Fractured Scenes Underground Music-Making in Hong Kong and East Asia

Fractured Scenes is the first extensive academic account of music and sound art practices that fall outside of the scope of ‘mainstream music’ in Hong Kong. It combines academic essays with original interviews conducted with prominent Hong Kong underground/independent musicians and sound artists as well as first hand-accounts by key local scene actors in order to survey genres such as experimental/noise music, deconstructed electronic music, indie-pop, punk, garage rock, sound art and DIY ‘computer’ music (among others). It examines these Hong Kong underground music practices in relief with specific case studies in Mainland China and Japan to begin re-defining the notion of a ‘musical underground’ in the context of contemporary Hong Kong.

1. Introduction: Nomadism, Fragmentation, and Marginality - The Hong Kong Music Underground in the East Asian Context; Damien Charrieras and François Mouillot.- Part One: Perspectives on the Hong Kong Underground.- 2. Ice Skating and Stinky Foods: Notes from the Hong Kong Underground, 2018–2019; Ken Ueno.- 3. Interview of Xper.Xr; Damien Charrieras and François Mouillot.- 4. Interview with Kung Chi Shing; François Mouillot and Damien Charrieras.- Part Two, Take 1: Individual Case Studies in Noise/ Experimental Music/Free Improvisation.- 5. The Politics of Noise: An Interview with Sound Scientist Dennis Wong; Blair Reeve.- 6. Opportunities in Theatre Performing Arts Advancement in Bettering Underground Music Development: A Reflection on the Relevance of the Technical Production in Local/Global Experimental Music Performances; Kam-po Tse.- 7. A “No-Venue Underground”: Making Experimental Music Around Hong Kong’s Lack of Performance Spaces; Gabriele de Seta.- Part Two, Take 2: Individual Case Studies in Sound and Contemporary Art.- 8. Interview with Samson Young; François Mouillot and Damien Charrieras.- 9. Noises That No One Else Hears; Cédric Maridet.- 10. In Crevices, Stairwells, and Ever-Changing Tides: A Personal Reflection on Holding Up a Walking and Listening Body; Yang Yeung.- Part Two, Take 3: Individual Case Studies in Indie-Rock/ Indie-Pop and Electronic Music.- 11. From Indie to Underground: The Hong Kong DIY Rock Scene in the Post-Hidden Agenda Era; Ahkok Chun-kwok Wong.- 12. The Transformation of Indie Music in Hong Kong; Stella Lau.- 13. Underground Club Music After Social Media: A Study of Hong Kong Underground Club Music Scene Through Absurd TRAX from 2016 to 2018, A Personal Perspective; Alex Yiu.- Part Three: Interfaces.- 14. Radical Participation: The Politics of Performance in Chinese Punk-Rock Concerts; Nathanel Amar.- 15. An Underground Music Venue in Beijing: fRUITYSPACE; Edward Sanderson.- 16. History of Sound in the Arts in Japan Between the 1960s and 1990s; Katsushi Nakagawa.- 17. “Like the Apocalypse Is Imminent by Guys Who Could Barely Play Guitar”: Performing Amateurism in the Garage Rock Underground of Tokyo; José Vicente Neglia.- 18. Conclusion: Notes on Cities, Undergrounds and Closed Upper Rooms; Will Straw.