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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Take Back The Noise

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If you're a hong kong indie fan and bored with indie bands that all sound the same then check out Take Back the Noise. Kissing on the Dancefloor started their set in fairly britpop style with an edgy guitar sound and a good vocal range a little like Brett of Suede and then gave us some jangly pop before the effects-laden guitar took over and on the next song the band were more downbeat and angsty almost shoegaze in tone.
Kissing on the Dancefloor



Next up were The Fragile who play a delicate,haunting postrock that's closer to Sigur Ros than Explosions in the Sky.In their set they included 'Venus' and 'Glacier' from their debut EP as well as some new songs which I liked a lot.Hopefully the band will be seen a lot more frequently on the Hong Kong indie scene.
The Fragile live at take Back the Noise




Sea Monsters are a phenomenon powered mainly by the Bjork- on- adrenaline vocals and stage performance of the female vocalist and crazily chaotic rhythm section.Sounds like?A jam between Captain Beefheart and Youi Say Party!We Say Die!Very experimental and freestyle!I guess it's hard to compare this type of band since it's a mix of funk,prog and jazz.


Headliners were The Yours,a local band who have already built a big fanbase ,recorded an great debut album and are already recording their eagerly awaited follow-up.Hopefully it will capture some of the energy of the band live.There's always a sense of excitement in their sets and this was another good one with new songs like 'Artpiece' along with favourites from the first album like 'Tasteless' and 'Missed Call'.
Hong Kong shoegaze band The Yours



          
     

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Rock for Sichuan







Helter Skelter (with HK's youngest rocker!)



My little airport .The Pancakes...










Edmond Tong
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Hong Kong Fringe Club was packed on Sunday 25th May to be part of a special concert organised to raise funds for the victims of the Sichuan. earthquake.In this city we're normally so time -conscious but today everyone freely gave their time and support.

The gig was a six-hour marathon event and in that space of time there were no less than 10 local artists playing all shades of music from cool jazz to postpunk rock.First band on at the early hour of 4.00 p.m. were A For with some jazz grooves,our blissful Sunday afternoon calm then shattered by the arrival of Gong Wu with their 'in-your-face'rock.Next up were Consent ,a young hip hop band,who are starting to gig regularly on the local scene,followed by So What with some medium tempo rock.

On a day when most people's thoughts were with the families in Sichuan,it seemed appropriate that Helter Skelter not only morphed from the wild blues rockers that they usually appear as into a gentler,acoustic sound and provided the evening with its most cute and youngest rocker (something to share with his kindergarten classmates-My First Gig!).

Edmond Tong maintained the chilled-out vibe of the afternoon with his gentle rock covers of classic songs like 'You've Got a Friend'.

Next on was The amazing Dejay Choi or The Pancakes.The innocent,tweepop style of this DIY performer just fitted the mood of the gig and showed another facet of the Hong Kong indie scene.

For serious indie addicts ,though,the evening was just getting into a rockier groove with the arrival of My Liitle Airport who opened their set with a track from their last album'J'ai Peur'The band played a set of refreshingly downbeat songs in their own eclectic style with a version of 'Stephanie Says' by The Velvet Underground and their own material including great versions of 'Victor ,Fly Me To Stafford','Dee,It may All End Tomorrow'.
Mylittleairport

Born To Hula are a great new britpop style outfit with lots of passion,energy and some great upbeat songs in the style of Vampire Weekend and other new wave bands.The sound is an intriguing blend of the passionate vocals of Harry Thompson,the pounding double bass of Angus leung and the crashing drums of June Ng.They played a blistering set rounded off with a great version of 'We Tigers'.
Born To Hula

Next on were The lovesong.Don't let the name fool you..the band are a torrent of energized drumming,pounding bass and thundering guitars with punk style vocals.The band are Nic and Ben Tse(guitar,bass and backing vocals),Ibraihim(vocals,guitar )and Stephen Suhail (drums).They stormed their way through a great set with'Worlds Collided','Eastern Moments,Western Skies','Starlight Shine Us So Bright'and 'Take Another Year To Rise'.
The lovesong live at The Fringe

Just when we thought it couldn't get much louder,onto the stage stormed the phenomenon that is DP.Just two guys but they can really rock! paul the drummer is well known for his sessions with local shoegazers The Yours.
The Fringe Club should be thanked for their generosity in supporting the event.Lets have more gigs like this where we can see good indie bands and help others!











Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Underground 58 at Club Cixi

The Fragile...Hungry Ghosts ...Gong Wu...Consent...Killersoap.....TheSinister Left....all at the Underground .....review with videos...




