The UK is pretty bleak this time of year, isn’t it? Dark days, cold nights – worst of all, festival season is over. Luckily, Hong Kong’s Clockenflap Festival has you covered. The average temperature is 28C, it’s got more huge headliners than you can shake a stick at, and did we mention it’s in Hong Kong, a place so nice that people visit it even when there isn’t a festival on? We love Reading Festival as much as the next magazine, but you have to admit the tourism dries up once the Bank Holiday weekend is over.
So to recap: big names, great weather, and a great location. We’ll see you there, probably in the crowd for one of these five great acts.
Fat Dog
Simply one of the best live bands around at the moment, Fat Dog bring chaos wherever they play. Get ready to be leaping around while everyone screams about being the ‘King of the Slugs’, before being serenaded by a man in dodgy wizard garb or just having your face blown off by an incredibly loud saxophone solo. Possibly one of the least serious – and most fun – groups around.
Jamie XX
If we have one criticism of sub-headliner Jamie XX, it’s that he released latest album and perfect summer soundtrack ‘In Waves’ at…the end of September. While he may have been aiming to get in really early for next year when Brat Summer is but a distant memory, Clockenflap have decided to steal a march on the Northern hemisphere by booking him now. Meteorological timings aside, Jamie XX has basically never put on a bad show, so it’s safe to say he’ll be blowing the metaphorical roof off Hong Kong.
Creepy Nuts
Clockenflap’s location means they get to pull acts not just from Europe and America, but across Asia as well. While the biggest names are familiar enough to draw people in, it’s worth digging a bit deeper to find some real undiscovered gold. Case in point: Japan’s Creepy Nuts (yes, we initially listened based on their name alone). Technically impressive rap flows over machine-gun beats and a liberal use of what could well be a glockenspiel combine for one of the most unique hip-hop acts we’ve heard in quite a while. Listen to ‘Bling-Bang-Bang-Born’ and tell us you aren’t an instant convert.
Glass Animals
In over a decade of being a band, Glass Animals have reached heights that most British indie artists can only dream of. This is in no small part due to their global megahit ‘Heatwaves’, but it’s a testament to their consistent output of bangers that the audience they pulled in for one song has stuck around for everything else. With arena headline shows now being standard, it’s safe to say that the band know how to command a big stage, no matter how far from home they are.
$alty Chick
Alongside the international heavy-hitters, Hong Kong’s homegrown talent is nothing to be sniffed at either, as epitomised by $alty Chick, who self-describes as “the pioneer of Hong Kong’s fuck girl emo rap genre”.Part soundcloud rapper, part Ashnikko for the Hong Kong underground – we don’t speak Cantonese so we aren’t entirely sure what she’s rapping about, but with song titles including ‘All my Love is Pornhub’, we have a feeling it might not be suitable for work.
Clockenflap Festival takes place from 29th November – 1st December in Hong Kong. Visit clockenflap.com for more information.
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