London Fashion Week Spring'11

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.

Gasah Buta

"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".

Tribal animals

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,
Shetou'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

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...