours on the dance floor getting sweaty, or just lounging with Shisha and a drink.  Hard hitting techno, or blissed-out 80's style synth pop. Shanghai based DJ NiChiFanLeMei has got a little bit of something for the EDM fan in everyone('cept maybe for you dub-steps kids).  When we asked him what he had in store for this Friday Night's party at Nuts Club(April 19), he said: "I think I will play techno, abstract, industrial, deep house, minimal electronic ... Will be a DJ set but I wanna play more than 4 hours."  

So if you've been putting off shedding that winter weight, and are trying to shed some pounds before the time comes for rolling your shirt up over your belly, then head on down to Nuts Club Friday night at 21:00 for 4+ hours of dance, dance, dancein'!  And check out a recent mix below:

Teacher, student, slacker or expat-package bigshot, everyone is given a couple of days every week where they let themselves believe they’re in control. You call those the weekend (even on mondays) and on the weekend you should have fun, right ?

Now we’ve already made it clear how much contempt we have for the Jiefangbei lifestyle : clubs clubs clubs, the outside bar, get laid, repeat. Unfortunately, this lack of imagination seems all too common, as if five days of work in a row were enough to stifle the inquisitive spirit and desire to explore that brought you all here (supposedly)… 

Meet Keith Gardiner and Kevin Kreitz, longtime residents of Jiefangbei and, as you can imagine, pretty much over the whole club scene. A few years ago, they decided to actually get in touch with their surroundings. The stories of the outings that ensued are sure to summon back some of that adventurous spirit you had at first, long since castrated by fake Chivas and neon lights.

Last Tuesday, CQScene followed them on a boat trip down the river. Jolly Roger to the wind, bandanas on our heads and slingshot ready to inflict minimal damage, Jialing Pirates we…

"We bought the raft on a whim, about 4 years ago, from an outdoor store in JFB that has since been converted into a baby clothing store. If i had to buy one these days I'd just buy it on taobao." says Keith to explain the origins of this wild ride. Kevin continues : “We tried to get to that island on the Chang Jiang but our paddles broke halfway, we panicked and rushed back to shore. We hadn’t really used the boat since…”    

Three weeks ago, however, they decided to haul it up to Shuangbei station, on the newly finished section of the red line that now goes all the way to University City, and float down slowly to… uh… wherever.

That day, they drifted for five hours. That’s the time it takes to make it from the back end of Ciqikou (yeah the taxi driver that took them to the shore didn’t know a closer spot) to Huanghuayuan bridge in Yuzhong district. They had caught the boating bug.

Last week, they took me to Dazhulin station on line 6 (the new pink line), where there’s absolutely nothing to see. We hopped on a taxi and asked a guy with a dog (no one would bring a dog there if they didn’t live in the area) how to get to the river. An eight kuai ride took us through the Jingke construction site and almost to the shore. We inflated the boat and were on our way.

An hour or so into the journey, we realized how quickly our resources, a 24-pack of Shancheng, garlic peanuts and some guazi, would get depleted. This “journalist”, not knowing any better, had only brought a bottle of jingjiu and one miserable mixer to the party. “You don’t go on a five-hour boat ride with one bottle of jingjiu !” Keith berated me, so sure enough, we had to stop somewhere to fill up.    

A weird twist of fate occured as we approached the shore. Two weeks before, the Pirates had twice run into an english speaking middle-aged man whilst exploring abandonned factories in Shuangbei. He had worked on cargo ships, been around the world and was now down to his underwear, getting ready to go for a swim right where we had chosen to stop…

Knowing there was a trustworthy dude around to watch the boat, we went up to Lahongzui Yuzhuang (辣红嘴鱼庄), the two-floor restaurant with a wide terrace we had spotted from upriver. Was it the shock of seeing three foreigners come up for jingjiu or was it simply the generous nature of the boss, we’ll never know, but we managed to get a massive discount on the three bottles we bought without even trying to haggle. Mission accomplished, so with a reinflated raft, the trip continued.    

Quickly after that, we almost met our doom under a Shuangbei bridge nearing completion, when a giant steel pole fell from above and landed at least twenty meters away from us. Nevermind.

Next we ended up in Ciqikou, where we boarded a restaurant ship, commandeered their bathroom and sailed back out, our bellies full of liangmian. With the river currents dramatically slowing down after that, it took us at least two more hours to reach Shimen bridge but boring it was not.

Danger reared its head one last time as we drifted under Gaojiahuayuan bridge. The river police approached, slowed down and… just sorta waved at us, gave the boat a little shake and kept going. Pleasant.

As the Pirates put it, it’s kind of like sitting on a couch drinking beer all day, it's just that the scenery keeps evolving…

Couch flotilla anyone ?    

Pro tips for a fulfilling city life in Chongqing…

1-Be the first to find stuff

Keith : “Back when we first found out about Cici Park, we didn’t want anyone else to know, because we were certain it would go downhill if they did, and sure enough, it’s not what it used to be.”

While Kevin doesn’t agree with that last statement, one must admit any place is better when it’s fresh. Keep your discoveries for yourself (at least for a while) and you can always say you did something before it was cool. Sound familiar ?

