Holiday!

"It would be, it would be so nice!"

I'm off til October! See ya!

Say my name... say my name

Oh yeah, you can really say my name now with my new name card! Made by a dear friend and ex-flatmate, I have to say it's pretty hot! It's also nice and retro with that tape motif going on... all I need now is for someone to give me a gig as direct result from getting the name card... you know you want to make it all worthwhile!

Party time!

Oh yeah, this one was a real cracker at the New Derby Bar on Morrison Hill Road in Happy Valley. I was a bit nervous about playing, especially since alot of friends were coming, but it all worked out!

With a big posse there, the playlist was pretty much a range of rock, punk, emo, classic hip-hop and super cheese. Think Taking Back Sunday, Thrice, NOFX, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers meets Beastie Boys and Run DMC, meets like um... Right Said Fred.

I'm too sexy for my shirt baby! Awesome party, makes you think clubbing in Hong Kong can be much more than acting cool in an over-priced bar to a soundtrack of forgettable tunes.

The bottom line? Arranging parties is a great way to go!

I've found The Cure!

Versatile rockers The Cure swung into town recently, playing an awesome three-hour set. It would be unfair to dub their style "goth rock", considering they played quite a few styles ranging from new-wavy pop-rock, dark metal to atmospheric instrumental jams. I fully expected the hits one after another, but they surprised me with their range and musicianship. While songs like Inbetween Days, with the "yesterday I got so old, I felt like I could die" rallying call pleased an predominantly older crowd , they also pulled out some spectacular hidden gems that were great to hear on first listen.

They had a weird kind of energy, made even more enigmatic by the fact that lead singer Robert Smith rarely said anything, even at one point repeating "hello, hello, hello" in the middle of a song. He didn't even jump or run about the stage, preferring to prance and stroll about. And the funny thing is the fans rather loved it, worshiping him more with every effeminate gesture.

Great gig. Venue left something to be desired. AsiaWorld-Expo is a big venue, with decent sound and certainly something that Hong Kong lacks. But it is managed in a very "let's prevent fun" style of management. While we were cheap and preferred not to fork out the $700-ish (around US$100) for front row tickets (I think for pretty obvious reasons), ushers in the seated areas kept on reminding people to stay out of the aisles and keep to their assigned seats, which is ridiculous considering it's a rock concert and people want to have fun, not be a total dumb ass sitting down all night. They should consider switching to sections. But anyway... can't win them all, eh?

Gig time baby!

South Bay Beach is Hong Kong's answer to the South of France... just check the water quality before you dip!

Temperatures hit the mid-30s as I headed down to South Bay Beach Club to play with DJ Steve Bruce, who is a regular DJ at Soho joint Solas. Having chilled on the beach quite a few times, I knew what to expect but was still pretty nervous at the prospect of playing for the “South Bay Sessions”, which has included some of Hong Kong’s more well known DJs.

First set 4-5

Had a lime soda to start cause I didn’t want to come across as a total boozer. Pretty chilled openers to smooth things in, with afro beats, juju/highlife, reggae and funk. Roady by New Zealand dub/reggae outfit Fat Freddys Drop was a good one. Went for a swim afterwards (how many gigs can you go for a dip in between sets? Sweet!).

Second set 6-7

Started quite aggressively with a bit of old-school hip-hop, though didn’t get the good reaction I expected with De La Soul’s The Magic Number (plus I screwed up the mix). Got a bit heavy with Justice’s D.A.N.C.E., which always goes down well, followed by Freestylers’ rocky Electrified, a truly cracking track. Chilled it out with a few melancholic jazz numbers and brought it up with !!!’s Must Be The Moon and North American Scum by LCD Soundsystem, getting a pretty good reaction. Went to watch the sun go down with a cold beer and Steve playing some great tracks, like a scene from some cheesy movie (above).

Third set, 830-9

Finished it off with a bit of funky house. Not my favorite, but no worries about playing it and really kept the crowd moving. This got a bit much because we had to close down, so I put on something which I thought would drive them away. Chucked on The Klaxons’ Atlantis to Interzone, which I thought would be the perfect “f**k off” track with its “uh-uh-uhs” and off time electro-rock madness. Actually, it kept people going! Haha. I was like WTF?!?

