Press release

23/05/2024

Despite running for several months now, tonight was the media launch of the music room at Melody (previously Potatohead), the bar-restaurant-listening space on Third Street in Sai Ying Pun. For the most part it still had the groovy loungey feel of the old music room, with four seating areas, a colourful central pillar, and an amazing DJ setup with an incredible speaker system that fills the room with music from every direction to create a fully immersive experience. The chief curator Johnny Hiller gave us a rundown on the equipment and concept behind this very cool facility, mentioning that all kinds of music can find their way into a set in this luxury listening space. What I’d like to see, in addition to the awesome mixes of local and visiting DJs playing various genres of groove, soul, house & funk, is dedicated listening sessions in other niche genres such as specific labels, some of the more contemplative strains of jazz, experimental electronica, obscure world musics and so on and so forth; a place where music lovers & sonic explorers can congregate to hear all manner of sounds on this most awesome of systems. Few places like The Music Room at Melody exist anywhere, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere for the public to learn about & hear the incredibly broad range of creative sounds that exist outside the mainstream in a dedicated state of the art audiophile environment. I look forward to watching developments in this space over the next few months & hope to be back soon.

29/02/2024

Tonight at Chez Trente I got to flaunt my Japanese language skills a little when I struck up a conversation with Yuichi Terai, one of two Japanese saxophonists performing with three local jazzbos including the incredibly proficient & technically inventive Nate Wong on drums. There was a slightly chaotic 70s lounge vibe buzzing through the place, lots of swaying bods and grooving hips, and the players seemed to be having as much fun as the audience, which included a strong Japanese contingent. So good to see jazz in Hong Kong making leaps and bounds towards attracting a younger, jazz-conversant audience.

29/02/2024

Tonight we’re at a high concept electronic gig called Delusion Beats in a Tai Kwun event space known as the Duplex Studio. It’s been billed as a science fiction extravaganza inspired by the awakening of a character called Qu Yuan (from the Dragon’s Delusion comic books) into a cyberpunk rock world of the future. So high hopes, high expectations. Perhaps too high. To my ears the sound system is a little too focused down one end of the room, the music a little too big themed 90s shlock, and for all the live mixing going on, well, the DJ may as well be playing a CD. Underwhelming to say the least. But then aggressive and overdriven glitch-clipped rhythms were never my thing. In other words, this is 1990 as reimagined in 2014 by a dude in 2024. Tacky, portentous nonsense. The concept is completely lost and the proof of that is that I’m standing in a roomful of people who all look about as nonplussed as me. But hey, we’re here supporting, so that’s something right? I think what we need is less echo, more speakers, better speakers, and a Berlin-Detroit-inspired sensibility before we can put Hong Kong on the world cities map of progressive electronica.

28/02/2024

wow thrilled to find Dichotomic Language in Bandcamp Daily's round up of sound/poetry releases.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-sound-poetry/the-best-sound-poetry-on-bandcamp-december-january-2024

as ever hit up Yan, Eric or I to purchase a copy or - obviously! - go to Bandcamp!

04/12/2023

coming

$200 Advance / $250 Doors Koichi Shimizu Born 1972, is a musician, sound designer, producer based in Japan. Active since the late 90s, Shimizu has work...

27/09/2023

Jazz In The Neighbourhood series at Tsuen Wan Town Hall

The Atlantic Trio consists of Roberto Olzer on drums, Deobrat Mishra on sitar, and Prashant Mishra on tabla.

So a jazzy trio then, with an Indian flavour. Music exists “in time” so to speak, and as such, it’s like the wind, always shifting hither thither, rolling or roaming forwards in delicate wisps or great gusts, shaking the listener’s attention loose and fragmenting his senses. Songs may have structure in the ordered and formalist sense of art, but in terms of what gets released into the wild, those forms are as volatile as a pattern of sunlight upon a bay, as scattered as pappus from a dandelion. The rhythm section attempts to tie it all together, but a tabla player is a looser unit, the amplification of each puff or gasp burbles with a wobbleboard warp in time. Tracing the development of the piano and the sitar through this light turbulence is like watching a bumblebee in flight; a concrete object in an abstract field. “We were talking / about the space between us all / and the people / who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion / never glimpse the truth.” And what truth would that be George? The truth of whimsy & chaos?

