press

Album Review

Recents;

https://rockandrollglobe.com/rock/hong-kong-stingray-doubles-down/

https://the-further.com/chet-delcampo-aka-hong-kong-stingray-the-hidden-world-you-hear-before-you-see

https://www.beaboutitpress.com/hong-kong-stingray-the-deepest-shades-of-red-pt-1

https://www.obscuresound.com/2025/02/hong-kong-stingray-the-deepest-shades-of-red-pt-1/

https://yorkcalling.co.uk/2025/03/17/discovery-hong-kong-stingray-releases-part-two-of-his-eclectic-pandemic-project/

http://www.phawker.com/2015/07/14/bio-meet-chet-delcampo/

Quotes-

" ...I love the mood of the music on c.w.t.t.h. (Coffee with Tom T. Hall), sounds like good weather to have a cup. Wish you all the best with your music."...
- Tom T. Hall

"Hey maaaan, this album (The Fountain) of yours is pretty f#*#*namazing! It has caught me totally by surprise..."
-_F.M. Cornog (East River Pipe)

Various Reviews -

What a strange pop web Chet Delcampo continues to weave. The veteran indie rock tunesmith has quite a checkered past. I won't reveal details - however his official bio, reads like a Sundance Channel screenplay (I recommend Ewan McGregor for the lead role). Under the banner of Hong Kong Stingray, Mr. Delcampo waxes intimate (barely singing above a whisper) on this enchanting and somewhat nocturnal six track mini-album. "Horseman With A Lantern" is the stuff of Elvis Costello by way of an all-too-common descending chord pattern beefed up with twisted romantic word-play that's further abetted by the vocals of his female foil (Ann Marie Ruljancich). The mid-tempo woe-is-me waltz "Something Comes Along" will stoke fans of the quiet Velvet Underground album, especially when the viola kicks in. The thumping back beat and hushed urgency of "Water Flows" and "Year You Were Born" evokes the great Marc Bolan in his most diabolical of moods. A Little Broken… is your perfect pop fix for the new year.
--Tom Semioli -Amplifier Magazine

"His tunes are wistful.melancholy,and obsessively
manicured to elicit just the right shade of dispossession...And while Delcampo pops out of his crushed-velvet reverie every once in a while to delve into some alt-country figures and Freedy Johnston-style oh-lonesome me's,it's the overall wash of pure blue tone that makes The Fountain a keeper."
Joey Sweeney-Philadelphia Weekly

"..lovely and moody debut."
Sara Sherr-Philadelphia Daily News

"...spend the right kind of time with The Fountain-a summer night solo drive,say-and the proper sound level,kindred spirits emerge and interesting connections tend to surface."
Rick Cornell-Amplifier

"Moody and reserved,The Fountain is an excellent album of understated pop."
Ron Davies-Splendid E-zine

"Delcampo favors the soft pop flavors of Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson and much of The Fountain will hold up to the scrutiny of the most demanding pop devotee...Delcampo has assembled a melencholy
delight that combines the most heartfelt elements of 'No-Depression' roots rock and east listening magic."
Kevin Mathews-PowerofPop.com

"Mostly though,The Fountain is an album to be savored over a few listenings,because it reaps forward sublime layers and melancholy colorings not readily apparent to a casual hearing...The rewards to be found within more than make up for the time spent."
Paul Anderson-Consumable Online

"Listeners would do well to turn up the volume,give
Delcampo their full,undivided attention and find out for themselves just how captivating an album The Fountain is."
Alex Henderson-AllMusicguide.com

"Genuinely good pop is likable for the same reasons as are genuinely good people. It's smart. It's friendly without being desperate. It's endearing without kissing your ass. Perhaps the apartment in which Chet Delcampo recorded Apartment Songs is a microcosm of that larger musical space. Within it, he has created a gorgeous album of mature soft pop, instantly seductive yet long lasting. You'll listen to it all day, and then you'll come right back to it the next morning.

Let's get it out of the way: Delcampo isn't the best singer. He pulls off a vitally important trick most of the time, hiding his voice inside itself and turning something essentially unappealing into something pretty. In this incarnation, it is unspectacular, but serves the music well. When Delcampo lets his "real" voice be heard, it feels a little intrusive (albeit, in the end, still winning).