Damn that was the perfect gig on the perfect day. I want another one soon!

One step forward, two back?

Activists claim another scalp as reggae star Buju Banton denounces homophobia in music. But will the perceived attack on Jamaican culture intensify violence against gays and lesbians in the country?


The Guardian reported that Jamaican singer Buju Banton (above) has joined the likes of fellow reggae superstars Beenie Man and Sizzla to sign the "Reggae Compassionate Act" set up by campaign group Stop Murder Music to denounce homophobia in music. The star's song “Boom Bye Bye” discusses burning, throwing acid on, and shooting queers (not one for the gay club playlist then!). Yet in a seeming contradiction, he has also lent considerable support to causes such as safe sex, poverty reduction and anti-violence. He reportedly wrote Boom Bye Bye as a teenager, but was filmed performing it at a concert in Miami last year.

And there’s really not much of a positive spin to put on the song's lyrics.

Gay rights groups have been a pain in the butt for the likes of these artists, who have experienced serious financial loss in terms of cancelled fees from sponsorships and concerts. But the economic motive to sign the declaration may be a stronger impulse then actual support for gays and lesbians.

The Jamaica Observer reported that Beenie Man has already distanced himself from the act. The star reportedly told press at a recent concert that "we don't need to kill dem” (gays )… “I not supporting a gay lifestyle because it's not wholesome to me"… "It's a ting from the promoters of Europe. They are getting so much fight from the Christian and ‘g’ organisation and everything."

It seems that the Reggae Compassionate Act is very much driven by European promoters and activists. But will forcing reggae stars to sign an anti-homophobic pledge do anything to lessen the violence against gays and lesbians in Jamaica, where gay sex is still illegal?

As campaigners continue their efforts against other artists such as Elephant Man, TOK, Bounty Killer and Vybz Kartel, it remains to be seen whether censorship, albeit in the form of a “Reggae Compassionate Act”, is the right move for gay and lesbians in Jamaica.

For their sake, let’s hope it is, because they are the ones that will suffer, not the activists.

Absolutely Fabio-lous!

A bunch of us headed down to Wanchai club Heat to check out drum n bass pioneer and famed UK radio DJ Fabio. Brought to Hong Kong by local collective Magnetic soul, Fabio played a drum n bass set that was informed by his varied soul, funk, breakbeats, techno and acid house background.

This was interesting because previous visiting drum n bass DJs such as Dieselboy demonstrated a sound infused with rock and hip-hop, with plenty of quick build-ups and hard tunes. One thing that impressed about Fabio was his ability to gradually construct his set over a couple of hours. Rather than just throw big tunes and hard fast sounds, you had to work to get into the flow. This is something that is lacking with many DJs today, who challenged by people’s three-second attention spans and unlimited choice in music, panic to throw down the big tunes and instant winners.

If Fabio showed one thing, it’s that sometimes a bit of patience goes a long way. And not only that, the guy is really down to earth and up for mixing with the crowd after his set (right with my friend), the total opposite of the “arrogant DJ”.

Young, fresh and new!

Here's some new(ish) stuff I've been checking out...

She badass, and she’s back, Sri Lanka/London rapper M.I.A. (top) is releasing the follow up to 2005’s explosive Arular this year. Check out her extremely colourful video for single Boys. Whether getting refused entry to the US, bigging up her Tamil Tiger roots or just generally being cool, she does it with style.

P.S. Epileptics or anyone with aversion to bright lights and colours should avoid!

Meanwhile, retro-tastic The Go! Team (right) are back with some material following the 2005 release of their buzzing Thunder, Lighting, Strike LP. New single Grip like a vice is out, and it’s in a similar vein to the retro rocking style we have become used to, with lots and lots of electronic handclaps for good measure. The album is expected in September.

Veterans The Chemical Brothers have just posted their latest, called We Are The Night. The video for Do It Again sees them back to their old tricks, with a narrative about two Moroccan kids (above) running away from a tooth-pulling session at the dentists and finding a magic boom box that makes everyone dance. Don’t think, just watch.

