Because his name was synonymous with New York Hip Hop for so long, to this day, DJ Stretch Armstrong has difficulty escaping being typecast as purely a Hip Hop d.j.

In Hong Kong last year for the Diesel Black Gold fashion show, Stretch played alongside big new names in contemporary dance music including Tittsworth, Eli Escobar, Amanda Blank and Pase Rock. A few days later he followed up with a gig at Kee Club.

Rather than play the mediocre music that now passes as Hip Hop, Stretch, like many other notable d.j.s, looks elsewhere for new beats. Since Hip Hop originated as a hybrid of musical ingredients, it wasn’t difficult for d.j.s on his level to make the transition. Top d.j.s are normally multi-dimensional music lovers who aren’t confined to any one genre.

Expect to hear Stretch play new dance music that’s influenced in equal parts by Indie Rock, Electro, Hip Hop and other underground genres from around the world.

Stretch is affiliated with Steve Aoki’s record label, Dim Mak, a home of this blended style of contemporary dance music.

Recommended.

Friday, January 23rd, at Volar.

Volar
Basement, 38-44 D’Aguilar Street
Lan Kwai Fong
Central, Hong Kong

Free entry for Volar members, non-members $250 HKD cover (includes 1 drink)

When I arrived at the Galleri Magazine event at Kee Club on Wednesday, the place was already impressively packed. Located on Wellington Street, Kee Club is a two-story private membership club occupying the sixth and seventh floors above the famous restaurant Yung Kee (hence the name ‘Kee’ Club.) It’s also across the street from the more infamous Tsui Wah – a late night eatery that’s a favorite with Lan Kwai Fong’s inebriated throngs.

The lower level of Kee Club features a large open space with tables and private rooms on the sixth floor, and a dining room and bar on the seventh. Most large events take place on the lower level as it can be re-configured to suit different sized parties. For the night, the entire lower level was utilized.

Entering Kee Club, the walls displayed large prints from the magazine. The artists featured ranged from painters to photographers, illustrators, sculptors, and graphic designers. Based on briefly flipping through the first issue, Galleri magazine holds great potential as a venue for new artists to be seen and discovered. The magazine has an international feel to it. It’s advertisement-free and printed in a book-like format. Each artist has two pages to showcase their work. The premier issue was limited to a run of 3000, with each individually numbered on the back.

The night’s excellent turn-out included notable Hong Kong artists ranging from Simon Birch, to the magazine’s lesser known contributors.

At times Kee Club was so crowded it was difficult to weave your way from one end of the room to the other. Local artists, creative heads, and Kee Club members literally bumped elbows while browsing the work and taking in the scene.

The creators of Galleri – Red Dog Studio and China Stylus, gave a short introductory speech and thank you address to the crowd.

Vinnie, Kee Club’s music coordinator and resident d.j., provided the sounds.

Two Hong Kong creative firms, Red Dog Studio and China Stylus, have teamed up to found Galleri Magazine – a new avenue for local designers to feature their work. According to the invite, the magazine will attempt to provide artists, particularly those with limited resources, the chance to reach wider audiences.

The launch event will take place on a rather auspicious date, 8pm, this coming Wednesday, August 8th, at Kee Club in Central. (For those who don’t know, the number eight is thought of as a lucky number.) To RSVP for the event you can call Kee Club at 2810-9000.

Check out the websites for Red Dog Studio and China Stylus to learn more about their work.

Thursday night I was invited to a party thrown by Hong Kong retailer Lane Crawford in honor of fashion designer Stella McCartney. Immediately the location of the event – an industrial building in Aberdeen, caught my eye. Aberdeen is sort of a wasteland in between wealthier, more modern enclaves on that side of the island. To get there you take a tunnel through a mountainside. The road where the party was held is a barren stretch of warehouses and glum old factory buildings.