2-Take a bus/train/subway to nowhere

The Pirates used to take a bus to wherever every Monday, this tradition took them whitewater rafting in Pengshui, bungee jumping in Tongjing and blacking out in numerous locations, among other things. Now, with the ever-expanding subway network, they pinpoint a station and explore the area. It’s a gamble and you might end up in a shitty technopark (hint : don’t go to Guangdianyuan on the pink line), but the more you try, the better your chance of finding the next Gongrencun…

3-Don’t drink where everyone else drinks

We get it, you like people and you want to be where other laowai are. But you’re in China, mix in a little ! No city is quite like Chongqing when it comes to nooks and crannies. Find your own and really choose who you drink with.

4-“Be the change you want to see in the world” –Kevin (or Gandhi)

If the rafting story isn’t proof enough, think barbecue parties on isolated Yangtze river islands, camping on Nanshan, construction site bonfires downhill from the ‘Bei or kickass block parties all around the city…

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!

Last time Queen Sea big Shark played at Nuts, the place was packed.  Pretty sure it was the first(if not only) time Nuts had to stop selling tickets.  That's how much the kids love the hottest thing to come from Beijing since roast donkey.  Or was that duck?  
Duck or donkey one thing's for sure, QSBS are certainly 牛B!  Check them out Friday nights, and if you can, buy your ticket early.  Not only will you save ¥20, but it will assure that you get in the door.

Slow news day today, so we thought we'd give you the long awaited results of the “Longfor Really Estate Summer Boozer Top 10 Awards Extra Royal” ceremony held last week in... uh... Dadukou? 
Yeah you got us, that didn't happen. We just wanted to write about Longfor. Best real estate company name ever. Regardless, here's a list of the stuff you should and shouldn't be drinking this summer:

Number 10: HOT BEER- Summer's coming and fruity hot beer with a bathroom mould aftertaste is out. So is lukewarm beer. Laobans, time to turn on your fridges and serve us something cold please.

Number 9: CRUMP/BOMB/GRENADE BAIJIU- With the post-chunjie I-can't-drink-this-shit-anymore vibe still in full effect, baijius are laying low for a while. Still, the Erguotou company is surprising everyone with a sleek design for their latest line of baijius... But it still tastes the same, because some things don't change.

Number 8: JINGJIU- It's hot and full of ginger, gets you drunk and it's good for a cold too. But even if you can drink it with ice or put it in the fridge, it's a winter drink. 

Number 7: GUOBIN- Yeah, the green Lao Shancheng is like five jiao cheaper and everyone drinks it but guess what: it's basically glorified tap water. Totally worth splurging for the level (slightly) above, chief.

Number 6: 151 SPECIAL- Bacardi 151, cranberry juice and a whole lot of ice in those giant Hideaway mugs. Cliff's got a nice terrace too, killer combo.

Number 5: PABST BLUE RIBBON- That's right, it's so hot right now. Get this: the worker district of Gongrencun is so gentrified even they think Pabst is cool (and we're working on getting them to like the Arcade Fire too). Maxwell convenience stores around town all carry it.

Number 4: MEIZIJIU- An ice cold bottle of plum wine while walking down your favorite shaokao strip is hard to beat. Get a Lipton red iced tea bottle, clean it up and bring it to a meizijiu vendor. You can get drunk and teach without anyone knowing. Great in a punch.

Number 3: CHONGQING SENLIN- What the hell is that? We found out about this classic cocktail just today at Moon Café in Huangjueping. This über-green tequila drink seems to be a favorite among the art crowd. No wonder, it's smooth and sweet and cold, perfect for dawang'ing in the art district...

Number 2: CERTIFIED PURE WHISKY- Dill and Lee might not forgive us for suggesting you put ice cubes in their delicious imports instead of the prescribed drop of warm water, but it's summer dammit. If you can't find a bar that sells their stuff, worm your way into one of their exclusive Whisky Society meetings and get plastered like a pro (or a drunk)...

Number 1: TURBO SHANDY- The fuck? How did that make it to number one? We don't know but one thing's for sure, this is the stuff cool people will be drinking this summer. Half vodka/rum cooler, half beer. Serve with ice and chill on a terrace. Day drinking rules.

16 Bysreet music club are shaking things up a bit this weekend.  The usually folk-centric venue, nestled within the tourist trappings of Ciqikou is set for a rude awakening when Beijing hardcore band Fanzui Xiangfa(犯罪想法) take to the stage Saturday night.  Fortunately for us, our good friend Xiao Mao happens to also be friends with the band's drummer Kuang Ma, so we had her ask him a few questions in the lead-up to their first show on the shores of the Jialing.  



CQscene: Kuang Ma, heard you were growing a beard before the show, why? and how's it going?


Kuang Ma: yeah, I was growing a beard for a few months before the tour, because I like big beards, it makes me look older and harder, but when I was trimming my beard I messed up so now it is short and I am growing a new beard.

CQ: Anything crazy happened so far (on the tour)?
KM:  Yes, some crazy shows, like in Guangzhou, we played in a small skateboard shop and there were lots of people there, some to see us play, others just passing by looking through the glass walls on the street. The crowd was crazy, lot of energy, pogo dancing and stage diving. And the shop was sooooo small. 

CQ: Do you have any ideas about the bar you will play here in CQ this Saturday?

KM:  Yeah, on a busy shopping street? I did not book the tour, just follow the others, I don't even know the name of the bar.

CQ: We already know you're a vegan and non-drinker. what will you be drinking after the show when everyone is holding a bottle of beer?
KM: Binghongcha? Suanmeitang? Diet coke? Haha.