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The show powered up with Killersoap,a young band who kicked off with an upbeat number before slowing the pace with their next song.By the next song which was an upbeat rock pop song with a big and catchy chorus,everyone seemed to be relaxing more and they finished their set on a high.The vocalist has an expressive voice and the band played well but look as if they're still finding their sound.

http://myspace.com/killersoap

Killersoap at Club Cixi





The Fragile have definitely found their own unique sound.it's a haunting post rock that shows influences of shoegaze,especially the aetherial vocals and fuzzy guitar sounds of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive.They are a 5 piece outfit who play emotionally expressive indie that takes you far away.It's wistful,dreamy and beautifully played.You must check out their EP listen on myspace.http://www.myspace.com/hkfragile
The Fragile at underground 58




Gong Wu 's arrival ensured that we would all leave our sheltered postrock haven with a bang as they set about deranging our senses with some rhythnic,intense crashing tunes.http://myspace.com/gongwu
http://myspace.com/hungryghosts
Hungry Ghosts live at Club Cixi



Consent sound like their influences are more from the USA,hip hop and R&B.http://myspace.com/consenthk

The Sinister Left are an experimental indie band.their sound is a little like the heavier rock we associate with The Editors and Interpol.http://myspace.com/thesinisterleft

The Sinister Left at the Underground show

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Underground 57 at The Cavern Hong Kong





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The Underground lineup is never predictable and on this show we had everything from poppunk to Chicago blues with a runaway Train and The FBI throwing in an appearance.The poppunk element was provided by Senseless,who are Raymond(vocals),Kenny (guitar),Yuren (guitar)and Silim(drums).They are a young band still trying to find their sound.They started the set in jangly indiepop style but then changed direction on their next song to a more intense,upbeat emo style.The band played a good opening set and I wish the red rain hadn't deterred more people from showing up to give them some support.

Senseless at Underground 57



FBI live at Underground 57
F.B.I.Firebirdinternational are an explosive mixture of high energy,classic rock and punk.Cain on vocals has an excellent voice for the material and he also won over the local audience with his Cantonese, although almost upstaged by the extrovert bass player,Jerald!
FBI have definitely found their soun and it's it's a kickass one!By the end of the set ,the whole of the Cavern was jumping !



The Train are an excellent local band who don't indulge in onstage craziness but just let the music speak.They play an exciting,fast -paced blues-based rock .I just feel that they need to work on the songs more,get a better balance between vocals and instruments and they could be much stronger live.



Henry Chung All Stars Blues Band was almost too polished for an indie venue.Henry is an engaging front man who plays a mean blues harmonica and is also the bandleader.The lineup features not one but two awesomely good lead guitars ,bass,drums,and saxophone.Henry introduced us blues newbies into the secrets of Chicago blues and by the end of his set I think most people were on the floor jumping around ,including some of the other band members in the audience!My favourite song was 'Hong Kong Blues''!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Underground 56 at Club Cixi




















Kissing on the Dancefloor

Gaze

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The Underground shows are never predictable and this one managed to cover most bases in terms of indie music genres from britpop with Audiotraffic to metalcore with Eve of Sin,with some Canadian experimentalism and Nepalese acoustic protest rock as well!In fact the show was so noisy and exciting that there was a police 'raid'!
First on were Gaze ,a young band with rock /shoegaze influences.they kicked off with 'Spoiled Kids', a fairly rocky number but on 'After 7 Years ' the guitar sounds became increasingly fuzzy and shoegazy much to my liking.We need more hk bands prepared to follow in the trails blazed by Ride,Slowdive and other great bands of the 90s pre Britpop and to give it their own special hong kong twist!





I'd say that Kissing on The Dancefloor have a lot of potential and are just as exciting as the name suggests with their mix of britpop and shoegaze!





Fusilli Project are an experimental,electronic duo based in Hong Kong and Canada.Their sound is an amazing blend of electronica,all kinds of weird percussion,wooden flute and erhu,mixed with some otherwordly vocals, a little like a chill out session in a buddhist monastery.




My favourite song was 'A Thousand Mile Journey'.


I guess that most local fans came to see Audiotraffic,one of Hong Kong's best indie bands.The band played mainly songs well known to their fans like 'Better?','Lost City' and 'Way too Long'. This band just get better every time.They have one of the best vocalists on the Hong Kong indie band scene,warm but with an edge that takes it out of the realms of 'pop'.On this set ,the band loked quite relaxed and like they were soaking up the warm vibes from the audience.




Eve of Sin are a metalcore core band.Their set was so loud that it even attracted the attention of the cops who surreally made an entrance during their set!

Queen Sea Big Shark live in Hong Kong





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Around 200 Hong Kong indie music fans erwe packed into the Fringe Club's intimate venue on friday night for a chance to see the much raved about Beijing band QueenSea Big Shark.




Queen Sea Big Shark at the Fringe

The band's set showcased their new album and showed just why QSBS are considered one of Beijing's best bands.

The band play a spiky,hook-laden garage rock with pounding drums from Xiao Wu,infectious guitar riffs from Cao Pu,strident bass from Wang Jinghan and of course in Wu han,the band have one of the current scene's most appealing vocalists,giving a great performance and taking time between songs to communicate with the audience-she even made a foray into the crowd in her enthusiasm!
'Get Away' by Queen Sea Big Shark


Sunday, March 16, 2008

Underground 55 at The Cavern





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Review with videos ..........

Underground 55 was a mix of jazz from Topao,poprock from Chochukmo and Thinking Out Loud and and postpunk shoegaze from The Yours.
I guess most indie music fans wouldn't expect jazz to be a form of alternative music although at one time it certainly was.Anyway ,it was an interesting opening set from Topao with some excellent big band numbers played in a classic style.


