Tomorrow Taiwan's indie rock scene will be heading back to campus to relive their college days at the two-day Grass Fest on a massive field at the branch campus of National Taiwan Normal University.
The festival is organized by Silent Agreement, a small local label that specializes in domestic distribution of relatively unknown indie acts from Asia and Europe, in particular downtempo and experimental electronica bands, and that last year brought Four Tet to Taipei for a series of shows.
The lineup for the festival should be a fairly good representation of the label's chill-out ethos with a roster of old and new indie-pop bands playing during the two afternoons of shows. Several popular louder bands, such as Backquarter and LTK, will be on hand, but will be leaving their distortion pedals and fuzzy amps at home for acoustic sets. The festival will be the first time these bands play unplugged concerts.
It won't all be sugar-coated college rock and indie pop, though, said Huang Yi-chin (
Some of the highlights of the festival will likely be the bands invited from abroad that are released in Taiwan on Huang's label. Marshmallow Kisses and My Little Airport from Hong Kong and Hazel Nuts Chocolate from Japan play soft, melodic indie pop punctuated by rare bursts of noise -- a style that in Taiwan finds its counterparts in bands like Tizzy Bac and Bad Daughter.
Some of the more familiar local bands to play the main stage will be 1976, Soda Green, Claire, Braces and soloist Chang Hsuan (
"The small stage should hold some surprises. We got psychedelic bands and experimental groups ? a bit of everything," Huang said. Before and after all the shows, DJs will play eclectic mixes of pop and electronic music.
One area of the festival site will have rows of retro night-market games, the kind still played in some Taipei night markets, but more common down south. Another section of the field has been reserved for ball games. Soccer balls, volleyballs, beach balls and every other imaginable type of ball will be strewn about the field for people to use as they wish. In case you didn't get the point, the festival's not-at-all-tongue-in-cheek slogan -- "sunshine, grass, indie pop" -- is meant to remind people that the event should be a couple carefree days of music and fun.
"Think of it as two extended days in the park," Huang said.
Tomorrow night, after the first day of shows, ticket holders will be admitted free to an after party at The Wall located down the street from National Taiwan Normal University's branch campus.
Performance notes:
What: Grass Fest
Where: National Taiwan Normal University branch campus at Wansheng Street (
When: Tomorrow and Sunday, 12pm - 7pm
Tickets: NT$500 per day, NT$850 for two days. Five-person group and family discounts available. For more information, check www.grassfest.net
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