House parties in Hong Kong lead into late nights in Lan Kwai Fong - Japanese whisky clouding the air as crowds move to deep house pulses. Look around - strobes, fog, faces, friends, trends, sneakers, heels, leather, spinning records but the beats remain still - wild.

Some stay, couples new and old settled on the sidewalk - the rest head toward the next spot, one of the city’s afterparty haunts. Stepping into the neon blue-lit subterranean club room reveals a breakdown of the business district’s strait-laced ways. Day traders and British bankers hold court in each corner, ties loosened and bespoke suits ruffled as they partake in a steady seance of the Seven Deadly Sins, magnum bottles and Marlboros passed round like wildfire.

Needless to say, we soon depart, heading toward Aberdeen bound for the Record Room, a new music studio in Hong Kong. Along the darkened road, through the wrought-iron gate, past the Chinese guard and up the stairs, the door gives way to a wide rooftop, the city sprawled out and alive as the Eastern sun begins its slow ascent. Back down, a full-on music studio lies in wait, packed to the brim with Les Pauls, Jazzmasters, tube amps and tambourines. It’s surreal to be the only people in a 16-story high rise, but fortunate as the tubes warm, the guitars kick, mesh grills on the amplifiers shaking violently as the vibrations pass through shielded copper cables.

It’s 6AM in Hong Kong.

Koenji

February 12th, 2018

NYC

February 12^th, 2018