i play music alone and with friends and i play drums and piano and other things for maher shalal hash baz. i live in copenhagen.
reviews, etc.
His adaptability was impressive and he played along on melodica without any reference to a musical score. Shiu was in tow when we performed songs such as The Fastest (Slowest) Rock Solo in the World in Shibuyas Uplink Factory and last spring at Artland for songs like Unify my Heart and Kaki/Persimmon. At the time, Maher where playing as a stealthy 2/3 person unit and Shiu was necessarily a presence
the happy revelation in Niigata, hearing Shiu perform solo for the first time, that he was a genius, was ample compensation. He plays an electric using only 2 or 3 strings, which he delicately picks while quietly singing. I think he is better than anyone city. One such marvellous song is sung and played accompanied only by the Do-re-mi-fa-so-ra-ti-do do-shi-ra-so-fa-mi-re-do scale. He is also partial to covering songs in foreign languages like Faye Wongs hits in Mandarin, Julie Doiron, Hirai Ken, and so on. In spring we toured Kansai together with Okamehachimoku. To sum up his persona in a few words, I would describe him as having a voice with a ringing-sonorous quality.
Possessed of a quiet dynamism which can turn on a sixpence like a firework; a type of person not found among Japanese; like an airplane painting pictures on a cloud, Shiu will join the ranks of great modern Chinese artists. Tori Kudo, Maher Shalal Hash Baz
London has Let Me Down appropriate or interpret popular songs in so singular a fashion that you will be reminded afresh of the simple redemptive power of songs sung true; that what can seem like trite over-sentimentality in popular music, can in the right hands be transformed into the source for an achingly beautiful lament or celebration. Shoes is the story of a memory of a love affair which is simultaneously a source of lingering pain and of a supernatural mana. Their habit of truncating songs purposefully or spontaneously and the ever shifting line-up mean that every performance is subtly-radically different. Its a quiet dynamism and youve got to listen carefully or you wont hear what is going on, but if you do learn to listen, both prettiness and a preternatural wisdom await you. Philip Brunton, Niigata English Journal, Japan
An occasional member of Japanese improv ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Hui offers a challenge yet to the assumed values of melody, metre and song structure. Semi-sketched melodic figures dribble from his guitar, while an impromptu rhythm section constructs a tentative spine beneath what is about as disjointed and feral a rendering of 'pop' music as you'll get. Yet a rare purity of intent and spirit radiates above the distracted.
has mastered a beguiling sophisticated-naive style overflowing with humanity and beauty and that's what makes this Chinese musician so special. He is a member of the rather splendid cult errant pop group Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and like the Japanese collective his songs pick apart conventional ideas of musicality by embracing fragments, happy accidents and the spirit of amateurism. The artist's simple victory is his ability to revive the idea of the simple redemptive power of song; that what can seem like trite over-sentimentality in popular music, can in the right hands be transformed into the source for an achingly beautiful lament or celebration.
Attached to all, but in lovely little bits his jigsaw music can recall Daniel Johnson, The Pastels, Ekkehard Ehlers, Tiny Tim, Rachels or even Arthur Lee.
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live history
199? 07/?? - ??? pub, nice, france
199? 07/?? - hole in the wall, nice, france
1997 08/?? - main street festival, markham, canada
1997 ??/?? - rivoli club, toronto, canada (spoken word)
1997 ??/?? - ?? park newmarket, canada
2002 11/11 - gravity club, london, canada w oneida, blyn moon trail
2003 01/31 - gravity club, london, canada w jm guthrie band, heidi hazelton
2003 03/21 - forest city gallery, london, canada w hail of knives (photography show opening for Melanie Shatzky and Nathalie Daoust)
2004 11/13 - village rock cafe, niigata, japan w maher shalal hash baz
2005 - 03/11 matsuri, niigata japan (solo)
2005 - 03/12 matsuri, niigata japan (solo)
2005 - 03/20 uramado, shinjuku, tokyo w/ tori kudo, kakuni, etc.
