kampong beat

龍

2012-01-25T17:12:00.004+01:00

恭禧發財, 新年快乐 everyone!

Chen Hangfeng 陈航峰: "Logomania Dragon", 30 x 34 cm, cut on bamboo paper, dye with water color, 2012

NeoFolk South East Asian contemporary art show at Cutlog Paris art fair, Oct19-23

2011-10-21T10:57:00.018+02:00

Response at the Cutlog art fair Oct19-23 to our NeoFolk showing has been amazing.

Our NeoFolk show, by Clear Edition gallery, was by far the most popular amongst visitors and exhibitors alike. People and media were grateful to discover and learn about contemporary art that wasn't conceptual or commercial pop art, but fresh, original, narrative, and immediately accessible.

Feedback on the artworks was that of joy for such uniqueness, talent, dedication and craftsmanship.

Kult magazine's NeoFolk catalogs went out like hot cakes, opening visitors' eyes to a new realm of creation.

They were distributed to hot spots around Paris, galleries, shops and bars.
Cutlog director Bruno Hadjadj introduced us to French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand at the launch of the Paris international contemporary art fair on October19th, and gave him the Kult # NeoFolk issue.

Syan aka MC Yan's live mural and hip hop performance was a blast, astonishing everyone at the Arte prize party on Oct21st.

Multiple connections were made, for future exhibitions across various art centres, galleries and curators in Paris, Marseille, Nice, Belgium, London and Naples.
The Cutlog team has been very supportive, giving us the best, central spot in the fair, and introducing our works to his network of collectors, curators and media.

Many thanks to Steve and Zarani at Kult for publishing the beautiful NeoFolk issue.

Artists exhibiting were:

Syan aka MC Yan from Hong Kong: live graffiti painting and hip hop

Kuanth from Singapore: XinHua shadow puppet show, acrylic animated installation “杜十娘 Du ShiNiang (Lady No.10)“, 150 x 90 x 40 cm

Sokkuan Tye from Singapore: “Kuih-muih” hanging installation, felt, 70 x 70 x 100cm

Darbotz from Jakarta, thanks to M.A.C. Graffiti:
“Tomorrow #1", 100 x 80 cm

and “Tomorrow #2", 100 x 80 cm

I Made Palguna from Yogjakarta, thanks to Kiridesa gallery:
“Cute guy”, 100 x 100 cm

and “Sofa model #5”, 100 x 150 cm

Samuel Indratma from Yogjakarta: 4 “(Mletho) Animalle” papier mache sculptures (1 SOLD), approx 90 x 40 x 60 cm

redslim08 from the Philippines: 8 drawings (ALL SOLD), 30 x 22.5 cm
Hilo Garsy / Matricia Javier

Camille Frat / Sihorsifina Magdayao

Oykotrinal Muskopan / Rabis Marker

Jelana Magdangal / Dagyana Suviree Olioli

Jam Wu 吳耿禎 from Taipei: polypropylene paper prints of silk-cutting
“愛與勇氣飛翔王國“ The Kingdom Full of Love and Courage to Fly (SOLD), 90 x 90 cm

“小樂” Xiao Le, 90 x 90 cm

and “小喜” Xiao Xi, 120 x 120 cm

My favourite pieces at Cutlog:

Gordon Chandler's metal kimono, at stage候台BACK

Barbara Husar's Cord of Rexa Shanghaisaurosuses

Asian contemporary art in Venice June 2011

2011-06-18T22:35:00.016+02:00

Asian artists put up a great showing at the Venice 2011 Biennale. This is a small selection of those I enjoyed.

Seen at Future Pass, at the San Gregorio abbey:

黃致陽 Huang Zhi Yang, Taiwanese artist in Beijing
"Auspicious Beast no.1"

孙逊 Sun Xun, from Hangzhou

猪子寿之 Toshiyuki Inoko from Team Lab Tokyo
"花と屍 Flower and Corpse" 3D virtual animation

楊茂林 Yang Mao Lin, from Taiwan
"The Three Sages in the Ocean of Misery", 2009

"Jataka Tale of Extraordinary Love"

Sea Hyun Lee, Korean artist in London
"Between Red"

邱黯雄 Qiu An Xiong, from SiChuan
video
毛旭辉 Mao Xu Hui, from YunNan

施工 Shy Gong, from Taipei
"TaiKe Fantasy" interactive animated neon paintings

Indie Guerillas, from Yogyagarta
"Sons of the Beach"

See also their "Rock'n Roll is our Epiphany", decal and acrylic over wood and iron.

杨福东 Yang Fu Dong from Beijing

缪晓春 Miao Xiao Chun, from Jiangsu, based in Beijing

唐茂宏 Tang Mao Hong, from Guangxi, based in Shanghai, whose video installation below I had already seen at the Singapore Biennale

刘野 Liu Ye from Beijing, channeling Balthus...

Seen at "Cracked Culture? The Quest for Identity in Contemporary Chinese Art" at the Palazzo Giustinian and Convento San Spirito, curated by the Guangdong Museum of Art:

Ma Han, from Beijing
"Plan of the Ants", 2004. Rice, fibreglass, enamel

"Breathing System"

Shi Jindian, from SiChuan, blue steel wire motorcycle sculptures

Feng Feng, from LiaoNing

焦兴涛 Jiao Xing Tao from ChengDu

Kabir Ahmed Masum Chisty's Medusa animation,

and Imran Hossain Piplu's Bone Gun, at the Bangladesh pavillion,

which resonates in echo to Jitish Kallat's Royal Enfield Ignitaurus at the Paris-Delhi-Bombay show at Pompidou.

London Fashion Week Spring'11

2011-02-22T01:03:00.006+01:00

London Fashion Week was a bit disappointing, but here's what I found.

杜暘 Yang Du surreal knit phenomenon taking London by storm

Elizabeth Lau cuteness

Chinese paper cuts, adoi!
Paperself

See also their Transformer furniture and lighting, made out of addable and substractable cardboard pyramid units, to assemble units like a 3D jigsaw, flat packaged and recyclable, they can be printed or sketched.

懲幹 Felon Art

2010-05-19T00:42:00.027+02:00

Here are a few examples of political art I enjoy from Asia:

“10 Evil scenes of Thai politic” by Vasan Sitthiket at number 1 Gallery in Bangkok:
“ …When we all became the followers who living in Demoncrazy society, we have only rights to be the tame animals whose feed by vomit of the rulers to get some energy for made the products and market for their wealthy...”

"ฉากเซ็นอนุมัติเมกะโปร เจ็คต์" (Sign contract for Mega-project scene!)

"จงราษฎรจนโง่เขลานิรันดร์ไป" (You must poor and idiot forever)

Indonesian artist I Nyoman Masriadi's "Sudah biasa di telanjangi" (Used to being stripped) - which broke a record at Christie's:

Artists bite the hand that feeds.

Now faced with the extraordinary surge of Asian art, in market prices and quality and diversity of production, rebel artists keep spewing their guts into the plastic cups of cheap wine of happening art spaces.

Before that, recalcitrants and politicos were mostly protesters exiled in farm lands, rock musicians and artisans turned poets and craftsmen, churning out tourist gifts and promotional painted posters.

In 1996 I went to Beijing with my writer friend, now international bestseller Shan Sa, who’d left her hometown during the Tian An Men protests in 1989. While looking for the remnants of an old craftsmen’s district, we were summoned by intriguing, pungent fragrances, to a quiet courtyard house. A group exhibition had brought together female artists, to work on a gender agenda. The main room was littered with patterns of herbs and spices across the floor, like drying leaves in a market street. Only all the herbs had been chosen and laid down according to their traditional medicinal virtues for female ailments. It was a beautiful, red and smelly layout of women’s travails through life, from the first menses to menopause. In the next room there hung large foam canvases, in whose soft and fuzzy surfaces silhouettes of male attributes had been cut out: a handgun, a baton, a wrench… The whole exhibit was a wonderful assault on the senses. Not only were we bathed in women’s intimate scents, as if I had been castrated, made a novice eunuch, and introduced by my employ, for the first time, to the court’s gynaeceum, but the glow of the deep red dates, beans and filaments was projecting onto every wall, nesting the rooms in a warm, protective placenta. How wonderful to have shed the burden of post-89 heartache, and readily embrace universal and timeless issues, with such sensorial power. It was installation art, but devoid of pseudo-conceptual drivel. It did not pose or posture, ooh or aah, curtsy or preach. It was strong and went straight for the throat.

Outside on the main steps, taking some air and sunshine from the womb experience, were two vagabonds chatting and smoking cheerily. The short bald one was a painter, and the scruffy one in flipflops and a vaquero hat was rock hero 崔健 Cui Jian’s electric violin. We instantly made friends and agreed to join them for dinner later, not too far away.

At the convened time and place, we found ourselves in an enormous construction site, muddy crossroads under unfinished highways, with a stick pole as a bus stop. Our new friends took us on a packed minibus. We drove across town, past sprawling underdeveloped suburbs, giving way to fields, endless fields, and sparse villages. Factory workers on board were replaced with farm labourers. As the sun was dropping to eye level, our host shouted for the bus to stop. We were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields of maze, on the just one straight road from the capital. I expected a propeller plane to dive upon us.

We walked on a little to find an off-road. The night fell fast on the unlit dirt road. The only guiding light was a blue glow ahead of us, on the horizon. Suddenly our feet sank ankle-deep in a flaky, crunching matter. It was cold to the touch, and smooth like little beans. A truck had lost its cargo of grain along the road, which spread evenly and glittered under the stars. Finally the light ahead appeared clearly, and the violinist said we were home. It was a modern, imposing block, brightly lit from outside by powerful spotlights, its façade marked “Police Station”. The entire horizon was pitch black. This police station was the only human presence for miles, and bright enough to be visible from the stars above. We walked past it, onto a mud path, into the blackness.

