Live review from Winter Festival (冬季音樂祭) Day 1:
1. Breathe
2. Time & Space
3. Typhoon Grooves
4. 3 Day Hangover
5. The Real World
6. Funk Jam
7. On Hold
8. Confused
9. Big Wave Bay
Drifting between dreamy indie haze and tight blues-rock, Mr Koo’s set is anchored by technically assured songwriting. The cinematic Breathe opens with downtempo textures, a languid solo and a sax passage as frontman Ollie Andrew Koo Rodgers beckons the crowd closer. Time & Space follows with Japanese jazz‑pop richness, wah pedal-distorted strumming and exuberant saxophone lines woven throughout the composition.
For Typhoon Grooves, Rodgers greets the audience in Cantonese before rolling into Hendrix‑esque wah solos and waves of sound that crest with sax and drums. Then, things are pared back on 3 Day Hangover, with clean guitar and folky vocals, Kevin Cheng’s drums ticking like a clock as wistful lyrics carry country inflections: “just trying to get back the world I live in”. The Real World slows further, Wilco‑like in tone, Tom Chan’s bass runs nudging Andrew McBain’s marimba-esque keys while Jun Ho’s sax notes rise like smoke, every phrase carefully shaped. “I’m going offline but I’ll never get away,” the highly workmanlike Rodgers sings – a relatably melancholic sentiment for the modern era.
Funk Jam rolls in like storm clouds from the ocean with dissonant guitar over spacey keys, Moon Duo’s desert‑rock textures, piano solos and a spine‑tingling crescendo where phased guitar notes bloom and sax screeches with emotion. On Hold lightens the mood with surf‑pop bounce, caramel vocals and playful keyboard effects that flirt with dissonance. McBain is great to watch – his playing really brings the band’s vibe to life, employing different effects that are always surprising and fun. Rodgers’ vocal tone flits between a slightly grizzled Cobain-style affectation but smooths into more John Mayer territory on songs like Confused, whose teenage simplicity – “I’m so confuuuused, I don’t know what to doooo” – is elevated by lush instrumentation. It’s a track that’s as sweet as a summer’s breeze.
On Big Wave Bay, a bright, catchy closer evokes summer drives and screen‑free escapes in its jangly indie pop, Rodgers gives a shoutout to following band Qi and mentions how the two acts debuted together six years earlier. Anyone who saw Rodgers in those days will remember him as a shy soloist, an old soul in a youthful form, with a suitcase of sincere original tunes. To see the band now, fleshed out as a five-piece, is like seeing a nice sketch become a multidimensional diorama. Across the set, the band balances virtuosity with warmth, shifting from haze to groove with ease – it’s a performance that’s both technically assured and joyfully human. A few of the Koo crew keep things rolling afterwards underground jazz venue Chez Trente, where lucky punters get to witness them see out the night with improvisation in a more intimate setting. But at the Fringe, they knock their too-short set out of the park and are the clear highlight of The Underground’s Winter Festival bill.
-El Jay
Live Review from The Underground’s 17th Year Anniversary Party
1. Funky Snow (short instrumental warm up)
2. Surreal
3. About You
4. New Normal
5. Lonely Jim
6. Big Wave Bay
7. Don’t let me down (cover)
When I was asked to review the Underground’s 17th Anniversary, I had expectations for a loud, aggressive, mind shatteringly powerful opening. You don’t go to an Underground show to chill out, you go to rock out. But we chill we did, and chill we enjoyed. Riding in first on an expectedly smooth wave was Mr. Koo – a classic Britpop band that styles themselves with chilled out California vibes, what with their medium length hair, baseball caps and slightly-too-long stubble (rocking it guys!). A very original Hong Kong vibe.
Their first number Funky Snow came without introduction because it was the instrumental introduction. Bluesy, funky (obviously), not too loud but not too soft; perfectly suited, if unlikely, lively opening to the night. This was followed by a mix of lyrical British Invasion style songs such as Surreal, About You and New Normal that got the crowd swaying. Some of their offerings had additional influences: New Normal for instance had strong jazzy Dave Brubeck vibes which aptly fits with the chorus’ tagline “it’s alright” – and of course shows the great originality that bands performing at The Underground are known for.
Big Wave Bay deserves special mention – perhaps special mention to the Tourism Board. The song is a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the popular Southern District beach with music and lyrics working perfectly together to create a relaxing late Saturday afternoon in the sun. Changing the setting on the keys, the soundscape was filled with sea sparkles rushing over on a cool, lightly rocking wave. This was delightfully reflected in the line “The sun don’t shine everyday” because it’s Hong Kong and the sun does not shine everyday and it will especially not shine if you decide to take a trip to Big Wave Bay. Or maybe I’m just that unlucky. I was on a junk trip the afternoon of the concert and it started raining.
What I liked the most about Mr. Koo’s music however, was not their influences, even though I am a big Beatles fan (cheers for the brilliant cover of Don’t Let Me Down as your finishing number – really felt like we were on the roof of Abbey Road) but the perfect structural composition of their songs. Many local bands, in the name of experimentation and originality, have songs full of guitar solos, special effects, key changes, rhythm changes, and are just in any case, far, far too long. Mr. Koo doesn’t do that. Mr. Koo knows that sometimes less is more. Mr Koo knows that we’re all here for a good time, not to philosophically ponder the hermeneutics of Wagnerian chordal structures appropriated for contemporary vernacular musical forms (imagine that was by a British guy with a moustache in a stuck up suit).
Having said all this, Mr. Koo’s performance could still have some improvement. At multiple points during the opening few numbers, the harmonies between the two vocalists, Ollie Rodgers (lead vox and guitar) and Tom Chan (backing vox and rhythm) were noticeably flat. The overall performance could have been tighter with different parts sometimes being out of sync. In addition, I had really hoped to hear Ollie sing in his upper register, which sounds brilliant, but most songs opted to stick around his lower range which sometimes became gravely. An octave reach for the final Don’t Let Me Down would’ve been perfect – John Lennon does that and Ollie isn’t far off from being a Hong Kong John.
– Cyril Ma
