Premiere | Thud, "The Other Day" (Foliage cover)
The joyful sounds of Thud; press photo courtesy of the band.
Music that is crafted from the fabrics of the ineffable and sublime is an international aesthetic sport. A tradition that goes back to well beyond the extents and expanses of documented musical notation and universally acknowledged conventional compositions from the world over—artists spanning from the east, west, north and south regions of the world respectively have continuously and tirelessly for nearly an eternity to express the language of ephemeral visions and convey the events of feeling in revolutionary new forms of creative conveyance. From the sneaker staring obsessions with beautifully designed dissonance of the west to the Cantonese Opera and Cantopop customs of the east; a rising band of low key dream warriors have been quietly plotting their own breakout onto the main stages of the world.
Introducing Thud from Hong Kong who have recently graced the world with their “Ado” single, b/w “Still Still”. Comprised of Cheuk Wang, Cheuk Wai, Andy, Kim and Sky; the quintet leaps off the modernist/classicist shoulders of influential giants with a shoegaze style synthesis for a new era. The textures heavily take cues from the 1980s undergrounds that count everyone from the slacker sectors to the goth mascara-streaked hordes with the sentiments that strike with the urgency of now. Their Without Further Ado EP recalls the radical charm of early Boo Radleys boomeranged toward the present day with “Still Still” sounding like a long lost Lush single that sparkles with the cadence of cool reminiscent of the late 80s/early 90s 4AD catalog. Thud takes the template of their heroes and applies artistic liberties that shine with the shared collective consciousness of twenty-first century pop provocateurs.
Which leads us to the world premiere of Thud’s rendition of the Foliage single “The Other Day” that expound’s upon the San Bernardino artist’s single from the recently released Z Tapes album III. The five piece takes Manuel Joseph Walker’s minimalist original and hones in on the emotive textures and elaborates them towards sharpened levels of guitar-glazed maximalism. “The Other Day” leaps from the electro-tinged bedroom based pop and upwards towards the infinity of soaring skies, well past the layers of clouds and light years toward galactic heights and cosmic destinations. The Hong Kong based group’s cover highlights how they can take the essential groundwork of a modern/future classic and accelerate it to new dimensions of realization while elevating the quintessential components of the composition into an awe-inspiring work of audio art nouveau. This is not your parents’ college coveted sound collage cassettes, nor is it your older siblings’ dusty DIY CD-Rs, or the forgotten MP3 collections of the upper crest cool crowds you looked up to during the early oughts. Thud are rapidly rewriting the current day history books and music journals of what expressive and silk woven pop paintings can be with a passion that arguably dwarfs their contemporaries and makes the the comparative name-dropping game obsolete. Thud are making their own loud sound in a world that is all their own.
Thud took the time to talk to us in an insightful interview round across long-distance cables:
Insights about the origins of Thud, meeting at HKDI and the fusion of incredibly ethereal guitar methodologies.
Three of us met at HKDI, which are Andy, Sky and Kim. Before that, Andy met Wai and Samuel, who are brothers, online, kind of old school! About the guitar methodologies, they're quite hard to be explained or described. But in short, they could be concluded as whammy bar, effects, fuzz and modulation pedal.
Describe how Floret helped propel Thud forward and how the group has evolved since.
Floret helps us to identify more clearly on our direction. More solid about our own specialties/styles. We think it's not necessarily a process of evolution but more like we keep on doing the sound we love.
Notes from the Hong Kong creative scenes.
Hong Kong is full of challenges for the creative scenes for sure. Many struggles for us to continue to work on music. For example lack of practice spaces and venues.
Reflections on the days and memories that informed the incredible and earth lifting cover of the Foliage single "The Other Day".
We really liked the verse melody and the mood created by the original song- and we thought to expand on that plus our own imaginations on the arrangement on our cover version on the song.
Thud in the studio recording the single “Ado”; courtesy of the band.
Thoughts on how you all collaborate together to create such a unified cohesion of atmospheric sound.
The sound we are creating is special to us and hopeful to our listeners too. We don’t think or calculate too much when we’re composing, it's more like a stream that goes on and on…
Notes on works in progress that are exciting and inspiring you all.
New single soon! Recording our first album.
Stair hangout sessions with Thud; press photo courtesy of the band.
Other artists and arts that have caught the collective attention of Thud.
Yuck, The Bilinda Butchers, Slowdive, MBV.
Parting wisdom and advice.
Always be true to yourselves—open to all kinds of inspiration and always prepare for upcoming opportunities.
Listen to more from Thud via Spotify.