[SH After Dark]: Here's 20 Shows and Parties Happening This Weekend, June 11–14

Fight VGM Fight brings an international professional wrestling tournament to Shanghai, featuring wrestlers from six countries. Star wrestler CIMA and popular female wrestler Unagi Sayaka are among the participants. The event includes a main event matchup between the British team Big Sam & Zombie Dragon and the Chinese team Chen Wenbin & Junjie, with DJ BO acting as Big Sam’s manager.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai hosts its annual Canada Day celebration, bringing together the Canadian community and international friends in Shanghai for a full-day summer gathering. The event showcases Canadian culture through live entertainment, sports, food, and networking in a relaxed and welcoming environment. Guests can expect a mix of performances, outdoor activities, and social experiences throughout the day.

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A rooftop party at Flair, The Ritz-Carlton, high above Shanghai with panoramic Bund and skyline views. The event features 9 DJs delivering 12 hours of music as the sunset unfolds into the night.

HORIZON Rooftop Party takes place at POP at Three on the Bund, featuring French DJ ERIK HAGLETON. The event runs from afternoon into night, offering an outdoor rooftop music experience with views of the Bund skyline.

A killer one-two punch combo over at Yuyintown tonight with two explosive acts from Beijing and Shanghai joining forces. From the capital, Xiaowang’s tipsy-turvy swirl of kawaiicore, punk, J-rock, pop, and then some - is raw, bittersweet, and ferocious - mixing vulnerability, seething rage, and bubbly exuberance with potent results. Strike down with vengeance, along with them are local favorites Moya, whose barbed, ludicrous, and frenzied brand of punk rock is electric.

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Wispy indie pop at its finest - tonight’s Summer Shape showcase is one for all the romantics out there. On the menu, you’ve got The Cheers Cheers, the Zhejiang band headed by Wang Keguan that has achieved cult-like status in China’s indie pop scene, for both their C86-inspired sound and their minute output. They’ll join the Shenzhen-raised European-based  band whose dreamy shoegaze sound has amassed legions of fans both here and abroad from their light-footed, emotionally ripe Galaxie 500-evoking  sound. Read on

‘Gooey groovy fusion magic’ from Melbourne - MILDLIFE crafts sun-baked psychedelic jazz that’s tailor-made to lift your spirits to the astral plane and get these feet moving. Recalling acts like Pink Floyd and Tame Impala to Kool & the Gang - with a much more delicate ethereal touch - the band is equal parts virtuoso musicianship and atmospheric transcendence, capturing one euphoric high after another. The band is in town courtesy of New Noise - whose track record is spotless - so trust  they have found another gem for you to indulge in.

Another fine team-up over at Cream Club in Pudong - featuring two of the indie scene’s most underrated acts. Out of Nantong, BlueLiquid seamlessly veers from post punk aplomb to 90s alt rock swagger - with the quartet having a kinetic affinity for finding that sweet spot between noise and pop. They join Shanghai’s own Disordered Clay, whose rustic mix of angsty post punk, Pink Floyd-esque prog rock, and tender indie rock resonates with scrappy earnest appeal. Read on

Seminal American death metal band formed in 1989 by John McEntee and Paul Ledney - Incantation are considered pioneers of the New York City death metal scene and pillars of the "caveman" death-doom sound. Renowned for their punishing riffs, down-tuned doom passages, and occult themes, they are still going ‘hard as fxxx’ after thirty-plus years. They swing  through Cave Art Venue with help from Indonesian brutal death-metal act  Exhumation, who have been sharpening their riffs since forming in 2008, ‘reimagining vintage ’80s deathrash with songwriting instincts that build worlds instead of just setting them ablaze’.

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Full-blooded psychedelia with an oriental flavor that keeps the vibes vigorous and audacious in their pursuit of nirvana, Khunathi, who cut their teeth in Shanghai before scattering about the region, are a force to be reckoned with. Their debut, Misty Mountain Pagoda, released with avant-garde mainstay WV Sorcerer Productions, is one of my favorite releases last year - and it looks like the band is giving it a proper introduction. With the perfect balance of soothing rustic bliss and propulsive spiraling grooves, there aren’t many bands that can make their guitars sing like these guys - whether ‘shimmering with the metallic brilliance of ceremonial horns, and threading delicately with the bass to weave intricate bead curtains’. Read on

