Monthly Press Review – 8 (September 2024)

Xiami Music Festival in Aranya

RadiiChina article on the last Xiami Music Festival in Beidahe, featuring Xu Wei and Zhao Lei. The famous music streaming platform Xiami was closed in 2021, during the pandemic, before coming back as a music festival.

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The Cantopop bad boy MC Cheung Tin-fu

A Tatler Asia article on MC Cheung Tin-fu, a Hong Kong Cantopop singer known for his “bad boy” attitude.

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The Crane, Asia Most Stylish Singer

Another Tatler article on The Crane 林泰羽, an R&B artist from Taiwan who is apparently very stylish.

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Hyukoh and Sunset Rollercoaster Surprise Album

Two famous Asian indie bands, South Korean Hyukoh and Taiwan Sunset Rollercoaster, talk to NME about their surprise collaborative album, AAA.

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Shi Fu Miz festival to return in November

The eight edition of the Shi Fu Miz music festival will return to Hong Kong in November, according to Hong Kong Free Press.

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Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution – Well yeah according to Chinese textboooks

Rock and Roll and pop music are listed as Western vices that can be used to sow the seeds of “colour revolution” among Chinese youth, according to China’s latest college textbook on national security, in this article by SCMP. I’m quite surprised by the absence of hip-hop in the list, well maybe not that much since it has been largely coopted by the authorities.

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Hong Kong can’t catch a break: now it’s Coldplay

Apparently Hong Kong has not suffered enough: Coldplay will perform at Kai Tak Sports Park in 2025 according to the SCMP.

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Wellsaid new single, “Lighter Head” (and album)

V13 article on Wellsaid’s new single, “Lighter Head”. They have since then released their new album, “Regretopia”. The Hong Kong indie rock band recorded their album in Taipei, and the single features Pillof Yau of the Taiwanese indie outfit Super Napkin.

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Ye’s Listening Parties in China

Hip Hop artist Ye (formerly known as Kanye West – also Trump supporter and notorious anti-semite) returned to China for “listening parties” of his last album. The tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. Kanye relation to China is pretty deep, as he spent a year in Nanjing when he was a kid as his mother Donda was a lecturer at a local university. Here are some articles, by RadiiChina, Lifted, The New York Times.

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Taiwan Music Festival in Tokyo

Over three days at Tower Records Shibuya, the Taiwan Music City Festival featured many Taiwanese bands, as P!SCO, Sunset Rollercoaster and Elephant Gym, according to an article by Japan Forward.

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Clockenflap’s Headline Announced

The famous Hong Kong music festival Clockenflap announced its headline for next year, featuring Jack White, Jamie xx, St. Vincent, Air and Glass Animals according to the SCMP.

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Taiwan Golden Indie Music Awards nominations

Taiwanese indie bands Elephant Gym, Bremen Entertainment Inc., and the rapper known as Aquaman, are tied with five nominations each at the 15th Golden Indie Music Awards, according to Focus Taiwan. The Jury also gave the Jury Award posthumously to Wayne Liu (劉暐) late guitarist of Wayne’s So Sad and The Admonished Trio.

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Zhou Jianjun’s Folk Rap

A CGTN article on Zhou Jianjun, a folk rap singer from Shaanxi, “if you’re a fan of the game Black Myth: Wukong”.

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Hong Kong punk legends Blackbird

An article by Levon Kwok on Hong Kong punk legendary band Blackbird 黑鳥 and their anarchist agenda.

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Delving into the story and legacy of Teresa Teng

An article in Far Out on the story and legacy of Taiwan pop icon Teresa Teng, who passed away in 1995.

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