Rainbow Danger Club – Into The Cellar

Rainbow Danger Club is a band here in Shanghai. They’ve been around a couple of years now and have just released a new EP called Into the Cellar. I’ve written about the Club pretty regularly, and here’s a slightly long-winded explanation why: there are a lot of bands in Shanghai–just like any other city–that are pretty good; they put on a good show; they have cool members and make good music and you just can’t find any fault with them. But the fact is that bands like these are easily had and even though they’re good and you like them, they lack that spark that sets them apart and makes them memorable in any way. The Club is good, obviously (actually, they’re really good), but they’ve also got that something that makes them remarkable not only on the Chinese music scene, but also raises them above that sort of awful amalgamation that indie rock has become all over the world.

Here’s a long-winded explanation as to why I think that is: the Club is not writing songs as singles–songs to be downloaded and consumed in quick, three minute bites on a shuffle feature. When you listen to their EP (or their previous album), it’s obvious–so very obvious–that they’ve created an experience. A journey. Something to be listened to and enjoyed, but also something that tries to take you somewhere. And it’s smart. It’s very, very smart and I like that.

I’ve written a (long-winded) review of their album for Layabozi which you can certainly enjoy here. I’ve used big descriptive words and shit and talked about their songwriting and their multiple instruments and the unique sounds they’re making in all sorts of technical (and made-up) terms, but you could also just listen to a couple of songs. Start with “The Gathering of Fools.”

Hey now, isn’t that nice? And kinda neat. Check out “Country Way.”

Aw yeah, that one’s good too. You’re probably thinking, “Hey! You just told me they didn’t write singles,” but yeah, durr, obviously they do; I’m just saying these songs are part of a whole. So you need to get the whole to get the Club, alright?

Their EP (and it’s the longest damn EP ever) is available on BandCamp on a name-your-own-price scheme, meaning you can get it for free, or as the band recently said, “For zero money. If you have zero money, you can get our album,” but I would encourage you to throw a buck or two these guys’ way just to keep them going, because I, for one, am always looking forward to what they’re gonna produce next.

Rainbow Danger Club Into the Cellar EP on BandCamp. If you want to know their genre, just check out the tags for this post. That should clear it up for you.