Ear Up’s new Music and Fashion extravaganza with a creative blast

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 30 March 2023 - Following the success of cross-disciplinary "Music x Fashion x Heritage" online performance during the pandemic, "Ear Up Music", a music label established by the Renaissance Foundation Hong Kong, presented "Ear Up Gig On 2022", a crossover performance between music, fashion, and modish styles on stage during the "Ear Up Music Festival 2023" in January 2023 to bring the audience a delightful new audio-visual experience to start the year. Sponsored by Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 8 indie music units paired up with 8 most sought-after local designer brands from the Hong Kong Design Centre's Fashion Incubation Programme (FIP) and the Design Incubation Programme (DIP) to showcase the boundless imagination of the city's new indie music scene along with unique fashion designs to invigorate the spirit of local creativity.

Participating indie music performers and local designer brands:

Merry Lamb Lamb x Christian Stone
Merry Lamb Lamb is a local electronic musician with a talent for dynamic melodies and sweet styles. She collaborated with designer Christian Stone, the founder of the fashion brand "Christian Stone". With distinctive designs in bold, playful styles, wild silhouettes, and futuristic forms, this crossover created a new image for Merry Lamb Lamb's cute and vintage character, and brought people an exciting sense of a maverick with a diverse aura.

Higgo Raj x Kowloon City Boy

Higgo Raj is a new indie music producer, also known as a singer, lyricist, composer, model, and host. With a strong rhythmic style and a distinctive sound that embraces everything from "Indie Pop" to "Big Chaos", Higgo teamed up with Toki Wong, the designer of the fashion brand "Kowloon City Boy" to dress up his latest "Electric Love" collection as an introduction to his performance. Higgo explained: "We think modern love is rather like e-sports, communicating in short messages. We wrestle with our exchanges and immerse ourselves in this ambiguous and exciting performance like online dating."

METER ROOM x REDEMPTIVE

METER ROOM is famous for its Noise Rock music style which is dominated by strong emotions and invariably described as flickering lights in the dark. The band collaborated with Wilson Choi, the designer of "REDEMPTIVE" for the show. Defining the brand as a group of rebellious teenagers concerned about the world and society, Wilson hopes to raise awareness of some unseen and unheard social issues through the design, while still outputting positivity and energy, offered a visual and auditory feast interlaced with music and fashion to audience.

Gordon Flanders x WILSONKAKI

Gordon Flanders is a 23-year-old Hong Kong R&B singer who just returned from studying in Japan and is well regarded for his romantic music. While collaborating with Wilson Yip, the designer of WILSONKAKI, Wilson transformed conceptual ideas into clothing through his professional skills and fashion sense and presented an alternative co-creation. Gordon believed that his breakthrough in wearing baggy and oversized outfits on stage would make the visual effect of his performance even more eye-catching.

The Lemon Ones x KEVIN HO

The Lemon Ones music style is fresh and energetic, with a unique style that combines British psychedelic and modern rock – 'as refreshing as lemons' – to lead the audience into a brand-new music experience. Working with Hong Kong-based label KEVIN HO, the designer applied his "Retro-futuristic" style to the performance costumes, bringing out the nostalgia of a past golden era with an eternal elegance. The outcome was an innovative visual style that perfectly matched the music style of the band.

Ragpickers x YMDH

Ragpickers is a unique band that integrates R&B and hip hop with Cantopop in a style that perfectly coincides with Jason Lee, the designer of YMDH, who is known for designing Hong Kong-style street culture fashion. Together, they presented a blue world that belongs to their generation on stage. In addition to Ragpickers' consistent melancholic style, the cooperation with YMDH encouraged the band to dare to try, making music a remedy to stress.

Esther Wu x ROYKSOPP GAKKAI

Sound art creator and composer Esther Wu concretises the abstract nature of her music through the fancy, yet classy European style clothing designed by Brun Chan, the designer of ROYKSOPP GAKKAI to construct a new meaning and interpretation to her music.

Andy is Typing... x Nilmance

With alternative rock as its core music style, local indie rock band "Andy is Typing..." believes that music is simply a record of life. The present continuous tense for "Typing..." in its name also suggests "as long as life continues, we will continue to write our stories." In collaboration with men's clothing brand Nilmance that focuses on functional outdoor sportswear, Nilmance designer Mike created a stylish and low-key style that merged with the surging sound of Andy is Typing... that surely offered an explosive experience!

Ear Up Music Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earupmusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/earupmusic
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/earupmusic

Hashtag: #EarUpMusic

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About Ear Up Music

Ear Up Music is a music label that spotlights new music of Hong Kong to its neighbouring regions and beyond. The label, established by Renaissance Foundation Hong Kong in 2016, runs numerous projects from talent development to showcase events that connect with global music networks. These projects include Ear Up Incubation*, Ear Up Global*, Ear Up Tour* and Ear Up Gig On*.

In 2018, Ear Up Music founded Ear Hub to curate the latest developments in the Hong Kong, Asian and International music, media, production and interactive industry. Ear Hub is an international music conference and festival that offers an audiovisual feast as well as a cordial environment to initiate cross-border collaborations for music lovers and professionals.

*Sponsored by Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

About Create Hong Kong

Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated office set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR Government) in June 2009 to spearhead the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. From 1 July 2022 onwards, it is under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. Its strategic foci are nurturing talent and facilitating start-ups, exploring markets, and promoting Hong Kong as Asia's creative capital and fostering a creative atmosphere in the community.

Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.