The instrumentals are what really make Apartment Songs a keeper. Delcampo has done a shockingly good job with the production, considering the apartment setting in which these lovely, textured pieces were recorded. They evoke rock one minute and country the next, hooking you with whichever sound is your inclination and using that initial connection to ease you through sounds that, though perhaps not your cup of tea, suddenly sound right.

Delcampo draws you in with the sweet, twinkling "What A Star Should Be", then tightens his grip with the irresistible "Anna Marie". This tune starts out soft and hypnotic, with Delcampo gently chanting "Anna Marie / See me / I didn't want to tell ya" against a backdrop of gently treated drums, delicately plucked guitar and rich piano. He slowly works his way into a natural and comparably loud electric guitar solo, which in turn segues into more delicate guitars and a sweet, subtle horn melody that floats slightly above the rest of the mix. These elements coalesce, then return to the core sound established at the song's starting point, and before you know it you're in love. Then the song is over, and another has taken its place. So the album goes.

The most important element of these twelve songs is their ability to keep you guessing. Maybe the key is Delcampo's immaculate timing -- he can be depended upon to cut the song off just after you've felt it deepest, but before the feeling truly ebbs. You're satisfied in all the most important ways, but inevitably find that you need to have more.

The consistent quality of the songs, their cumulative, irreversible effect, the album's sterling DIY production, and the fact that this is by and large the work of one man, are all improbable. The fact that I hadn't previously heard of Delcampo's work? That's just annoying."
- Mike Meginnis,Splendidezine

In Philadelphia pop/rock circles, singer/songwriter Chet Delcampo has sometimes been compared to another Chet: the late cool jazz trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker . It's definitely a valid comparison -- up to a point, anyway. Delcampo, like Baker , thrives on subtlety, softness, and understatement; Apartment Songs , Delcampo's second album, isn't the work of a screamer any more than the countless jazz recordings that Baker provided when he was alive. But it's important to stress that the Baker /Delcampo comparison has to do with Delcampo's effective use of economy and restraint rather than his choice of a genre. While Baker was very much a jazz improviser -- Miles Davis was his primary influence -- Delcampo's turf is alternative pop/rock; he can be jazzy, but he isn't jazz. Delcampo doesn't get into bop changes on Apartment Songs ; he doesn't scat-sing his way through anything by Sonny Rollins or Clifford Brown . Delcampo does, however, bring something delightfully intimate (not to mention soulful) to hushed, moody, gently reflective offerings like "Day in the Fall" and "A Candle Is a Furnace." According to the credits, all of the material on this 2003 release was "recorded in an apartment (in) Olde City, Philadelphia, PA" -- which explains why the CD is titled Apartment Songs . These days, a lot of great-sounding CDs are recorded in home studios, and Apartment Songs isn't lacking in the area of sound quality any more than it is lacking in craftsmanship -- Apartment Songs , in fact, sounds well-produced but not overproduced. Like Delcampo's previous release, The Fountain ,Apartment Songs has enjoyed more attention in the Philly/South Jersey/Delaware Valley area than it has nationally. But that doesn't make Delcampo's performances any less compelling, and one hopes that he will eventually enjoy the amount of national exposure that he deserves.
- Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Press releases-

Chet Delcampo - Apartment Songs Over the years, a popular hallucination of the home recordist has developed: More often than not, when you hear of this artist or another going it alone within the confines of his very own limitless hard drive, the image is conjured of a hapless, tweaked Richard Dreyfuss standing in his living room, towering over a wild mountain range made of nothing more than mashed potatoes and insane desperation.

Well, that's just the first instance where Chet DelCampo breaks the mold. And he just keeps going. In a world where heart-on-their-sleeve singer/songwriters are the norm, Delcampo balances it out with a wit to match; where more traditionally rootsy candidates earn their chips through sweat and grind, Delcampo comes off as knowing and debonair. Where others rock, Chet does one better: He holds you close. And his latest continues proving that he's basically the James Mason of indie-rock: cool, confident and not to be crossed.

For the Philadelphia singer/songwriter's second proper full-length, DelCampo (born in another time, another place as the humble, sweet Chris Madl) has turned his fancies to indoor sports; the result, which suavely convinces the organic and the electronic to finally lie down together, is Apartment Songs. It's in line with the man's developing neo-Bacharach aessthetic begun (against all odds) in 1980s Los Angeles, continued in mid-90s Seattle and then London, and then, finally, settling in Philadelphia, where DelCampo's could emanate from the very same grey air as his beloved Gamble and Huff favorites.

