Adia (阿弟仔)
The Chosen Ones
Adia's
Featuring tunes from all three albums plus a couple of EPs by the offbeat, off-center and frequently off-his head-musician-cum-studio engineer/producer Adia (
With everything from jerky pop standards to spoof orchestrated Mando-ballads, and from mild electronica-fused numbers to Beijing Opera-loaded hip hop songs, Adia pitches musical curve ball after musical curve ball.
The material might be a far cry from the mainstream, but it is addictive. And if you manage to make it through the first half a dozen tunes without resorting to the fast-forward button you will be hooked.
Set out in chronological order, the album begins with the humorous Taiwanese bubblegum-rock-like ode to illiteracy, I Have Never Studied (
It might all sound like a lot of bull, but Adia is a very talented studio engineer and composer. If you're reasonably open-minded and enjoy being taken on roller-coaster musical rides, then this is a great compilation. If not, then tough. Adia's warped musical mind and his even more twisted sense of humor will sadly be lost on you.
Rose Din (螺絲釘)
Rose Din (螺絲釘)
Click Music
Why on earth four-piece power-pop combo Rose Din (螺絲釘) opted for an English moniker that has been taken not from the meaning of its three-character name but instead from its pronunciation is anyone's guess. After all, you'd have thought that any garage band with a genuine whim for making a splash would have been more than happy to name itself simply "Screw."
Packed with a blend of American Hi-Fi and Jimmy Eat World power chords, as well as a few more localized brands of tinny power pop, this self-titled debut is a pretty reasonable piece of work. Sure, the combo could do with slightly more oomph in places and should have employed more bass and less treble, but then you can't have everything.
The album doesn't get off to the blistering start it so deserves. Instead of making a splash with one of the albums better numbers, Rose Din meanders in with a tinny piece of pop titled Mr Happy. Sounding like a college band experimenting with a four-four-two beat combination for the first time, this lackluster tune doesn't do either the band or the album any justice.
It's not until track three, the gnarly buzzsaw guitar-loaded Day Dream, that the band's true potential is realized. Other great tunes include Pretty Woman, which should prove to be a real crowd pleaser, Happy, Happy I Love You, a topsy-turvy anthem that brags a chorus on which the band's two guitars clash with a real vengeance and Really Me (真的我), which sees the band toying with rudimentary yet passable guitar solos.
If Rose Din's independently released debut is any indication of the band's future potential then local fans of power pop have a lot to shout about. Of course, a major label could sign the combo and sadly we all know what happens then -- power pop turns to power pap over- night!
Zhang Yu-wei (張羽偉)
The Very Best (出狀元)
Blue Lime
Although he remains a relative unknown outside of the nation's more avid Taiwanese folk circles, Zhang Yu-wei (張羽偉) has still somehow managed to walk away from two of the nation's most prestigious movie/music awards
RSS