The Underground shows are never predictable and this one managed to cover most bases in terms of indie music genres from britpop with Audiotraffic to metalcore with Eve of Sin,with some Canadian experimentalism and Nepalese acoustic protest rock as well!In fact the show was so noisy and exciting that there was a police 'raid'!
First on were Gaze ,a young band with rock /shoegaze influences.They kicked off with 'Spoiled Kids', a fairly rocky number sounding like early Police(more on that topic later!) but on 'After 7 Years ' the guitar sounds became increasingly fuzzy and shoegazy much to my liking.We need more hk bands prepared to follow in the trails blazed by Ride,Slowdive and other great bands of the 90s pre Britpop and to give it their own special hong kong twist!Gaze,please come back again.
Gaze at The Underground
'There's a magic fragrance under your skin I'm trapped into your cherry -like lips'
I'd say that Kissing on The Dancefloor have a lot of potential and are just as much fun as the name suggests.They play a jangly indiepop,have some good songs and everyone loved their set.They have a retro,britpop sound with clever lyrics and some great,addictivehooks that make you want to hear them more and more.
Kissing on the dancefloor at Club Cixi
Fusilli Project are an experimental,electronic duo based in Hong Kong and Canada.Their sound is an amazing blend of electronica,all kinds of weird percussion,wooden flute and erhu,mixed with some otherwordly vocals, a little like a chill out session in a buddhist monastery. My favourite song was 'A Thousand Mile Journey'.
I had a lot of sympathy for the next act Sanjeev Gurung.Just one guy and his guitar playing songs about himself,his friends and the terrible things that have happened in his country ,Nepal.Just like those classic protest singers of the 60s and later who gave rock music something to sing about apart from sex and drugs like Bob Dylan and Neil Young .
I guess that most local fans came to see Audiotraffic,one of Hong Kong's best indie bands.The band played mainly songs well known to their fans like 'Better?','Lost City' and 'Way too Long'. This band just get better every time.They have one of the best vocalists on the Hong Kong indie band scene,warm but with an edge that takes it out of the realms of 'pop'.On this set ,the band loked quite relaxed and like they were soaking up the warm vibes from the audience.
Audiotraffic at Underground 56
Eve of Sin are a metalcore core band.Their set was so loud that it even attracted the attention of the cops who surreally made an entrance during their set-I guess they may have been fans of cantopop rather than metalcore!
