WHY HAVEN’T YOU HEARD OF KOWLOON WALLED CITY?
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 3:37pm by Gary Suarez
I’ve been to San Francisco once, and as a born-and-raised New Yorker I was kinda surprised that I sorta liked the place – in a totally heterosexual Jesse-from-Full-House-way. At one point during this trip, my gracious hosts intentionally drove me through the Tenderloin, a notorious neighborhood home to roughly 300% of the city’s vice and poverty. Given that Kowloon Walled City rehearses in this classy part of town, it’s no surprise that the band draws inspiration from its squalor and sin, and that makes the music just terrific.
Since, generally speaking, consumers are lost and frightened without reference points, let me describe Kowloon Walled City in the following three words: Unsane meets Zozobra. (OMG! DID THAT JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?!) Frontman Scott Evans formidably roars his lyrics over a meaty sludgy noise rock stew that relies heavily on downtuned guitar riffage, though perhaps my favorite player here is bassist Ian Miller, who somehow manages to play hard and deep enough for his throbbing groove to penetrate the dense, moist mix. Turned on yet, baby? Well, you oughta download the Turk Street EP for FREE and, if you like it, mayhaps you’ll want to own a copy on CD or 10″ vinyl, both available at the band’s adorable little webshoppe. Consider it the Christmas gift your family is too ignorant to buy for you.
-GS
[Gary Suarez superpoked your sister. He also writes for Brainwashed and barely manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No.]
Man, Metal Kult beat you to the punch on this one. But yeah, Kowloon Walled City seem pretty cool. It’s hard to keep up with all these new bands. I’m still listening to the Bison EP “Earthbound.” Haven’t heard the full length yet. Does it have a similar sound?
ugh, refuse. worst band name ever. have they ever even been to hong kong?
SO WHAT IF THEY’VE EVER BEEN TO HK YOU FUCKING FUCK?
IT’S A GREAT NAME AND YOU’RE A FUCKING CUNT. DOESN’T ‘LUN’ MEAN SOMETHING LIKE VAGINA IN CANTONESE?
GAU LUN CHO!?!
DIU LAY LOMO! PUKAI-ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best thing about San Francisco? That when you enter the city from Oakland you drive on the TOP of the bridge and have to pay a toll, but when you drive to Oakland, you drive on the bottom of the bridge and it’s free. The real life metaphor is priceless.
Man I sent and e-mail encouraging a post about these guys to Metalsucks about a month ago and got a response from Axl, maybe Vince, saying he had heard them and weren’t impressed. I think they are one of the better new sludge bands out there right now. They do not sound like Bison. Much more abrasive. People the 5 song EP is available as a free download on their site: http://www.inthewalledcity.com. Get it, you won’t be disappointed. Plus I get the name, it is fitting in some respects. There are far worse band names out there daily.
@DamagedMike
I suppose you are right, but being from Kowloon (and currently livign in bed stuy), i get kind of annoyed with co-opting of terms (and culture) by people who in all likelihood have no real understanding of that which they are co-opting.
In other words, i can be quite a sensitive vagina at times.
DIU LAY PUKAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody cares where you lived, that band rulez.
Sensitive vaginas are wonderful
refuse is great stuff
I care about where that guy lived even if where he has some curious ideas about what it means to “co-opt” or be “co-opted,” and Kowloon Walled City is one of the best metal bands going and are very much worth a listen by anyone who likes loud, heavy, sludgy, ill-tempered music.
oooooh, I called them “metal.” Can’t you just feel arseholes clenching?
Dude albeit it must have been awful at times to live in Kowloon, mr. lun… but it was an impressive piece of human craftsmanship.
Shame it came down.
@mr lun: I’ve been to Hong Kong. No, I’m not from there, so I probably don’t understand. But I do think it’s a cute name.
@Joe: I haven’t heard Bison’s ‘Earthbound’, but ‘Quiet Earth’ was one of my favorite albums of 2008 – http://www.metalsucks.net/2008/12/15/scraping-genius-off-the-year-gary-suarezs-top-ten-albums-of-2008/
Crustcake had it almost a year ago.
http://www.crustcake.com/2008/01/freshly-baked-kowloon-walled-city.html