Hong Kong Dub Station by Celestial
LABEL: Drum Music

Sometimes it makes one wonder how a work so ridiculously addictive, beautiful, and, dare I say, accessible, manages to slip under so many different radars. Celestial, a relatively obscure musical collective based out of Hong Kong, have been making music that would be as applicable to films and advertisements as it would be to the casual listener and critical audiophile alike. Their 2004 effort, Hong Kong Dub Station, manages to straddle the line between vision and familiarity with a flourish, bringing some of the most pleasing reverb-washed sounds you'll ever hear on an electronic record without stretching too many boundaries (well, not aesthetically).

First things first. Let's forget the title of the record. It's off the mark a tad, to be polite. While there is a strong presence of Chinese artists and instrumentation on the record, in true Hong Kong fashion the music draws as much from English and Australian electronic music and Indian motifs as it does from China and its neighbors. It's an eclectic mix of sounds stirred together with a refreshing abandon of stylistic limitations.

But let's return to the title. The term 'dub' here is also a bit of a misnomer if you're looking for heavy use of sampling, vinyl dirt, unpolished echoes and reverbs, and the general DIY feel most 'dub' records have. In addition, it takes a certain shine away from many of the true dub and DJ acts in the Hong Kong underground that require a lengthy search to even discover the existence of. Hong Kong Dub Station is the polished distant cousin who gets more attention.

“...the arrangements stand up very strongly on their own, often a rare thing when bringing in instruments often regarded as exotic novelties.”

That being said, however, Celestial's 2004 outing deserves to be noticed and appreciated for what it is: a primarily instrumental electronic record, beat-driven, of astonishing beauty and capability. All the influences work perfectly together and it's all blended evenly. What's quite powerful about the songs is that even without the flutes, erhu's, sitars and vocals, the arrangements stand up very strongly on their own, often a rare thing when bringing in instruments often regarded as exotic novelties. Composer Peter Millward seems to consider every instrument of equal value and consideration, and rightly so.

The atmosphere of the record (and it's a dense one, at that) is one of deep, ethereal beauty contrasted with heavy grooves and basslines. There's nothing too bizarre or unexpected on this record, and this, along with an over-produced sound, tends to make it a little too vanilla on repeated listens, but it's hard to beat the environment on the record.

This is the perfect music to accompany your view over Victoria Harbor at dusk or dawn...or maybe staring listlessly out of your apartment window for those of us who see a visit to the Hong Kong metropol as only a distant possibility. Mix this with a decent helping of underground Cantonese hip-hop, though, and you may have a pretty pleasing aural visa.


REVIEWED BY NEIL LEVENS
STANDOUT TRACKS: "Pounding Waves" • "Resham Firri" • "Who Knows?"