https://www.scmp.com/rss/8131/feed Mark is a UK-based writer covering music, culture and the arts. He’s been writing for the South China Morning Post for two decades from New York, London and in Hong Kong, covering everything from the 9-11 attacks in Manhattan to Blur’s first concerts in China. He’s an avid fan of alternative and indie rock and pop and for a spell helped organise and DJ at a number of Hong Kong club nights. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The Weeknd – the Canadian R&B star born Abel Tesfaye – will be raising the roof at AsiaWorld-Expo with his soaring, dexterous vocals (and gravity-defying quiff) when he makes his Hong Kong debut this Friday night. He’s only a few years into his career, but The Weeknd is already playing the sort of arenas normally filled by the likes of the Rolling Stones. He’ll be bringing a slew of hits that have crashed the charts around the world. Here are five hits we’d most like to hear him play. DJ Diplo... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2175348/five-hits-we-want-weeknd-play-his-hong-kong-debut-friday?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2175348/five-hits-we-want-weeknd-play-his-hong-kong-debut-friday?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Nov 2018 10:30:24 +0000 He is been a long time gone, but the most influential man in popular music is coming back to Hong Kong for a concert on August 4. Bob Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour” – which began rolling 30 years ago – thunders into the city for the first time since 2011, and again he’ll be bringing his catalogue of world-changing protest songs, love songs, folk songs, jazz songs and even some pop songs spanning almost six decades. Music legend Bob Dylan’s 3 most iconic looks Although he has hundreds to choose... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2155395/five-bob-dylan-songs-fans-will-be-hoping-hear-his-hong-kong-concert?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2155395/five-bob-dylan-songs-fans-will-be-hoping-hear-his-hong-kong-concert?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jul 2018 05:00:53 +0000 Queens Hotel Brighton, on Britain’s south coast, is the sort of genteel seafront property more suited to afternoon tea than the launch of inter­national rock careers. But each spring, its base­ment Sandringham Suite bar is given over to three days of raucous concerts from aspir­ing new bands and singers from all corners of the world. For the past 11 years, the bar’s improvised stage, illumi­nated only by an emergency exit sign and a single small spotlight, has hosted everything from Dutch... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2151615/chinas-got-talent-young-musicians-trying-make-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2151615/chinas-got-talent-young-musicians-trying-make-it?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jun 2018 11:00:45 +0000 British singer-songwriter Jake Bugg was described as a “baby Bob Dylan” when he first exploded onto the UK music scene in 2012 aged just 17. His gritty folk songs told stories of hurt and anguish that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the album of a blues singer five times his age. Catchy and instantly memorable, they dealt with lost love and alienation, drawing heavily from his fractured upbringing on a typically grim public housing estate in the English Midlands. Chinese rapper Kris Wu... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2144000/five-jake-bugg-songs-get-you-ready-his-hong-kong-debut?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2144000/five-jake-bugg-songs-get-you-ready-his-hong-kong-debut?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:00:30 +0000 Laurent Garnier has been at the forefront of the global clubbing movement for three decades, rarely taking a break from the turntables since discovering house music at Manchester’s legendary Hacienda nightclub. While the Frenchman’s fellow pioneers of that era have turned to the “old school” nostalgia circuit and play to middle-aged crowds, 52-year-old Garnier is still striving to push musical boundaries. The best Asia spring and summer music festivals – 14 events that you should not... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2136559/ahead-sonar-hong-kong-dj-laurent-garnier-asian-crowds-young-french-djs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2136559/ahead-sonar-hong-kong-dj-laurent-garnier-asian-crowds-young-french-djs?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Mar 2018 05:05:29 +0000 The successful return of British shoegaze pioneers Ride has shown that one of the brightest bands of the 1990s called it a day far too soon when they split up acrimoniously in 1996. Ride’s star ascended quickly after the release of their first EPs in 1990. After a trio of stunning albums, the fourth proved to be their undoing: musical differences and interpersonal rancour led to their sudden split. Over the next two decades, critics and fans suspected that guitarist Andy Bell, lead singer Mark... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2132220/reformed-90s-british-shoegaze-stars-ride-their-new-album-ahead-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2132220/reformed-90s-british-shoegaze-stars-ride-their-new-album-ahead-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Feb 2018 10:00:15 +0000 The three members of British band The xx had been an impenetrably tight-knit group since their school days together, happy in their own little world. But when success came calling, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith found themselves pulled in different directions. Paradoxically, the intrusion of the outside into their geeky existence of electronic music, whispered harmonies and claustrophobic sonic textures seems only to have further cemented their friendship. Music’s gender gap: why... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2131170/xx-may-be-pops-introverts-british-electronic-band-have-lightened-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2131170/xx-may-be-pops-introverts-british-electronic-band-have-lightened-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Jan 2018 12:00:31 +0000 The Ruts were probably the angriest band of the 1970s punk era. They spat their anti-establishment lyrics with a venom the art-school kids in The Clash could only dream of. It’s about anger, but to me it’s also about providing – as a 61-year-old punk – part of the solution as well. I’m trying to be more positive in the songs John Jennings The good news is that, four decades later, they’re still raging. If that wasn’t obvious from title of their latest album, Music Must Destroy, then long-time... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2130372/british-1970s-punk-legends-ruts-dc-making-their-hong-kong-debut-fringe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2130372/british-1970s-punk-legends-ruts-dc-making-their-hong-kong-debut-fringe?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jan 2018 11:00:46 +0000 Rock music is in its death throes. It’s struggling to find a voice in a world that has taken hip hop fully to its heart. But that is just fine with American indie rock darling Kip Berman. He is happy – actually, he is adamant – that the sort of music he makes with his band, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, should take a back seat for a while. The world needs rap more than it does skinny white boys with guitars. Sónar 2018 festival line-up latest: Laurent Garnier, Mount Kimbie and The Black... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2129498/why-america-needs-hip-hop-more-skinny-white-boy-rock-kip-berman-indie?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2129498/why-america-needs-hip-hop-more-skinny-white-boy-rock-kip-berman-indie?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Jan 2018 04:33:26 +0000 The last time Imagine Dragons came to Hong Kong, the tour that brought them here almost cost them their sanity. “We’d been touring incessantly for seven years straight and we were burned out pretty hard,” Dan Reynolds, frontman and founder of the Las Vegas pop-rock titans told AM/FM video magazine earlier this year. Their gruelling schedule took such a toll that Reynolds put the band on hold for a year while he sought treatment for depression. And so began a hiatus that not only recharged the... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2125294/imagine-dragons-dan-reynolds-fame-fans-burnout-and-mormonism-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2125294/imagine-dragons-dan-reynolds-fame-fans-burnout-and-mormonism-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Dec 2017 10:16:43 +0000 Have you heard of a band called A Place to Bury Strangers? Probably not. And yet for the better part of two decades, the New York noise-rock trio have been wowing a fanatically devoted following in the Big Apple’s alternative scene. Like the Velvet Underground of their day, APTBS have inspired some of the most important bands of their generation without breaking cover from the cult circuit. And that’s all down to main man Oliver Ackermann. The singer, guitarist and songwriter has determinedly... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2123256/influential-band-youve-never-heard-place-bury-strangers-return-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2123256/influential-band-youve-never-heard-place-bury-strangers-return-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Dec 2017 10:00:47 +0000 When bands come to Hong Kong for the first time, their first response to inquiries about what they’re most looking forward to is usually “the food.” Not The Dandy Warhols. For the American indie legends, whose brand of melodic psychedelia makes them one of the most anticipated acts on this year’s Clockenflap line-up, have family and friends here who’ve kept them up to date on the city’s cultural scene. And they’re itching to try more than just the local grub. Clockenflap 2017: Kaiser Chiefs and... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2119314/courtney-taylor-taylor-dandy-warhols-making-new-friends-clockenflap?