Justin Sweeting is always thinking about the ones that got away. Clockenflap’s music director, who has programmed the festival since its launch in 2008, has put together a packed roster of local and international acts for the three-day music festival, which will take place from November 29 to December 1 at the Central Harbourfront Event Space. “But there’s always the what-ifs that for whatever reason didn’t work out,” he says wistfully.
He can’t say who those artists were, of course. But he has absolutely no regrets about this year’s lineup, which is packed with heavy hitters from indie pop sensation St. Vincent to electropop titans Air, not to mention buzzy acts like Jamie xx and Glass Animals. “The lineup is always the product of an ever-evolving jigsaw puzzle,” says Sweeting. “It’s about making sure we have all these various boxes checked, but in a cohesive way that’s balanced and not a mishmash.”
In fact, there are so many bands performing that only a music industry insider like Sweeting could possibly know who they all are. So we put the call out to some of Hong Kong’s music scene to hear what they’re looking forward to seeing. Ah-Kok Wong, a musician and scholar who was involved in legendary underground music venue Hidden Agenda, says he’s a fan of headliner St. Vincent, almost universally praised for her stylised art rock that draws from a wide range of influences, as well as Jack White, whose music has been described by The Guardian as “raw and riotous blues-rock.” Wong also recommends Japanese math rock group toe, as well as reggae, dub and roots collective Heavy HK Sound.
Musician and composer Kung Chi-shing, who has spent 15 years programming music events, most recently at West Kowloon, is enthusiastic about Hong Kong post-hardcore group An Id Signal. “[They have] a very personal unique sound, and I have high respect for the band leader Leung Wing-lai, an anarchist who can express himself through music,” he says. He also recommends local act Wantamnam. “Band leader Fengyi is very talented and I just love his music – he’s the kind of music artist I don’t usually see in Hong Kong’s indie music scene.”
Finally, he also suggests festival-goers check out R.O.O.T, which came into existence after a West Kowloon commission orchestrated by Kung in 2016. “The idea was to put together a top indie rock guy, Jan Curious from Chochukmo, with a jazz musician, Teriver,” he says. “They hit it off so well. The rest is history.”
Gary Ieong, who has run beloved independent record shop White Noise Records for the past 20 years, says there are a few can’t-miss bands playing at Clockenflap. One is Mui Zyu, born in Belfast to Hong Kong parents, whose lo-fi electro pop is layered with Chinese influences. He also likes Taiwanese rock band Gigantic Roar. “I saw them once in Taiwan and they’ve got lots of energy on stage,” he says. Finally, there’s Dutch electronic group Yin Yin that borrows heavily from Southeast Asian psychedelic rock, among other Asian influences; their song “One Inch Punch” samples Bruce Lee’s famous speech about being water.
Gong Gong Gong guitarist Joshua Frank will be just wrapping up his band’s China tour with Taiwanese psychedelic duo Mong Tong, but if he were still in Hong Kong, he’d be keen to see Chengdu indie rockers Hiperson and Xi’an post-punk group Fazi. “They’re quite different, but I’d say they’re both at the forefront of more post-punk oriented music in China, always putting on great shows, and staying open to experiment and try different things,” he says. “They’ve also toured extensively outside of China, and have an openness to doing things DIY, which I really respect.”
Hong Kong post-punk group David Boring, which played at Clockenflap last year, are also looking forward to seeing Fazi, Hiperson and An Id Signal, which they praise for the way “they marry banging but lyrical guitar work with cantonese screamo-slash-spoken words vocals that is dissonant and pleading at the same time.” They also recommend Lucid Express. “They are probably one of the most internationally recognised bands that are fiercely indie and aesthetically consistent to the core. Their nostalgic dream pop and shoegaze sounds are reminiscent of the genre at its heyday, and their live sets are tight and on par with the best acts around the world, at the same time immersive and visually pleasing.”
Those recommendations still don’t even scratch the surface of what’s in store at Clockenflap. Sweeting himself has a hard time choosing what he’s most looking forward to seeing. “The competition is so high,” he says. “The show that Air is touring right now is phenomenal. Jack White is on fire right now. And St. Vincent – it was a real coup to get an artist like that.” He’s also looking forward to Lucid Express and notes that he has tried to give as many prominent slots as possible to Hong Kong artists.
For local bands, Clockenflap is a chance to gain international exposure, given that a sizable chunk of the 80,000 festival-goers come from overseas. And for international acts, it has become a gateway to Asia. “Bands will plan their Asia tours around Clockenflap,” says Sweeting. “Artists come for the strategic value. It’s become a tastemaker event.”
To find new artists to play at Clockenflap — like London-based dance punk band Fat Dog, which have generated buzz in the UK but aren’t well known in Hong Kong — Sweeting and his team travel around the world to showcase events. He says Seoul’s Zandari Festa was particularly fruitful. “We booked many, many artists off that,” he says. That helps him round off Clockenflap’s programme with interesting up-and-coming acts to complement the headliners. “There is honestly no filler at the festival,” he says. “It has all been handpicked.” And those what-ifs who got away? There’s always next year.
Clockenflap 2024 runs from November 29 to December 1. Click here for more information.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the showcase in Seoul. It is Zandari Festa, not Seoul Music Week. We regret the error.