Coming live and direct from a perch atop historic Old City, Philadelphia, the record is every bit as sophisticated and sleek as Chet's last, the widely acclaimed The Fountain (Record Cellar). What's different, however, is that the man has taken personal and this time, made it epic: Apartment Songs has an cinematic sweep and panache that calls to mind such recent instant classics as Yo La Tengo's And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, East River Pipe's The Gasoline Age and Mark Eitzel's 60 Watt Silver Lining. "Anna Marie" sounds dirty and sleek at once. "Sunday At Noon" slices the whole thing in half in all its instrumental glory. "A Candle Is A Furnace" burns slow and sinister.

All told, with 12 songs clocking in at just over a half-hour, Apartment Songs is the most perfectly manicured ode to grace under heartache that you'll hear this year - it's dignified and cool, but goddamn it wishes you didn't have to go baby. Listen to what you're missing.
-Joey Sweeney

Hong Kong Stingray - The Deepest Shades of Red - parts 1 & 2 (2025)
“Fixed,
We are fixed, or falling stars
And the furthest ones are The Deepest Shades of Red
Amplified and spiraling Through a gravitational lens
Could be a cold, bright moon, gives the distant stars, a warm appeal” - “The Deepest Shades of Red” - Hong Kong Stingray
The Deepest Shades of Red is the forthcoming double LP release from multi-instrumentalist, producer and indie-rock stalwart Chet Delcampo. Recorded under the nom de plume, Hong Kong Stingray, the sprawling double album combines cinematic arrangements and electronic beats with tender songs about connection, the trials of growing older, and the challenges of finding meaning in life. Delcampo’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics unfold like brief snapshots of a fading dream, a flickering gallery of imperfect memories. The album arrives as a follow up to the first HKS album, Produced by Kid Congo Powers in 2009 and the 2012 EP, A Little Broken Isn’t Bad. Nearly five years in the making, the project began as a solo undertaking in Delcampo’s home studio in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I started working on songs every day, just messing around and trying to come up with some kind of vibe, Delcampo explains. “the pandemic happened and I had to do something.”
While working on The Deepest Shades of Red, Delcampo shelved the album and shifted his focus. Aiming to save the album that he’d be toiling over privately from being too myopic and singular, Delcampo went in the opposite direction of the homespun songs he’d been crafting and dove into a record steeped in collaboration. The result was the 2023 self-titled EP with Opal Eskar, his trio with vocalist Karl Blau, and vocalist/guitarist Heyward Howkins (Howkins is also 1⁄2 of the Later Fortune project with Delcampo), Charlie Hall and Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs). Realizing that the simple joy of creating with friends was the key to unlocking the true spirit of his songs, Delcampo enlisted a cast of friends to make special guest appearances on the album. With contributions from Philip Stevenson, Birdie Busch, Kimbal Brown, Karl Blau, Nakita Beauregard, Reese Florence, Heyward Howkins, Todd Erk, and more, Delcampo’s vision came to life. With a stacked cast of artists lending their gifts to Delcampo’s songs, a project that started in isolation grew to its fullest potential.
“Bringing in the guests just made it better. It made the songs more interesting and it certainly made the process more fun for me. Even if they only come over for three hours one afternoon, it's still their identity, their presence is on the song and it really means a lot to me.”
With colorful and emotionally rich tunes like “Films Shot On Trains” and “In Panavision”, The
Deepest Shades of Red is a bridge between indie rock, jazz, hip-hop, dub, and soundtrack music. Whether he’s writing about his relationship with his wife, friends, or the broader community around him, The Deepest Shades of Red is Delcampo’s plea for kinship and meaning. Regarding the album’s central thematic throughline, Delcampo is candid in noting that this music was meant to help him tackle life’s most significant questions.
“I think this stuff comes out, even if you're not purposefully intentional about it. Where are you in your life? What's going on? What matters? I think that at this point in my life, as I'm getting older, you start to do some heavy questioning about your own mortality and death and kind of thinking about making some sense out of what your life has meant.”
Brimming with bittersweet insights into the human condition, The Deepest Shades of Red began as a field guide of one man’s inner world but it ended up being something much more. By asking the big, important, and sometimes messy questions about who we are and what we mean to one another, Delcampo faces the challenges we must endure in this life and shows us how true connection makes it all worthwhile.
-John Morrison, Writer / DJ

