Strangely, Taiwanese house music is rarely found in Taipei unless it cruises by in a souped-up car with cuddly dolls on the dash and a skimpily dressed "flower-car girl" (花車女郎) in the passenger seat, leaving a trail of bass and a ticky-ticky techno sound in its wake.
Directly or indirectly, foreigners control the capital city's musical pulse and you will not find "Made in Taiwan" house music in superclubs like Luxy or MoS, or even in the pubs -- many of which were closed down a few years ago by the police for being yaotou ( "headshake pill," or E) pubs.
But go east, west, north or south of the city and you will find the nation's youth are listening to high energy remixes of German trance, Belgian hardcore, fast-paced British old-skool and US industrial techno. The result is an electronic musical hot pot. Everything gets thrown in and comes out tasting much the same. Mando-pop songs, hip-hop hooks, cheesy Western hits, traditional Chinese songs and other influences are all combined with distinctive, strident and high-pitched synthesizer sounds. It's like Hello Kitty swimming in industrial waste, cute and brute.
Variously called Taiwan techno, guanghigh (from Guangdong, China), or yaotoh ger, the sound has variants in Hong Kong and China, Thailand and other Asian centers where there are pockets of Chinese. Local heros include Guang Tou (光頭) and Luo Bai-ji (羅百吉), a singer from Banciao in Taipei County who also produces his records and plays pubs around the island.
Two young DJs representative of the scene are Xiao Xong (小雄) and Xiao Niu (小牛), who sell CDs "and give away" mixes from their stall in Banciao's busy Nanya nightmarket off Nanya East Road (南雅東路). They set up shop seven nights a week from 6pm until late, surrounded by Disney dolls, day-glo dummies and fluorescing lights. Sometimes, one or the other of the partners will play at a pub in Taoyuan or elsewhere. Otherwise they are producing tracks at home from CDs, downloaded MP3s and a Midi synthesizer.
"The Taiwan style is more high-pitched, with a big bass and a lot of electronic sounds," Xiong says of his work. "Western house is usually around 130 beats-per-minute, but we like it quicker, about 150bpm, because the feeling is higher."
"Our role models play and make their own records, like Luo Bai-ji and Guang Tou. But Taipei has a lot of influence from foreigners and few local DJs play there. We go to MoS and Luxy about once a month to check out what's going on and listen to the latest songs, but that's not where we play," Xiong says.
His breakbeat-inspired mix CD DT Mix Workshop (混音工作室) is a good example of his craft. Starting with a version of In Da Club by 50 Cent the pace heats up with some British old-skool ("This record is dedicated to all the ravers in the nation") and gets into its stride with Chinese chimes and a hardcore vibe. Britney Spears makes an appearance and the energy keeps building with speeded-up drum-machine beats and loads of effects.
Back in Chinatown -- as Taipei is sometimes called by southerners -- "I Love Cape Town" carries on where it left off at Eden earlier this month, this time at Boven in Shihlin. Pierre Bruwer and Marc Kets will be hosting and they promise, "The funk will hit the fan."
Also on Saturday, Edmund and Jimmy Chen return to Eden for twisted house and electro; while Tensegrity Entertainment presents "Lost City of the Jungle" at J Pop Cafe, the same night, with Da, Funkstar, Remedy and Steppa. It will definitely be dirty and could be grimy.
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