The event was from 8 until 12, so I decided to arrive around 9:30. I was told the party would also feature a performance by the band New Young Pony Club. NYPC are a London-based group who play contemporary New Wave music. It’s a very of-the-moment type of sound favored in hipster scenes, better clubs and indie fashion circles. In Hong Kong you can catch this sound at Yumla or Volar when D.J. El Kabong (aka Drafus,) or the Uptown Rockers play.

Rounding the corner from where the taxi dropped me off, I saw a large lighted marquee with ‘STELLA McCARTNEY’ spelled out over the entrance. There was a sort of caravan of vehicles parked outside the reception area and live painting was going on. Live painting is common at events these days, however, this time the painter was using several cars and the side of a large truck as his canvas! As I stood there taking in the scene, the painter casually crossed the street to gain perspective of his work. Here’s a video of how it looked!

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Passing through the reception I ran into a friend who was there with a crew of breakdancers. The entrance featured stacks of crisp new cardboard boxes as a decorating technique. It was a good way of masking the fact that you were walking through a loading dock!

I took one of the industrial elevators up to the 16th floor. This same venue had been used once before by Kee Club for their anniversary party. The space had evidently undergone further renovations since then. Stepping out of the elevator the venue opened up into two rooms: a large main room with a slick interior and a long balcony, and a smaller room off to the left. One wall in the main room was covered with LED lights emitting constantly changing patterns. There was a stage set up for the band that would be playing later – New Young Pony Club.

D.J. Simon Pang (one-third of the Uptown Rockers,) was playing a mean set of early Electro. The second room off to the side was more of a lounge with plush seating and a specially appointed pool table in the center.

All night long models were instructed to play billiards while wearing Stella McCartney clothes – that was the show! It was a cool understated concept and it worked well.

I wonder if the billiards show was somehow inspired by Racks? Pretty much the same thing goes on there – models hanging out playing pool – every night! The room had a sort of speak-easy feel to it. As the party heated up in the main room I took frequent trips back to the billiards parlor to recoup my energy and get some space. For some reason, the majority of people didn’t seem to venture over there.

The party continued on the 17th floor. Walking up a flight of stairs, the rooftop was sort of a large gazebo with an equal amount of outdoor space. Stella herself was making rounds through the crowd, interrupted every so often to pose with Hong Kong notables. The outside patio was awash in lanterns that, although should be tacky in theory, totally worked!

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The outside area was the place to be as socialites made their way closer for a glimpse of the celebrity designer. The crowd was a combination of Lane Crawford guests, Occasions (Hong Kong’s top event company) regulars, and people from A-Vibe’s guest list. Parties this year have achieved a better mixture of street and society types and this event was no exception. Previously, the crowd at events would be polarized either one way or the other. There’s always been overlap and finally sponsors and event organizers are starting to catch on. The graffiti / street artists outside the venue, as well as the choice of band, all appeal to a more youthful set than typical brand events. Lane Crawford is doing an excellent job appealing to and capturing the segment that straddles both of these worlds.

Stella McCartney strikes a pose next to the billiards table!

New Young Pony Club performing!

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I recently dropped by M1NT, one of the newest additions to the high-end of Hong Kong’s nightlife. M1NT is a branch of a member’s club that originated in London. It bills itself as a “shareholders club” where membership is limited, thus your original investment becomes more valuable as it theoretically appreciates.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of membership clubs, but I am a fan of exclusivity. The best club nights are only known to the people who are in the scene, and the scene is ever changing, which is a natural form of exclusivity. The inherent problem with members-only clubs is that they tend to draw a monotone crowd. The best clubs provide an exciting time partially because of the surprise mixture of people. A seasoned bouncer and door people can also ensure a good crowd.

All that membership business aside, M1NT has a large shark tank against its back wall – which is worth a few cool points. The rest of the decor is adequate, though not as interesting as the multi-roomed design of HALO, Hong Kong’s other new entry to the high-end.

Looking around the room, M1NT succeeded in achieving a cosmopolitan vibe – something rare for Hong Kong, that made it feel like it could be New York, or another international city. The crowd at M1NT on the night I visited was predominantly foreigners, rather than local Hong Kong Chinese and I have a feeling that’s normally the case.

