Shoutout: The Sound Stage Music Awards

Fellow videographer and LBM friend Jonathan Alpart brings his much praised Sound Stage to the Hit FM Live (that’s the 3rd floor of Tango for you noobs) for the Sound Stage Music Awards – a rock star studded affair that looks to honor some of the years sharpest talent as well as give way for some of Jonathan\’s favorite bands to hit the big stage, including Hedgehog (my album of the year at this point), Residence A (one the scenes most committed bands) and a couple newbies for me – sludge metal outfit Never Before and indie poppers Poshangcun. I’m ready to cast my ballot so let’s take a look at the nominees. I’ve promised to take a shot for every correct answer I get, so my liver lies in your hands Mr. Alpart. Click here to see the lineup over at CRI’s website (and catch up on some Sound Stage) and cast your vote for the last five categories here.

What: The 2^nd Sound Stage Awards

Where: FM Hit Live (Tango) 7:30pm

Tickets: 100/120 RMB

Check out my picks belowwwww….

Nominees

Black Horse

Hiperson

Drink

Clockwork Puppets

Sound & Fury

My Pick: Hiperson – besides the fact that this was the only band I saw out of the four, these guys were phenomenal – simply radiating with confidence, power, and skill

Best Original Style

Stolen

Dark Lake

Miss Hormone

SUBS

My Pick: Stolen – As much as I respected SUBS moved into space-electro territory, the Chengdu outfit has owned my iPod with their ambitious dreamy brand of post punk –  a band I’ve dying to see live

Best Punk Band

Bedstars

Candy Monster

AV Okubo

The Diders

My Pick: This may have been the year of The Diders but I’ve got to hand it to Bedstars, who have been the surly, rowdy, anything goes punk livelihood down to a tee now

Best Hard Rock

Meat Sucks

Disappearing River

Never Before

Jacky Danny

My Pick: This is the first time I’ve heard Meat Sucks and Disappearing River and I’m digging the hell out of the two Wuhan boys — but I’m gonna have to go with Never Before whose old school Black Sabbath approach gets me giddy

Best Chinese Style

Black Head

Music & Space

Dark Lake

My Pick: Ummmmm, at found any music from Music & Space so let’s give it up for Xi’an hip hop folk outfit Blackhead, who I once say start a ‘Fuck You Japan’ chant at the MIDI Festival

Best Pop Rock

Mosaic

Chinese Football

Poshangcun

Amber

My Pick: My guess is Jon will be dubbing Poshangcun the winner here but my vote goes to Chinese Football, the jangly post rock emo kids out of Wuhan

Best Folk

Djang San

Ma Tiao

Turexun

Yang Zhongguo

My Pick: This category is all over the place! Hate Ma Tiao’s voice, Turexun gets a bit too flamenco for me, and Djang San should get this personally, but gonna have to hand it to Yang Zhongguo whose brand of folk avoids the many pratfalls of folk artists in China by having a beautiful voice that’s front and center

Best Electronic/Pysch Rock

Fuzzy Mood

Plasticard

Residence A

Stolen

My Pick: Great choices all around (and Plasticard is a great find) but my heart still belongs to Residence A who deserve all the recognition they can get

Best Chops

Zhang Ling

Bedstars

Disappearing River

The One

My Pick: Can’t tell if The One is a legit band or not, but skills they do have. I’m just gonna throw this one in the air – ummmmm, the grumpy old fellas from Disappearing River who look like they could out maneuver any of those other youngins

Best Band

Hedgehog

Residence A

Sound Toy

Shuangzi

My Pick: Yeah, Residence A deserves this and Hedgehog disappointed last time I caught them, but the fact still remains – Hedgehog has released perhaps my favorite album of the year thus far so there you go

Best New Band

Hard Candy Revolution

Heat Mark

Drink

Sound and Fury

The Diders

My Pick: Geez, another category all over the place. Wanna give it to Heat Mark, but after listening to dreamy shoegaze of Sound and Fury, gonna have to hand it to them

Best Male Singer

 

Gao Hu (Miserable Faith)

Liang Long (Second Hand Rose)

Mao Chuan (Escape Plan)

Shuangzi (Shuangzi)

Wu Ning Yue (Buyi)

 

My Pick: All phenomenal singers but this is Liang Long’s by far – man is a fucking god on stage

Best Female Singer

Helen Feng (Nova Heart)

Fu Han (Queen Sea Big Shark)

Kang Mao (SUBS)

Pupi (Da Bang)

Liu Pianpian (Heat Mark)

My Pick: Not much has changed – in terms of fury, it’s Kang Mao; in terms of swag, it’s Pupi; in terms of actual singer chops, gotta hand it to Helen Feng once again

Best Live Performance

Tongue

Hanggai

Escape Plan

Muma

Re-TROS

My Pick: Tie between Re-TROS and Hanggai who both blew my mind with their live performances (taking my shot either way)

Best Band Recommended By Baidu

Low Wormwood

Good Sister

Moxizishi

Zhang Weiwei

Zhao Lei

My Pick: Baidu only recommends ‘folk’ singers. Sure, why not. By far Moxizishi, whose debut blew me out of the water

\” There are my picks — see ya at the Oscars..umm, I mean Sound Stage Awards \”