Everywhere you go in Hong Kong, the number one edible product is pork. There is no avoiding it, and attempting to keep Kosher there would be incredibly difficult. Our professor showed as a picture of some "premium grade beef" where the primary ingredient was pork. When you ordered chicken fried rice, guess what it came with, little pieces of pork. And while pork was everywhere in Hong Kong, music was not.
Sorry for the lame intro about pork. It really has nothing to do with music except for the fact that people care about digesting the pig more than musical notes in what HK dubbed itself as "Asia's World City." Asia is a continent rich in musical tradition, foreign scales, and unbelievably talented child prodigies, but the live music scene was a mixed bag of pork rinds.
On my first day there, I ventured out to find a digital camera. While making my purchase at King Dragon, I discovered a high-end audio set-up in the back portion of the store. After flipping out from some of the sweet equipment, the owner of the store played me some Stan Getz on his Boston Acoustic 303s. He was so proud of the fact that they were not made anymore. They did sound nice, and it was really the last I'd hear of good music in Hong Kong.
On my way out of the store, I asked some of the younger employees if there were any good live music spots in Hong Kong. They said no. I asked about any good jazz spots. They said no. Anything??
The owner responded, "Hong Kong is not the place for music."
I walked out disappointed, but I got a sweet camera. He was right though. I had read this in guides and online, but I would not be stopped.
On the second day of our trip, Jason took me to an Asian music instrument store which he had bought a Sanxian from on his previous trip. I learned to play his Sanxian over a couple weeks freshman year, and fell in love with it and wanted to buy one of my own. We arrived to the instrument store, divided East and West, piano or Sanxian, violin or guzheng, guitar or zither. The Chinese place such an important emphasis on maintaining their Chinese "essence" while adjusting to the changes of modernization. The ethereal harmonization of the guzheng really tantalized me. The store clerk bowed the zither a little and made it sing, but it could only play two notes! I needed something more involved.
Then, I saw it. I played it. I bought it. I asked what it was called. He said, "B'at." I carried it around for the entire trip. Played it at Buddhist monasteries, in Kowloon Park, and on the beach in Lantau Island. My connection to the B'at was deep and it became a part of my musical family. Its easy tuning of G-D-G-D made it easy to play, and it resounded with nearly Appalachian tones. I played the B'at like a bluegrass instrument and got some attention from the locals in the park. It was fun, and I had some Chinese essence in me. Maybe a little pork isn't too bad.
But nevermind my instrument, back to other people's. After many nights of going to sleep early trying to overcome overall exhaustion from an all-intensive trip and being 12 hours ahead of bodily-time schedule, I decided to go out and find some nightlife in the infamous Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) District. LKF is bar after bar after bar after bar each with a different theme. I had read that some of the bars had cover bands.
The first bar we went to with music was "Insmonia." After a beer, we headed to the back where a Filipino cover band was playing songs by Bryan Adams, AC/DC, and Bon Jovi. I guess cover bands are the same all around the world. The singer was talented and could really wail. And while I really wanted to hear the keyboardist take some mean solo, cause I knew he could, the real solo attention was on the shredding guitarist. He could sweep pick the dust of the floor, but I wish his guitar was not counterfeit. It was missing some markings that would definitely make it a Fender and it sounded way tooooo dark for a Maple fretboard and his relatively treble-ey settings on his beautiful tube amp. Despite my criticisms, he really was excellent and understood the international language of rock. I gave him a "rock on" sign and he stuck out his tongue like an East Asian Gene Simmons. A beautiful moment.
My final musical stop for the trip was the bar next door, an Irish pub which I noticed was playing some funky music. I went up to the DJ. His specialization was funky old-school rap and grooving beats. I requested some Parliament, and he was more than down.
Later in the evening, some of my classmates were unfortunately trying to start shit with the cool DJ because he wouldn't play Bon Jovi. I told the kid to go next door where the cover band wouldn't stop playing Bon Jovi. He didn't care. He asked the DJ, "What? Did Bon Jovi fuck your girlfriend or something?" Of course, the DJ got in his face and asked him if he wanted to get 'randy.' The Sternie continued provoke him to until the DJ's buddy came over and stopped any trouble from happening. Despite all the pork in Hong Kong, I know who the real pigs were. We ate, we drank, we brought nothing of value to the country accept for stupid kids at bars. If we could do better and listen to the sounds of the country, maybe the music would be a little better. Maybe an appreciation of culture instead of an appreciation of nightlife will enhance creativity between the two cultures. I'll be back searching for more and playing on the streets again with my b'at, trying to find the music somewhere.