Nightlife in Hong Kong is somewhat race and class based. As an over-simplified breakdown, the upper-end for foreigners is Dragon-i, Kee Club (another member’s club,) and now M1NT. For Hong Kong Chinese, Dragon-i, Volar, and now Halo are the most exclusive three.

M1NT is located on 108 Hollywood Road, outside of the main nightlife area by about five blocks. In Hong Kong, this is the other end of the planet for many people.

On the night I was there, Hip Hop blend-master D.J. Yoda from England was playing. He mixed nearly every musical genre imaginable, and had the crowded dance floor moving.

With the economy booming in Hong Kong, there have been many new clubs popping up. One particularly interesting new entry has not opened yet. Called M1NT, it bills itself as “The world’s first shareholders’ club.” It’s going to be located off of the main party scene, down Hollywood Road in a new development called Centre Stage (more on that place later!)

If you go to their website they have a prospectus available for download that fills you in on their strategy, their forecast, and their partners. It’s very professional.

There is already a membership club in Hong Kong called Kee Club that has been somewhat successful. I suppose that M1NT will poach many of its members from this joint. Part of M1NT’s draw is that members will be given a stake in the business, as opposed to just paying dues. M1NT memberships will appreciate in value, as they are scarce, and not freely available on the market. This strategy worked well for the initial branch of the club which opened in London.

It makes sense, BUT, clubs are very unpredictable, and unfortunately, crowds are quite unsophisticated. For example, it’s difficult to open a club and please everyone musically. People go to clubs to meet people they don’t know, and having a membership club complicates that process by weeding out people. It can be a positive and a negative.

Success will depend on what local partners they line up to assist in getting the club off of the ground. People are extremely lazy about trying new places. In Hong Kong, even two blocks away can be too far for many people! The initial draw will be that it’s new and exclusive. Going to the ‘new’ and ‘exclusive’ place is part of the trendy culture that dominates Hong Kong. This will no doubt work to their advantage.

On Saturday, January 7th, D.J. Gregory from Paris is going to return to Dragon-i. He played here last year at Kee Club on the weekend and then played another set at Dragon-i on a Monday or Tuesday night. Despite it being early in the week, he had the place jumping. D.J. Gregory played all sorts of classics, and was really into it, even though it was a smaller crowd than his weekend gig. With all the positive word-of-mouth from last year, it should be crowded this time!

Another hectic night! Started off at a dinner to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Dragon-I, one of the top clubs in Hong Kong. I’m there at least 3 times a week, and I still dig the place. Of course my favorite night is Tuesday when you can talk with people, and the music is whatever the d.j. wants to play.

Gilbert, the club’s owner is usually the last d.j. to go on, and he plays classic House music. He’s one of the few d.j.s in H.K. with an extensive collection. On Tuesday’s he plays excellent stuff that is rarely heard anywhere else in the city. I’ve stayed at Dragon-I until 6am on a Tuesday night / Wednesday morning enjoying the music.

I’m always skeptical of clubs that have food, or restaurants that turn into clubs, but I have to say that the food at Dragon-I is excellent. Although they have an extensive menu with some complex choices, I actually love the simple home-style Chinese dishes. They are always prepared perfectly, and the ingredients are all high-quality.

After the dinner a friend was having a party for Belvedere vodka. I stopped by there and ran into a few friends. After about an hour, I went to Sugar, where there was a launch of Carat, the diamond brand. An hour later I headed over the Kee Club, and finally I was back at Dragon-I just in time to hear Little Louie Vega put on his first record of the night. Louie Vega is billed as “the Miles Davis” of House music – which is quite a title!

Although I don’t know too much about House music, I enjoyed listening to a master at work! He plays the type of House that I used to hear in clubs in N.Y., and not the soul-less background music that most d.j.s play (under the guise of “deep House”.) Gilbert is a huge fan of Louie Vega, and it was fun to see him fulfill the dream of having him d.j. at Dragon-I.