Hong Kong Stingray -LP
If you are not worried about what electronic messages hostile aliens in outer space are receiving from earth, you should be. For better or for worse, they are currently diagnosing the Cattle Decapitation and Burt Bacharach and Deer hoof musical offerings beamed off our planet, ala the opening scene in that old Jodie Foster movie, Contact. Out there, the leaders hover over some decoding instrument on some declining planet studying “Humanure”, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”, and “Green Cosmos” and planning the invasion. We are not here saying Hong Kong Stingray will save the planet, but I like our chances better with the beaming of this intimidating collection of emotings.

My buddies and I first heard the demos of this offbeat Chet Delcampo musical excursion, as we exited yet another nameless U.S. city in our sister to the Wagovan. We were in the midst of our own invasion of sorts of the U.S. As thousands of miles had disappeared beneath our bald tires, we had sampled the best the art form could offer our tired ears. Oh, but what is this? From the opening Pere Ubu cover through “Crystal Decanter Train”, we searched each other’s eyes in surprise. Chet, what hath thou wrought?

I have told him before that he will never be without a lover, what with the soul-bared, sensual, ethereal ballads of his previous releases melting any heart within earshot. But this Hong Kong Stingray assault… Oh, certainly, the Chet we all know and love is gently waxing poetic, musically painting Monet’s garden on a warm spring afternoon. But on HKS, behind him at his easel, his evil twin, grinning mischievously, mercilessly jackhammers asphalt. What monster had Kid Congo (Chet’s producer/partner in crime on this blasphemy) conjured from our gentle friend? HKS is soft/hard; good/evil; right/wrong; yin/yang. Look at it as a sum of its parts.

This collection has ALL of the emotions you and I suffer and celebrate. From the wonderfully wrenching “India Paper” to the introspective pop meandering of “Don Pablo, Don Poncho” before it gets hacked by a cruel, disrespectful spitting guitar. “Wagovan” is the paean to a four-wheeled friend, which rescued a stranded us, at one time. We could go on and on about this wonderment, HKS. Get the thing and listen for yourself, dammit. Then YOU tell us.

Needless to say, this was the music of choice on that trip, and thereafter. Now, Chet’s gonna share; let you have a go at it. In a world of 99-cent downloads, this brings back a reason to buy one more CD to enjoy as a total experience of ALL of the emotions, all thirteen or fourteen of them. These songs are to be experienced not by unsuccessfully trying in front of your mirror to work your Soul Train groove moves, but by flailing naked in a joyful spasm of release in the midst of your messy bedroom. Wouldn’t hurt to have someone to love with you. And, let’s get Sirius. Hong Kong Stingray needs to be splayed throughout the universe. Those space aliens would think twice about picking our planet for a hostile takeover. They’d think that these damn humans are just too complex, you never know how they’ll act moment to moment.
-Terry Messal

HKS -A little broken isn't bad EP
If you hop into a Hong Kong Stingray, where do you go? My ride took me to the picturesque canyon between jagged angularity and smooth supercool. Singer/writer/producer/guitarist Chet Delcampo sings like a beatnik while oddly shaped pieces of pop music zing by on beds of spring reverb. I might've seen Allen Ginsberg scooting up and down M.C. Escher's staircases. I liked it. Delcampo wastes no time whilst sending us melodic missives. He aims, shoots, hits his mark and moves on. Intro: boom. Verse: blam. Chorus: are we there already? Duck. Done. Sorry, jam band fan--we can't let you wait for the drugs to kick in. This is clear-eyed, laser sensitive romantic pop music. Three of the six tracks on A Little Broken Isn't Bad hit their fade-outs before the three-minute warning. Best to pay attention, for the rewards are great. Elephant And A Dove paints a mental picture, doesn't it? Whether I understand HKS's specific intentions on this tune matters not to me. I'm just along for the ride and it feels good. Guitars aren't strummed, they're manipulated by a laughing lab coat artist. Vocals are sweet and filled with melancholic urban goodness. If I were forced to drop names and peel back decades I'd compare the feelings I get when listening to HKS to journeys taken with Elliot Smith, Television, early dB's and Velvet Underground. Pretty cool company. Hop in and hold on.
-Parthenon Huxley