Emerging from tall weeds was an old compound, an abandoned school. Here the violinist lived, breeding German shepherds for the police. He was under restricted order, and had to work for the local authorities in retribution for disturbing the peace and threatening social order in 1989. He had eloped to Beijing when we had met him. He cooked us some wonderfully crisp spinach, and we smoked some strong weed he grew in the backyard. His girlfriend appeared from nowhere, a shy, diminutive art student. She invited us to see her works in one of the abandoned classrooms. We crossed the courtyard, past the snoring police dogs. Under the harsh flicker of a naked bulb, were displayed large oil paintings of elongated, spindly men in fiery reds and blues, rising across dark emptiness. They were screaming, their fists high in the air. Their hands brandished their emasculated genitals, blood spraying in flowery splatter.

Back in the living quarters, our hosts sang us old poetry in the gentle candlelight of dozens of erect penises, in various stages of melt. Those had been moulded by the soft-spoken painter, after his own apparatus. As it was getting late, he offered to bring us back to the city.

We were back on the main road, in the vast darkness. We headed West, on foot. As the horizon began to pale, we saw caravans of tractors laden with produce, headed for the city. We hitched a ride, and rested comfortably until we approached the suburbs, where the painted invited us to his house.

We hopped off, and followed a foul, dank stream into a wide, open-air garbage dump. Here our friend was safe from inquisitive eyes. His roughcast shack opened onto dozens of huge erect phalluses, made of wax. Every swollen glans sported Chairman Mao’s head. I thought hiding in a garbage dump was a good idea. A large foam door contraption had been made to look like a giant vagina, through whose labia you squeezed to the other side. He showed us a series of large paintings in the same Dali inspiration, picturing pregnant hermaphrodite écorchés, whose fetuses sprouted erect penises that connected to the brain, across sunny horizons. The artwork was basic, devoid of pop culture or political symbolisms. It elicited simple gut reactions, but transported one to distant, yet innermost, esoteric, yet organic, landscapes of the mind. Flesh and impulses, digestive, reproductive, nervous, respiratory, open like the pages of a book, in all their mutant beauty.

Two days later we went to the painter’s vernissage, in town. The gallery’s basement walls were lined with butcher hooks, like any Chinese restaurant’s window kitchen displaying its poultry. Except the ducks had their heads up inside the chickens’ arses, forming a comical alignment of yellow and brown monstrosities. In the centre lay a huge vat, filled with pigs’ innards and carcasses, bathing in a diluted solution of preservatives. In the middle floated the naked bodies of the painter and his wife, chatting pleasantly with their guests, as one does in a public bath. Then the police came and took the artists away, and closed the party down. In Chinese, chicken 雞 stand for whores, and ducks 鴨 for gigolos. Chicken art ruled. Later in the same year, millions of chicken and ducks were culled in Hong Kong and China.

Ten years later, I learnt the painter had moved to an expensive artist village, where each villa has an SUV and imported motorcycles. The violinist is now a reputed singer and producer (左小祖咒).

State factories built by the East Germans in Beijing and Shanghai have reconverted as art warehouses, filled with endless treasures of jaw-dropping originality, in-your-face, mordant individuality, and still more substance than attitude. Everything is big and larger than life.

Away from the tired irony of propaganda pop art and agit-prop t-shirt iconography that landed China in respectable western galleries and museums, one can browse endlessly through hundreds of emerging personalities, each in their own way putting our contemporary society to task, and rubbing our faces into realities not entirely pleasant. As art communities flourish, art dealers push the real estate up, and authorities put them up for commercial and residential redevelopment.

In Shanghai, the Mo Ga Shan Rd art warehouses are already under siege from homeware department stores. So artists simply relocate to more affordable and less conspicuous digs. In spite of all the overexposed and speculative hoopla over Chinese contemporary art, and many an overblown success story up their own superstar behinds in Paris or New York, I’ve never seen – proportionately, say, to the French art scene - so many artists with enough integrity to keep exploring and working oblivious to market demands, as if obeying to historical and social impulses that just need to come out, like it or not. A lot of the Chinese art scene resembles thousands of patients in derelict wards, bleeding themselves of the pus and dreams that have been festering for too many generations. Contrast that to the famous British at dealer who reportedly first brought Chinese contemporary art to the limelight, by commissioning from copyist workshops large interpretations of her own Photoshop copy and paste mock-ups.

But now the art market is a little in the doldrums. Thousands of families have put their unique child through art school, dreaming of quick success stories. Suddenly investment bankers are pulling out of arts and real estate developments, and auctions are plunging. 懲幹!

Meanwhile, other Asian countries have seen their own arts scenes discovered by astute foreign collectors, curators and dealers. India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, whose artists have been able to work, however frugally, unfettered and unrecognized by local or outsider considerations, are now maturing fast, throwing some money around, kicking off their own art biennalles, and redeploying their often inadequate facilities. They are going through the same rapid transformation as mainland China, and addressing radical changes with powerful art works: dealing first with conflicted national and community identities, then as their respective media slowly open up, from Taiwan to South Korea, the Philippines' people's revolution and Indonesia’s Reformasi, confronting their respective political histories which had been muted since the Sixties, and picking up where liberation movements had vanished, left for prison, or converted.

For example Indonesian contemporary art has flourished from the 1997 monetary crisis, through student demonstrations and farmers' protests, to president Suharto's resignation and the first free elections in a generation. Burdened with decades of corrupt military rule and raging inflation, the technocratic misuse of government funds, the greed and cruelty of the elites, "beautiful Indonesia" is a country full of bold talent and great suffering, where art is still a matter of life and death. The recent blossoming onto the world stage also owes to a healthy competition between modernis abstrak Bandoeng, heralded by the Common Room gallery, academic Yogjakarta, with Cemeti Art House, and exotic Bali. Jakarta acts mostly as a market place. There I met then-rising-stars Eddie Hara and Bob Sick, the tattooed Basquiat, turning a genius Warholian trick at Galerie Langgeng: walk-in portraits, oil, life-size. Ruangrupa is another groundbreaking, younger gallery.

"Big Brother" by Eddie Hara

"Security" by Abdi Setiawan

Since the Seventies, mixing performance and installation art with traditional techniques, artists have honed their skills at indirect symbolism, in order to circumvent censorship or prison. Abstract and decorative were preferable. Now that democracy is here, corruption and violence have taken other guises, from the global economic crisis to religious strife and impaled heads in East Timor. And so art has become more graphic, seeking technical virtuosity and mixing pop and traditional culture, reaching out to street art and comics.

Political skepticism, stinging revolt and true love for their country are consistent in Bramantyo Prijosusilo’s vibrant exorcism of military horror using traditional Javanese mythology and animism, Isa Perkasa’s nightmarish social commentary, or Entang Wiharso’s haunting poetry. From the Apotik Komik (Comic Pharmacy) group, Rahmat Jabaril and Tisna Sanjaya etch terrifying drawings of riots and military repression, and Popok Tri Wahyudi brings together comic illustration, dreamscapes and political power play.
"Masturbasi Reformasi", by Bramantyo Prijosusilo

"Feast of Democracy" by Isa Perkasa

"Forbidden Exotic Country", by Entang Wiharso, 2005

"Peasant Farmer's Demands I" by Rahmat Jabaril

"Schizophrenic Culture" by Tisna Sanjaya

Popok Tri Wahyudi

As new governments across Asia work to dispel “transitional traumas”, dark and sore dictatorships, abductions, purges and repression, artists move on to issues such as widespread corruption, economic hardship, and health and environmental disasters. But these issues are old news, and somewhat kill the glamour of said emerging “creative hubs”. It is therefore a perverse blessing that, as the new generations of artists overcome their inferiority complexes and turn to local techniques and traditions, authorities, tourism boards and the art establishment encourage a studious and “community-building” return to craftsmanship, and figurative artisanship. Fortunately, for every hundred of picturesque landscapes or farmer girls bathing, there is a group of rebel scum mixing up their brushes and pottery, and coming up with graphic, introspective nightmares. Their art is profoundly idiosyncratic, raw in discourse, sophisticated in delivery.

It is expressionist figurative, from Nunelucio Alvarado's punk folk in the Philippines to Skeet’s geek punk glamour or Andrew Chen’s mutant tribalism in Taiwan, I Made Palguna’s folk esoterism in Bali, or Otsuka Hiroki’s ero manga stream-of-consciousness. It is pop and street art, with Kenji Hirata’s manga cyber-nebulous installations, Motomichi’s toothy horaega kawaimon bacterial monsters, Madsaki’s hard rock art deco, Michael Cheung’s nuclear dreamscapes or MC Yan’s graffiti opera in Hong Kong, Shieko’s wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) seni graffiti in Kuala Lumpur, or Korakrit’s glo-rave in Bangkok.

"Luga Twerka", oil on canvas by Nunelucio Alvarado, 2000

"No Peace No Boom", fibre glass stand by Michael Cheung

"Whorehaus" by MC Yan

This new generation of dropouts, reconverted bankers and noodle peddlers are Young Asian Professionals, as well as their chill rock, obsessive geek, freak counterparts, whose art production breaks away from local standards, art market conventions and post-modern clichés. They are dictating the future directions of Asian creativity. What with the big dollar hangover and powder-milk credit crunch, the Eastern wind may be hot and sticky, but it promises to be a killer ride. While the masses struggle to find their temporary footing in the survivalist food chain, it is in the hands of a few outcasts to salvage the proverbial Oriental spirituality, the long-winded universal harmony of karmic vibes and spicy nights. But as long as the usual suspects and media monopoles control the flow of investments in production and distribution, independent media and productions will suffer.