20/09/2023

∅ 空集 [Empty Set] at SAAL in Kwun Tong. The hood, the self-negating name, and the introductory sequence of ‘electronic wind blowing through subterranean sewer tunnels’ all conjure up for this listener an old familiar feeling of industrial ghoulishness. Note the soft phonemes in that phrase; this ∅ 空集 turns darkwave into something warm and fuzzy. This is electronic circuit music whereby drama is created through sustain & variation. Circuit boards & guitars are the inputs; the act is one long piece that rarely threatens my ear drums in a too frightening way.

20/09/2023

“Other Noises” night at SAAL in Kwun Tong. It’s certainly been awhile since I was able to get out and immerse myself in ‘other noises’ but here I am back at SAAL drowning in eerie spaced out waves of distorted guitar & bruising explosions of sonic wash at decibels my mother warned me against, from tonight’s first act Theatre of Darkness These pieces have structure; Freytag’s pyramid prevails—the haunted, mysterious ebbing & flowing opener, the building of an unrelenting tension, variation-by-disturbance, the inevitable elongated climax, sound as dark matter binding us all in an hitherto unrevealed law of physics. The very substance of electrons blasting apart in a Hadron Collider of the mind.

28/05/2023

Mary-Jane Alejo. Sings for her supper, brek & brunch. Hardest working musician in Hong Kong.

20/04/2023

a must see series of performances featuring press : release favourites Charles and Felix!

20/05/2022

another Edinburgh night in at the May Wavetable 5 event in with Andrew Ostler, Izaak Hollander and The Unperson

sublime

29/04/2022

well at least in Edinburgh current home for two of press : release's founders there is music. last night i managed to get a long to my first electronic music evening at Edinburgh's Whitespace hosted by Wavetable. 3 sets of improvisation and exploration in a completely-packed venue. it felt like home!

here's the link to the event I think you'll enjoy researching the sounds (one of the hosts is Andrew Ostler and I can recommend his recent LP release which I have https://andrew-ostler.bandcamp.com/album/crossing-the-line) https://www.facebook.com/events/7343136849092366; Bicentennial Man's limited (ltd 8 copies) cassette of Sleeping Country was available at the venue and I added that - I had my Walkman with me so was able to continue the vibe all the way home!

19/02/2022

Last night I had a time travel dream. It was pre-Covid times when society was bustling and gigs were so commonplace you could hardly keep up or get out to see even half of the things that interested you. Into this pre-isolation era I deteleported and woke up at SAAL in Kwun Tong seeing the likes of Dennis Wong and Atom Neutron among other agents of abandon let loose their talents. In this dream it’s a cold wet night outside. I’m at SAAL seated on a sofa with just a few others around, all improvisers coming and going from the stage in pockets of twos and threes. The dark industrial vibe is present as it always was but something has changed. A more lyrical beauty has blossomed among the mechanistic roar. My old SAAL stomping buddy Nick is hover-present along with a handful of other ghost regulars, noise aficionados, the sensitive acute.

When I first unshackle myself from my time device Dennis Wong is performing micro noise, the amplified squiggles. squelches, echo, feedback, & white noise of gadgets, but where usually Dennis would fill the hall with a frighteningly voluminous racket, tonight it’s full of space, & only once or twice does he lose control of his circuits and the piercing feedback of a noise witch screams out “I’m gonna burst ya freakin’ eardrums,” before cackling as she fades away, all in the half life of a split second.

This is what I always did at these gigs - constructed interpretative narratives to the “music”. Dennis always rejected my narratives as me putting my own spin on it to create meaning (paranoid futuristic technopolises was always a favourite); he says the noise was just noise and that the sounds are always there hovering between the disparate sources; his job is just to draw the sounds out; cos that’s what he “plays” - gadget boxes that manipulate a signal coming from a source or sources.

So I might have time traveled back to SAAL 2019 but it’s with a post-narrative perspective. We’ve got Sherman on electric guitar playing controlled shards of feedback while Dennis improvises percussion on a drum kit (he’s not a drummer). They’re playing off each other and it truly is moving & dramatic. There’s a lot of delicacy here so far tonight. This dream gig is more about the background silence than it is about the actual notes. It’s music that invites contemplation just before things get dirty and loud; pure molten sludge. I’m in my niche.

