Out takes
Get into the Bargrooves
If you've ever seen the funky looking Bargrooves discs in the CD racks and wondered what they're all about, this could be your chance. Seamless Recordings, the label behind the compilation series, will launch its latest releases, The White House and Bargrooves: Magenta, at Club 97 tomorrow night.
Graham Sahara (right), a resident DJ at the funky room in Ibiza's Pacha Club, is being flown in to launch The White House, named after one of London's leading DJ bars that inspired the birth of the Bargrooves series. The White House regularly hosts big names such as Basement Jaxx, Boy George, Norman Jay, Judge Jules and Seb Fontaine, and the disc is being released to celebrate the club's fifth birthday. Sahara is known for his sets of deep, jazzy house and will be bringing a bit of that sexy, summery Ibiza vibe to Hong Kong tomorrow night.
Supporting Sahara will be the first Asia-based DJ signed to Seamless Recordings, local boy made good Steve Bruce. Entry is free and the tunes start at 10pm.
Calling all deck heads
One of the hottest names in hip-hop will be spinning in Hong Kong tomorrow night, but chances are you're not invited. Grammy-award-winning producer Just Blaze will spin at the second-anniversary bash for Causeway Bay hip-hop clothing store Juice - and if your invite hasn't arrived yet, you may as well forget about it.
Juice, owned by local actor-singer Edison Chen Koon-hei, couldn't have done much better than securing Just Blaze. He has produced for Usher, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, the Game, DMX, Janet Jackson and the Beastie Boys, among others.
Just Blaze worked on several tracks on Kayne West's Late Registration, which won a Grammy this year for best rap album. He'll be supported by local turntablist DJ Tommy at the event at the Jockey Club's Adrenalin bar from 10pm. Not that you'll be going anyway.
Rock without the shock
Drummer Tomoharu 'Gian' Ito was fined $250 for playing naked when his band, Electric Eeel Shock, last played Hong Kong in 2003. So when the Japanese monsters of rock made their long-awaited return to Hong Kong last Friday, the question on everyone's lips was whether the audience was in for a repeat performance.
But Ito was on his best behaviour, saying before the show: 'F*** it, I don't want any trouble.' He only went as far as to take off his T-shirt as his band tore through a blistering set of punk-infused metal, giving Hong Kong its best gig of the year - so far.
