Shanghai Revue...

[Hitman]

shanghai was about the people behind the organization, and it is apparent in their charitable deliverance of post-chaff opusi.

for some, shanghai is that which never was. yet for others, it is that which always will be.

shanghai is not a noun, it is a verb.

This is a perfect way to describe it.

[depressed goth]

I'm hoping to get something happening again with Shanghai by years end, or early next year.

It is the love of my life, and will definitely resurface, eventually.

...

Do you think this will become a reality,Hitman!!

[Hitman]

early next year

[BJN]

verb and noun. Multiple meanings. i love the word, the name. i've long had an interest in the city. Yummy.

i'm quite in love with the album, -Esoterica-. Though the silence and secret track at the end seem unnecessary.
The way it flows is... wow. The Chinese instrument that opens the CD is beautiful... the artwork is fucking cool. "Worms" (part3 of "Looking for Worms") might be the catchiest song, but it is not the best. Fits in better as part of the album than it does on it's own, though it sticks in my head either way. The male vocals are perhaps a little too Mike Patton, but they don't sound bad. The female vocals are nice.

Way better than The Locus Scene, in every way. Though the "Summer Rains" instrumental track thingie is pretty damn cool.

i'm not reviewing, i'm just rambling.

SHANGHAI!!!

[Untermensch]

Your rambling articulated the album better than I could have, and pretty much summed up my impression of it in a slightly overgrown nutshell.

[Hitman]

verb and noun. Multiple meanings. i love the word, the name. i've long had an interest in the city. Yummy.

I wish to travel there myself, one day...

i'm quite in love with the album, -Esoterica-. Though the silence and secret track at the end seem unnecessary.

Well, it kind of is.

The final track was the first Shanghai song ever "written" (it was actually an improvisation, recorded on a crappy 4 track tape machine), recorded about 5 years before the EP, and even before Shanghai existed. It was the catalyst for Shanghai even coming into being, so we thought it quite fitting to have it on there, in all it's rawness, as a little piece of interesting nostalgia, which we wanted to share with people, outside of the context of the rest of the songs, which work as a cohesive whole. Self indulgence, if you will...

The way it flows is... wow. The Chinese instrument that opens the CD is beautiful...

That Chinese instrument is an Erhu:



A beautiful instrument, which I feel perfectly "bookends", not to mention compliments, the whole recording.

I originally wanted a Chinese Ensemble to play on it, also featuring a Pipa and Guqin, but on the day only the Erhu player could make it. She, Liu Ling, was amazing BTW. Never met her before, she came in, bashed it out like a pro, and left...never to be seen nor heard of again...

the artwork is fucking cool.

Yeah, very important to the overall vibe of the recording, I feel.
A lot of effort was put into it as well.
Most of the art work was taken from an old calender book of mine, containing hundreds of chinese pop culture images.

The image that really stands out for me is the tray image where you take the CD out:



From Nicolas Poussin's "Et In Arcadia Ego", which was the original title for our song "Arcana Dei Tango". That songs lyrics are very heavily influenced by Freemasonary, and even take a lot from the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", which we all know now that Dan Brown "borrowed" plenty of ideas from for his book "The Da Vinci Code".

Shanghai were ahead of their time...

Read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_in_Arcadia_ego

"Worms" (part3 of "Looking for Worms") might be the catchiest song, but it is not the best. Fits in better as part of the album than it does on it's own, though it sticks in my head either way. The male vocals are perhaps a little too Mike Patton, but they don't sound bad. The female vocals are nice.

That's the thing, the EP to me should be listened to as a whole. It's when the tracks work best, sequeing in and out of one another.

I just always think of it as one large cohesive work...

Way better than The Locus Scene, in every way. Though the "Summer Rains" instrumental track thingie is pretty damn cool.

i'm not reviewing, i'm just rambling.
SHANGHAI!!!

2 completely different kettle of fish, and impossible for me to compare, or seperate, which is kind of ironic.
I guess all my music shares a conceptual continuity, whilst still managing to fall into different categories. It's kind of hard to explain.
As for choosing which is better? That would be like choosing a favourite child or something.
I love them both equally, for different reasons...

[Dom]

I spun 'Worms' on FBi last week, might give it another go this week

[Hitman]

Really?
Sweet, man, thanx...

[BJN]

verb and noun. Multiple meanings. i love the word, the name. i've long had an interest in the city. Yummy.

I wish to travel there myself, one day...

Me too! ...but not by myself. China seems a bit suspicious. And Shanghai's one of the biggest cities in the world, which i imagine would be easy to get lost in.

i'm quite in love with the album, -Esoterica-. Though the silence and secret track at the end seem unnecessary.

Well, it kind of is.