Billy Corgan and co have seen highs and lows throughout the years with The Smashing Pumpkins’ (right), but they’re back with a new album due soon, and based on the sounds from their latest, Tarantula, it could be alright. Since they got everyone excited, it better be good! The video is a bit, well, odd… and the strange outfits are back!

Mysterious and fond of rocking out electro style, German duo Digitalism have made a splash with singles on the Kitsuné Music label. Their Pogo video also features floating people (above) and nude figures posing. Intrigued? Check it out! New album Idealism recently out as well.

Ex Beta Band members The Aliens (right) have released album Astronomy for dogs. If the title wasn’t weird enough for you, check out their single Robot man. Be afraid... It’s like bloc party funk meets sixties pop-rock meets 80’s fashion. Go figure.

My-Q makes it!

After ages of hearing that former guitarist for local punk band NOPDOGS Mike Yu had headed to Korea to try and make it as a K-pop star, the prophesy has been fulfilled.

Under the alias MY-Q, our man is out there with a new album, and is trying his luck with the likes of Se7en and Rain. Far from his previous punk rock slashings, the new stuff, from pumping opener "She was sexy" (I'm sure some of you out there can relate), candy-electro number "Falling for you", to booty-ballad "Lately", has got an R&B vibe about it.

The Lately video sees our man looking pretty suave, and a couple of twists (right) such as flying dogs and coffee cups add to the intrigue... Think something was lost in translation there, but never mind! Go Mike!

Partners in penetration

Fresh from the ashes of local rock band The Academy, bassist Dave Wong and drummer Paul MacLean are pulling out the stops and penetrating hearts and minds with their new duo DP.

Mixing a bit of metal, grunge and psych-rock, the boys recently blasted out at yumla. Although immediately drawing comparisons with now broken up Canadian duo Death from Above 1979 for aesthetic reasons rather than sound, it was cool to see that DP have chucked out imitation and forged a unique sense of direction. And with their pop sensibility and instrumental breakouts, DP should have enough material to record a decent EP at the very least.

But the real question to ask is are they going to market themselves as sort of suave romantic Air Supply tandem, or more on the edgy rock duo model shown by the White Stripes? Well, it’s really neither because although they have a rockier edge, they weren’t in matching outfits (a shame) and they definitely did not play soft rock grooves, though it must be said they should reconsider if they want that coveted duet with Kenny G at some point in the future.

The venue: Although yumla is predominantly known as a place for DJs and underground styles of dance music, the live music thing is certainly a decent fit for them. The only thing that could be said is that the crowd did not really get into the moshing and head-banging aspect, but whether or not that’s because of the crowd or venue it’s hard to say. Props to yumla for trying new things out, and most importantly, for staying unpretentious!

Let's go Deeper

I’d been waiting for a new Deep 吳浩康 album but was pretty bummed to hear he has just released a 新曲 + 精選 greatest hits record with only three new songs on it. Some of the new videos for the tracks 懲罰自己, 自卑 and 情誡 have been on Road Show, and at least look decent, but given that its Deep that's not very hard. What do the tracks actually sound like? Don't ask me buddy, I haven't heard them yet. Unfortunately, I’m hardly going to get the album considering I have all his previous stuff. Let's hope a new album is coming soon!

After some pretty decent tracks off the 2006 album Documentary, including 故園風雨後 and 宇宙大王, its looking pretty good for our man, and hopefully over all controversy with his previous drugs bust. Definitely looking forward to see if any concerts are coming in the near future.

JUSTICE was served!

I talked about this gig for weeks like it was the second coming of Christ... And finally, in true slacker style, I didn't make it. JUSTICE, the most high profile artist for innovative French electro-funk label Ed Banger Records, played at "too cool for me" venue Volar, a name banged about so often nowadays it was even discussed in a canto-pop song by Justin (側田).

Despite the fact that JUSTICE has one of the freshest sounds around, I ditched it... In my sad defence, all my friends bailed, and the prospect of being packed in with the beautiful set without reinforcements, nursing the wounds from a $300 cover charge, didn't really appeal. It's a shame, considering the riot JUSTICE VS Simian's We are your friends (above) made when it came out last year. A-TRAK, spinmeister and DJ for Kanye West, even spun it at the Hip-Hop mogul's Hong Kong concert.