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Website by Noiseyard

press

Album Review

Recents;

https://rockandrollglobe.com/rock/hong-kong-stingray-doubles-down/

https://the-further.com/chet-delcampo-aka-hong-kong-stingray-the-hidden-world-you-hear-before-you-see

https://www.beaboutitpress.com/hong-kong-stingray-the-deepest-shades-of-red-pt-1

https://www.obscuresound.com/2025/02/hong-kong-stingray-the-deepest-shades-of-red-pt-1/

https://yorkcalling.co.uk/2025/03/17/discovery-hong-kong-stingray-releases-part-two-of-his-eclectic-pandemic-project/

http://www.phawker.com/2015/07/14/bio-meet-chet-delcampo/

Quotes-

" ...I love the mood of the music on c.w.t.t.h. (Coffee with Tom T. Hall), sounds like good weather to have a cup. Wish you all the best with your music."...
- Tom T. Hall

"Hey maaaan, this album (The Fountain) of yours is pretty f#*#*namazing! It has caught me totally by surprise..."
-_F.M. Cornog (East River Pipe)

Various Reviews -

What a strange pop web Chet Delcampo continues to weave. The veteran indie rock tunesmith has quite a checkered past. I won't reveal details - however his official bio, reads like a Sundance Channel screenplay (I recommend Ewan McGregor for the lead role). Under the banner of Hong Kong Stingray, Mr. Delcampo waxes intimate (barely singing above a whisper) on this enchanting and somewhat nocturnal six track mini-album. "Horseman With A Lantern" is the stuff of Elvis Costello by way of an all-too-common descending chord pattern beefed up with twisted romantic word-play that's further abetted by the vocals of his female foil (Ann Marie Ruljancich). The mid-tempo woe-is-me waltz "Something Comes Along" will stoke fans of the quiet Velvet Underground album, especially when the viola kicks in. The thumping back beat and hushed urgency of "Water Flows" and "Year You Were Born" evokes the great Marc Bolan in his most diabolical of moods. A Little Broken… is your perfect pop fix for the new year.
--Tom Semioli -Amplifier Magazine

"His tunes are wistful.melancholy,and obsessively
manicured to elicit just the right shade of dispossession...And while Delcampo pops out of his crushed-velvet reverie every once in a while to delve into some alt-country figures and Freedy Johnston-style oh-lonesome me's,it's the overall wash of pure blue tone that makes The Fountain a keeper."
Joey Sweeney-Philadelphia Weekly

"..lovely and moody debut."
Sara Sherr-Philadelphia Daily News

"...spend the right kind of time with The Fountain-a summer night solo drive,say-and the proper sound level,kindred spirits emerge and interesting connections tend to surface."
Rick Cornell-Amplifier

"Moody and reserved,The Fountain is an excellent album of understated pop."
Ron Davies-Splendid E-zine

"Delcampo favors the soft pop flavors of Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson and much of The Fountain will hold up to the scrutiny of the most demanding pop devotee...Delcampo has assembled a melencholy
delight that combines the most heartfelt elements of 'No-Depression' roots rock and east listening magic."
Kevin Mathews-PowerofPop.com

"Mostly though,The Fountain is an album to be savored over a few listenings,because it reaps forward sublime layers and melancholy colorings not readily apparent to a casual hearing...The rewards to be found within more than make up for the time spent."
Paul Anderson-Consumable Online

"Listeners would do well to turn up the volume,give
Delcampo their full,undivided attention and find out for themselves just how captivating an album The Fountain is."
Alex Henderson-AllMusicguide.com

"Genuinely good pop is likable for the same reasons as are genuinely good people. It's smart. It's friendly without being desperate. It's endearing without kissing your ass. Perhaps the apartment in which Chet Delcampo recorded Apartment Songs is a microcosm of that larger musical space. Within it, he has created a gorgeous album of mature soft pop, instantly seductive yet long lasting. You'll listen to it all day, and then you'll come right back to it the next morning.

Let's get it out of the way: Delcampo isn't the best singer. He pulls off a vitally important trick most of the time, hiding his voice inside itself and turning something essentially unappealing into something pretty. In this incarnation, it is unspectacular, but serves the music well. When Delcampo lets his "real" voice be heard, it feels a little intrusive (albeit, in the end, still winning).