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2119314/courtney-taylor-taylor-dandy-warhols-making-new-friends-clockenflap?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Nov 2017 12:00:30 +0000 When The Prodigy headline the Saturday night of this year’s Clockenflap festival, expect no less than an assault on the senses. The British techno-punks have, over the past three decades, turned rave into a shock-and-awe spectacle, repackaging dance music as an aural weapon, firing off beat-seeking missiles in performances that aren’t so much shows as military campaigns. They are destined to be the most explosive band ever to hit the Clockenflap stage. The outfit are a well-drilled, tattooed,... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2117914/liam-howlett-prodigy-fake-controversy-bands-fired-frontman-flint-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2117914/liam-howlett-prodigy-fake-controversy-bands-fired-frontman-flint-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Nov 2017 00:33:55 +0000 With a teacher mother, a psychologist father and a doctor brother, you may think Danish chart sensation MØ spent her youth fighting off demands that she give up her pop dreams and get a proper job. Well, think again. The singer of high-energy dance tracks such as Lean On and Kamikaze, and one of the international highlights of this year’s Clockenflap festival, counts her family as her single biggest inspiration. “I wasn’t really aware of what my parents did for work until I was much older, but I... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2116071/danish-star-mo-so-so-excited-perform-clockenflap-festival-see-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2116071/danish-star-mo-so-so-excited-perform-clockenflap-festival-see-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2017 10:01:01 +0000 Clockenflap headliner Feist was once the queen of “twee”, the breathy brand of shy and delicate indie. Her string of hits through the noughties were gentle enough to win her pop fans, but sufficiently arch to get her pigeonholed in the alternative camp. It was melodic music with an edge, arty but undeniably safe. Not any more. After six years in the shadows, during which the Canadian singer-songwriter is said to have gone through a break-up and breakdown, Lesley Feist returned earlier this year... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2114270/clockenflap-headliner-feist-her-hong-kong-debut-apple-and-new-musical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2114270/clockenflap-headliner-feist-her-hong-kong-debut-apple-and-new-musical?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Oct 2017 00:30:46 +0000 Talking to anyone from London-based garage rock band Toy feels like you are tapping into the beating heart of the British capital’s indie rock zeitgeist. The five-piece band combine multiple strands of a 1960s-inspired psychedelic scene that has helped shape the UK’s indie movement over the past decade. In one form or another, Toy have had an impact on an impressively disparate array of artists. From collaborating with chart-topping techno-punks The Horrors to forming the alternative supergroup... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2109158/hong-kong-get-second-taste-british-garage-rock-band-toy-london-based?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2109158/hong-kong-get-second-taste-british-garage-rock-band-toy-london-based?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Sep 2017 02:47:18 +0000 Talking to anyone from London-based garage rock band Toy feels like you are tapping into the beating heart of the British capital’s indie rock zeitgeist. The five-piece band combine multiple strands of a 1960s-inspired psychedelic scene that has helped shape the UK’s indie movement over the past decade. In one form or another, Toy have had an impact on an impressively disparate array of artists. From collaborating with chart-topping techno-punks The Horrors to forming the alternative supergroup... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2109157/hong-kong-get-second-taste-british-garage-rock-band-toy-london-based?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2109157/hong-kong-get-second-taste-british-garage-rock-band-toy-london-based?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Sep 2017 00:02:27 +0000 Josh Davis may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of technology’s transformation of modern dance music into a global behemoth, but the artist better known as DJ Shadow is counting the days before the same computer advances make him redundant. According to Davis, who will be headlining the debut Sónar Hong Kong festival on April 1, the future belongs to artificial intelligence-driven, programmable non-human DJs, creating algorithmic music and reading crowds through machine learning. “I’m not... