HK Live with Innisfallen,Chochukmo,Empty Tomb

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Iconic founder member and front man of artrock band Talking Heads gave a lesson in how to be a rock legend when he made his debut in Hong Kong.Having a back catalogue that would make many rock artists envious didn't faze him at all and he made joking reference to his previous incarnation as 'another band I was in before.Although  the audience went crazy for classic songs like 'Take Me To The River' and 'Once In a Lifetime'  this was far from a greatest hits show and his set was just as mercurial and mesmerising as the man himself,invoking classic American styles like jazz and blues and mixing them with some world music and his own special alchemy.In fact the gig was proof that he still has a lot to give as a performer and added to the fire of his Talking Heads material with lots of material from his new album 'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today',co-written with Brian Eno,his collaborator in earlier more experimental albums like'My Life In the Bush of Ghosts.'
David Byrne live in Hong Kong

This was far from a one man show though.The singer was backed by a powerful rhythm section, a solid backing trio and some jazz style dancers who almost seemed to embody Byrne's languid,jerky on-stage movements.This may already be the best gig of 2009 unless someone really special comes to town.

David Byrne Encore in Hong Kong

Mogwai live in Hong Kong

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Iconic instrumental band Mogwai revisited Hong Kong to the delight of their many local fans for an evening of beautiful,exciting and above all loud music from the band who seemed to be following in the footsteps of My Bloody Valentine with some ear-bending volume.The band may have little time for labels such as postrock but rightly or wrongly they have been labelled as one of the defining bands in this genre and showed in their set some moments of delicate beauty as well as deafening, distorted sonics.

A sell out crowd were gathered to witness this gig and excitement was at a high as the band took to the stage and alternately delighted and assaulted our eardrums with a set comprising versions of some of their best loved songs including 'Hunted By A Freak',''Fear Satan'and 'I Know You Are but What am I?' as well as some material from the critically acclaimed new album'The Hawk is Howling' like the eerily beautiful 'Im Jim Morrison,I'm Dead.'

Mogwai 'I Know You Are but What am I?'


http://myspace.com/mogwai

Whence He Came Reunion:Nostalgia is a Lonely Road

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What a great gig to welcome 2009.Blasted into the New Year by the post punk indie of The Lovesong and 22 Cats was like a sonic version of Chinese fireworks to illuminate the coming year in this Whence He Came Reunion show.This gig was a chance for those of us new to the band to check out their sound and to find out what all this nostalgia for a local band was all about.

Excitement levels were already rising outside the venue as we waited in line for what was a sell out show with lots more people clamouring for tickets.
The Lovesong (risen like a rock 'n 'roll phoenix from the embers of Whence He Came) are now one of the best live bands in Hong Kong but with a distinctly punkier sound than in their earlier incarnation and they blasted their way through an opening set with only one song from their debut 'Deux Mille Sept' and lots of newer material.The band play with a passionate intensity that usually takes audiences by storm.The set opened with 'Morning Redemption' and 'Celebrate' then an excellent version of 'Starlight Shine Us So Bright' and one of the Shorter Story songs 'Here's To Hope' before wrapping up their set with '1978'. A great set from one of Hong Kong's best bands.
The Lovesong 'Irina'

http://myspace.com/thelovesong
22 Cats play in a modern retro style difficult to categorize and reminiscent of bands like Pavement and Deerhunter.Songs usually open gently with Por's laconic vocals before building to a crescendo with Kit's falsetto vocals and clashing guitar,the band kept on course all the while by the amazing bass riffs of Yin and the heavy drum beats of For.The songs are all heavily ironic and almost impenetrable but this band can really rock out and have a unique (but completely uncategorizable)sound.For indie fans who like challenging urban rock with asense of fun.
22 Cats @ Whence He Came Reunion



http://www.myspace.com/22catshk
Whence He Came are a band who have cult status in Hong Kong and this set showed some of the reasons why.They have a bunch of great songs with lots of images that linger in your mind,warm vocals and jagged, lyrical guitar riffs backed up by heavy bass riffs and ferocious percussion.The band opened to rapturous acclaim from the packed hall with 'Finer Lights and Fairy Tales' and 'The Curtain Call' playing most of the songs from the album 'The Shorter Story' in what was more or less a love fest between an outstanding local band and the fans who supported them.
I guess everything in this city is speeded up.According to the liner notes on their album 'the Shorter Story' the release date was 2004.Wow,four years is almost instant nostalgia but after seeing the band and listening to the album a few times,I already feel nostalgic as hell about this band and lucky to have been at this gig.
Whence He Came (Encore)

http://myspace.com/whencehecame

Taiwan Explosion in Hong Kong

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Local band Zarahn played a solid set with passionate vocals from and some kickass guitar to open the show followed by punk band Climax.

Once again I was impressed by the quality of our local bands and ,even more so, the Taiwanese headliners.

Judging by this show,it's no surprise that Endy and his band Zarahn have picked up a lot of awards and already recorded two albums.They play hard-edged indie rock with lots of melodic hooks.
Zarahn @ Taiwan Explosion 2

Hong Kong bands may label thememselves as punk but their outfits are usually designer chic light years away from the original punk second hand clothes ethos.The sound is more garage band and a little like some of the original new wave bands like Bow Wow Wow,Adam and The Ants.

Climax @ Taiwan Explosion 2


http://facebook.com/group.php?gid==11410229

FiFitwo play fun-filled,sunshiny indiepop designed to give you a feelgood glow and get you moving.For a 3 piece combo with guitar ,bass and drums they have a big sound and the songs are jangly and melodic with lots of hooks.