Cedar Land - the latest joint to crash land at C-Park - is a place I’m mighty excited for - an incubator for some of Shanghai’s most left field acts -  not afraid to mix things up and wave their freak flag proudly. Case in  point - the latest oddball medley of experimental, noise, and perplexing from analog collector, manipulator, and ‘aggrandizer of disorganization’ Global Discount Centre, aka GDC, known for utilizing an array of discarded electrical relics. He has rounded up quite the crew - including ‘the king of controlled crescendo,’ Mai Mai, bringing a keyboard-centric set; brooding dark ambient mood setter Black Stump, bringing with him an array of traditional instruments; and the mysterious and ‘cackling’ Chris X. Read on

Luuv Label - the ever-dependable tastemakers with their finger on the pulse -  put the spotlight on some of the indie scene's unsung acts, as well as  its freshest blood. A stellar lineup led by Aza's Pipper. Dream pop with  a sci-fi edge - shoegaze with a fantastical narrative thrust - no matter how you want to paint it - the Hangzhou band is a truly original act that isn’t afraid to get caught up in its whimsy and grand displays of emotion - traversing across sublime walls of sound, effervescent synthesizers, and pitched-up elfish vocals that feel like a cross between Studio Ghibli and Avatar. Read on

The Summer Shape Indoor Music Festival goes out with a bang over at VAS est on the West Bund this Sunday - with a stacked lineup featuring some of the most hyped acts, including indie neo folk acts from Beijing -  Default and Mimik Banka, whose tender, earthly, and harmony-based sound embraces a more orchestral and cerebral chamber pop sound. Meanwhile, Sleep Leaps from Chengdu returned last month with their sophomore LP -  Summer Outside - refining and expanding their punch-drunk love blend of  blissed-out shoegaze and spry power pop. It's all rounded out by Beijing  electro pop singer-songwriter Qin Fanqi and longstanding powerhouse  Taiwanese indie rock acts Jade Eyes and Tizzy Bac.

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SmSh Team

Heatwolves

Writer, producer, founder of the music label/collective, Love Bang, and a Shanghai character since 2007.

Neighborhood bar with good drinks, music, and vibes turns four years young with a big lineup of DJs and giveaways this Thursday night. Will be lit, for sure. The first 100 people get drinks lottery tickets, which could result in a free shot/free drink/free bottle of sparkling wine (there's some blank tickets too, so no guarantee). Read on

South Korean DJ, Kollin, stops by this small club in INS for a genre blending set of bass-heavy music this Friday night. Several Shanghai-based DJs  we know are stoked about this one, and she's been picked by Skrillex to  play his upcoming festival in Berlin this year. Forecast is UKG, baile  funk, dubstep, bass, edits, and remixes. Read on

NYC-based underground rapper 99 God headlines the night at this C-Park club, with support from a bunch of DJs in the hip hop/beats/bass/club music scene, including Warlock from Preme, 647, Kongbb, and more.

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Double headliner night at C-Park club Reactor, with house and techno downstairs and hip hop, funk, soul, and more upstairs. FRUITYGROOVE are taking over the second floor, with DJs Soul Navigator, KaleidoJazzlegs, dada, Dreaming, and gkamkbns. Down in the main room, House of Visions has Javier Carballo, a pioneer of Spanish underground electronic music,  making his China debut. Read on

Real solid lineup at this monthly party for electro, Italo disco, techno, house, breaks, IDM, and more. This night's been going strong for over eight years, and this Saturday, they've got live sets by founder Velvet Robot as well as Altieri 3000 plus DJ sets from Illsee, Ruima, and special guest and real Shanghai OG Hello Shitty from Uptown Records.

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The New Writing Supermarket, the DIY gang of boundlessly creative theater kids that have thrown some of the most fun parties of recent years, has a brand new home up in Putuo at 889 Plaza. This is their grand opening theme, and it's looking like beautiful chaos as usual. They've turned the first floor of this plaza into an art supermarket, and given a few dozen people two square meters each to do whatever they like. Read on

ANOTHER ONE! Jing'an multi-level dining/clubbing/lounging destination La Barra turns five years young - no easy feat. They've got music across two rooms, with Tom William, Zak, Cedar, Lilith, Costin in the main room and  Spada on the vinyl stage. Read on

Neighborhood pizza bar ZUP hosts another edition of their Sunday party with six DJs playing house, disco, 80s freestyle, and more. Pizza is available by the slice and it's always a good vibe in the restaurant and on the sidewalk out front on Shaanxi Bei Lu in Jing'an. No cover. Read on