31 December 2010

Eason Chan Xmas song



Before Xmas is just a memory... Eason Chan's Xmas single My Private Christmas and the adventurous hedgehog insists on the nice rabbit animation version. Below Eason having fun in Vancouver speaking British and Hong Kong English to Canadians. But this is concert man! 5.45 no music wtf?

27 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Hei Wong / Amino Shower



This makes it ten, so I'll squeeze two into one. Hei Wong released his April the seventh CD this year and seems to performed most of it on YouTube. This is a song about MSN and Facebook. As YouTube video quality goes, it doesn't get much worse than this, but the sound quality is good and it's a nice song. And another song about Facebook by Amino Shower, who played a storming set at Hidden Agenda last night.

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - 在草地上/JoyTrendySound



Some happy metal from JoyTrendySound. Their CD has been a long time coming but worth the wait. 12 great tracks at just under 30 minutes means I can hear the whole CD on my way to work. And thanks for translating all the lyrics into English! This is a song called vegetables and its about surviving (on vegetables).

25 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Very Ape



I want to post something from The Underground Compilation #3 that came out earlier this year, so here is Very Ape. Any band with a song called You are just ape and we are very ape has got to be worth listening to. Very Ape rip the house down live and just love making noise. Like they say, they are really very ape.

23 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Ghost Style



Ghost Style and DJ Weezy lightin' up the universe. What you gotta do when you gotta get it done / I'm the ET originate from the sun / I tap into the power and I drink from the source / I live in the now and I have no remorse. Let's live on the brighter side, yeah-er!

18 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - King Lychee



King Lychee will never let you down... In Mandarin, Cantonese and English, CNHC. I guess it means China Hardcore. Not on CD as far as I know but you can download from their website.

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Chet Lam



We also interviewed Chet Lam about the time he released his English album, Camping. His second English album, Back To The Stars came out earlier this year. It's a concept album with every track written for a different character in The Little Prince, and incredibly popular book in Hong Kong. I'll probably be deported for saying I don't really get it, but the album works just as well without the concept and Chet shows he's probably the best English lyric writer in Hong Kong right now.

And here's a bilingual song that shows he can rock it up as well - Vancouver Skyline.

15 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Fruitpunch



A rocker from Fruitpunch, from their second CD, Wind And Sea. Release party at Hidden Agenda on 26 December. I remember interviewing these guys in a noisy corner of a shopping mall in Tsuen Wan around the time they made their first CD. That was for a book we are writing on multilingualism and Hong Kong popular music. Here's their second CD, where's our book?

13 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Corey Tam



Corey Tam has come over from Toronto to play his guitar and sing his songs. This is him talking about himself and singing Champagne Eyes (around 1:20). Also wears a hat and plays electric, which sounds pretty good in his open air videos, but I'm picking this one because the recording is better.

12 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Rachel Believes In Me



Here's a band with an album, or at least with an album release party. Nice videos of Waiting and Old Songs. I'm choosing Old Songs, because I really like the double-track vocal. Rachel Believes In Me will also get me out of the house at last - they are on the bill at Fruitpunch's show at Hidden Agenda on 26th December.

11 December 2010

Top Ten HK Indie 2010 - Kevin Kaho Tsui



Not much on this blog since last year when I was whingeing about the lack of CDs on Time Out's best of HK indie list(and I still don't get out of the house enough). So I'll have a go myself this year and I'll stick to YouTube and see if I can get to ten.

This is Kevin Kaho Tsui. He came back from university in Manchester (yeah!) last year, he's a big fan of John Lennon, (I guess Dear Florence is a nod to Dear Prudence), and he likes making videos with his iPhone. Highlights of this one: Kevin strumming on a bench in Sha Tin and the girl with the stripy legs.

Kevin does covers too and I love his Telephone, which sent me to Lady Gaga at the Brit Awards. Really, I don't get Lady Gaga, but that performance is something worth watching.