FiFitwo @ Taiwan Explosion 2

http://www.myspace.com/fifitwo
White Eyes have won lots of awards and it's easy to see why.The band took the Fringe Club by storm with their rocking,slightly retro,punk-garage style.Definitely one of the best bands to visit Hong Kong this year and the club was packed to see them The band played songs from their EP "Got My Body If You Want It',kicking off their set with the high tempo 'No!No!No!'Xiao Gao's vocals can range from a whisper to a shout on songs like 'Narcissistic Personality Disorder' and the rhythm section is tight and rocking with some driving lead guitar from Telecat that takes the band to ecstatic sonic levels .It's not surprising that the band have The Yeah Yeah Yeahs on their friendspace as both bands play a similar garage style postpunk and Xiao Gao's vocal style and Karen O's have a lot in common.At the moment there's a lot of expectation about this band.On this showing they really are a band worth checking out .

http://www.myspace.com/whiteeyeslovesyou

White Eyes @ Taiwan Explosion 2

Indiepop meets Neo Postpunk

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Timeout Hong Kong and Crazy young Master gave us a punchy combination of indiepop and postpunk with this double bill.First Retros strutted their dark,angular postpunk then Hedgehog soothed with more melodic pop.

Re-TROS opened their set with a brooding electronic number reminiscent of Bauhaus at their bleakest before kicking it up a notch with a faster version of 'Death Bed Song' and then

pushed up the excitement levels higher with 'Boys in Cage'.The band were'nt afraid to challenge their audience with songs like 'Bela Lugosi' and it's easy to see why Brian Eno was attracted to work with them on their debut EP 'Cut Off'.Vocalist Hua Dong's excitable,agitated vocal style is perfect for their sound ,complemented by the vocals of bassist Liu Min and the frenetic percussion of Ma Hui.The band's defiantly post-punk roots made for a great evening of magnificently doomy Beijing indie ,ending their set with the downbeat 'Die in 1997'.

Re-TROS 'Die in 1997'

http://myspace.com/rebuildingtherightsofstatues
Hedgehog ,at the opposite end of the Beijing indie spectrum,playing aggressively uptempo indie rock that compelled the audience to jump around more and more wildly.having seen the band last year in the Fringe club,I was impressed how much tighter their sound was in this larger spaceThe band is powered by the amazing drumming of Atom and they stormed their through some new material and songs from their
debut 'Noise Hit World'like 'Toy & 61 Festival','Pumpkin'.and 'Noise Hit World'.By the close of their set the whole place was jumping.Sounds like a particularly energetic cross between New Order with Box's thumping bass and Blondie with X.O.'s ringing guitar.Could be Beijing;s Franz Ferdinand.




http://myspace.com/hedgehogcn

Listen Up! @ The Fringe Club

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Another Hong Live show but with an unexpected twist.Taiwan band Hair City couldn't come because one of the band had visa problems so the Amazing Koya of Mark 1 who does so much on the local scene stepped up with one of his bands,Sea Monsters.Searing jazz punk style guitar,amp-shredding bass and crashing drums.Follow that if you can.

Hula with a punk ethic could describe the literate songs of Harry,Angus and June,collectively known as Born to Hula and becoming increasingly poular on the local Hong Kong indie scene.Harry's almost art-rock vocals always have a sense of fun that is nicely balanced by the driving punk backing of June on drums and Angus on bass.This band's gigs just keep getting better with some new songs to their set of favourites like 'Goner','Satellites' and 'We Tigers'.Even after playing their set,it wasn't enough for the crowd so the band had to find one more song to please the crowd.

Yanyan Pang and Chochuckmo got the biggest cheers of the night with their melodic pop punk ,tearing through songs like Number One and 'Head To Toe' and finishing their set in such an ecstatic uproar that an encore was mandatory.

White Noise:Hong Kong Indie Heaven

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For indie music fans White Noise is the best thing in Hong Kong.While there's no doubt about the talent of the local music scene.The release of a double album compilation by the Underground shows that this city has upcoming indie bands by the score but if we want to see world-class new indie bands at a reasonable cost in an intimate setting then the White Noise gigs organised by Gary Ieong are a must.The label's last event ,the New Sentimentality Asia Tour set the bar pretty high with blistering postrock from local favourites The Lovesong and the awesome Japanese instrumental band Toe but for

the National Day event,Notch08,at Hitec you really had to reach for superlatives,especially for the headliners,Efertklang from Denmark.

The festival is a celebration of music and art from Scandinavia and China with the emphasis on experimental indie.As well as some video and art display we had some leftfield indie. The first act may have got off to a slow start but after that things got a lot more interesting with local act Kung Chi Shing ,folowed by the intricate electronica of Swedish band Tape.

Tape Live @ Notch 08

http://www.myspace.com/tapesthlm

Headliners Efertklang really do stand comparison with indie bands like the Arcade Fire in their dynamic,multi-instrumental live sets and composers like Sufjan Stevens in their super-complex melodies..

From their album 'Parades'it was obvious that they had outstanding compositional skills but it was an electric experience to see their live performance of songs like'Mirador' where the gentle keyboard intro and solo vocals give way to crashing drums ,strings and heavenly harmonies to send the song to stratospheric levels and an exultant climax.By the close of their set when they boldly strode offstage into the audience still playing they had shown Hong Kong that experimental indie can be full of harmonies and still rock.A small venue but it was love at first sight for the Asian audience and the Nordic indie band.A magical night full of  the inspirational sounds of  Europe and Asia.
Efertklang @ Notch08 'Mirador'

http://myspace.com/efterklang