The JUSTICE debut album is out on June 11, and judging from another single D.A.N.C.E (top), complete with a seriously cool retro video, it's gonna be fairly awesome. Another artist to check out from the label is DJ Mehdi, with his pumping Signatune (T. Bangalter Edit) that gets the blood flowing. And great video as well (above), featuring a car sound system battle so important that the challenger prays before the event!

Getting down to business!

At an MBA party it's important to ask if you will merge with anyone during the evening, and whether your acquisition will be a long or short term investment... In any case, I wasn't on the market, I was just there to DJ.

To get to the HKUST MBA party last Saturday I had to brave some serious weather. As heavy rain, lightning and all hell fell down upon Hong Kong, I decided to askew conventional wisdom and venture out into the mayhem. Well, actually, I'd signed up for it way before and with a wince attempted to lug my seriously heavy flight cases with bag and cds out onto the street to get a cab... I had a better chance of winning the mark six, with what seemed like typhoon 20 weather, it being taxi shift change time and everyone and their mother looking for a cab.

Nobody seemed to care that a poor DJ was lugging his stuff around while trying hopelessly to get a cab and at the same time attempting to keep dry. And of course, with twenty zillion people fighting for space on the street (with everyone going for the usual umbrella and building cover) it was a bit nightmarish really...

But anyway, here are some of the more memorable tracks of the evening:

The Daktaris Eltsuhg Ibal Lasiti. Great drum breaks, nice tough afro influenced funk.

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings How do I let a good man down?. Easily one of my favourite tracks in a while. Tough and gritty soul with excellent backing from The Dap-Kings, lovely crashing symbols outro as well.

Amy Winehouse Rehab. OK, so everyone is talking about this track, but with an opening line of "They try to make me go to rehab, but I say no, no, no", what's not to like?

Cymande The message. Sweet early 1970's funk, disco, jazz from the UK with great hooks and reggae influence. Famous for their song Bra that was sampled by hip-hop group De La Soul.

Faze Action Got to find a way. When I played this, someone said really loudly "oh my God, this is disco". I thought: no it isn't, you #$#@!

Feist Sea Lion Woman. Although I consider Nina Simone to be rather untouchable, this cover of her See-Line Woman is pretty cool. Unfortunately there is something too quirky and slightly dark about Feist's tracks to play without someone thinking it is a bit "odd". But still, this went down quite well.

Micatone Yeah yeah yeah (that's the way it goes). My friend hooked me on to this jazzy downtempo dance band from Germany. Very chilled.

KC and the Sunshine Band That's the way (I like it). I played this as a feeler to see if people were up for old-skool or nu-skool stuff. When one of the oldest guys in the room came over and said "hey, this was before my time" and no one danced, I knew the answer: total mistake! Well... some people like this song...

Punjabi MC Mundian To Bach Ke. I admit this is very obvious but it still manages to get people on the move. You should have seen those Indian MBA students move!

Vanilla Ice Ice Ice Baby. Should I be ashamed? Yes, but quite frankly, who cares? I found that people really like this song still, so the original white boy rapper is still OK in my books!

Lean green disco machine

With a population of under one million, you might not expect the Dutch city of Rotterdam to be at the centre of the music world. Yet it has become something of a mecca for "green clubbing", and it may well be an initiative that clubbers worldwide should be paying attention to. International sustainability organisation Enviu has joined forces with architects Döll - Atelier voor Bouwkunst to create the Sustainable Dance Club concept.

Working with scientists at the Technical University in Delft, Holland, and a range of commercial and technical partners, the team aims create a club with a “regenerating” dancefloor (right) that harnesses energy from clubbers jumping up and down, toilets flushed completely with rainwater and clubbers' sweat (naaaasty), light fixtures on the wall that are powered by “human heat” and plenty of “biological” beer (like what kind of biological? Gulp…)

The project will mix this technology with more common green energy like wind turbines, solar energy, LED lighting and smart “energy saving acoustics”. Will they succeed? Only time will tell… but they kicked off the concept with the Critical Mass club night in Rotterdam in 2006 (right), which will be followed by an upcoming event in Amsterdam that will see the launch of "Trees for Dance", where you can calculate your CO2 “dance foot print” and help pay for the planting of trees that will compensate for your hedonism.