The main headache remains that even with maturing, diversifying local industries, Asian talents must first make a name abroad, in order to gain some sort of financial credibility at home, often after years of miserable toil or expatriation. Artists recognized and financed by the West fall into a continuous biennale ghetto cut off from local media and audiences. But today the young crop of artists and galleries can finally dig their own trajectories across increasingly open-minded domestic markets, without vying for established sugar daddy speculators.

Asian contemporary art, through thick and thin, has managed to spill over into regional trade shows and touring exhibitions, as exciting alternatives to Western also-ran conceptual slosh. Equally, Asian reservoirs of energy and talent are brimming the world over, cooking up magnificent banquets that need only be served by the right hands to eager publics. Coming soon to an established gallery near you.

I Nyoman Masriadi's "My Adventure Ended After I Met Your Mother" sold for $307,000 at Sotheby’s in 2008.

Manga and Comics

2010-03-04T16:09:00.005+01:00

I'm no big manga fan except for 手塚治虫 Osamu Tezuka or 辰巳ヨシヒロ Tatsumi Yoshihiro, but it is fun to see how mangas have spilled out onto the world.

洪東祿 Hung Tung Lu, Taiwan

Starlet Chrissie Chau 周秀娜 as 龍 Online videogame starlet.

Marian Rivera as Mars Ravelo's Darna

Gasah Buta

2010-02-03T01:42:00.011+01:00

"Beating blindly about", as my grandfather says.
Here's a rojak mess of things that got stuck under my soles on my last Asia tour:

Singapura, doorstep to Cathay, Malaya and the isles of Sunda, pinched sphincter of the Pacific and Indian oceans, air-conned launderette of sovereign wealths, trendy buffet of listed commodities. It was host to the APEC 2009 summit, where they donned local garb designed by Wykidd Song.

Good effort, but they look like hospital nurses (no offense to nurses).
Fortunately to sweeten the deal for me in Singawhore all aglare with new shopping centres, scary ugly Christmas deer sculptures on Orchard Road, I.R.s (that's Integrated Resorts for you fun-lovin' gamblers) and lifestyle & entertainment complexes, there was the release of the "+65 Indie Underground" 3-CD compilation

featuring local legends The Marilyns, A Vacant Affair, Amateur Takes Control, Muon, B-Quartet, The Great Spy Experiment, Astreal, Opposition Party, The Observatory, aspidistrafly, Force Vomit, Boredphucks, Sugarflies, Stoned Revivals, 陈伟联 Kelvin Tan, The Lilac Saints, Humpback Oak, Padres, Watchmen, The Oddfellows, Convent Garden, Nunsex, Daze, Corporate Toil, and Zircon Lounge 1984! Ach the memories.
Love the dark jean cover by fFurious, I keep sweeping dust off it. Thank you so much Little!

In Hong Kong, while I was perched atop Louis' sunkissed Ap Lei Chau Faux glamour-pussed social whirlwind of a showroom / office deck (view over Lamma from the office below),

pro-democracy lawmaker 長毛 "long hair" 梁国雄 Leung Kwok Hung threw a mock microwave oven at Hong Kong Chief Secretary Henry Tang inside the Legislative Council, against proposed electoral reforms for 2012 towards universal suffrage in... 2017.

The mock microwave oven meant the same political reforms they espoused in 2005 were being reheated. See Banyan's funny/sad article.

See my poteau MC Yan's slam jam for freedom of speech in Hong Kong:

Former Japanese Prime Minister 小泉純一郎 Junichiro Koizumi is set to provide the voice for Ultraman King in the film "大怪獣バトルウルトラ銀河伝説" ("Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend"), the latest installment of the Ultraman series.

"We considered many people who might be able to play this crucial role," said a producer at Tsuburaya Productions. "But we though that the only person who could really have the presence of Ultraman King, who brings the clan together, would be Mr Koizumi, who once led the country."

Was blown away by the fight scenes in "殺破狼" ("S.P.L."), starring 任达华 Simon Yam doing the usual Yam this time with impending brain tumour, a magnificently scary 洪金宝 Sammo Hung, master 甄子丹 Donnie Yen as a spiffy gay icon, and an amazing 吴京 Wu Jing. An unbearably stupid subplot involving Father's Day, but jaw-dropping gong fu, and top cinematography by Lam "Runaway Pistol" Yah Chuen. See Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen's final fight here, going through the span of gong fu techniques, kicks, punches, close, flying kicks, projections, floor etc.

Finally I'm having so much fun reading "Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures", by Kam Raslan.

As my grandfather says, "走來走去".

Sexiest babes (and mixed Asian heritage) 2009

2010-02-02T03:29:00.004+01:00

Korean singer 이효리 Lee Hyori

HK Starlet Chrissie Chau 周秀娜

Japanese starlet 川村ゆきえ Kawamura Yukie

Annoying Asians (or mixed Asian heritage)

2010-01-30T19:36:00.004+01:00

Myleene Klass

Jay Chou, who's playing Bruce Lee!?!!

Denise Keller

恐怖 ega

2009-12-22T18:51:00.014+01:00

"Scared scared!"

I'm working on a script about Indonesian ghouls, and another on Indian vampires.

おんなの河童 Kappa no Onna (Underwater love) by 今岡信治 Shinji Imaoka, 2011

エクステ Exte (Hair extension) by 園子温 Sono Shion

Abashiri Ikka あばしり一家
Enthralling daughter, 亜馬尻菊の助 Kikunosuke, played by 頓宮恭子 Tongū Kyōko.

Erotibot (Karei naru erogami-ke no ichizoku: Shinsô reijô wa denki shitsuji no yume o miru ka?), starring Maria Ozawa, a parody of Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

Jenglot Pantai Selatan (Beach Creature) by Rizal Mantovani

Tribal animals

2009-11-06T00:32:00.012+01:00

Folk art is live and kicking, with a taste for local tribal aesthetics, from ancient pre-Filipino Baybayin script tattoos

to music, graphic design, fashion and contemporary art.

Crews of grunge-skater-nerd, ghetto-punk and retro-rockabilly artists, graphic designers in minimalist black conceptual clothes, graphic haircut and glasses, architects in Yohji or Comme Des are digging back into their drawers.
Pioneers, pillars and heralds of the local scenes, each of these artists fights the cheapo copycats of Western slop with studded, tattooed, pierced, cursed and blessed outshoots:

Andrew Chen, Taichung

Andrew's a crazy amazing dude, with an amazing voice:

Andrew if you're out there get in touch!

Redslim08, Manila

Jam Wu 吳耿禎, Taipei

Korakrit, Bangkok

Pornthep Chitphong, Chang Mai

Madsaki, Tokyo - New York

Motomichi, Tokyo - New York

Cumi, Jakarta

Bob 'Sick' Yudhita, Jakarta

Bramantyo Prijosusilo, Yogyakarta - Los Angeles

Eddie Hara, Basel

MC 仁, Hong Kong (寧死不屈)

Shieko, Kuala Lumpur

I just saw Kim Joon's wild digital prints at the Sundaram Tagore gallery in Hong Kong.

For good tribal beats I recommend
the legendary 電気グルーヴ Denki Groove and Dynamite Club from Japan,
S hetou's punk rock folk, Iz and 哈雅乐团小组 Haya's tundra folk rock from Inner Mongolia, Askar Grey Wolf from Xinjiang, and the amazing "黄祸 Yellow Peril" compilation

featuring hardcore remixes of Mongolian chants by Japanese mad men and Panda Twin aka Sulumi, Dead J, B6 from China (thanks Zhen Hua!),
DJ Kulu's groove house from Hong Kong,
DJ Ty鈦 and the 鐵虎兄弟 T-Ho brothers' aboriginal hip hop, 林強 Lim Giong's electro and 張四十三 Chang 43 from Taiwan,
Siam Dub Monster's dub house, Rik Wachirapilan's electro rock, Kai Jo Brothers' dub rock and Skalaxy's ska rock from Thailand,
and S.I.G.I.T. from Indonesia.
Here's a tribalmix of folk rock, trip rock, electro rock, reggae dub, breakcore, trip hop, hip hop, blues folk and sundry:
"行者無疆 Walking in life" - 哈雅樂團 Haya Band ("狼圖騰 Wolf Totem", 2008), China (Inner Mongolia)
"她是一首歌" - P.K.14 ("谁谁谁和谁谁谁", 2004), China
"Badai Kini Berlalu" - Ungu ("Penguasa Hati", 2009), Indonesia
"You And Me" - Skalaxy, Thailand
"Banzai!!!" - TerbujurKaku ("Glitchy Bitchy No.3", 2009), Indonesia
"跳大神" - 二手玫瑰 Second Hand Rose Band ("娱乐江湖", 2006), China
"Eulogi Arsenikum (Erk - Di Udara Remixed, excerpt)" - Somno Disturbia ("Maujud" O.S.T. by Adit Bujbunen Al Buse, 2008), Indonesia
"ไม่พอใจ Tum Tua Naw" (excerpt) - ? (Harm magazine, 2007), Thailand
"屋邨仔 (Part 1)" - 大懶堂 LMF ("Lazy Mutha Fucka", 1999), Hong Kong
"Bergerak" - Joe Flizzow feat. Phlowtron ("President", 2009), Malaysia
"鐵虎兄弟 T-Ho Brothers" - 鐵虎兄弟 T-Ho Brothers feat. 紀曉君 Samingad, Jia Jia & Nasty ("Metal Tiger", 2003), Taiwan
"Sikat Na Si Pepe" - Gloc 9 ("G9", 2003), Philippines
"遠方 Distant Place" - 哈雅乐团小组 Haya Band ("狼圖騰 Wolf Totem", 2008), China (Inner Mongolia)
"Unfinished Business" - Aditya Saputra & Danif Pradana ("Maujud" O.S.T. by Adit Bujbunen Al Buse, 2008), Indonesia
"Took Took" (The Photo Sticker Machine Mix) - Kai-Jo Brothers ("Took Took"), Thailand
"可愛的車" - 董事長樂團 The Chairman ("真的假的!?", 2006), Taiwan
"蓝色的故乡" - 刚子 ("蓝色的故乡", 2008), China (Inner Mongolia)

Graphic design in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia is a big proponent of the tribal style, praise be to them: fFurious, Green Donkey, Phunk Studio and Radioactive.