The instrumentals are what really make Apartment Songs a keeper. Delcampo has done a shockingly good job with the production, considering the apartment setting in which these lovely, textured pieces were recorded. They evoke rock one minute and country the next, hooking you with whichever sound is your inclination and using that initial connection to ease you through sounds that, though perhaps not your cup of tea, suddenly sound right.

Delcampo draws you in with the sweet, twinkling "What A Star Should Be", then tightens his grip with the irresistible "Anna Marie". This tune starts out soft and hypnotic, with Delcampo gently chanting "Anna Marie / See me / I didn't want to tell ya" against a backdrop of gently treated drums, delicately plucked guitar and rich piano. He slowly works his way into a natural and comparably loud electric guitar solo, which in turn segues into more delicate guitars and a sweet, subtle horn melody that floats slightly above the rest of the mix. These elements coalesce, then return to the core sound established at the song's starting point, and before you know it you're in love. Then the song is over, and another has taken its place. So the album goes.

The most important element of these twelve songs is their ability to keep you guessing. Maybe the key is Delcampo's immaculate timing -- he can be depended upon to cut the song off just after you've felt it deepest, but before the feeling truly ebbs. You're satisfied in all the most important ways, but inevitably find that you need to have more.

The consistent quality of the songs, their cumulative, irreversible effect, the album's sterling DIY production, and the fact that this is by and large the work of one man, are all improbable. The fact that I hadn't previously heard of Delcampo's work? That's just annoying."
- Mike Meginnis,Splendidezine

In Philadelphia pop/rock circles, singer/songwriter Chet Delcampo has sometimes been compared to another Chet: the late cool jazz trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker . It's definitely a valid comparison -- up to a point, anyway. Delcampo, like Baker , thrives on subtlety, softness, and understatement; Apartment Songs , Delcampo's second album, isn't the work of a screamer any more than the countless jazz recordings that Baker provided when he was alive. But it's important to stress that the Baker /Delcampo comparison has to do with Delcampo's effective use of economy and restraint rather than his choice of a genre. While Baker was very much a jazz improviser -- Miles Davis was his primary influence -- Delcampo's turf is alternative pop/rock; he can be jazzy, but he isn't jazz. Delcampo doesn't get into bop changes on Apartment Songs ; he doesn't scat-sing his way through anything by Sonny Rollins or Clifford Brown . Delcampo does, however, bring something delightfully intimate (not to mention soulful) to hushed, moody, gently reflective offerings like "Day in the Fall" and "A Candle Is a Furnace." According to the credits, all of the material on this 2003 release was "recorded in an apartment (in) Olde City, Philadelphia, PA" -- which explains why the CD is titled Apartment Songs . These days, a lot of great-sounding CDs are recorded in home studios, and Apartment Songs isn't lacking in the area of sound quality any more than it is lacking in craftsmanship -- Apartment Songs , in fact, sounds well-produced but not overproduced. Like Delcampo's previous release, The Fountain ,Apartment Songs has enjoyed more attention in the Philly/South Jersey/Delaware Valley area than it has nationally. But that doesn't make Delcampo's performances any less compelling, and one hopes that he will eventually enjoy the amount of national exposure that he deserves.
- Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Press releases-

Chet Delcampo - Apartment Songs Over the years, a popular hallucination of the home recordist has developed: More often than not, when you hear of this artist or another going it alone within the confines of his very own limitless hard drive, the image is conjured of a hapless, tweaked Richard Dreyfuss standing in his living room, towering over a wild mountain range made of nothing more than mashed potatoes and insane desperation.

Well, that's just the first instance where Chet DelCampo breaks the mold. And he just keeps going. In a world where heart-on-their-sleeve singer/songwriters are the norm, Delcampo balances it out with a wit to match; where more traditionally rootsy candidates earn their chips through sweat and grind, Delcampo comes off as knowing and debonair. Where others rock, Chet does one better: He holds you close. And his latest continues proving that he's basically the James Mason of indie-rock: cool, confident and not to be crossed.

For the Philadelphia singer/songwriter's second proper full-length, DelCampo (born in another time, another place as the humble, sweet Chris Madl) has turned his fancies to indoor sports; the result, which suavely convinces the organic and the electronic to finally lie down together, is Apartment Songs. It's in line with the man's developing neo-Bacharach aessthetic begun (against all odds) in 1980s Los Angeles, continued in mid-90s Seattle and then London, and then, finally, settling in Philadelphia, where DelCampo's could emanate from the very same grey air as his beloved Gamble and Huff favorites.

