Hong Kong indie music's Hidden Agenda-Unixx ,Fragile ,An IdSignal

Hong Kong's alternative music scene has a Hidden Agenda.Well away from the bright lights and expat-friendly areas like Central and Wanchai and surrounded by industrial buildings in the heart of Kowloon ,you can find this venue, a great place for local music fans and visitors alike to check out the authentic Hong Kong scene.
Last week we had Lonely China Day, a Beijing post rock outfit who've played at SXSW and other US festivals.This week it was the venue for the last gig in local shoegaze band Unixx's album release tour for their new album,'Seven Deadly Sins'.
Opening act was one of Hong Kong's most distinctive indie bands, an IdSignal.The band are
Leung Wing Lai (vocals), Chan Ho Nam (guitar), So Wai Ting (Bass) and Yu Sing Yin (drums),
The sound is like a crazy mixture of retro cantonese pop and garage with a unique delivery from  laid -back frontman Wing Lai.If you haven't yet seen this band you can still check out their album (with English translation handily provided).  
The bad news for Hong Kong postrock fans is that there are not enough bands playing in that style compared to other genres like metal, emo, britpop etc but the few bands here are excellent including Fragile.The band are Jacqueline, Sing (guitars), Tat (bass), Ho (drums), Kimberley (keyboard) and (intriguingly) software from Mono @ No One Remains Virgin (?).
Some classic postrock with songs building slowly from keyboard and guitar based melodies spiralling into full power ,ear-splitting climaxes.

The production and songwriting on Unixx second albums see them confidently expanding the garagey shoegaze sound of their first album into a format that owes more to postpunk and Noisepop and is much richer and more satisfying.on songs like 'Perfect Betrayer', 'Wasted' and the title track 'Seven Deadly Sins'.
On this showing the band have improved dramatically over the last year and are well worth checking out live with their full on wall of guitar shoegazey sound.There's a heavy ,introverted edge to the sound which reminds me of bands like Joy Division and Bauhaus.The new album 'Seven Deadly Sins ' is available in Whitenoiserecords,Causeway Bay.
Unixx (encore)'I Wanna Be Adored'




Hidden Agenda's next show  on 13th June will feature The Medullary Paralysis.

Asian beat-Kashiwa Daisuke, Desktop Error and Evade live in Hong Kong

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The Hong Kong indie music scene is healthy and just keeps growing in terms of new bands, venues and promoters.On Saturday we had at least 5 great shows to choose from (and even some others that were not as well publicised). Ok, Timeout looked good as did the Harbour records show.On the other hand there was Hidden Agenda with Reflector and The Lovesong and an Underground show in Rockschool.
Passing by all these very tempting but more obvious attractions, I headed for what looked like the most intriguing show, the Whitenoiserecords 'Movie-tone' with melodic local electro beat outfit Evade, Desktop Error, a shoegazy postrock outfit from Thailand and experimental but highly danceable Japanese electronica from the incredibly talented Kashiwa Daisuke.
First on stage @ HKICC were local band Evade with a mix of beautiful vocals and chilled out beats.The band are Sonia, Brandon, Yu Faye Jason and Miguel.
They formed in Macau on August 2004 and have been building their reputation since then, blending great tunes and beautiful vocals with complex dance beats.
http://myspace.com/evademacau
Desktop Error are a bright and energetic young band who grabbed the audience 's attention as soon as guitarist Bird struck up the opening chords of' Ticket to Home 'on his thai styled guitar.The band are inventive, energetic and fun and it was easy to see why they are hard to categorize but great to watch live.The sound is a mixtureof heavy, fuzzy guitar and beautiful melodies on songs like 'Tuk Tuk Wan', 'To Dream' and 'Illusionary Image', all played with high energy, and at the end of their set a more intimate moment when vocalist Lek invited us all to set in a circle with the band for some acoustic versions.
The band's sound is difficult to describe having influences from thai folk music, shoegaze and postrock but well worth checking out live.Sounds like M83 meets God is an Astronaut.
http://www.myspace.com/desktoperror
Kashiwa Daisuke may be influenced by progressive rock, but on '5 Dec 'and' Program Music 'the sounds are more experimental than that tag suggests. In any case he obviously decided to air his more danceable side, playing with a VJ and syncopating his mesmerisingly convolutesd electro beats with a psychedelic backdrop.
Despite my aversion to programmed beats (keep percussion live!) I must admit his set was pretty special. Thanks to Gary Ieong and Whitenoiserecords for bringing us an amazing show!
http://www.myspace.com/kashiwadaisuke




If you didn't make it to this show you can find all the bands' albums @ whitenoiserecords, Causeway Bay.
http://www.whitenoiserecords.org/

Desktop Error ' Ticket To Home ' live in Hong Kong

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Kashiwa Daisuke live in Hong Kong 'Program Music'

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Evade + live VJ @ Movie-tone Hong Kong

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Good Fellas 'Be With Me' (Hong Kong)

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For anyone who wants to check out new bands on the indie music scene in Hong Kong get your ass along to one of the Underground's fortnightly shows. Chris B has been organising shows here for the past five years or so and has given bands like Chochukmo, Innisfallen, Audiotraffic, Velvette Vendetta and Unixx a platform to reach a wider audience before releasing their debut albums.While there are other promoers like White Noise Records and The Peoples' Party who focus more on leftfield, experimental bands from Asia and international bands, this is still the best place to check out new local indie bands in Hong Kong who are not scene specific.
I arrived late at the show but was in time to catch the set by OneLastFall, a heavy fivepiece band led by guitarist Faro with vocals from Sheila, second guitarist Rob, bassist Charles and drummer Maijd. The sound ranges between metal and emo with aggressive vocals and high energy guitar, driven by the energetic rhythm section of the band.It didn 't take long for the band to galvanise the crowd into a frenzy of headbanging and arm waving.Some ragged edges but still a very good live band and one to watch out for.
GoodFellas is a four piece band with Cheng Po Kei (Keith) on guitar and vocals, Egg Lo bass and vocals, and Angus Leung on rhythm guitar.
The band play in an infectious Britpop-influenced style.and the slightly differing vocal styles of Keith and Egg work well in their set blending fan favourites like 'Be With You', 'Move On' and some newer material that shows the band with a slightly more electro feel.Is this a move to a more MGMT sound?

Kings of Convenience (Norwegian Wowed )!

Nordic duo Kings of Convenience were in town for 1 night to wow a select audience at a sell out show at Hong Kong's HITEC with a bunch of songs about love and longing, relationships and creativity.Nordic melancholy and the hyperactive Hong Kong spirit may seem like an odd mix but it really combusted in this show.When we turned up on the night about 2 hours early there was already a long line of fans with tickets waiting in line
Hailed as amabassadors of The New Folk, the band had summed up their music creed in the album title 'Quiet is the New Loud' and in fact their playing style is so quiet at times that they requested photographers to minimise the clicking of their cameras in the early part of the show (although typical of this lens mad city some of us couldn't resist taking one or two pix).
Playing material from all 3 albums, the band quickly established an awesome rapport with the crowd, especially when Erlend discovered that Hong Kong fans really knew all the KOC songs by heart and could sing along at will.The ensuing band / audience singalong had all the warmth of a huge house party rather than a concert.
The duo held us spellbound with their delicately beautiful melodies, intricate guitar harmonies, some lovely keyboard and a playful sense of not taking themselves too seriously, typified by Erlend's geeky but fun dance moves in 'Just Want to Dance With You'. The band's formula may appear simple but the rhythms move intricately and efforlessly between pop, bossa nova and folk.