Hopefully the successful implementation of this concept will spark something much bigger… and with the amount of energy spent clubbing worldwide on any given night, it is clearly a concept that global clubbers could get in the groove for.

Wham! Bam! Worldwide jam!

It's pretty rad and out now, eJamming AUDiiO lets musicians jam together online in real time. That means a guitarist in Nigeria, bassist in Germany, DJ in Canada, drummer in Russia, vocalist in Thailand, flute player in Brazil (OK, you get the point yes?) can meet online, form a band, and start playing together immediately like a United Nations supergroup! But does it come with an online translator as well? How do you say "that sounded like crap, you're fired" in Thai?

Seriously though, you can also record sessions, exchange locally recorded tracks and simultaneously record audio and MIDI, meaning you can mix "real instruments" with "digital instruments" like synthesizers and drum machines. From their demo video, it doesn't sound that bad at all.

Having said this, the programme (right) imposes a delay on each musician's instrument according to bandwidth of the user and distance between users. So your proximity to other players and upload speed will determine how much delay there is. A free to download eJamming AUDiiO beta version has been running for about a month, and around 2,700 musicians in 99 countries have signed up already. The subscription service will start in a few weeks for around US$15 per month, so get cracking and check out for free if rocking with Egyptians or Laotians is your kind of thing. I probably will, and apparently you get a discount on subscription if you provide feedback, so it's just a matter of writing "those Bulgarians didn't like my sound... I'm devastated!" and you're through... BOOM!

To start with, it's best to avoid playing with musicians more than 5,000km away, says eJamming. For all those Bolivians who want to hook it up straight away in Bangladesh, well you'll just have to wait...

Musigy also have been running online collaborations, including some pretty innovative shows at Ukraine's Koktebel Jazz Festival 2006 (right). Their "Jazz @ the Speed of Light" project included British sax star George Haslam playing in Oxford live with Russian sax legend Alexey Kozlov, who was on stage at the Koktebel Jazz Festival. Check out a TV clip on it here.

It's worth having a look at the Russian TV clip on the festival as well, though unless you speak Russian, you really have no hope of comprehending anything that's going on... Anyway, it's not my fault you don't speak Russian! One of the main attractions of this clip is the newscaster's sweet tan (above), I didn't realize it was such a sunny country, I gotta go there and get me some nice bronzing... oh baby!

Industry alarmed by ‘Crimea wave’

It’s been all over the web that cult-band The Crimea are releasing their “Secrets Of The Witching Hour'” album totally free on the web here. Not quite sure why this is such a big story though, considering thousands of artists give away music for free, millions of people rip songs online and people are exchanging music left, right, and centre on a daily basis.

The story reflects larger concerns about the future of media: will everything be totally free, not just illegally, but legally? And if so, who is going to pay for it?

The Smashing Pumpkins did exactly the same thing when they released Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music online, for free, in September 2000 against the wishes of their label Virgin Records. Almost seven years on however, the success of artists such as the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen, heavily attributed to online exposure, and the fact that less and less people actually are willing to spend money on any kind of media and rely solely on peer-to-peer downloads, has made the industry take notice.

The band were dropped by Warner Music, despite making the UK top 40 with “Lottery Winners on Acid”, selling 35,000 copies of their debut “Tragedy Rocks” (above) album in 2005, and supporting the likes of Snow Patrol, Ash, The Kings of Leon, Billy Corgan, Keane and The Get Up Kids. With this solid foundation, the band chose to self-fund the album and give it out for free, hoping that touring, merchandise and pure publicity will compensate.

Well, the stunt worked for this sad blogger, and even though The Crimea are not really my cup of tea, here’s a plug guys, just for sheer viral publicity efforts. If you are a fan of the likes of Snow Patrol, Coldplay and Keane, and enjoy the quirkiness of artists like Badly Drawn Boy, you might just like them…

Check out their White Russian Galaxy video.

And if you want the “brick and mortar” album, it’s out in record stores on May 13th.

Incidentally, the Smashing Pumpkins are releasing a new “Zeitgeist” album in July! Oh the excitement!

Totally Scandinavianolous!