2005 - 03/26 more music, matsuyama, japan (w mshb)
2005 - 04/01@osaka VEEubW w/mshb, okamehachimoku, natacha's recordings soundsystem
2005 - 04/02@kobe _Ebig apple w/mshb, okamehachimoku, natacha's recordings soundsystem
2005 - 04/03@shiga ]EV w/mshb, okamehachimoku, natacha's recordings soundsystem, morikawa sisters,
2005 - 04/30 @sendai kasei no niwa (mars garden). w/yumbo, TADA, F-1 talk
2005 - 07/08 @ niigata, matsuri w/shopping is a feeling, satoshi suzuki
2005 - 07/09 @ niigata, black pig
2005 - 07/26 @ niigata, book of days (evening in-store) w/ perfect dancer (kyoto)
2005 - 08/06 @ tokyo, uramado w/ tori kudo, ma-on, naoto kawate, etc
2005 - 12/04 @ copenhagen, literatur haus (klub argot event) w/ pleasure/drenching/klapper/casswell
2006 - 01/04 @ aarhus, SpLAB, Jutland Academy of Fine Arts (w/ mshb, ma-on) - recording with DR danish national radio
2006 - 02/04 @ copenhagen, galleri ax12 (w/ mshb, ma-on)
2006 - 03/04 @ gothenburg, kulturehuset underjorben (w/ mshb, jens lekman, ma-on, erik de vahl)
2006 06/21 portland oregon, red and black cafe (with riley, ID and surprise guests)
2006 06/22 portland oregon, the artistery / MSHB with Woelv, Arrington de Dionyso (of old time relijun), the watery graves
2006 06/23 solo at 12th annual olympia festival of experimental musics
2006 06/26-29 recording session in dub narcotic (maher, ma-on, pan, sans deer, shiu)
2006 07/01 seattle july 1st solo gallery 1412 (Yes) with mshb, kazu nomura
2006 - 08/13 montreal canada @ zoo bizarre (with paper boots, Brian Lipson (of White Flower)
2006 08/16 (vs gein wong laptop-ing) hamilton canada @ casbah lounge
2006 - 08/22 toronto canada @ graffiti's (with matias rozenberg, fusilli)
2006 - 08/30 toronto canada @ press club - part of "poor pilgrim"
2006 - 11/11 gothenburg, sweden @ kulturhuset underjorden (with prurient, the skaters, carlos giffoni)
2007 - 01/07 dublin, ireland @ st patrick terrace (with eoin j cotter and friends)
2007 - 02/26 manchester, england @ klondyke club (with fete and 7 hertz)
2007 - 02/28 bristol, england @ cafe kino (with naoto kawate and sam jones (movietone))
2007 - 03/01 bristol, england @ cube cinema (with arctic circle and naoto kawate)
2007 - 03/02 london, england @ LSE shaw library (with ana da silva)
2007 - 03/04 london, england @ big chill house
2007 - 05/31 london, england @ red rose
2007 - 06/08 glasgow, scotland @ mono
2007 - 06/16 cherbourg, france @ epicentre
2007 08/09 - copenhagen, denmark @ lygten station
Description:with: blue sabbath black fiji (F), Hellbridges Pastaklub (dk)
2007 19/10 - madrid, spain @ El Patio Maravillas
2007 22/10 - barcelona, spain @ Heliogabal w/Bradien
2008 04/04 - brussels, belgium @ La Compilotheque w/Clement Nourry
2008 04/25 - copenhagen, denmark @ undervand, orestad, "cyklerband"
2008 06/27 - london, england @ cafe oto w/morten jorgensen
2008 06/28 - manchester, england @ fuel w/ eyes
2008 08/15 - bristol, england @ cube cinema w/fringes, rozi plain, i know i have no collar
2008 08/29 - dublin, ireland @ toner's
2008 08/30 - bray, ireland @ harbour bar
2008 10/07 - kyoto, japan @ yugue w/naoto kawate
2008 10/09 - matsuyama, japan @ more music w/ maher shalal hash baz, naoto kawate
2008 10/12 - tokyo, japan @ grande bleu w/andersens, macomeology, muffin
2009 02/13 - hamburg, germany @ sudbalkon w/ djs
2009 06/01 - london, england @ cafe oto w/ tenniscoats, the balky mule
2009 11/06 - london, england @ cafe oto w/ reiko kudo
2010 09 - festival of endless gratitude, copenhagen
2011 10 - casa del popolo, montreal
2011 11 - tjili pop, copenhagen
2012 2 - hanoi rock city, hanoi vietnam
2013 2 - tanned tin festival, castellon spain
live history of playing for tori kudo H~ / maher shalal hash baz
2003 11/22 - uplink factory, shibuya, tokyo (instream series-8, noise/exp/etc)
2004 04/17 - roppongi super-deluxe, tokyo (mshb w movietone)
2004 05/01 - artland, musashi-koganei, tokyo (tori kudo, imuta, meko, shiu)
2004 08/29 - roppongi super-deluxe, tokyo (mshb w bill wells*) *also accompaniment for bill wells.
2005 06/24 - serralves museum of comp. art, porto, portugal
2006 06/23 with mshb at 12th annual olympia festival of experimental musics
2007 06/04 - bristol, england - venn festival arnofini
2007 06/07 - glasgow, england - chai ovna
2007 06/17 - reims, france
2007 07/04 - roskilde, denmark - roskilde festival astoria
2007 07/06 - malmo, sweden - scaniaparken
2008 08/13 - tokyo, japan - shijuku jam
2009 11/09 - london, england @ king's place
2009 11/14 - brussels, belgium @ la compilotheque
2009 11/15 - ghent, belgium
2010 12 - Cafe Oto, london uk.
2010 12 - ATP godspeed nightmare before christmas @ minehead, UK.
2010 12 - king's place, london uk.
2013 2 - tanned tin festival, castellon, spain.
2013 2 - gallerie 28 petrelle, paris france.
credits:
shiu-yeung hui "london has let me down" (igloo)
maher shalal hash baz "l'autre cap" (k records)
maher shalal hash baz "c'est la derniere chanson" (k records)
yumbo "flicker/echo" (igloo)
