First something about Thursday’s gig at Mao. Snapline opened the show with electro-pop-rock and English vocals delivered in a “slowly going crazy” but yet charismatic manner. Next in line was what I came to see – Carsick Cars. As they entered I noticed that two of the members are actually shared with Snapline. The music, however, is not in the same genre. Rather, it’s riffy and swingy rock with lots of noisy things in between. Some would call it indie rock I suppose.
There were quite a few non-Chinese in the audience, a number of which formed a brief mosh pit to the horror of some Chinese visitors. “No thanks, I don’t mosh.” Unfortunately the band only played about 5 songs, but short is sweet I suppose. When they played the last song – 中南海 (Zhongnanhai) – every smoker in the audience bombarded the band with cigarettes while the rest of us shouted along with the not-so-hard-to-remember lyrics.
The main band was the Beijing girl punk band Hang on the Box, but as far as I’m concerned the gig was over. Afterwards I chatted a bit with the record label guy and bought an undisclosed number of copies of Carsick Cars’ album. I sat in a couch until bassist 李维思 (Li Weisi) and drummer 李青 (Li Qing) turned up and signed my album. Li Weisi smoked Zhongnanhai and I waited a bit longer until guitarist/singer 张守望 (Zhang Shouwang) came along and made my album autograph-complete. I assure you that I’m not crazy, I just thought it would be neat...
The album includes 7 songs in Chinese and 3 in English. I’ve been listening more or less non-stop and I do think it’s really cool, especially 志愿的人 (Volunteer), 中南海 (Zhongnanhai) and 广场 (Plaza). The undisclosed number of copies that I have in my possession have a purpose, which is this: I will send a copy of Carsick Cars’ album to anyone who requests it for free, with no conditions attached whatsoever. Just contact me and tell me where you want it delivered. When all my copies are gone I hope that there are an undisclosed number of new Carsick Cars fans in the world!
Copies delivered as of 2007-11-05:
- China: 2
- France: 1
- The Netherlands: 2
- Norway: 1
- USA: 2
Disclosure: The original number of copies were actually only 4, but since there were so many who wanted the album I went to buy all the copies in a record store here in Beijing, bringing the total to 8. Despite my best efforts I have not been able to find any more, so at this time I can’t offer to send any more. Nonetheless, I do hope that there are at least 8 new Carsick Cars fans on the planet now!
See also:
- Gig photos on Flickr
- Carsick Cars’ MySpace page (has a few downloadable tracks)
- Carsick Cars on MusicBrainz (correct tags for your CD rip)
咳
http://www.douban.com/group/topic/2140993/
好人
呵呵……中国朋友们，也许我的行动有点疯狂，但我可以保证我不是疯子。以上的提议当然也包括国内的歌迷，给我发你的地址即可。
Hi,
a friend of mine requested 2 cd’s and gave me one. It sounds really awesome!! Thanks a lot! 😀
gr. Aproxima
hello i am Lance from Shenzhen. Carsick cars sounds very interesting by your comments... they are goinig to have a small concert in one of shenzhen rock bars this Friday...after seeing some of the reviews, i am anticipating the Friday’s show...i will call a gourp of people to go there...regarding the CD, is it possible to send me a copy?...want to know their music before seeing them
Thanks.
Sorry, I don’t have any CD’s left. However, you can hear a few of their songs on the MySpace page http://myspace.com/carsickcars
I hope you’ll enjoy their performance on Friday!!
If you are interested you can get the first Car-sick Cars 7″ single from Suyin Records, it’s tracks from the album but it’s a very nice thing to have, I also have a 7″ by Joyside and The Scoff who are two other excellent bands from Beijing, it’s the only record anywhere of The Scoff.
Hi Foolip!
I thank you very much for having sent me this CD!
That was very kind and surprising!
I thought you were Chinese when you commented my edits on musicbrainz.That’s quite surprising you are Swedish. Any way, nice to meet you.
Dear Philip,
Do you still have the Carsick Cars album? I am looking for it but in vain. I am a Singaporean working in Taiwan. Carsick Cars really rocks !!!
WP
you can listen over at invisiblerecords.com to some cool stuff from china
bestest
Martin Atkins
carsick cars debut cd will be released in australia at the end of september. same music new cover. one off orders via tenzenmen dot com can be shipped overseas.
keep track of the whole series of releases via facebook -- search for ‘the MAYBE MARS series’
cheers
shaun/tenzenmen
Carsick Cars are brilliant. I don’t recognise the track names... do they have an album other than the self- titled, which is the one I have?
And, also, Carsick Cars fan in Australia here. *cheers for Carsick Cars generally*
I heard “Rock 'n' Roll Hero” on a Paste Magazine sampler and thought it was GREAT! Rock in the U.S. and Britain is so burned out as a genre it needs an infusion of fresh blood from other parts of the world. Since your post is over a year old I doubt you have any free copies of the CD left, but if you do, please send me one at:
[address removed]
Thanks!
Mark, it’s probably not an awesome idea to post your address in public view, so I removed that part of your comment. In any event I have no CDs left, but you can get it at http://www.verycd.com/topics/292519/