Getting music reviews in overseas press and being mentioned in the same breath as engineers as producers I grew up admiring - means a lot to me. And (as has been the case in the past) I often get credited for putting a few small insignificant genres of music, made here in Hong Kong, on the international map.
I treat the greatest producers & DJs in my chosen genres as the benchmark by which I judge my own work (probably why I spend most of my time unhappy with my results ... that's a different story altogether). This partly out of love for their work and partly as there is no local or even regionalbenchmark for what I'm doing. All the best club music comes from the West.
Which got me thinking: Do local musicians and producers feel happy being labeled as local? Do they even compare what they do - musically - against their international counterparts? Or does having such a large local audience mean what happens overseas is of no consequence?
Why is there so little invention in contemporary Asian music? The HK film industry is full of great ideas and the World often follows what happens here... why is the music so far behind?
Arrive not Dead.