Also check out the goods on:
Little Romance's makie jeans from Japan,

and Argentum jewellery from Singapore.

Finally, watch the very enjoyable and thrilling 1965 film "Genghis Khan" starring a great Omar Sharif, Francoise Dorléac as his wife, Stephen Boyd (Messala in "Ben-Hur"), James Mason as a Chinese mandarin!, Eli Wallach as the Shah!, Telly Savalas as "Shan", and Robert Morley as the Emperor of China!,

and Sergei Bodrov's 2007 unforgettable and powerful "Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan" starring the great Asano Tadanobu.

Neo folk

2009-11-05T00:39:00.018+01:00

Folk art is reborn and rid of gift-shop mentalities, cultivating local flavours and reinterpreting its roots:

Redslim08, Manila

陈航峰 Chen Hang Feng, Shanghai

吳耿禎 Jam Wu, Taipei

范家凌 Fan Chia Ling, Taipei

I Made Palguna, Bali

Bob 'Sick' Yudhita, Jakarta

Entang Wiharso, Yogyakarta

Bramantyo Prijosusilo, Yogyakarta - Los Angeles

MC 仁, Hong Kong (寧死不屈)

For sweet nu folk sounds I recommend Iz, 刚子 and 哈雅乐团小组 Haya's tundra folk rock from Inner Mongolia,

Yat-Kha from Mongolia, the Hualampong Riddim label from Thailand, on Taiwan Color Music label the wonderful 紀曉君 Samingad, 郭明龍 Long Ge, the Nan Wang Sisters 南王姊妹花, Takaya & Tau Band's acoustic Ainu (Hokkaido)) and Taiwanese aboriginal music, 廖士賢 Sam Liao, and A Moving Sound from Taiwan.

Most folk and craft fashion is tourist-oriented, but there are some good designers putting out beautiful things: Issue's world-weary ethnic funky casuals

and Good Mixer's wild prints from Bangkok, Persimmon Lane from Cheng Du, Ranee K from Hong Kong, Coffee Tea & Me's embroidery from India, and Rizalman Ibrahim's mega mendung prints from Kuala Lumpur...

Catch Radioactive Sago Project live in HK Sunday Nov8!

2009-11-04T16:37:00.003+01:00

The mind-blowing Radioactive Sago Project on Sunday at 4pm at the Clockenflap festival, Cyberport!

Gold digs

2009-10-28T06:00:00.008+01:00

Gold Nixon Mayor watch

Masataka Matsumura for Giuliano Fujiwara's wabi-sabi-inspired men's Fall 2010

Kirameki Pure Gold Keyboard

Casio G-Ms Gloss Gold

Two gold bars protect the faceplate. Stopwatch, 5 independent alarms!, EL backlight with afterglow, water resistant, shock-resistant, 85g

Piglet chopsticks by G.O.D.

Puma's Usain Bolt shoes, made in China?

Sponge Bob x We Are Gang watches!

Bak Bak Dakdatang!

2009-10-12T01:42:00.005+02:00

Y a rien à faire, rap sounds excellent in Malay.

Found this Rebel Scum gem on XSOne's very good XScetera blog.
More Malay hip hop on my Drunken Style selection.

Raken Rol 摇滚

2009-09-11T21:29:00.015+02:00

The Asian rock I hear beats out any of the little current Western rock I hear, which mostly sounds to me like homages and reedits of legends past. However I don't care for Asian rock that copycats Western rock, which cancels out most of MTV Asia and Channel V. There's so much good stuff out there, many of them doing well with constant touring and live shows, where audiences go mad.

From China: here's an extreme introduction: Pangu rock. The man is crazy.
Also legend 崔健 Cui Jian, 何勇 He Yong, 窦唯 Dou Wei, 苍蝇 The Fly and Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou, with whom I had the honour to spend a wild night with back in 1996), Pk14

and 腦濁 Brain Failure, Carsick Cars, 冷酷仙境 Cold Fairy Land, 寂寞.夏.日Lonely China Day, the amazing 木Mυmα马, 新裤子 New Pants, Red Unit, 嘎调 The Gar,(see their "视频" video), the glam fab 二手玫瑰 Second Hand Rose Band, Ren Yu, Xiao He, Zhao Ze, 重塑雕像的权利Rebuilding the Rights of Statues

...

Japan has some great rock bands: Adenosine TriPhosphate, Cocco, Custom Cock Confused Death, self-described attention-deficit-disorder band Dynamite Club (hey Kentaro!), Electric Eel Shock, Guitar Vader, Ringo Shiina, the amazing Ua, Zettaimu...

From HK there's the deservedly famous King Lychee, Climax, Hardpack, 秋紅 Qiu Hong, Monogel, Sanskrit (merci Jean-Michel)...

From Taiwan I recently discovered 董事長合唱團 The Chairman, in the delightful Fokkien rock tradition, 四分衛 Backquarter, and young Vera Queen. Unfortunately since right about Luan Tan's space rock disbanded at the turn of the century, legendary Taiwan rock has mostly sold out.

In Singapore there's Francis Frightful's infamous O.P., so named because the garment didn't allow them to be called Opposition Party. And ex Padres lead singer Joe Ng's new band Local Bar Kid, covering old local tunes.
Melvyn and Little from fFurious introduced me to the rocking sounds of Force Vomit. They came around to judge the Lomo Wonderland exhibition at the Esplanade, and chose the winners by pointing a finger at random on a board with their eyes closed. Now that's class.
There is also Muon (hey Ginette!), Objection Overule, Typewriter (hey Chang Kang!), and The Boredphucks (now reincarnated as The Suns):

Ai Sio Gan Mai - Boredphucks
...

In Malaysia I got a compilation at the Click Project, featuring Carburator Dung, which is great kicks. There's also Lang Mang, Ciplak, Meet Uncle Hussain

...

Thailand has a garth of amazing rock.
Futon's Thai songs are infectious and brilliant. Their cover of "I wanna be your dog" is drop dead.
Redtwenty is a young band whose sound is unique and hauting.
The amazing Apartmentkhunpa has their own world too, acid funk rock on ether.
There's of course the incredible Rik Vachirapirum

See also her music videos “Tichila” and “Devi”.
Also check Armchair, Moderndog, Penguin Villa, Scrubb, so::on, Goose, Yellow Fang...

The Philippines has a mature and huge rock scene, of which I only like Francis Magalona (R.I.P.), River Maya, Eraserheads, and the amazing Parokya Ni Edgar.

Indonesia has another beautiful rock scene: The Jonis

And the legendary Dewa 19, Peter Pan, Serigala Jahanam, Adit Bujbunen Al Buse, Kelelawar Malam, The Safari, Slank, Komunal, Ungu, Cokelat, The Polyester Embassy, C'mon Lennon, D'Zeek, The Adams, Ape on the Roof, Seringai, The Upstairs, Zeke & The Popo, Tomorrow People Ensemble, Sajama Cut , ST12, The Brandals, Inspirational Joni

...

Vietnam has some hard bands such as Microwave and Gat Tan Day.

Finally there is Albert Kuvezin's world-famous Yat-Kha from Mongolia.

Check here soon for an Asiarocks compilation by Kampong Beats.

Dangdut asscore!

2009-07-29T02:34:00.012+02:00

Penyembah Kucing Atret!

Listen to Breakcore goes to Dangdut, vice versa... ("xCPDx" and "Dangdut Is Better Than Breakcore" by TerbujurKaku in Jogjakarta

from the "Virtual Stupidity" album.

And click below for a great video

by Delayed Desire from Surabaya.

Download Delayed Desire's “Balada Titit Dan Silit”songs, artwork and videos here (thanks Yes No Wave!).

Pontianak rock

2009-07-09T02:42:00.008+02:00

It's seldom you get a good kick in the teeth.

Download this Tora! Tora! Agresi #1: Melumat Identitas zine here, from Yes No Wave.

Open publication - Free publishing - More zine

And some good Indo to puff along with:

The Upstairs' dynamo “Ku Nobatkan Jadi Fantasi”

Adit Bujbunen Al Buse's soundtrack to the fictional horror-fiction movie "Maujud"

Serigala Jahanam's haunting "Ketika Pria Memakan Wanita - Ketika Wanita Memakan Pria”

Kelelawar Malam's punishing “Desmodus Rotundus”

Cheers.

French-Chinese fusion

2009-06-22T17:45:00.016+02:00

Porcelain plate detail, "Trio musical européen", cobalt blue, Kangxi kingdom, circa 1700.

Listen to Jean-Philippe Rameau's "Indes galantes", and Jean-Baptiste Lully's "Triomphe de Bacchus dans les Indes".

As I visited the Musée de la Compagnie des Indes in Lorient in Brittany, named so because it was France's first harbour to the Orient in the XVIIth century, under Louis XIV's super finance minister Colbert.
Among the many artifacts brought back from the East India Company's trade, are some interesting and fun examples of French-Chinese fusion. With booming trade, and increasing demand, Chinese manufacturers adapted their techniques to European style. For example, porcelain China depicting French bourgeois scenes:

Porcelain plate, "Famille européenne sur une terrasse", cobalt blue, Kangxi kingdom, circa 1700.

Furthermore, because of political turmoil and war in the XVIIth century, between the Ming and Qing dynasties, Europeans turned to Japan for supplies. The Dutch, who had the monopole on trade with Japan, started importing their Imari porcelain, from the harbour of Imari on Kyûshû. Once things cooled down, the Chinese picked up again and produced their own Chinese Imari style, at a fraction of the cost and faster.
Sounds familiar? With the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French East India Companies, came globalization.

