HONG KONG UNDERGROUND [Rebel Planet Records, 1991]

The 3rd in 4 tapes of underground music compiled by Lük Haas pre-Tian an men 89 Records and released by Rebel Planet Records based out of Germany. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to track down the Malaysia Underground Tape which has what appears to be a great collection of early Malay Metal and Punk acts. 

Today's tape is an excellent snap-shot of the early years of the Hong Kong alternative music scene, although highly political/alternative bands had existed in Hong Kong since at least 1984 as demonstrated by BLACK BIRD (黑鳥), who are also on this tape. First song is by a metal band ANODIZE (亚龙大) who started in 1989 and released 3 albums in the mid-90s according to the metal-archives. Then it's a crazy, heavy, fuzzy live recording of BLACK CHURCH, their original song is awesome, I wish there was more material on the tape to check out, sounds like a post-punk band in tone and atmosphere but delivered with tons of energy and totally still Punk. Then they kick off a cover of the SEX PISTOL's "Anarchy In The UK". CONVICTED are next with a melodic UK sounding punk and a reggae song following. The singer even sings in a British accent. Not the most exciting but still cool to have existed. Finishing off Side A is FIREWORKS with a crazy keyboard laden rock'n'roll song called "Big City Night", really great!

Side B is far more representative of a more distinct, uniquely Hong Kongese punk sound. REBEL ROCKERS are a sick rockin' punk band that remind me of the 70s influence early punk of Japan, at least in vocal delivery. They even dive into a CRASS 'do they owe us a living?' cover for a measure or two. Looks like REBEL ROCKERS even made it onto a cassette compilation released in Poland called HC-PUNK 100% AZJA in the late 80s along with other Asian acts like Singapore's OPPOSITION PARTY and Japan's THE STALIN. If I had to guess, the tracks on here where from the live cassette "From The Underground = 地下音乐会 2" Tape released in Hong Kong in 1987 which features other FIREWORKS tracks and two other bands NOVEL and CRISIS. If anyone has that tape, please send it my way! 如果有人有“From The Underground = 地下音乐会 2”磁带，请与我联系！

Finally there's BLACK BIRD, who were, to my knowledge, the most political and outspoken band in Hong Kong, the first two tracks aren't the most interesting, but their song "An Odd Number" is a crazy song with scratchy violin with a stomping pogo punk part and breakdowns into a ballad sounding part, totally wild. Super varied style between their songs. I recently tracked down their 7xCD discography collection that spans from 1984-2004. I plan on making a 'best of' post with my favorites from those CDs.

Download Link:
Hongkong Underground!