This was my second chance to se Chochukmo and I like them more and more.They started off in a blitz of jagged yet melodic guitar and vocals.Guitar riffs are jagged and energetic but swiftly blen into harmious interludes.Their songs are written in a freeflowing style,with excellent harmonies but this high-energy,jangly indie band seem happiest when they're rocking out.
noisy ,melodic indie along the lines of The Fratellis.I loved the whole set but my favourite was 'Strawberry'.
The band have an EP scheduled for this year 'God save Chairman Mao'-No, God save Chochukmo!








Thinking Out Loud almost put too much into their set and look as if they're still finding their style.The band play raw and gritty rock with a jazzy feel and some flowing lead guitar.Chris leads the band well on vocals and rhythm guitar Songs like 'Moving On ' and 'People' were classic rock while 'Rock and Roll Machine'with the sax player's anguished vocals hinted at something darker followed by 'Fire' a cover of the classic Jimi Hendrix song .The band finished their set with the upbeat indiepop of 'I'm Gonna Be Famous' and the more garage rock sounds of 'sex Junkie.'










The Yours are one of the best young bands on the Hong Kong indie music scene.
Their sets are always different,intriguing and apart from Jack (vocals,guitar) and Nic (vocals,bass),there may be a variety of band members from show to show. Their music is rooted in the shoegaze sounds of Creation label bands like Ride and My Bloody Valentine,although its easy to detect influences from 80s bands like The Cure and Joy Division. Just like those band's The Yours are dark and introspective .Tonight's set was excellent with lots of moody vocals and a new version of 'Black Curse' by Nic.However experimental the songs were ,the band always have a tight,rhythmic core in their sound and the songs always build to a climax.The band never play the same set on any gigs so it's always exciting to see their shows.You must check out this band live if you love the darker side of indie especially 80s bands like The Cure,My Bloody Valentine..





Another great set from the band and some signs of the new,more experimental direction the band are taking.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Underground 54 at Club Cixi Hong Kong





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Saturday night in Lan Kwai Fong.A chance to check out some new indie music from Hong Kong .Underground 54 gave us high energy rap from Leo 37,fuzzed out indie rock from Hazden,numetal from Zoundz and polished britpop from Skindeep and David Bowie Knives.
Underground fans are an eclectic bunch, just like the bands that play there.At Underground 54 we had everything from rap to britpop with some numetal too.Maybe we didn't love all the bands but we had a chance to find out more about the new indie music scene in hong kong.Often the opening acts here ease us gently into the main show.Not this time with Leo37 ,a young Canadian rapper full of energy ,charm ,an amazing gift for improvised lyrics with the help of 2 turntables and a microphone.At the start the crowds were barely arriving and he moodily yelled something about it being 'livelier at his grandmother's'.However as the place began to fill up ,and his song/rap 'Move It!' got us going the place started to come to life.Leo was like a combination of Kanye West with the funk of LLCool J .In fact he was so good that he was asked to do an end of show encore with Hazden!





Hazden were a revelation.In spite of the fact that they were second on,they amazed me and a lot of the audience.Faye's vocals are excellent with good range and she can move from chilly,etherial to full power rock style in a way that combines well with the band's discordant,raucous,fuzzed - out guitar sound.I think the songs ranged from subjects as wide as surfing and suicide and her vocal style fitted well with the fuzzed - out ,slightly punk sounds of Cheong on lead guitar,Yiu on rhythm,Lun on bass and Lok on drums.This band were also so good that they came on again at the end of the show!It's amazing that the band only formed a few months ago-I'd love to see more of them.




Next on was numetal band Zoundz who besieged us with some raw heavy sounds,anguished vocal yells from Ivan,high volume fast guitar from Frankie,David and Wil and crashing drums from Ray with a whole range of influences from Korn to Incubus on display.
Zoundz are Ivan (vocals),Frankie(guitar,David(guitar),Wil (bass)and Ray (drums).They played a raucous set with classic metal riffs and touches of punk on songs like 'Hate You,Hate Myself'.




Skindeep consists of Nick (vocals,guitar,keyboard ),Mike (lead guitar,vocals),David (guitar,bass),Brendan (drums.The band experienced and have a smooth,polished sound but still maintain some darker elements like bands they cite as influences,Del Amitri and The Killers as some of the song titles might suggest like 'No One's In','Leaving','Twist of Fate'.The band had some good britpop style songs and a rocking sound.The band are Nick (vocals,guitar,keyboard),Mike (lead guitar,vocals and Brendan (drums).






David Bowie Knivesare Brendan (vocals,guitar),Shaun (vocals,bass) and Gabe (drums).
The band has a polished ,britpop sound with just enough of an edge to keep it interesting.The Knives had a pleasant sound and their songs like 'She's The One'(fortunately not a Robbie Williams cover!),Nice Problem' and 'You Want Me'ended the evening on an upbeat indierock note at least until the endshow when Leo37 and Hazden gave us some freestyle jamming and rapped(!) up another Underground.