The final track was the first Shanghai song ever "written" (it was actually an improvisation, recorded on a crappy 4 track tape machine), recorded about 5 years before the EP, and even before Shanghai existed. It was the catalyst for Shanghai even coming into being, so we thought it quite fitting to have it on there, in all it's rawness, as a little piece of interesting nostalgia, which we wanted to share with people, outside of the context of the rest of the songs, which work as a cohesive whole. Self indulgence, if you will...

in that case, i'm glad it's on there. Though without that context it's like
i'm quite fond of nostalgia.

The way it flows is... wow. The Chinese instrument that opens the CD is beautiful...

That Chinese instrument is an Erhu:



A beautiful instrument, which I feel perfectly "bookends", not to mention compliments, the whole recording.

I originally wanted a Chinese Ensemble to play on it, also featuring a Pipa and Guqin, but on the day only the Erhu player could make it. She, Liu Ling, was amazing BTW. Never met her before, she came in, bashed it out like a pro, and left...never to be seen nor heard of again...

Mysterious! ...but also amazing. i know what you mean by that it perfectly "bookends" the short (but sweet!) album. And the fact that the secret track is after this (and the silence) signifies it's separation.

]the artwork is fucking cool.

Yeah, very important to the overall vibe of the recording, I feel.
A lot of effort was put into it as well.
Most of the art work was taken from an old calender book of mine, containing hundreds of chinese pop culture images.

i especially like the artwork on the CD disc itself.
Chinese culture is sweet... (queue bad pun!)
i also like how some of the images hearken to a similar era of Shanghai (European colonial days before the Japanese invasion) which feels very much the vibe of the actual music. Decadent, busy, party culture.

The image that really stands out for me is the tray image where you take the CD out:



From Nicolas Poussin's "Et In Arcadia Ego", which was the original title for our song "Arcana Dei Tango". That songs lyrics are very heavily influenced by Freemasonary, and even take a lot from the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail", which we all know now that Dan Brown "borrowed" plenty of ideas from for his book "The Da Vinci Code".

Shanghai were ahead of their time...

Read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_in_Arcadia_ego

When i have time, i would love to read more about it. And i've known about The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, but have not as yet found and read it.
bloody freeemsns!!

"Worms" (part3 of "Looking for Worms") might be the catchiest song, but it is not the best. Fits in better as part of the album than it does on it's own, though it sticks in my head either way. The male vocals are perhaps a little too Mike Patton, but they don't sound bad. The female vocals are nice.

That's the thing, the EP to me should be listened to as a whole. It's when the tracks work best, sequeing in and out of one another.

I just always think of it as one large cohesive work...

Did you write it as such? Or was a collection of 'bits' that were woven into a whole?

Way better than The Locus Scene, in every way. Though the "Summer Rains" instrumental track thingie is pretty damn cool.

i'm not reviewing, i'm just rambling.
SHANGHAI!!!

2 completely different kettle of fish, and impossible for me to compare, or seperate, which is kind of ironic.
I guess all my music shares a conceptual continuity, whilst still managing to fall into different categories. It's kind of hard to explain.
As for choosing which is better? That would be like choosing a favourite child or something.
I love them both equally, for different reasons...

i guess what i was saying, was that i can connect better with Shanghai and it enjoy it more (so far, anyway). Cooler, but not objectively "better". As you say, they're different bands doing different things and shouldn't be compared.
They're both awesome!

[Hitman]

Me too! ...but not by myself. China seems a bit suspicious. And Shanghai's one of the biggest cities in the world, which i imagine would be easy to get lost in.

Yeah, I know what you're getting at.
I'd probably only ever go to China on some sort of tour or something...

in that case, i'm glad it's on there. Though without that context it's like
i'm quite fond of nostalgia.

I enjoy provoking the "WTF factor" in listeners...

Mysterious! ...but also amazing. i know what you mean by that it perfectly "bookends" the short (but sweet!) album. And the fact that the secret track is after this (and the silence) signifies it's separation.

Exactly...

i especially like the artwork on the CD disc itself.
Chinese culture is sweet... (queue bad pun!)
i also like how some of the images hearken to a similar era of Shanghai (European colonial days before the Japanese invasion) which feels very much the vibe of the actual music. Decadent, busy, party culture.

Nicely described...

The Disc art itself is a Luopan, which is a Geomancers Compass...

When i have time, i would love to read more about it. And i've known about The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, but have not as yet found and read it.
bloody freeemsns!!

It's all a crock of shit, but interesting nonetheless...

Did you write it as such? Or was a collection of 'bits' that were woven into a whole?

The latter.
But the way, and the time frame, in which they were written, makes thm all closely related.

They can exist independently, and still work, or merge into a larger organisim...

i guess what i was saying, was that i can connect better with Shanghai and it enjoy it more (so far, anyway). Cooler, but not objectively "better". As you say, they're different bands doing different things and shouldn't be compared.
They're both awesome!