"Le gouverneur Duff et sa femme", Yongzheng kingdom, circa 1720-1730.

In the XVIIIth century under Louis XV, when the Compagnie des Indes et de l'Orient was at its peak, the large and powerful French bourgeoisie went head over heels over things oriental, inspiring their top craftsmen to produce their own Chinoiseries. Many merchant families from the Atlantic coast from La Rochelle to Bordeaux, or Lyons because of the silk trade, still have many such articles in their living rooms.
In the XIXth century, from Napoleon's Empire to the Colonies, that led to Orientalism, spilling out of homeware and decorative craftsmanship, into literature and fine arts.

An allegorical picture by XVIIth century baroque artist Nicolas Bonnart, “L’Asie”, read:

“Mortels dont la nature est triste et saine
Du froid qui rend nos corps pâles et languissants
Quittez vos froids climats et venez en Asie
Recevoir les odeurs du baume et de l’encens.”

Unfortunately I can't find the picture.
But I found this dude in Lorient, outside a restaurant:

This giggly cross-pollination reminds me of the 2002 "After masters" series by Yin Xin from Kashgar, whom I met a few years ago in Paris thanks to Jennifer "General" Lee.

"After Watteau: Pierrot, dit autrefois Gilles"

"After Manet: Le Fifre"

"After Rubens: Les Trois Graces"

"After De Vinci: Mona Lisa "

"After Botticelli: Naissance de Vénus"

"After Manet: Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe"

"After Titien: Vénus se Divertissant avec l'Amour"

"Ecole de Fontainebleau: Gabrielle d'Estrées et Une de ses Soeurs"

"After David: Le Serment des Horaces"

I just find them hilarious. And a bit sad.

"Mentally unsound", convicted, walks free

2009-06-17T13:32:00.007+02:00

Deng Yujiao has been diagnosed with "mental imbalance". Maybe because she had been kept in a mental hospital with feet and hands tied for 5 days?

This seems an unheard-of ruling in China, stage-managed, trying desperately to cop out under public opinion (!), while trying (and failing) to save face. It's not often the courts try too hard... So, 1 cookie point for trying.

Asie by derrière 3

2009-06-17T02:33:00.011+02:00

Morer fun cover songs by Asian artists for the Summer:

Asie by derrière 3 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Asie by derrière 3 by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

The Real Filipino - DJ GoKoU
(~*PiNoY PrIdE*~...one love azn), The Philippines

Poupée de Cire, poupée de son (tripping trap mix) - Gml
(Elastique), Japan

You say yes, i say no (excerpt) - DJ Klocke
(Timing incorrect), Japan

Sweet vibrations - Ua
(Fine feathers make fine birds, live,1996), Japan

Every breath you take - ?
(Magpakailanman), The Philippines

Mademoiselle de Paris - コシミハル Miharu Koshi
(Chanson solaire, 1995), Japan

I can't stop loving you - 雨天 Yu Tian
The King
Taiwan

Every breath you take - ?
Teo chew hip hop
Merci Dara!

Boum - コシミハル Miharu Koshi
(Chanson solaire, 1995), Japan
Thanks Cam!

Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaaye - Sudhir Kumar & Rajesh Roshan
("500 miles")
India

歌舞春宵 - 陈宝珠 Connie Chan Po Chu
("San Francisco")
Hong Kong

Bai Ca Tru Trinh (Et si tu n'existais pas) - Elvis Phuong & Ngoc Lan (R.I.P.)
Vietnam

Careless Whisper - 梅艳芳 Anita Mui, R.I.P.
Hong Kong

I miss her very, very much, and cry everytime I think of her.

Enjoy...

Asie by derrière 2

2009-06-17T00:38:00.006+02:00

More fun cover songs by Asian artists to start the Summer:

Asie by derrière 2 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Asie by derrière 2 by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

Venus - 凌雲 Rita Chao
Singapore

Macho - Parokya Ni Edgar
The Philippines

メロディーについて Melody - カヒミ・カリィ Kahimi Karie
(Gainsbourg tribute '95), Japan

Je t'aime moi non plus - The Traces
(Thai Beat A Go-Go Vol 2), Thailand

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (excerpt) - He 6
(GoGo Sound with He 6, 1971), South Korea

Picha Pie - Parokya ni Edgar
(Gulong Itlog Gulong, 1999), The Philippines
("I will survive")

叮噹歌聲 - 陈宝珠 Connie Chan Po Chu
("8 Days A Week", thanks Anthony)
Hong Kong

Proud Mary - 凌雲 Rita Chao
Singapore

The Crush (Bakit and Pangit) - Parokya ni Edgar
(Kangkhunkerrinitz, 1996), The Philippines

Love Will Tear Us Apart - Yat-Kha
(ReCovers), Mongolia

Good Morning (excerpt) - PixelToy
(Science of Love), Hong Kong

Love Will Tear Us Apart - PixelToy
(O...Oh), Hong Kong

Because the night - Ua
(Fine feathers make fine birds, live, 1996), Japan

Trip (Siopao na Special) - Parokya ni Edgar
("Creep")
The Philippines

Play With Fire - Yat-Kha
(ReCovers ), Mongolia

Nakaw Ang Walet Ko - Parokya ni Edgar
("Knocking on heaven's door")
(Kangkhunkerrinitz, 1996), The Philippines

C'est si bon - コシミハル Miharu Koshi
(Chanson solaire, 1995), Japan

Enjoy!

Asie by derrière 1

2009-06-16T18:00:00.006+02:00

Fun cover songs by Asian artists to start the Summer:

Asie by derrière 1 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Asie by derrière 1 by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

James Bond Theme - The Son of P. M. (Payong Mukda)
Thai Beat a go-go vol 1, Thailand

ซิงเกิล I Wanna Be Your Dog (Pram Face Remix) - Futon
Thailand

Quizas, quizas, quizas - Norico & 大江達也 Tatsuya Oe aka Captain Funk
(Hilton 21, 2005), Japan

夢見るシャンソン人形 Poupée de cire, poupée de son - 細川ふみえ Hosokawa Fumie

(Gainsbourg Tribute '95, download it here), Japan

What Is Love? - Alisha Chinai & Anu Malik
(The Gentleman OST, 1994), India

Smells like teen spirit - Stylish Nonsense
Thailand

Elastique - Gml (Girl meets love)
(Elastique, 1996), Japan

I Want You Back - Finger 5
Japan

Don't Stop Til You Get to Bollywood - Bollywood Freaks
(Bombay Gangstarr), India

Bading Ang Dating (Lauryn Hill's "Doo wop - That thing") - Francis Magalona (R.I.P.)
(Francis Magalona Kiko - piling awit ni Francis M), The Philippines

可愛的香港 ("Summer Holiday") - 陈宝珠 Connie Chan Po Chu
Hong Kong

Mustafa, Mustafa - A.R. Rahman
(Kadhal Desam OST, 1996), India

Padam...padam... - コシミハル Miharu Koshi

(Chanson Solaire, 1995), Japan

卡門 (Carmen, "La Habanera") - 葛蘭 Ge Lan (Grace Chang)
(from the amazing film 野玫瑰之恋 The Wild, Wild Rose), China

海、セックスそして太陽 Sea, sex and sun - 夏木マリ Natsuki Mari
(13 Chansons, 1998), Japan

Enjoy!

Amok rockers of the South Seas 6

2009-06-16T03:07:00.002+02:00

Rebelmix6

Amok rockers of the South Seas 6 by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

Akala - Parokya Ni Edgar
(Solid, 2007), Philippines

家 - 害羞踢蘋果
(像星星一樣 Like A Star, 2007), Taiwan

? - Armchair
Thailand
thanks Josef!

After dinner - 久能逸事
(再有骨氣, 1997), Hong Kong
thanks Monte!

混亂 - 趙一豪
(南國,再見南國 Goodbye South, Goodbye O.S.T., 1996), Taiwan
the haunting movie by Hou Hsiao Hsien

颱風 - 趙一豪
(南國,再見南國 Goodbye South, Goodbye O.S.T., 1996), Taiwan

Silicon 槍子 - 濁水溪公社
(南國,再見南國 Goodbye South, Goodbye O.S.T., 1996), Taiwan

十樓之一 - Vera Queen
(像星星一樣 Like A Star, 2007), Taiwan

Taya - Up Dharma Down
(Bipolar, 2008), Philippines

Indonesiakan Una (Live) - Slank
(Generasi Biru - Original Soundtrack, 2009), Indonesia

Enjoy

Sexy bhabhi

2009-06-15T00:07:00.012+02:00

Savita Bhabhi is one hot and horny desi lady.

Get frisky with "Bollywood Lust" by Rajesh Hardwani

	tafreeh.com - r-H - Bollywood Lust

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

and the classic Kishore Kumar's "Apni To Jaise Taise" from the 1981 film "Laawaris"

Apni To Jaise Taise (Lawaaris) - Songs.PK

and its remix

	tafreeh.com - Apni To Jaise Taise

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Smells like a beach discotheque!

And Kalianji Anandji's sultry 1980 "Na Na Na Yeh Kya Karne Lage Ho"

	Kalianji-Anandj - Kalianji-Anandji-Na Na Na Yeh Kya Karne Lage Ho

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Danke schön Kiyoshi for the info!

Gang filims

2009-05-16T17:07:00.016+02:00

Well, 搖頭 gangsters to be exact.

From Singapore:

Royston Tan's amazing "15".
Singapore bo be zhao!

Kan ni na be Singapore bo be zhao!

The nightclub version:

From the Philippines:

Brillante Mendoza's powerful, brutal, hidden camera cut-up freestyle "Tirador"

"Tribu" by Jim Libiran.
Paris, Fribourg, Berlin, Pusan, Palanca Award Best Screenplay, Cinemalaya 2007's Best Film, Best Actors and Best Sound.