Coming live and direct from a perch atop historic Old City, Philadelphia, the record is every bit as sophisticated and sleek as Chet's last, the widely acclaimed The Fountain (Record Cellar). What's different, however, is that the man has taken personal and this time, made it epic: Apartment Songs has an cinematic sweep and panache that calls to mind such recent instant classics as Yo La Tengo's And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, East River Pipe's The Gasoline Age and Mark Eitzel's 60 Watt Silver Lining. "Anna Marie" sounds dirty and sleek at once. "Sunday At Noon" slices the whole thing in half in all its instrumental glory. "A Candle Is A Furnace" burns slow and sinister.

All told, with 12 songs clocking in at just over a half-hour, Apartment Songs is the most perfectly manicured ode to grace under heartache that you'll hear this year - it's dignified and cool, but goddamn it wishes you didn't have to go baby. Listen to what you're missing.
-Joey Sweeney

Hong Kong Stingray - The Deepest Shades of Red - parts 1 & 2 (2025)
“Fixed,
We are fixed, or falling stars
And the furthest ones are The Deepest Shades of Red
Amplified and spiraling Through a gravitational lens
Could be a cold, bright moon, gives the distant stars, a warm appeal” - “The Deepest Shades of Red” - Hong Kong Stingray
The Deepest Shades of Red is the forthcoming double LP release from multi-instrumentalist, producer and indie-rock stalwart Chet Delcampo. Recorded under the nom de plume, Hong Kong Stingray, the sprawling double album combines cinematic arrangements and electronic beats with tender songs about connection, the trials of growing older, and the challenges of finding meaning in life. Delcampo’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics unfold like brief snapshots of a fading dream, a flickering gallery of imperfect memories. The album arrives as a follow up to the first HKS album, Produced by Kid Congo Powers in 2009 and the 2012 EP, A Little Broken Isn’t Bad. Nearly five years in the making, the project began as a solo undertaking in Delcampo’s home studio in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I started working on songs every day, just messing around and trying to come up with some kind of vibe, Delcampo explains. “the pandemic happened and I had to do something.”
While working on The Deepest Shades of Red, Delcampo shelved the album and shifted his focus. Aiming to save the album that he’d be toiling over privately from being too myopic and singular, Delcampo went in the opposite direction of the homespun songs he’d been crafting and dove into a record steeped in collaboration. The result was the 2023 self-titled EP with Opal Eskar, his trio with vocalist Karl Blau, and vocalist/guitarist Heyward Howkins (Howkins is also 1⁄2 of the Later Fortune project with Delcampo), Charlie Hall and Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs). Realizing that the simple joy of creating with friends was the key to unlocking the true spirit of his songs, Delcampo enlisted a cast of friends to make special guest appearances on the album. With contributions from Philip Stevenson, Birdie Busch, Kimbal Brown, Karl Blau, Nakita Beauregard, Reese Florence, Heyward Howkins, Todd Erk, and more, Delcampo’s vision came to life. With a stacked cast of artists lending their gifts to Delcampo’s songs, a project that started in isolation grew to its fullest potential.
“Bringing in the guests just made it better. It made the songs more interesting and it certainly made the process more fun for me. Even if they only come over for three hours one afternoon, it's still their identity, their presence is on the song and it really means a lot to me.”
With colorful and emotionally rich tunes like “Films Shot On Trains” and “In Panavision”, The
Deepest Shades of Red is a bridge between indie rock, jazz, hip-hop, dub, and soundtrack music. Whether he’s writing about his relationship with his wife, friends, or the broader community around him, The Deepest Shades of Red is Delcampo’s plea for kinship and meaning. Regarding the album’s central thematic throughline, Delcampo is candid in noting that this music was meant to help him tackle life’s most significant questions.
“I think this stuff comes out, even if you're not purposefully intentional about it. Where are you in your life? What's going on? What matters? I think that at this point in my life, as I'm getting older, you start to do some heavy questioning about your own mortality and death and kind of thinking about making some sense out of what your life has meant.”
Brimming with bittersweet insights into the human condition, The Deepest Shades of Red began as a field guide of one man’s inner world but it ended up being something much more. By asking the big, important, and sometimes messy questions about who we are and what we mean to one another, Delcampo faces the challenges we must endure in this life and shows us how true connection makes it all worthwhile.
-John Morrison, Writer / DJ

