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
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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
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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.