Starring real life Tondo gang members, Jamir Garcia of Slapshock, Dice & Hi C (Mobbstarrs), Loonie & Ron (Stick Figgas) and poet Teo Antonio.

From South Korea:

"친구" ("Friend") by 곽경택 Kwak Kyung-Taek.

From Japan:

"3-4 x 10月" ("Boiling Point") by 北野武 Kitano Takeshi.
BEST SCENE IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA !!!!!!! (Italian dub):

"新宿黒社会チャイナマフィア戦争" ("Shinjuku Triad Society") by 三池崇史 Miike Takashi.
Gay triads!

Merci Alexis

"殺し屋" ("Ichi the Killer") also by 三池崇史 Miike Takashi.
Starring 浅野忠信 Tadanobu Asano in this cute scene if you're feeling in the mood:

and "犯罪者" ("Dead or Alive") also by 三池崇史 Miike Takashi.
Starring 竹内力 Riki Takeuchi and 哀川翔 Aikawa Sho

Featuring a Guinness-world-record-breaking line of charlie.

"刺青一代" ("A Tattooed Life") by 鈴木清順 Suzuki Seijun.
Starring 高橋英樹 Takahashi Hideki.

From Hong Kong:

"鎗火" ("The Mission") by 杜琪峰 Johnnie To.
Starring 黃秋生 Anthony Wong, 吳鎮宇 Francis Ng, 張耀揚 Roy Cheung, 林雪 Lam Suet, 呂頌賢 Jackie Lui, 高雄 Eddie Ko and 任達華 Simon Yam.

"江湖告急" ("Triad Zone") by 林超贤 Dante Lam.
Starring a song-and-dance 梁家辉 Tony Leung Ka-Fai, the great Sandra Ng 吴君如, 陈奕迅 Eason Chan, 張耀揚 Roy Cheung, Carl Ng, and a hilarious 黃秋生 Anthony Wong.

From Indonesia:

"9 Naga" by Rudy Soedjarwo

Agro Metal, Jogjakarta

2009-05-15T16:08:00.005+02:00

Catch Samuel Indratma's latest exhibition at Tembi Contemporary in Jogja:

He is one of the founders of the Apotik Komik collective.

Jl. Parangtritis Km 8,5
Tembi, Timbulharjo, Sewon, Bantul, Jogja 55186
+62 274 6881919
Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 6 pm
Sunday 11 am - 5 pm
Closed on Mondays and public holidays.

Pulau Batam delivery

2009-05-12T05:26:00.008+02:00

The isle of Batam is only an hour by ferry from Singapore. It used to be jungle only, peppered with some drunk locals and Malacca straits whores. Now it's a huge joint development by Singapore and Indonesia, sprouting industrial zones, cheap housing and sex trade.

My uncle had a cosmetics deal at a friend..s hair salon, Win Spa 2, so I had a "cream puff" head massage while enjoying the inimitable Asian interior aesthetics of baroque and 70s schnitz, and a remarkable jazz radio.
We dined on "kimchi chiki" at a Korean restaurant where the staff was cheeky and incompetent, by Batak standards. The restaurant was at the mezzanine of the Hotel Planet Holiday, gleaming in reddish gold chandeliers, and humongous fish tanks in the lobby that lent the over the top surroundings the welcoming ambience of a very bright seafood restaurant. I thought it was fine because I enjoy this seventies extravaganza, but I was told the hotel had just opened. We went for coffee at the Sky Lounge, infused with blue neon lights that made us look like trapped mosquitoes. The band was extraordinarily uncoordinated, and the disparate customers could barely carry a tune, from "I will always love you" to "Tears in heaven" and the inevitable "Hotel California". We preferred to sing on our own at the Hotel Puri Garden..s Barong Karaoke, where I chose songs for my uncle to belt out with a fervor seldom witnessed in these parts: "Please don't let me be misunderstood", "Mack the knife", "As tears go by", "Top of the world", "Crazy", "Highway star", "Don't let me down"...

We then proceeded to what's left of the red light district, since the casinos had to close down because of 1) immoral distraction exerted upon industrious Singaporean bread winners, and 2) the Sands casino project in Singapore. I mean, "Integrated Resort". The Singapore government doesn't like the word "casino".
In dark beat up alleys we found the Steps Café, an old rock bar where a few bored working girls entertained two drunk seniors of the community, middle aged Chinese gangsters in snazzy sneakers played intense games of pool, and a fabulous young rock band played requests from one table. Their renditions of "Simply the best" and "Bohemian rhapsody" were bold and earth shattering. Still it felt a little cold and lonely on this Tuesday night.
So we left the muddy quarters, and as midnight struck, the dark roads filled with an endless outpour of workers, stumbling out in the dark like students after a day's worth of exams. The factory night shift. Only then I understood the strings of otherwise empty food stalls by the roadside. Most of the workers hopped onto scooters and trucks, and disappeared into the zone, endless rows of prefab dorms still dusty from their box kits.

We moved on to Club Pacific, a large, dark disco where hundreds of kids, working girls and waiters after work, as well as factory workers with their badges still on, were jumping furiously in ecstasy. It packed more clubbers that night than all of Singapore.

However the acid techno was hard on our aging ears, so we escaped to Hotel Planet Holiday's infamous discothèque, Ozon. That immense ballroom was packing even more people, crazier, more brain-melting music, with a few middle aged, overweight Westerners rubbing against the local fare, some thugs accompanied by bored bodyguards who were more interested in the local boys, and one betty boop who danced furiously while slapping any man who groped her. When the stolen Queen riff introduced "Ice ice baby", the crowd went wild. It never fails, sadly. Except this was a dangdut two-step remix, with a slowed down bassline, and accelerated vocals in Bahasa. Think smurfland on drugs. On stage four strong girls were writhing in night-market sequin bikinis and feather boas, improvising desperate choreographies that had the males hypnotized. It felt like I had landed on an outpost planet in a galaxy far far away from Patpong.

The blasting air con chased us out across town to Club Z, an even bigger discotheque that was unexplainably empty, save for an r'n b band playing over-eagerly, perhaps were they auditioning, in front of an even noisier group of young Chinese girl brats squealing and swearing in Fukkien.

We checked in to the Puri Garden, where the carpets and wallpaper are deliciously "Shining", this time truly from the eighties.

More tips to Batam here.

Sexiest Asians (and mixed Asian heritage) 2009

2009-05-12T05:16:00.026+02:00

In order of artistic valour:

陈冲 Joan Chen, an amazing actress

Nandita Das, an amazing actress

Rani Mukerjee, a beautiful actress

梁家辉 Tony Leung Kar Fai

and 任达华 Simon Yam
, the handsomest Chinese actors

Golshifteh Farahani

Riya Sen

Sarah Shahi

Rick Tan my brother

Marion Caunter, who's cool

But the sexiest is my wife Lily.

Sven Tan, Surface magazine

2009-05-12T05:00:00.005+02:00

Fashion genie Sven Tan from Singapore, designer at Alldressedup, is to have his own brand clothes featured in an imminent exhibition by Surface magazine.
Bravo Sven!
And thank you so much Pierrot.

Styled by PCP for Surface magazine.

Vampyr

2009-05-11T19:15:00.012+02:00

I passed on "Twilight", and I haven't watched HBO's "True blood" or the Swedish movie "Morse" yet, but I'm still reeling from recently rewatching Murnau's "Nosferatu", Franju's "Vampires", and Romero's terrifying "Martin".

Maybe it's the time I spend writing my Indonesian vampire script, listening to Thai gogo (cue in Don's "Soul Dracula").
The version by Hot Blood:

ソウルドラキュラSoul Dracula 1976 - HOT BLOOD

Or reading Sir Richard Burton's "King Vikram".
Or eating lots of raw meat.
Or waiting for Park Chan Wook's "박쥐" (Thirst): (sorry no subtitles, but this trailer is scarier than the following one, which looks borderline comic)

With English "fantitling":

But I have recently been receiving more tidbits from bloodthirsty friends:

Whether going batty with hand-sewn handbags from Hoiming in HK:

Love them upside down and inside out.

It's art-deco and 1940's DC comics, for batgirls and nightly predators.

Or opting for cute teenage flesh from my brethren at Lost my fangs in KL:

Or chilling in cemetaries with blood capsules and handmade silver necklaces from my girl Argentum in Singapore:

Makan makan.

Beatboxers

2009-05-06T17:24:00.010+02:00

Yes I think beatboxing is getting tiring, especially now that it's performed by wiggas chiggas jiggas on talent shows.

But some are still pretty good.

This from ethnic Koreans in Yan Bian, Ji Lin province in North China:

Apparently W+K Shanghai is doing a documentary about this phenomenon.

Or there are the Philippines' amazing Akafellas.

Or Hong Kong's 農夫 F.A.M.A.'s "咳" ("cough") cut on their 月下思 album (download it here).

There is a lot of ugly Asian hip hop wear.
The only stuff I like is MC Yan's Chinese graffiti 宁死不屈 garb and accessories.
His Tshirts come fitted with Fu©Kin Music 福建音樂 memory chips.

Kampong logo

2009-05-05T14:36:00.010+02:00

Kampong logo designed by PCP, gracias chkrm

Amok rockers of the South Seas 5

2009-05-05T12:54:00.010+02:00

Rebelmix5

Rebelmix 5 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

愛在發燒 - 董事長樂團 The Chairman
(真的假的!?, 2006), Taiwan

夢 - 董事長樂團 The Chairman
(找一個新世界 Looking for a new world, 2005), Taiwan

Sedang Ingin Bercinta - Dewa 19
(Republik Cinta), legendary Indonesian rock band

Kasidah Cinta - Dewa 19
(Atas Nama Cinta I), Indonesia

这辆红色的列车 - P.K.14
(谁谁谁和谁谁谁, 2004), China
thanks Li Hui!

