Tucked away on a Hong Kong Island back street, just behind the famous antique market selling curious Ming dynasty trinkets and propaganda posters, is the fittingly quaint bakery-cum-record shop, Saffron Records. Owner Sean Hocking is an avid fan of enticing South East Asian music, and the back room is brimming with vinyl, CDs and cassettes begging to be riffled through.
From behind the shop counter, Sean also runs his own record label Metal Postcards, pressing remarkable sounds from Cambodia, Hong Kong, India and beyond. If Hong Kong seems too far away for now, experience the sound of Saffron Records right here, as Sean guides us through some of his favourites from the region.
Artist: Krom
Place: Cambodia
Asian Noir pop song writing by guitarist / vocalist Christopher Minko, working with Khmer vocalists, the Chamroeun Sisters, Sophea and Sopheak and joined by Jimmy ‘B’ on slide guitar and a range of other instruments. They’ll try their hand at most things and have created a truly original sound doing so.
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Artist: Cambodian Space Project
Place: Cambodia
This is Cambodia’s most successful music export so far with fans across the world. Their bluesy rock take on the golden period of Cambodian pop rock has spawned three great albums. Forthcoming album Whiskey Cambodia was recorded with Dennis Coffey (prolific Motown session guitarist, member of Funk Brothers and creator of film soundtracks such as Enter The Dragon), plus other original Motown session players of the 60s and 70s, bringing an authentic Tamla soul sound to their palette of 60s bluesy psych rock.
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Artist: Dub Addiction
Place: Cambodia
It’s kind of a given that reggae in Asia usually means limp-wristed versions of the Peter Tosh or Bob Marley songbooks. Not so with Dub Addiction, whose ragga reggae electro sound pulls in live musicians, Khmer hip hop crews and urban singers, meaning that they are the first band in the region to break the mould. They must be doing something right, as famous UK dub producer and musician Adrian Sherwood will be working with them later this year.
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Artist: Pairs
Place: Shanghai
If you want to know in 20 years’ time what it was like to live in urban China in the period of rapid hyper industrialisation, this is the band that will be referred to. Pairs are drawing to the end of their short life ̶ after a slew of releases and tours around the region they are soon to call it a day ̶ but before they go, they have one more album to leave us with. Pairs comprise of Australian Xiao Xhong and partner in crime F. Pairs have a sound all of their own, think very early White Stripes with the blues stripped away and vignettes about modern life in China dropped in. One day people will talk about this band in the same way they talk about Television or the Stooges now.
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Artist: Gui Gui Sui Sui
Place: Beijing
Dartford (UK) escapee creates alter ego in NE China and then moves to Beijing to unleash Gui Gui Sui Sui on the world. Equal parts Screaming Jay Hawkins and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, add gameboy loops, a diddyboard fashioned from an old skateboard and then tour to death throughout the whole of Asia, and their craft has been honed. This is the strangest, rawest blues you are likely to hear this side of an original Fat Possum release.
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Artist: The Sleeves
Place: Hong Kong
Asia is full of rock bands made up of expats who couldn’t really cut it at home. Not so with Hong Kong’s Sleeves. They’ve developed a solid sound over the years that reminds me of the 1975/76 Hope and Anchor crowd of bands like Eddie and The Hot Rods, 999 et al.
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Artist: The Vinyl Records
Place: The Himalayas, India
India’s alternative music scene is coming of age as we speak. Every week there’s a new band popping up in Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta. This lot are the pick of the bunch for me at the moment. Four young women from Arunchadel Pradesh and Assam now based in Delhi play spiky New Wave rock that takes you right back to the best of 1978/79. Coming on like X-Ray Spex and Girlschool with lyrics for and about young women in India, they are ready to bring it on with tracks entitled Ready Set Go or Apocryphal.
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Artist: Zoo
Place: Calcutta
Zoo* are another face of new music from India. Inspired by the UK Bristolian sound of beats, dubs and electronics combined with the soulful bluesy voice of the wonderful Tanya Sen this band are already making quiet headway in the region with a music that is part Massive Attack part Moorcheeba. The New York Times has already featured Tanya as the voice to go and hear if you happen to be in Calcutta. Expect to hear a lot more from these guys and soon.
* Eliza: “And of course Zoo appeared at CAMA Festival last year in Hanoi at Hanoi Rock City.”
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CAMA’s Eliza Lomas is on a mission to find a huge array of great Asian music, digging through different times, countries and genres, with a regular monthly selection.
For information on CAMA events visit www.cama-atk.com
