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...

No gig for Pretty Girls (yet)

Hong Kong indie kids collectively sighed as seminal art-punk quintet Pretty Girls Make Graves postponed their Hong Kong date due to issues getting visas for their China gigs. Word is they will be playing in June, but this has not been confirmed. Let's hope they do, as they will be breaking up after this, their final tour. Keep in touch with the latest at
Far east far out's website

Fusing a range of styles from stadium rock, riot grrrl, to emo, with added elements like piano and trumpets, this Seattle band, if they make it, are not to be missed.

Here is their cool This is our emergency video.



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Diesel fuelled!

Top American drum n bass DJ Dieselboy recently rocked the house in Lan Kwai and as always, it's great to see some proper dance music amidst the tyranny of easy listening dance music that perpetually grips Hong Kong. Pumping and lively, everyone rocked out to tunes like Pendulum’s remix of The Prodigy’s Voodoo People.

The success of this event was no surprise really, given that Club Magazine and local drum n bass crew Magnetic Soul have hosted some smoking nights of late. In 2007, British legend DJ Suv swung into town, followed by Pendulum, the Australian trio who really set the scene alight with both their compositions and remix work. You gotta respect the Magnetic Soul Crew for bringing so much top quality to town, against the odds.

Check out for the latest news on what’s coming up and lots of free mixes, because you really don’t want to miss out!

Buffalo Soldiers

Having been in Phuket, Thailand, I noticed there were loads of local people really into Bob Marley. Riding in a cab one day though, we were listening to this awesome old school Thai band called "Carabao", which means Buffalo in Tagalog, as the band formed in the Philippines. The band has covered politics, daily Thai life and the struggle of ordinary people since 1977, and can really be considered true "Buffalo Soldiers".

Their combination of elements including rock, reggae, unusual percussive arrangements, slide guitars, flutes, saxophones and traditional Thai instruments makes for an interesting listen, and really singalong and danceable at times! Here one of the guys is playing a traditional Thai Violin, which is possibly called a Saw Duang or Saw U. Actually, I'm not sure, ten bucks (HK) to anyone who can tell me.


Throw in a couple of Singhas, a game of Connect Four and sweet Thai weather plus beaches, and you've got a pretty good time going. Can't believe I didn't pick up some songs in Thailand... looks like I'm going to be trawling local Thai stores for it! Maybe HMV will have it.... haha, no way!

Listen to some music here. It's all in Thai, sorry!

Sevens heaven...

After three days and 1,345 beers, 454 glasses of Pimms and 236 swigs of vodka Red Bull, added to four hangovers and god knows what else, you begin to question the wisdom of heading to the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. In terms of music, it would have to be said that the situation could have been better this year.

A pretty cool Cathay Pacific Sevens Kung Fu Sevens TVC featuring the Rogue Trader's rip-rocking "Watching you" (with help from The Knack's famous "My Sharona" guitar riff ) was a redeeming feature. Otherwise some old favourites like DJ Otzi's "Hey Baby" and the Credit Suisse commercial featuring Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move It" came up, but The Sevens people really need to get more party anthems pumping for next year. Wanna a dj? I know one, hehe...

On a side note, "My Sharona" appeared in chick-flic "Reality Bites", but I reckon Ethan Hawke is hotter in Gattaca.