Postscript: the b'at is actually called the Chinese Pipa and is a relative of the Iranian barbat. it is a relative to the lute, and incredibly difficult to tune.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Lots of Pork.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Lambada für Elise by Pavel Steidl
Guitarist Pavel Steidl rips Beethoven (not the dog) a new one with his rendition of Fur Elise.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Moving Pictures
Filmcritic.com gives their opinion on what bands and artists they think should have movies made directly from their songs, in a similar style to Across the Universe. Bands that make the list: Radiohead, The Ramones, Nirvana, and Rush. Personally, I want to see the Aerosmith film about a girl named Janie, with a gun, on a killing spree. Check it out.
Read More......Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Getting Better All the Time
Just a little followup to my review, I found this snippet while meandering around the internet about the use of Gomez in that Philip's ad back when the boys were just baby Brits. Apparently the guys beat out hundreds of other contenders for the Philips spot.
Read More......Monday, March 10, 2008
I Know, I Know...
I know, I haven’t updated the blog in a week. But I’m back from a penalizing essay and slew of assignments to give you a round robin of upcoming album reviews. I gotta bunch of albums starting with the letter “A” for the next couple of weeks!
Abandoned Shopping Trolley Line by Gomez: Strangely, this album was my introduction to Gomez, and I fell in love with the sweeping Dead-like soundscapes of “Buena Vista,” but after listening to Gomez’s Bring it On, I learned their true strength is in melodic and innovative songwriting. So while “Buena Vista” can be a fun intro to anyone who’s into spacey music, Abandoned really shows Gomez’s strengths on some songs you’ll wonder even why they’re B-sides (as this entire album is, I should’ve explained that before…). Songs with those quirky yet catchy hooks you learn to love from Gomez include “Bring You’re Lovin’ Back Here,” “78 Stone Shuffle,” and the tasty alien-bossa-rock number “Flavors.” “Hit on the Head” is short and sweet, but “Steve McCroski” isn’t nearly short enough. Gomez, obviously in the midst of the electronic explorations, let the acid drop a little too hard on their heads with this one. It’s drawling and the loud whines sound like a cat stuck in a computer. But these are B-Sides, so you can’t be too harsh. Even though Abandoned Shopping Trolley Line isn’t an official studio release, there are some quality numbers. Go get Bring it On or In Our Gun first, preferably both. Then definitely buy this guy, sit down, put on “Wharf Me” and lose yourself.
My Favorite Musical Moments: Either when they steal a page right from the Grateful Dead's songbook with "Wharf Me" with that shimmering quivering guitar, or finally figuring out who does that "Getting Better" cover from the Philips commercials.
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 5)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
And the winner is...
So the first Cognitive Frequency contest has come to a close!
The lucky winner is Julia! You can pick up your calendar any time.
Because I thought more people would be interested than turned out to be the case, the second contest will be put on hold until a more interesting prize turns up. The final calendar will go to the first person to come get it.
My album review will come soon, promise.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
So the summer is eternity for you?
Here's your chance to have your voice heard and to score sweet swag to boot! The first Cognitive Frequency giveaway officially starts now!
So I am on the Insound.com mailing list because I like to browse their catalog of merch and see what’s selling hot that week. Insound is based in New York and primarily focuses on the ‘indie rock’ genre. They offer good prices and when there was a problem their staff was super helpful. Because they are relatively small, you get a sense of the staff and I like that personal touch. Plus when you order stuff, you always get tons of free cool stuff, posters, stickers, booklets, it’s a lot of fun.
When they added the option to buy albums from them digitally, I lauded their ‘Save the Album’ campaign, not providing single track download because I very much agree with supporting the fact that an artist took time to arrange an album in a specific manner. It’s part of their work too. A lot of famous bands helped make videos to support it to, including Colin Meloy.
So in a nutshell, I am a big fan of Insound. Check them out sometime.
Anyways, like I was saying, I got an email from them earlier this week and was browsing their site, when I came across their 2008 calendar. For one cent. Even though it is now March, making a sixth of the calendar kinda pointless, I couldn’t pass it up. In fact I bought the max limit of three. So I could start what would hopefully become a trend here at Cognitive Frequency: contests!
This beautiful 6” calendar not only features an awesome band each month (like Rilo Kiley, Hot Hot Heat, Minus the Bear, and Marnie Stern) but also marks important birthdays and milestone dates in ‘Indie rock’ history. Plus, each month feature a discount code, and a Guns N’ Roses fun fact! Everyone needs a little Axl now and then.
So I am giving the first of these beautiful calendars away to one lucky reader here! Here’s how to enter: Just post your name and three albums you think I should review. I’ll pick a winner, at random, sometime on Sunday the 9th who will win a calendar and maybe some other goodies with it (in the spirit of freebies) plus my very first album will be off of the list. Because this is also in part a stunt to help promote our blog, tell your friends to enter this contest and increase your own chances to win!
The next contest, which should go up tomorrow, will be a little more involved. I just need to work out some of the details.
In other news, I sadly had to miss the National playing at NYU but if anyone out there saw it and wants to write a guest review of the concert, please contact me.