There’s Eric Chan scraping and scratching his violin strings, Dennis Wong splashing about on drums and Atom Neutron noodling liquid sunlight and I find this sequence stunning, sublime. No narrative, but a soundscape of forward reacting emotion to a more muted phase of life in Hong Kong. The dream is like a mirror of past anticipations made audible. I woke from that dream and realised I’d seen some codified writing on the wall that I’d not properly understood the first time around but which now seemed predestined and legislated into existence.

12/01/2022

unmissable - Xper.XR, Alex and Edward separately shaped the way that I saw - and participated in - the Hong Kong music scene

07/12/2021

💥HAPPY ACCIDENT #4
This Sunday 12 December 2021 (2-4 pm)

🪑Lecture: Emergence or the art of [un]planned Improvisation

Tête-à-tête between Dr FRANCOIS MOUILLOT (Humanities and Creative Writing and Music -BU) & Dr DAMIEN CHARRIERAS (Art in Creative Media -SCM at City U)

At 3rd Wave
Hollywood Building. Studio B. 2/F. 186 Upper Station Street. Sheung Wan. HK

Open to public, Free Admission

有關即興藝術的公開講課， 邀請了兩位學者前來討論分享。

*是次講課以英語進行

今個星期日12月12日1400-1600

上差館里荷里活大樓2B室

24/11/2021

it is still November

go see Evan if you can - always an amazing evening

18/11/2021

...livemusic fillling November...

【Meanwhile 2021】

這一刻，
這城市，
這輩子。

Meanwhile應該是我們這輩子首個一創辦就希望不要再做的音樂活動！

疫情下我們見步行步，對未來無法預料卻又充滿盼望。這一刻，我們捉緊當下，盡力做好能做到的事，即使可能並不完美也不圓滿，但Meanwhile 2021的出現，至少記錄了這城市在這一刻的狀況，憑藉集合本地有份量、有想法的音樂單位，與大家一起在困難中享受現場音樂，於香港美景的擁抱下大力呼出一口氣！

日期｜
Day 1 Here 2021年12月3日（星期五）6pm – 10:30pm
Day 2 Now 2021年12月4日（星期六）3pm – 10:30pm

地點｜中環海濱活動空間

演出單位｜
Day 1 Here - LMF、24HERBS 廿四味、JB、黃禍 Yellow Peril、Gareth.T 湯令山 、Kiri T
Day 2 Now - RubberBand、Dear Jane、R.O.O.T、MC $oHo & KidNey、Yellow! 野佬、The Boogie Playboys、The Hertz、MouseFX 阿鼠流動音效、Fds/4eva

單日票價｜$780 / $580 / $380
(全場坐位，於同一區域內不設劃位)

門票於11月19日 (五) 10am起在Ticketflap及BOOKYAY公開發售！
網址｜
Ticketflap - https://www.ticketflap.com/meanwhile2021
BOOKYAY - https://www.bookyay.com/meanwhile2021

主辦｜太陽娛樂、Magnetic Asia
製作｜POPM

Photo Credit : 69.psd (Mario Chui)

溫馨提示：
各位觀眾入場前需先利用手機掃瞄「安心出行」二維碼，或填寫表格登記其姓名、聯絡電話及到訪場地日期與時間

Join HK’s most exciting acts for a weekend of live music in an open-air setting at Meanwhile 2021! Taking place at Central Harbourfront on Friday Dec 3 (6pm-10:30pm) and Saturday Dec 4 (3pm-10:30pm) 2021, this two-day event features local hip-hop legends LMF and 24Herbs, fans’ favourites RubberBand, and many more.

Tickets for each day, priced HK$780, HK$580 & HK$380, are going on sale at Ticketflap (https://www.ticketflap.com/meanwhile2021) and BOOKYAY (https://www.bookyay.com/meanwhile2021) at 10am on Friday 19 November 2021. Numbers are strictly limited, so make sure you don’t miss out and get yours on Friday 19 November!

Gentle reminder:
- Audience needs to either use the "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile application OR complete a record form to register their personal information when entering the event venue
- Free seating within the chosen ticket zone

#太陽娛樂 #中環海濱活動空間

14/11/2021

...some dates for your diaries...

18/10/2021

yeah yeah yeah...get in there...such a great venue...

Next Saturday will be the last live music gig at our Lai Chi Kok studio space. They are tearing down the building so it’s time for one final night of jams! 🎶

Presented by on Oct 23rd we will be joined by our friends and also have an open jam sesh to close out the night! Free entry and suggested donations.

