Print

Mail

wiki links

The Vinyl Word

Noodle shows she has lots of tricks up her sleeve on her new album. PHOTO: MAX WOODWORTH, TAIPEI TIMES

The first time Vinyl Word saw DJ Noodle was in a poorly attended party at Spin, the dingy and now defunct basement club in the Shida area famous for the crowds of stingy punters (including ourselves) drinking outside the 7-11 upstairs and watching the occasional brawl that spilled onto the sidewalk. The sparse crowd that night was a collection of serious b-boys and rappers who'd turned out to do their work on the sheet-metal dance floor and Noodle was dropping it so old school there was even a Doobie Brothers track blended into the mix.

That was three years ago, and ever since we've watched Noodle climb the ladder of big commercial clubs in town (VS, Plush, Eden, Partyroom) until she landed her residency at Luxy over a year ago. Now, having honed her mixing skills and gotten some major weekly exposure, she's released a new mix double CD titled Beautiful Mind.

The double CD, released a couple weeks ago on Flood Music, advertises Noodle as the Luxy resident DJ on the cover, but the music on both CDs has her taking off into some strange, broken beat territory that would be a tough sell on any dance floor but which makes for great listening. There's plenty of old school and funk, but there's even some Motown soul, swing, Japanese rap, reggae, J-pop, samba and early electronica.

"We couldn't get any of the rights to the current hits," she said when we caught up with her at her day job at Species Records on Tuesday. "That's partly why there's a lot of old stuff. It's also the stuff I personally like to play."

Basically, the double CD is nothing like the sets you can expect to hear her play at most of her shows. It has far more breadth and packs loads of surprises.

After listening to the album, there's a definite sense that Noodle really gets off on the music and on digging deep into the bargain bins for those overlooked choice cuts. But when asked what the best part of her job is, she said without hestitation, "Getting to eat the pre-show dinner with the big-name DJs that come to Luxy. That's really cool."

Catch Noodle this weekend at Club Cammi in Hsinchu tonight or at Luxy tomorrow night. Pick up Noodle's Beautiful Mind at Da Project and Species. Also at Luxy tonight is UK trance duo Above and Beyond with resident Joe Ho. Tomorrow is the Spanish tribal house outfit Chus and Ceballos mixing it up with J-6 and Vertigo.

Above and Beyond will also be playing at an outdoor party in Taichung tomorrow at Da-an Beach. A free shuttle bus will be leaving from Chaoma on Taichung Port Road between Henan Road and Jinshan Road. Tickets for the show cost NT$1,200 at the door.

Also in Taichung will be the latest Swank Party at Liquid Lounge with DJs Gavin Chen, D'Jones and Declan spinning hip hop, house and electro. Special for the night will be fruity, Vodka-spiked popsicles. So start sucking. Tickets cost NT$300.

DJ Edmund will be busy this weekend, with shows tonight at Fusion in Tainan and tomorrow at Eden, where he'll team up with Jimmy Chen for his monthly AAAportis session of progressive, trance and tech house.

At Ministry of Sound tomorrow the New York sex kitten Portia Surreal, described as the "No. 1 Erotic Fetish DJ," will be behind the decks (in a bikini) for the second installment of the DJ Queen Series. She plays a mix of funky house, progressive, electro and breakbeats and if that weren't enticement enough, ladies you can get in free if you wear a bikini.

This story has been viewed 1940 times.