OK, it's not a word, I know...

My trendier-than-thou brother was in Hong Kong recently and dropped me some tunes, including some by Swedish band Peter, Bjorn and John. They hit up some nice n' funky indie-pop tunes, if not a little melancholic. Check out the pop-art stylised video for their catchy song "Young Folks" here. Oh, and they have a super "far out" psychedelic party in the video as well!



It brought back good memories of Scandinavian bands, particularly the excellent punk/hardcore label Burning Heart Records and classic bands such as Starmarket and Randy coming from Sweden. Meanwhile, The (International )Noise Conspiracy (above right), also from Sweden, are having their 2007 release produced by legend Rick Rubin (think Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash to name a few) and are set for pretty big things... and they played in Hong Kong back in the day as well! Check out their anthem Capitalism stole my virginity.


Just to get away from rock for second, Norwegian electronic singer songwriters Royksopp have been a big hit over the last few years. The duo, Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, compose soulful electronica with a strong organic feeling.

See their interesting Poor Leno video, about a imprisoned cute little bear-like creature (above) trying to find freedom. It's in a similar vein to another Norwegian duo, Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, who as the Kings of Convenience are a little more on the acoustic side, but have done plenty of electronic collaborations, particularly illustrated by the excellent Erlend Øye DJ Kicks compilation.

And their I'd rather dance with you video is quite cute and funny! Check out Erlend Øye as he tries to show ballerinas some dance moves



Unfortunately, this girl is not very impressed!

Hot singles here!

Ah, your dirty mind, what do you think this is, huh?

Here are a few singles I've been checking out recently.

It's been out for a while, but dan le sac VS scroobius pip "Thou shall always kill" is a rather surreal electro rant that made me chuckle and could possibly make me dance at the same time, however odd that experience may be.

I would say it definitely harks back to that funk classic,Gil Scott Heron's "The revolution will not be televised" and has some very amusing lyrics. As always though, the original outclasses and still sounds relevant and powerful today, more than 35 years after its release.


Meanwhile, Prodigy, who makes up half of fierce New York rap duo Mobb Deep, has released a new album. Check out his trippy Mac 10 Handle track that references classic Hong Kong movie Hard Boiled (辣手神探) and features everything from booze, drugs, devils, cracked mirrors and George Bush puppets, with superb funk-rock, blues informed production sampling Motown era icon Edwin Starr's "Easin' in".



Canadian singer-songwriter Feist is back with a new "The Reminder" album released worldwide today. Here in My Moon My Man she dances on escalators and blocks people, which is just plain rude in my opinion. Actually, the commuters don't seem to mind, 'cause they all start dancing with her! Sweet!

Finally, a song which I initially thought was just plain bizarre but has seriously grown on me is Battles' "Atlas". It's from Warp Records, home of electronica pioneers Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, and reflects a rock direction they took with the signing of Maxïmo Park and !!! (pronounced "chik chik chik", weird huh?). The helium vocals, cube in space theme and about 60 million effects pedals and keyboards definitely makes for cool viewing.

Unplugged and out loud

Japanese emo-rock band Buddhistson dropped into town for a gig, and lead singer Shima followed with a solo set for Hong Kong indie fans. The gig was part of local acoustic artist slash!SAKURAslash!s' regular nights at the upmarket Hollywood Rd bar MINK. I must say I was a bit curious, considering it is the kind of place you usually hear funky house, which is a bit aside from the troubadour tradition.

Turns out the venue is quite suited, and the place was packed out on a rainy Tuesday night. Shima, who cut a dashing Mr. Darcy meets Jim Morrison meets Nakata, played a confident, soulful set (though I'm not the most objective judge of things... ahem) and was ablely supported by band-mate Yumi, who played a slightly odd solo gig on her keyboard (though I must admit, I don't speak Japanese, so could have been some good lyrics I guess).



Other support included local artist Mic Makkai (motion fades) who turned out a decent set that seemed to mention flowers quite a bit, not sure what he was on about but it sounded OK, and he was wearing a super-cool Clockwork Orange t-shirt which more than makes up for things. Keep in touch at the slash!SAKURAslash! webpage, certainly a bit different from your normal night out.


Here's Buddhistson in full BTW...