Poster by

08/10/2021

of course you're going...

Come to our next gig on Saturday October 16th @ The Aftermath

Along with The Side Burns - HK, Lip Servants and The Young Bucks

Check here for more details:
https://facebook.com/events/s/side-burns-john-travoltron-lip/1054837888623420/

05/10/2021

Live performances in late-October, stay tuned.

21/09/2021

press : release has been a huge fan of CMHK's Sound Forms series

We are thrilled to announce the return of our annual sound festival: 📢 Sound Forms 2021: Present_Present📢 , co-presented by Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, Hong Kong Arts Centre and Tai Kwun Contemporary 大館當代美術館. Stay tuned and save the dates!

隆重介紹返一年一度嘅聲音藝術節: 📢 聲形 2021: 當刻_當下📢 ，今年繼續由現在音樂與香港藝術中心及大館當代美術館合辦。記得跟實我地留意最新消息同埋mark低尐日子喇!

▫️▪️▫️▪️
⌛️ Oct 14-16 in Hong Kong Arts Centre McAulay Studio
⏳ Oct 26-28 in Tai Kwun F Hall
▫️▪️▫️▪️

Sound Forms 2021: Present_Present invites artists to ponder on their intangible recollections of a “place”, and the significance of home, roots, distance and location in their works. Featuring 12+ groups of artists, the fourth edition of the festival will open on October 14-16th, at Hong Kong Arts Centre featuring cross-disciplinary audio-visual performances, and continue at Tai Kwun F Hall on October 26-28th surrounded by multi-channel speakers and light installations. Sound Forms 2021 is supported by Hong Kong Arts and Development Council.

聲形2021: Present_Present 邀請藝術家思索他們對某「地方」的抽象記憶，以及他們的作品中家、根、距離與地點的意義。第四屆聲形聲音藝術節將於10月14日開幕，為觀眾呈獻超過12組藝術家/組合的作品。10月14-16日於藝術中心麥高利小劇場的節目會以跨界視聽表演為主，接續於10月26-28日則會在被多聲道聲音及燈光裝置環繞的大館F倉舉行。聲形2021由香港藝術發展局資助。

Design: MAJO

18/09/2021

Hurrah for the return of Tonal at this awesome venue in Sheung Wan. Gig on TONIGHT!

16/09/2021

22/07/2021

ALONSO GONZALES QUARTET Peel Fresco Music Lounge Regular Wed July 21

Last night I went out to Peel Fresco prompted by a Facebook post shared by saxophonist Blaine Whittaker. I’d been wanting to get back and see Blaine in action, especially given how long it’s been since I last went to a jazz concert in Hong Kong.

I’ve seen the name “Alonso Gonzales Quartet” around a bit, but not had the chance to catch this act yet. So I rock up to Peel Fresco with me mate Romi, a half hour late, expecting to have to fight my way through to a seat, but nope, it’s a quiet night for punters, a not so quiet night for the band who are burning through a set of loud funky soul jazz with great vigour and stoic determination to make the most of the session and reward those of us who bothered to head out & see ‘em.

I was a little inebriated but here’s what I remember:

1. Blaine pursuing maximum blast factor in every number, climbing his sax like a ladder to find the highest point to emote from. It was exciting hot fusion riding over top of the chakka chakka boogie of Alonso Gonzales and Franklin Torres’s rhythm section.

2. Individual solos by Torres on bass (he runs the full gamut of his fretboard, flicking, picking, thumbing, twanging like an arctic explorer testing the ice) and Chris Carpio on keys. Now Chris did this Monkish thing that made me stop and think, “Is he a beginner on that thing?” as he plinked & plunked out a few rudimentary notes of the chords like an amateur, keeping up this bluff for awhile, but soon enough ended up down the far end of the spectrum like a keyboard wizard conjuring such a mad flurry of notes out of his plastic ivories that I couldn’t even see what his hands were doing.

My main takeaway was of a celebratory kind of funky jazz stew, fully engaging, audience-in-mind, good-time bop with plenty of extended flights of fancy. I mean this looked like a fun time and I wanted to just leap up and make some noise with them.

Mr Torres especially…has a showman side, as does Whittaker when he really lets go, cheeks puffing, face reddens, when he starts stretching for the stratosphere.

Let this live bandwagon roll on. And get out there people. If this was New York I wouldn’t even have thought about trying to get a seat after arriving half hour late.