Clockenflap: A Show You Never Want to Forget
If you are heading to Clockenflap this year, we want to make sure you’re ready to jump in and enjoy some of our ‘best pick’ from this year’s line up. It was tough choosing the best out of the best, but who says ‘too much for choice’ is a bad thing. You’ve got us now!
If you are heading to Clockenflap this year, we want to make sure you’re ready to jump in and enjoy some of our ‘best pick’ from this year’s line up. It was tough choosing the best out of the best, but who says ‘too much for choice’ is a bad thing. You’ve got us now!
Clockenflap coming back in November. Photo courtesy of Chris Lusher.
Whenever you think is the best time to visit Hong Kong, whether it’s during spring, summer or Christmas, think again. If you have just joined the indie fan club, you are in for the biggest part of the Hong Kong pie – Clockenflap, Hong Kong’s most supreme music and arts festival kind of fits all really. Coming to Tsim Sa Tsui from 17-19 November, there will be more than you need – just imagine you had too many courses with a superb fine dining experience and it’s all-you-can-eat of the finest foods. Well, this is it, guys!
No one does it better than Magnetic Asia, the festival organiser, who has gone through the highs and lows just to get you the best acts from the world outside. As usual, we want to highlight some of the funkiest in the region. The 5 stages will be featuring a 3-day massive showcasing 14 new acts debuting in Hong Kong, 6 Asia-exclusives and 2 Clockenflap-Exclusive acts.
Seth Troxler
We want to believe that Seth is a true naturalist and a futurist at heart. If you question why this guy continues to receive an invitation back to the Boiler Rooms most famously known for his intuitive dance cuts, this early-starter has not only began his career in Detroit at the age of 16 but has played in some of the most tinted high-class clubs in the world including the legendary Visionaere in Berlin. Let’s not start about where he got his inspiration from after chirping crickets, mighty force of spaceships and mysterious sounds of voodoo magic, its Robert Downey Jr..
CHOCHUKMO
Clockenflap 2017 – Chochukmo
While Indie bands can be a hit or a miss, we fell in love with the Hong Kong-based CHOCHUKMO due to their ability of smoothly incorporating Jazz, Rock and Rap in one of the rather famous single “One O’clock”. They are still rather undiscovered in the West but have been quietly gathering fan base in the region. The single “Good Night” is truly a love song, simply repetitive and patiently demanding of its listeners.
The Dandy Warhols
Clockenflap 2017 – The Dandy Warhols
Return to big love and post Beatles era with The Dandy Warhols, the alternative rock band originally from Oregon. After 10 studio albums, the fans still asked for “Bohemian Like You” from the album “The Dandy Warhols Come Down [released in 1997” at every live show which caught fame after being used in a Vodafone ad and also in Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Show in 2001 and the rest is history.
Totorro
Clockenflap 2017 – Totorro
Don’t we love a bit of storytelling? Originally started as a heavy math rock band, we’ve been seeing a lot more melodic and rosy “instrumental music”. Totorro is embarking on their first Asian tour, stopping in Singapore before heading to Clockenflap. Springing from the rosiest spring bud this year, their latest album “Come To Mexico” is still their best known to date. We are seeing some of the earliest and best works of the band, so don’t miss the pioneering off-beat post-rock sounds of Totorro.
Kid Ink
Clockenflap 2017 – KID INK
King of Hip Hop from LA started his career as a producer and rapper at the young age of 16 and cut his skill working with some of the largest hip-hop artists in the Western hemisphere including Sean “Diddy” Combs, Sean Kingston, and Nipsey Hu$$le. His songs normally, naturally melodic, makes it for easy listening and practising those moves. His most popular single “Show Me”, featuring Chris Brown, already garnered over 187 millions on YouTube.
Ibibio Sound Machine
Clockenflap 2017 – Ibibio Sound Machine
An Afrocentric band fronted by London-born Nigerian singer Eno Williams blends West-African funk, disco, post-punk and electro is what makes them so infectious. Their colourful costumes couped with upbeat is set against an imagery of evocative Nigerian poetic imagery. It’s all about those percussions, big sound from the trombone and trumpet, and synth.
Mitski
Clockenflap 2017 – MITSKI (photo credit: Ebru Yildiz)
We would call her the songbird of the Indie Rock. Mitski Miyawaki, a Japanese-American singer-songwriter, has always lived in her two worlds but never fully in one. She released first two albums: “Lush” (2012) and “Retired from Sad, New Career in Business” (2013) whilst studying at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music and was named “10 Artists You Need to Know” by Rolling Stone in 2015. Her latest album “Puberty 2” expresses, with distorted guitar, her turbulent experience with men, ache after heartbreak, recollection of good times and raw beauty. Deep resounding words and a true poet!
Well, this is just fractions of what we felt are true inspirations of where music is evolving but nothing beats being there personally. Check out the others who have worked really hard to be where there are including Higher Brothers (China), Fan Hung A (Hong Kong), Supper Moment (Hong Kong), Pedicab (Philippines) and many more.
This year’s Phase 2 tickets are now on sale and will end on October 30. For further information on single-day and weekend ticket prices, please click here. Young Clockenflappers who hold a valid full-time Hong Kong Student ID or are aged between 13-17 years old can also enjoy discounts on all ticket types. For festival-loving families, Clockenflap offers free entry for children aged 12 and under (maximum two per paying adult).