Beh Buti Nga - Parokya Ni Edgar
(Edgar Edgar Musikahan), Philippines
eternal anthem

Outro, feat. MC Yan - 醒神薑 Sanskrit
(Sanskrit, 2006), Hong Kong

Alhamdullilah - Too Phat
(Platinum Edition, 2004), Malaysia

声音 - P.K.14
(谁谁谁和谁谁谁, 2004), China

快 - P.K.14
(谁谁谁和谁谁谁, 2004), China

擦掉橡皮擦 - Alluvial
(像星星一樣 Like A Star, 2007), Taiwan

父親 - 鈑機小茶
(像星星一樣 Like A Star, 2007), Taiwan

Enjoy

Amok rockers of the South seas 4

2009-05-05T12:45:00.011+02:00

Rebelmix4

Rebelmix 4 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

Orchid Island Protest - 鐵虎兄弟 T-ho brothers
(T-ho brothers), Taiwan
thanks to DJ Ty who introduced me

我要搵嘢撈 - 醒神薑 Sanskrit
(Sanskrit, 2006), Hong Kong
merci Jean-Michel!

蒙古殺手 Mongolia Killer - 黃秋生 Anthony Wong Chau Sang
(地痞搖滾 Underdog Rock, 1996), Hong Kong

Dark Side (ga-pi + 7 dub) - Ga-Pi
(Dub Kitchen, 2003), Thailand
Check out his video:
Ga-pi : Return to The Dub Kitchen

Wake In Peace - Goose
(Goose, 2004), Thailand
thanks Josef!

Siam Dub - Siam Dub Monster
(Siam Dub Monster, 2003), Thailand
thanks Josef!

Skali Skale - Gerhana Ska Cinta
Malaysia

美丽的南方 - 木Mυmα马
(果冻帝国, 2004), China

Damn Dirty Apes - Rebel Scum
(KLue Decibel 01, 2003), Malaysia
a very good compilation by KLue magazine, thanks Adrian

自我增值 - 醒神薑 Sanskrit
(Sanskrit, 2006), Hong Kong

New York Kung Fu Society - Dynamite Club
(The Legend Of Tiger Mask, 2002), Japan
hi Kentaro!

Trip (Siopao na Special) - Parokya Ni Edgar
Philippines

八達樓子 - 董事長樂團 The Chairman
(真的假的!?, 2006), Taiwan

新男性的復仇 - 董事長樂團 The Chairman
(真的假的!?, 2006), Taiwan

Enjoy

Amok rockers of the South Seas 3

2009-05-05T12:44:00.012+02:00

Rebelmix3

Rebelmix 3 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

螢火蟲 - Digihai
(像星星一樣 Like A Star, 2007), Taiwan

我的街头 My Streets, feat. Young Kin (excerpt) - 隐藏 Yin Ts'ang
(Fast Lane, 2008), China

Firm - DJ Bobby
(Jakarta Movement '05, 2005), the Stadium ringmaster, Indonesia

Chaa-Hol (Tuvian Folk Song) - Yat-Kha
(Tundra's Ghosts, 1997), Mongolia

Shanghai - 默契音樂 Silent Agreement
China

เหนือใจ - Rik Vachirapirum
(Rasmalai Chapter 1, 2005), Thailand

Thaitay MF (remix) - Thaitanium
Thailand
thanks Josef!

咳 - 農夫 F.A.M.A.
(月下思), Hong Kong

Pills & Permit - MC Su
Singapore
hey Josh

Yed - Thaitanium
Thailand

Trip (ghoststyle mix) - MC Su
Singapore
thanks Ghost

呆会儿 Stay Awhile (excerpt) - 隐藏 Yin Ts'ang
(Fast Lane, 2008), China

Goat's Addiction - Red moon
(默契音樂 Silent Agreement), Taiwan

往左往右 Left and Right (excerpt) - 隐藏 Yin Ts'ang
(Fast Lane, 2008), China

Keep Walking (excerpt) - 林強 Lim Giong
(驚蟄 Insects Awaken, 2005), Taiwan

举起你的杯 Raise your glass, feat. Sawana (excerpt) - 隐藏 Yin Ts'ang
(Fast Lane, 2008), China

Mind Noise (excerpt) - 林強 Lim Giong
(驚蟄 Insects Awaken, 2005), Taiwan

毕其功于一役 When I get there (excerpt) - 隐藏 Yin Ts'ang
(Fast Lane, 2008), China

Falsafah Pendekar - Pendekar
(XS One: the Regiment - School for X'Scape artists, 2007), Singapore - Malaysia

Mothers of Love History - Projekt Heterologia
(Mothers of Love History), from Bandoeng, Indonesia

Enjoy!

Amok rockers of the South Seas 2

2009-05-05T12:43:00.015+02:00

Rebelmix2

Rebelmix2 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

.......... - อพาร์ตเมนต์คุณป้า apartmentkhunpa
(Bangkok Love Story, 2003), amazing Thai band
thanks Josef!

Berdansa (groundtotheair mix) - Inspirational Joni
2005, Indonesia

Kau Di Sana - The Adams
(The Adams, 2005), Indonesia
thanks Indra!

破銅爛鐵 ("metal scrap") - 四分衛 Backquarter
(角頭臉譜, 2005), Taiwan

Membakar Jakarta [Demo Version 2003] - Seringai
(Jkt:Skrg, 2004), Indonesian metal
thanks Aksara!

無能用者 ("scum") - 黃秋生 Anthony Wong Chau Sang
(地痞搖滾 Underdog Rock, 1996), the great Hong Kong actor.
a great guy, one of the very cool people in entertainment in Hong Kong.

Let's Dance (excerpt) - Dagger Stab
(Riot - The Thursday Riot Compilation, 2005), Indonesian death-metal

新聞太吵 - 林強 Lim Giong
(驚蟄 Insects Awaken, 2005), big brother of Taiwan rock and electro
big up mister man

感覺時刻 - 竇唯 Dou Wei
(黑夢, 1994), legendary Chinese rock

明天更漫長 - 竇唯 Dou Wei
(黑夢, 1994), China

把嘴唇摘掉 - 木Mυmα马
(果冻帝国, 2004), amazing China rock
thanks Li Hui!

庆祝生活的方法-献给胡湖 - 木Mυmα马
(果冻帝国, 2004), China

Walang Nangyari - Parokya Ni Edgar
(Halina Sa Parokya), Philippines

Pedro's Basura Mix - Parokya Ni Edgar
(Halina Sa Parokya), Philippines

Enjoy!

Francis Magalona, R.I.P.

2009-05-03T06:02:00.008+02:00

Can't believe Francis Magalona is dead.

This is old news, it was March 6, but I am so ashamed to have just found out, by accident. The Master Rapper died of acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
This is one of his two latest singles:

Sino Magsasabi (radio edit) 256 kbps mp3 - FrancisM

We had spent a whole evening together, well into the night, back in 1997, on a shoot in Manila, for Cartoon Network! That was Happy Battle had come out. We got drunk on a highway truck stop where, besides a bar and a live room, there was a room full of kids playing a Streetfighter video game with Francis as the main character.
Together with his bassist and guitarist we went to a very posh jazz club, filled with glamorous patrons in evening dress. Invited by the MC to perform a little song, they came on stage and set up quickly. Then Francis let out a huge scream, and they went into full frenzy, feedback and all. Then it was over, and we ran out.
After much rioting we ended up at his house, on his basketball court. His wife Pia and he were sweet and fabulous.

I'll post the following in English when I find the time.
"El Motherfucka"
Francis Magalona, rencontré dans un supermarché, m'emmène dans une virée nocturne à travers la ville et les autoroutes bordés de parols, les lanternes de Noël multicolores.
Comme les voitures accélèrent aux feux rouges dans des concerts de klaxons, je cherche ma ceinture de sécurité, arrachée. Mon guide et ami me rassure en ouvrant la boîte à gants: “Pour notre sécurité, deux pistolets, ils sont chargés. Un pour toi, un pour moi.”
Premier arrêt: un bouge en contrebas de l’autoroute, sur une aire de repos improvisée sur le lieu d’un accident, derrière la carcasse d’un camion. Des lampions et fanions indiquent que l’on y sert de l’alcool. Francis M commande deux cocktails de la maison, des El Motherfuckas, mélanges de Long Island et d’une sorte de mezcal local. Un écran géant retransmet un tournoi de jeu vidéo qui a lieu dans la pièce du fond, une version locale de “Streetfighter” avec Francis comme héros.
Deuxième arrêt: Makati, quartier huppé, de commerces et divertissements. Francis a promis de faire une apparition dans un bar de jazz. Rejoints par deux de ses musiciens, sombres et dépenaillés, on fume puis on se gare devant un club très sophistiqué, bordé de palmiers, gardé par d’énormes videurs armés, et cependant très affables. Fouetté par l’air conditionné et la dureté du décor, en marbre et plexiglas, seul à la première table devant l’orchestre, je tente de me donner l’air confortable et vaguement intéressé, alors que des sueurs froides m'empoignent la nuque. Introduit avec clameur par un maître de cérémonies du plus grand style, Francis, son bassiste et son batteur s’installent poliment à la place du groupe de swing. La chanteuse en robe du soir se retire au bar, étincelante.
Francis s’empare du micro et pousse un long hurlement, tandis que le batteur soulève un mur de son autour du public, et le bassiste décoche un larsen monstrueux qui fige l’assistance. Glacé, tétanisé, mortifié, je n’ose regarder les réactions autour, et tente de m’enfoncer dans mon siège en fibre de verre. Soudain le silence se fait, et il faut s’engouffrer dans le 4x4 sans finir les verres.
Troisième arrêt: le célèbre Hobbit House, cabaret de nains géré par des nains. D’énormes Américains, assis à mi-fesse aux tables de dînette, attrappent les naines sur leurs genoux. Les musiciens de Francis ont disparu. Il m'emmène à l’étage, où on rejoint des intellectuels en grande satire poétique sur le gouvernement.
Quatrième et dernier arrêt: le terrain de basketball de Francis, où des jeunes du quartier se joignent à un match improvisé.