Hong Kong Stingray -LP
If you are not worried about what electronic messages hostile aliens in outer space are receiving from earth, you should be. For better or for worse, they are currently diagnosing the Cattle Decapitation and Burt Bacharach and Deer hoof musical offerings beamed off our planet, ala the opening scene in that old Jodie Foster movie, Contact. Out there, the leaders hover over some decoding instrument on some declining planet studying “Humanure”, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”, and “Green Cosmos” and planning the invasion. We are not here saying Hong Kong Stingray will save the planet, but I like our chances better with the beaming of this intimidating collection of emotings.

My buddies and I first heard the demos of this offbeat Chet Delcampo musical excursion, as we exited yet another nameless U.S. city in our sister to the Wagovan. We were in the midst of our own invasion of sorts of the U.S. As thousands of miles had disappeared beneath our bald tires, we had sampled the best the art form could offer our tired ears. Oh, but what is this? From the opening Pere Ubu cover through “Crystal Decanter Train”, we searched each other’s eyes in surprise. Chet, what hath thou wrought?

I have told him before that he will never be without a lover, what with the soul-bared, sensual, ethereal ballads of his previous releases melting any heart within earshot. But this Hong Kong Stingray assault… Oh, certainly, the Chet we all know and love is gently waxing poetic, musically painting Monet’s garden on a warm spring afternoon. But on HKS, behind him at his easel, his evil twin, grinning mischievously, mercilessly jackhammers asphalt. What monster had Kid Congo (Chet’s producer/partner in crime on this blasphemy) conjured from our gentle friend? HKS is soft/hard; good/evil; right/wrong; yin/yang. Look at it as a sum of its parts.

This collection has ALL of the emotions you and I suffer and celebrate. From the wonderfully wrenching “India Paper” to the introspective pop meandering of “Don Pablo, Don Poncho” before it gets hacked by a cruel, disrespectful spitting guitar. “Wagovan” is the paean to a four-wheeled friend, which rescued a stranded us, at one time. We could go on and on about this wonderment, HKS. Get the thing and listen for yourself, dammit. Then YOU tell us.

Needless to say, this was the music of choice on that trip, and thereafter. Now, Chet’s gonna share; let you have a go at it. In a world of 99-cent downloads, this brings back a reason to buy one more CD to enjoy as a total experience of ALL of the emotions, all thirteen or fourteen of them. These songs are to be experienced not by unsuccessfully trying in front of your mirror to work your Soul Train groove moves, but by flailing naked in a joyful spasm of release in the midst of your messy bedroom. Wouldn’t hurt to have someone to love with you. And, let’s get Sirius. Hong Kong Stingray needs to be splayed throughout the universe. Those space aliens would think twice about picking our planet for a hostile takeover. They’d think that these damn humans are just too complex, you never know how they’ll act moment to moment.
-Terry Messal

HKS -A little broken isn't bad EP
If you hop into a Hong Kong Stingray, where do you go? My ride took me to the picturesque canyon between jagged angularity and smooth supercool. Singer/writer/producer/guitarist Chet Delcampo sings like a beatnik while oddly shaped pieces of pop music zing by on beds of spring reverb. I might've seen Allen Ginsberg scooting up and down M.C. Escher's staircases. I liked it. Delcampo wastes no time whilst sending us melodic missives. He aims, shoots, hits his mark and moves on. Intro: boom. Verse: blam. Chorus: are we there already? Duck. Done. Sorry, jam band fan--we can't let you wait for the drugs to kick in. This is clear-eyed, laser sensitive romantic pop music. Three of the six tracks on A Little Broken Isn't Bad hit their fade-outs before the three-minute warning. Best to pay attention, for the rewards are great. Elephant And A Dove paints a mental picture, doesn't it? Whether I understand HKS's specific intentions on this tune matters not to me. I'm just along for the ride and it feels good. Guitars aren't strummed, they're manipulated by a laughing lab coat artist. Vocals are sweet and filled with melancholic urban goodness. If I were forced to drop names and peel back decades I'd compare the feelings I get when listening to HKS to journeys taken with Elliot Smith, Television, early dB's and Velvet Underground. Pretty cool company. Hop in and hold on.
-Parthenon Huxley

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