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2077118/sonar-hong-kong-headliner-dj-shadow-predicts-future-music-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2077118/sonar-hong-kong-headliner-dj-shadow-predicts-future-music-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Mar 2017 00:00:15 +0000 The last time The Damned played here, they were put in a plush Hong Kong-side hotel. But true to their punk credentials, they couldn’t wait to get to the grittier side of the harbour. And once there, the very un-punk nerdy side of band leader and guitarist Captain Sensible emerged. “Kowloon was a revelation – as a gadget buff it was epic,” enthused the Captain, known to his family as Raymond Burns. “And then we had a street-food blowout of gargantuan proportions nearby – I just remember the... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2070401/damneds-captain-sensible-epic-kowloon-trip-keeping-faith-and-punks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2070401/damneds-captain-sensible-epic-kowloon-trip-keeping-faith-and-punks?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:02:51 +0000 Jamie Hince is in hiding. On the run. Although the granite-faced, swaggering guitarist of Hong Kong-bound rockers The Kills doesn’t look the type to run from a fight, he’s definitely trying to lay low. Not from the police, or from any number of seedy characters he may have chanced upon in a career that’s been spent largely walking on the wild side. He’s on the run from Donald Trump. So omnipresent has been the news of the United States’ first spray-tanned president and so ominous have his... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2068493/kills-jamie-hince-talks-being-run-donald-trump-and-hong-kong-bound?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2068493/kills-jamie-hince-talks-being-run-donald-trump-and-hong-kong-bound?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:00:12 +0000 The past 12 months have been tumultuous ones that saw the world irrevocably turned inside out. That, at least, is how indie singer Nick Murphy sees his 2016. While the world in general was mourning the loss of heroes and the arrival of new demons, the Australian artist formerly known as Chet Faker was busy transforming his career, dropping his stage name in favour of his real name and tinkering with his music to metamorphose from cult troubadour into one of the world’s pre-eminent... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2061161/farewell-chet-faker-hello-nick-murphy-singer-songwriter-playing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2061161/farewell-chet-faker-hello-nick-murphy-singer-songwriter-playing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jan 2017 04:15:30 +0000 Bryan Adams must have the patience of a saint. The Canadian rocker who wrote, performed and made a fortune from the song that has never gone off the radio and soundtracked almost every wedding and engagement party since 1992 says he never tires of playing (Everything I Do) I Do it for You. “It’s a brilliant song to play live,” he says of the 1991 track that went to No 1 on most charts around the world and still holds the record for sitting atop the UK list. “I love that song – I still enjoy... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2055151/bryan-adams-talks-about-his-upcoming-hong-kong-gig-and-resisting-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2055151/bryan-adams-talks-about-his-upcoming-hong-kong-gig-and-resisting-death?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Dec 2016 23:30:15 +0000 For more than 20 years the Chemical Brothers have dominated dance music, with big beats, big hits and big stage shows. Now they’re ready to bring their immense firepower to Hong Kong’s biggest musical event – headlining the final night of the Clockenflap festival on Sunday. The original superstar DJs, whose hits include classic floor-fillers Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Block-Rocking Beats and Setting Sun, are the biggest name on a stellar bill at this year’s three-day event. Other big hitters set to play... https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2048608/clockenflap-headliners-chemical-brothers-aiming-sensory-overload?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2048608/clockenflap-headliners-chemical-brothers-aiming-sensory-overload?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Nov 2016 00:00:15 +0000 Sam Peckinpah's neglected 1977 film one of the best ever war movies  Armies of filmmakers have cited it as one of the best war (or, anti-war) films ever made. Orson Welles hailed it upon its release, Quentin Tarantino used it as a blueprint for Inglourious Basterds, and everyone from Michael Mann to John Woo has taken its themes to heart. But Cross of Iron had the unfortunate timing of being released in May 1977, just weeks before Star Wars changed the cinema-going experience forever. Gone were... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/film-tv/article/1823712/nostalgia-trip-film-album-and-book-theme-armies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/film-tv/article/1823712/nostalgia-trip-film-album-and-book-theme-armies?