Amok rockers of the South Seas 1

2009-04-29T22:52:00.025+02:00

As I wrote an article on rebel Asian music for Issue One magazine's upcoming "Revolt" issue, I made a few mixes of what I was listening to:

Rebelmix1

Rebelmix1 - Kampong beats by yaimogwei

Tracklist:

蓝色的故乡 - 刚子
(蓝色的故乡, 2008), Inner Mongolia

Bagsakan, feat. Francis M & Gloc 9 - Parokya Ni Edgar
(Halina Sa Parokya), legendary Filipino band

Kunobatkan Jadi Fantasi - The Upstairs
(Magnet! Magnet!, 2009), Indonesia

Cekal (Remake '09) - Slank
(Generasi Biru - Original Soundtrack, 2009), Indonesia
thanks Wuki!

Utopia - Slank
(Generasi Biru - Original Soundtrack, 2009), Indonesia

Laklak - Gloc 9
(G9, 2003), Philippines

Isang Araw - Gloc 9
(G9, 2003), Philippines

Ubos Biyaya - Francis M agalona
(The Story of Francis M, 2001), very cool huge Filipino star, R.I.P.! We had a great time!

China National Anthem World Cup 2042 - Journal du futur, Saison 1, Printemps-Eté 2042
(composed by Thomas Dupont for the episode 4, spécial coupe du monde June 26th 2008)
merci Guillaume!

Mouths Unplugged - Akafellas, feat. Gloc 9
(Akafellas, 2004), Philippines

罪 - Beyond
(得精彩, 1996), legendary Hong Kong rock

Bek Bak Koeu Barachey
excerpt from a Khmer folk music compilation

High - Futon
(Love Bites, 2005), fabulous Thai rock band

คณิตศาสตร์ ฟิสิกส์ - Rik Vachirapirum
(Rasmalai Chapter 1, 2005), out-of-this-world Thai rock diva
thanks Josef and Golf!
Check out this video:
Devi

半成品 - 固定客
(像星星一樣 Like A Star, 2007), Taiwan

Dorug Daiym - Yat-Kha
(Tuva Rock, 2003), legendary Mongolian punk Albert Kuvezin's band
thanks Steve!

Pemuda Belati ("teen male") - Komunal
(Hitam Semesta, 2007), Indonesian punk
hi Morgg

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Pram Face Remix) - Futon
Thailand

Enjoy!

Absolut HK

2009-04-18T00:35:00.013+02:00

The only good music in HK lastly has been hip hop. The hk beat is Lo-J.
"Media" Music Video

Is Dj Galaxy.

This is HK. In the space of a few days you are caught in a whirlwind of wacky crazy characters.
Dinner at a no-additives Chinese restaurant in a Lan Kwai Fong side-alley with Lucky bald Louis, SoHo studio Sue and drop-dead Alana miss MSG.
A famous tv anchor is so bored out of her head from an interior designer's monotone conversation she rushes out and falls flat on her face.
Pizza comes with champagne in the company of two amazing persan cats in a self-described media mogul's Wallpaper-perfect Mid-levels pad with a breath-taking view of the harbour.
Queen central flutters wildly at the opening of well-off gay (not smelly) bar DYMK.
A shiny black car on Hollywood West sports a "Mum knows best" plate.
Lawyers throw a nurse-themed vodka-champagne hen night in a private dinner room. The future bride gave a guest a lap dance.
Sassy Chinese Indonesian women huddle on a rooftop sofa, with another breath-taking view of the harbour. "Do you have chop chop?"
The wilder one rustles the valiant men to awful Drop. She asks Louis, "Are you sure you’re gay?"
Louis calls it "slappers delight".
A new Morgan Stanley recruit belts out beautiful Irish songs at Barco. The amazing Dr Lauren and Hell's Angel jet pilot Craig.

Louis notices the "troglodykes" are out tonight.

The best look in HK is still fantastic Hoiming's Big Pocket bag.

Urban renewal

2009-04-17T19:19:00.011+02:00

Soon HK's Central market, drawing so much tourism and an integral part of whatever is left of the territory's identity, as featured prominently in every movie, tv report or ad, is promised to the same sorry fate as Wan Chai market, which has already been defaced and raped in the face, losing its wet market to a horrible soulless mall. More here.

The new LKF hotel on Aberdeen St is very popular for white collar lunch fuck, gelled-up yuppies and spindly stilettos. But it's just a nasty building covered in bathroom tiles.
Of course the Urban Renewal Authority (how sweet a name) gave it clearance easy greasy.

Soon all there will be left is smart-ass (but genius ok) designer store G.O.D.'s Classic Butcher’s Lamp.

Something legendary hardcore band 荔枝王 (King Lychee) can balladeer about, though the brutal gentrification of touristy downtown might be past their worries.

Wishing you prosperity and wealth in the new year

2009-02-16T11:48:00.007+01:00

Lakshmi, Goddess of Fortune

You've probably received this good luck chain mail.
"She is the goddess of capable personality, luxury, fertility, fortune, purity, beauty, power, generosity and auspiciousness, she fulfills prayers of material, wealth and contentment."

But I love the picture.
Om Sri Maha Lakshmyai Namah.

Listen to Rajesh Hardwani's Black Asia spaced out tunes to clean your house and receive her well.

Antonio Mak at the Hong Kong Museum of Art

2009-02-06T05:11:00.006+01:00

For better reading condition listen to James Ting's Freaks Rendez-Vous.

Antonio Mak at the HK Museum of Art. I remember having seen his pieces at my friends' back in the 90's. Good crowd for a Sunday. It's great to see a local artist finally recognized, though posthumously.

Repulse Bay

2009-02-05T21:16:00.008+01:00

For better reading condition of this little post, listen to my friend Jean-Michel Ou's hybrid chill Shanghai opera remixes, using recordings of his own grandmother's voice singing male parts.

It's a beautiful, crisp Sunday, so Louis and I decide to unplug at the beach.

The taxi driver asks for the beach number. He calls his friend in Mandarin for directions.

As we doze off a flock of Wenzhou decibels come screeching above our heads. Quick look. We're surrounded. Busloads of shopping manufacturers and medium company owners are invading the beach, their last stop before departure. Still they are in their Sunday best, and full of cheer, so bless 'em.

Repulsive Bay, originally uploaded by damesville.

By the way the concave building is to be torn down after years of battle between the land owners and the building group. I can't imagine it could have possibly further ruined the aesthetic of the Repulse Bay residential vista.
Or maybe there was never anything behind after all.

Video by Jean-Michel for the bus ride back to town:

Empty Castle

Iron Mic 2008 battle Hong Kong

2009-02-05T20:54:00.009+01:00

Iron Mic 2008 battle Hong Kong, originally uploaded by damesville.

Spirits lifted when it was time for HK's Iron Mic battle at Cali Cali in TST, hosted by MC Yan.
Check out some of the videos, especially Fat B from Prosa in Guangzhou. (enjoy their banned video:
The Generation)

Check out also mad MastaMic's skills here.

It was good to see some sexiness from the groupies, and taller, bigger kids than before. Skinny scrawny dual focal nerds in cheapo anoraks slammed down their bigger opponents who had all the right threads and swagger.

The final pitted hk vs gz in fabulous freestyle cursing. However most of the HK hip hop scene was there that night, all 30 of them... The local music industry is lagging far behind. And so are the media.
Ham lam.

DJ Prepare's amazing jacket:

National Geographic HK pulls magazine covers over nudity scandal

2009-02-05T20:40:00.006+01:00

My first day in HK this time I was told about the National Geographic cover scandal: Lucy had to be wrapped in plastic, as she "may offend and should not be distributed, sold or lent to a person under the age of 18 years".
I remember when I had first moved to HK the Obscene Articles Tribunal had banned a replica of Michelangelo's "David" in a building lobby (!) because David was naked.

All this really elicits in me is this "大佬你想點？" video by James Ting 異人問津舘:

Smelly harbour

2009-02-05T20:33:00.009+01:00

Hong Kong harbour
Originally uploaded by damesville

The first thing that hit me in HK was my face stung and my throat clogged up with nasty drip the kind you don't want from bad charlie. The skin on my fingertips was pasty and sticky.

This is what your lungs sound like: Green Peace hk Air Truth mix by DJ Prepare, MC Yan and Yaz (福建音樂 Fu©Kin Music Mixtape Vol.11).

This is MC仁's video for Greenpeace:

Noise complaint at Makumba

2009-02-05T04:45:00.004+01:00

29112008844
Originally uploaded by damesville

With Antony and Louis, at Makumba, the best bar in Hong Kong, for dancing to the best music, with a very unique cross section of non poseurs: disoriented Chinese kids, ABCs, "eurotrash", Indians, Africans and sundry.
Under the whip of shining beauties Amina and Jessica.

I've long dreamt of Asian music meeting afrobeat.
Till I find any, listen to DJ Zhao's wonderful mixes from Berlin, starting with NGOMA VOL. 1, which he describes as "next-level urban dance music from around the non-western world (...) like India, Cuba, Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa... 4 continents, 19 countries, ... styles include: Bongo Flava, Kizomba, Afro-Hiphop, Bhangra, Cumbia, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Rai, Arabic Pop, Balkan Beat, Genge, Kapuka, Kwaito, Jaija, Afro-House, Afro-Dub, Taraab, Gamelan."