Monday, November 14, 2011

HONG KONG TWEE POP

Hong Kong Twee Pop


Listen to "Jazz For Lovers, Solitude For Me" by the Marshmallow Kisses


Listen to "Leo, are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes" by My Little Airport


Listen to "Men in Black" by 有耳非文

Get it all here.

A mix I recently made of especially fabulous twee pop from Hong Kong. Most of this was found at P-Tunes & Video, the store on Chrystie Street featured in the header image of this blog, though a few songs were found on CDs I picked up at other Hong Kong CD places on the Bowery and there's one or two things I found online.

It shocks me that there's no Pitchfork, Spin or Rolling Stone article out there on Hong Kong twee. The music is exceptional and hip, some if not all of it is available through western channels and, last but not least, the artists mostly sing in English. While I've found individual reviews of a CD here and there, there's just no 411 out there about the movement as a whole.

So, as you'd imagine, my own entry into it was purely random; I found this CD, which features a number of the artists you'll find in the present mix. I then spent the next two years combing Brooklyn's and Manhattan's Chinatowns, Flushing, Queens, and--yes, I'll admit it--the World Wide Web--searching for more.
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10 comments:

  1. GrandpaChrisNovember 24, 2011 at 12:11 PM

    Thanks for this. I came across My Little Airport and like them but never realised they were part of a genre.

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  2. EvaDecember 15, 2011 at 12:55 AM

    hi, I live in Hong Kong. I've never heard of the marshmallow kisses, how embarrasing. They're cool. I'll keep a look out for them in the shops.

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  3. manouFebruary 7, 2012 at 8:42 AM

    hello, does anyone know a webpage where I can find out more about this genre ? thanks a lot and hello from Berlin =) manou

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  4. GaryFebruary 7, 2012 at 4:52 PM

    Hi Manou from Berlin ... there is nothing in English about Hong Kong twee anywhere on the web that I know of, but if you search for individual acts you can find more information (and sometimes info about still other bands).

    Here's a nice page on My Little Airport (with links to all of their albums), for instance:

    http://minipopcube.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-little-airport.html

    Happy hunting and good luck!

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  5. Chris Z.April 30, 2012 at 4:27 AM

    Wow! Thanks for this! I brought a couple of CDs by My Little Airport and The Pancakes with me from a trip to HK two years ago, but I had no idea that there's so much more in this genre. I think it's wonderful that Hongkongers didn't lose their taste for charming girlish voices since the heyday of singing movie stars like Chan Po-Chu, Siao Fong-Fong and Fung Bo-Bo over 40 years ago. From Manou's posting I gather I'm not the only person in Berlin who loves this kind of stuff - another pleasant surprise for me!

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  6. GaryApril 30, 2012 at 8:46 AM

    Thanks, Chris ... really enjoying your Truesound Transfers site ...

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  7. Greetings from OsloMay 18, 2012 at 5:06 AM

    Thank you for awesome uploads and great research! These tunes are simply eargasmic.

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  8. AnonymousJuly 31, 2012 at 9:58 PM

    Any chance of a track list...thanks

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  9. LAugust 11, 2012 at 4:35 PM

    I'm familiar with Filipino twee pop, but H.K. twee pop is new to me. Many thanks for posting.

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  10. Mikey B.January 16, 2014 at 4:01 AM

    Gary, could you please re-post Hong Kong Twee Pop?

    ReplyDelete