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:02:01 +0000 Trans-Europe Express Kraftwerk Kling Klang In a recent BBC documentary, veteran music journalist - and one-time wannabe rock star - Paul Morley set the blogosphere alight with the claim that Kraftwerk were more influential than The Beatles. The argument boiled down to this: while the Fab Four inspired a flood of bands in their wake, the German electronic pioneers spawned a range of musical genres. If plagiarism was the measure of influence, Liverpool's finest would come out on top. From The... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1783210/nostalgia-trip-train-theme-alfred-hitchcock-agatha-christie-and-kraftwerk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1783210/nostalgia-trip-train-theme-alfred-hitchcock-agatha-christie-and-kraftwerk?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 May 2015 14:51:33 +0000 She's the cult pop star with Katy Perry-sized ambitions; the bad-mouthed Britney whose songs are played at indie clubs. It's difficult to pigeonhole Charli XCX. She's got the sass of Rihanna and the vocal strength of Beyoncé, but the following of The Strokes. And if you find her puzzling, that's just fine by the 22-year-old, who was born Charlotte Aitchison. She's not interested in what you think. "I don't really care if people like me or not — you're asking the wrong person," she says over a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1758690/expect-wild-prop-heavy-show-charli-xcx-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1758690/expect-wild-prop-heavy-show-charli-xcx-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Apr 2015 09:00:45 +0000 Film director Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers, 1994), novelist J. G. Ballard (The Atrocity Exhibition, 1970), and singer Courtney Love's band Hole (Celebrity Skin, 1998) tackle the issue of celebrity. Natural Born Killers Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jnr Director: Oliver Stone It's a horrible hybrid - a seedy mix of social media, reality TV and plain old hubris. All combined, the result is what we call "celebrity culture", a fascinating train wreck that shocks as much as it... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1755112/nostalgia-trip-three-takes-theme-celebrity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1755112/nostalgia-trip-three-takes-theme-celebrity?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2015 14:30:45 +0000 Italy has everything — great food, sunshine and a relaxed way of life — according to Norwegian indie pop star Erlend Øye. But there's one thing that puts him off the country he's called home for the past three years: the nation's notorious roads. The former Kings of Convenience musician and collaborator with dance experimentalists Röyksopp is taking no chances, and has decided to take driving lessons in Bergen, Norway, while rehearsing for an Asian tour that will bring him to Hong Kong for the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1722461/norwegian-pop-star-erlend-oye-adds-italian-accents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1722461/norwegian-pop-star-erlend-oye-adds-italian-accents?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:30:15 +0000 Goats Head Soup The Rolling Stones Polydor Many biographers see Goats Head Soup as the last album from The Rolling Stones' "golden age", an era that included the blistering late-1960s stomp of Beggars Banquet and the rambunctious brilliance of Sticky Fingers. But it would be more accurate to describe it as the first of the band's wilderness albums. While it features some great tracks worthy of the band's impressive canon, including the hit single Angie, Goats Head Soup represents for many fans... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1711730/rolling-stones-goats-head-soup-enter-wilderness-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1711730/rolling-stones-goats-head-soup-enter-wilderness-years?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2015 14:45:45 +0000 Experimental rock guitarist Michael Gira is the embodiment of punk's year-zero ethos; he won't listen to anything old, and by old, that even includes his album released last year. "I can't listen to it," the 60-year old American frontman of Swans, one of the late punk era's most important bands, says of their 2014 release, To Be Kind. "I'm an extreme critic. I can't stand it. I just learn not to dwell and move forward." For more than three decades, Gira has stuck rigidly to the innovative... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1690065/swans-frontman-michael-gira-cant-look-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1690065/swans-frontman-michael-gira-cant-look-back?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jan 2015 15:45:15 +0000 Paul’s Boutique Beastie Boys Capitol Records In 1989, the Beastie Boys released an album that would win the once-derided band critical acclaim and make them hip hop's first act to be taken seriously as artists. Two years later, a court in the US passed a judgment that effectively all but criminalised the record and much of hip hop's canon up to that date. Why the sudden change? Apart from vocal contributions from the band's rappers Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch and Mike Diamond, practically none... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1677870/when-pauls-boutique-beastie-boys-was-high-point-sampling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1677870/when-pauls-boutique-beastie-boys-was-high-point-sampling?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Jan 2015 14:41:07 +0000 Hunky Dory David Bowie RCA The watchword for David Bowie has always been "change": from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke, from soul crooner to stadium rocker, his very career has been an evolving performance copied by many, matched by none. Changing characters, changing music and changing appearance - stylistically Bowie has never stood still. The signs of his future trajectory were made apparent early in his career on Hunky Dory and as if to presage the future, Changes - the opening track... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1672920/1971-when-david-bowies-hunky-dory-album-foretold-music?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1672920/1971-when-david-bowies-hunky-dory-album-foretold-music?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:00:30 +0000 The winter mercury may be dropping, but pop fans will be basking in a summer glow next week when The Drums return with their shimmering surf tunes. With songs that evoke balmy days spent by the sea, the Floridians were regarded as the new Beach Boys when they first hit the scene five years ago. Since then they've had some tough times, including the sudden departure of one of the band's founding members, but they've come through without losing the sense of sunny playfulness that first won fans... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1654236/new-yorks-drums-return-new-album?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1654236/new-yorks-drums-return-new-album?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:30:30 +0000 Rebel Yell Billy Idol Chrysalis   Flesh for Fantasy was an apt title for one of British rocker Billy Idol's big hits. On the face of it, it's a typically cheesy slice of what passed for risqué rock in the early 1980s - lots of nudge-nudge, wink-wink nods and grunts, and more than a hint of misogynistic violence. But it also alluded to Idol's transformation from marginally credible punk star in Britain in the late 1970s to cartoon pop star living the 1980s rock'n'roll dream in the US. Just a few... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1639625/rewind-album-rebel-yell-billy-idol-1983?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1639625/rewind-album-rebel-yell-billy-idol-1983?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Nov 2014 12:16:07 +0000 Junkyard The Birthday Party Missing Link/Virgin Every cult has its cornerstones and for gothic punks The Birthday Party's Release the Bats is chapter one in the movement's scripture. With frontman Nick Cave camping it up in one of the Australian post-punk band's most celebrated tracks, the song - originally released as a single in 1981 - is more rockabilly romp than ghoulish growl. But it helped set a benchmark for a burgeoning scene that revelled in the darker side of life. The song is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1623650/rewind-album-junkyard-birthday-party-1982?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1623650/rewind-album-junkyard-birthday-party-1982?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Oct 2014 15:32:06 +0000 Songs in the Key of Life Stevie Wonder Motown Records Double albums are often sprawling, bloated beasts that say more about an artist's ego than their talent. The Beatles' White Album, The Clash's London Calling and Pink Floyd's The Wall all contain some great tracks, but would have been improved by severe trimming. Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, on the other hand, has no padding at all: there's hardly a track you'd leave off a mixtape. It's so good that even the inclusion of a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1608855/rewind-album-songs-key-life-stevie-wonder-1976?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1608855/rewind-album-songs-key-life-stevie-wonder-1976?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Oct 2014 15:16:05 +0000 There are few gig experiences more moving than a Spiritualized concert. In main man Jason Pierce's anguished incantations of heartache, faith and addiction, the British space rock behemoths straddle rock, theatre and especially spirituality in shows that are not so much rock performances as cultish gatherings. Hong Kong will get to see at close quarters the mesmeric hold the band has over an audience when Pierce brings Spiritualized to the city for the first time on August 11. Like a gaunt,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1559107/spiritualised-will-play-their-transcendental-style-music-acoustic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1559107/spiritualised-will-play-their-transcendental-style-music-acoustic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Jul 2014 15:00:15 +0000 Renowned 1990s British rockers Slowdive were lured back into the limelight two decades after calling it a day, with the promise of main-stage slots at the world's most prestigious festivals. Then they got a call from Hong Kong, and rewrote their plans. For a band so influential they could cherry pick which high-profile event to play, the British shoegaze pioneers leapt at the chance to take a detour to play a one-off gig in the city. "It's a place of happy gig memories," says frontman Neil... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1555258/shoegaze-band-slowdiveare-experiencing-renaissance-20-years-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1555258/shoegaze-band-slowdiveare-experiencing-renaissance-20-years-after?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:18:53 +0000 In Aesop's fable, the determination of the tortoise helped him beat the swift but cocky hare, proving that hard work will triumph in the end. It's an apt metaphor for the reptile's music-world namesake. Well into their third decade, Tortoise may not be the world's biggest-selling band, but as they prepare for their first Asia tour, they are one of its most critically acclaimed. Widely credited with originating the post-rock genre — an experimental fusion of diverse styles from jazz and classical... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1502606/out-their-shell-post-rockers-tortoise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1502606/out-their-shell-post-rockers-tortoise?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 May 2014 14:49:48 +0000 PUNK ROCK HIT THE headlines in a foul-mouthed stream of four-letter words. But there was one they'd never utter: prog. Progressive rock - the complex music played by virtuosos in epic songs weaving Tolkien-esque tales - was strictly forbidden for the spiky-haired pop anarchists after chief punk Johnny Rotten wore a T-shirt bearing the slogan, "I hate Pink Floyd". So it was with more than a little consternation that Rory Friers, one-time teen punk and now lead guitarist for post-rockers And So I... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1432650/ex-punk-rory-friers-once-thought-prog-rock-old-hat-his-band-asiwyfa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1432650/ex-punk-rory-friers-once-thought-prog-rock-old-hat-his-band-asiwyfa?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Feb 2014 14:30:00 +0000 JUST OVER A DECADE after they played two sell-out gigs in Hong Kong, the Rolling Stones return to southern China in March for the biggest concert Macau has ever seen. More than 10,000 people will see frontman Mick Jagger strut his stuff with guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, and drummer Charlie Watts when the most notorious rock band in history bring their colossal “14 on Fire” tour to the Cotai Arena at the Venetian Macao on March 9. It’ll be the band’s first time in the enclave, but... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1423004/audience-his-satanic-majesty-mick-jagger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1423004/audience-his-satanic-majesty-mick-jagger?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:26:15 +0000 SWIM DEEP HAVE DONE their homework. They've consulted experts, sought advice, and now they're making plans for their first big event of the year. And the reason for such dedicated preparations? So they can party hard in Hong Kong. The good-time funk-rockers from Birmingham, England have been primed for their first concert on our shores by their pals in rock'n'roll hedonism, The 1975, one of the big hits of last year's Clockenflap Festival. "They said Hong Kong was really fun and that we're... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1407769/swim-deep-take-plunge-their-local-debut?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1407769/swim-deep-take-plunge-their-local-debut?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:00:30 +0000 It's been a roller-coaster year for US alt-rockers Deerhunter, one that balanced the highs of a hit album and critical recognition at a festival held in their honour against the lows of exhaustion, family crises and a cancelled tour. No wonder, then, that founding member Moses Archuleta will be treating the band's debut Hong Kong gig next week as something of a holiday. There they'll be part of a double bill with fellow American indie stalwarts Sebadoh. "Since Christmas is coming we'll probably... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1368740/indie-darlings-deerhunter-bring-noise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1368740/indie-darlings-deerhunter-bring-noise?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:00:30 +0000 BAUHAUS SINGER Peter Murphy has rebranded himself "Mr Moonlight" for a sell-out tour that will bring him to Hong Kong for the first time in 20 years. During his previous visit, however, he almost fulfilled the title of the eerie track Who Killed Mr Moonlight. "I went out shopping because you can get cheap electronics and I asked if the bloke could do us a deal," Murphy says from his home in Istanbul, Turkey. "He refused and I said, 'Don't be an idiot, we're buying loads of stuff'. He screamed,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1362997/goth-rocker-revisits-bauhaus-gloriously-gloomy-past?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1362997/goth-rocker-revisits-bauhaus-gloriously-gloomy-past?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Nov 2013 14:45:45 +0000 Hounds of Love Kate Bush EMI It's hard to imagine there was ever a time when Kate Bush was regarded as anything but the grande dame of British rock. However, in 1985, the general consensus was that the singer responsible for classics such as the sublime Wuthering Heights had gone Awol. Her 1982 album The Dreaming failed to make an impression and the New Musical Express had even included her in a "where are they now" feature. But the report in the music paper was badly timed: two days later, she... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1319038/rewind-album-hounds-love-kate-bush-1985?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1319038/rewind-album-hounds-love-kate-bush-1985?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 ICELANDIC MUSICIAN Ólafur Arnalds loves contrasts. His latest album For Now I Am Winter is a musical portrayal of seasonal weather changes, while his previous release explored the different emotions inspired by night and day. So it comes as no surprise that the aspect of Hong Kong he loves the most is - you guessed it - its contrasts. "You have this amazingly beautiful mountain on the island and these huge modern buildings. When you're on top of the mountain looking over the other side, you're... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1304947/olafur-arnalds-message-behind-his-music?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1304947/olafur-arnalds-message-behind-his-music?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Good Morning Vietnam: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Various artists A&M Music is, in the lexicon of the marketing industry, "sticky" - that means a song can stay with the listener for a long time, associated with - or stuck to - memories of whatever we were doing when we heard it. Since discovering this, crafty marketing people have hooked their products to great songs in movies and TV ads, and the list of wonderful music that has been devalued in such a way is depressingly long. Also, in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1300594/rewind-album-good-morning-vietnam-original-motion-picture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1300594/rewind-album-good-morning-vietnam-original-motion-picture?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 31 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 AMERICAN SURF-PUNK band Wavves and the Icelandic experimental pop outfit Múm are heading to Hong Kong for a double-header gig next week. But music won't be the first thing on their minds when they touch down. "I want to stuff myself with all that great food in Hong Kong," says Wavves bassist Stephen Pope. A founding member of Múm (pronounced "moom"), Orvar Smarason, is on the same track: "Food is at the top of our to-do list. We're coming to explore [the city] and, most importantly, to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1252546/odd-couple?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1252546/odd-couple?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 COLD CAVE FRONTMAN Wes Eisold knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. Born with one hand, he grew up rootless, moving home between US army bases with his military father. Still, he has risen above disability and psychological trauma to establish himself as one of modern rock's brightest stars. His two electropop albums have spawned a string of singles, now ranking among the most-played underground sounds of recent years, and made the 34-year-old singer-songwriter a poster boy for... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1234694/cold-cave-frontman-wes-eisold-embraces-dark-light?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1234694/cold-cave-frontman-wes-eisold-embraces-dark-light?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 CARL BARAT, WHO co-founded hell-raising British band The Libertines with the notorious Pete Doherty, is ready to reclaim his crown as king of indie rock - and he's chosen Hong Kong as a launch pad for the next stage in his colourful career. Almost a decade after folding one of the most influential British outfits of the past 20 years, he is back with a new album and a renewed enthusiasm for music. But first he will get into the groove with a gig at the Hangout in Sai Wan Ho next week, along with... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1229320/racket-carl-barat-why-he-loves-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1229320/racket-carl-barat-why-he-loves-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000