he buzz before Da Beach Thang at Dashi last weekend had everyone sounding like an amateur meteorologist. As it turned out, it rained hard enough in Taipei to keep away a lot of folks who thought it was bound to be doing the same at the beach. But, no, the stars were out over Dashi following an early afternoon shower that lowered the thermostat but kept the night balmy.
Which was a lot like how the music was. You'd have thought that one of the dozen-plus DJs elbowing in on the decks could have laid down something to get the waterlogged masses off their sandy asses. But like the adage "too many cooks spoil the broth," this was a case of too many DJs in a messy mix. There were some good sets, but the prime-time hours were relegated to tag-team efforts that didn't gel.
The night before at Luxy, James Zabiela had the ladies cooing at his every move. The handsome English DJ was able to merely flick a golden lock from his forehead to elicit some appreciative screams and you half expected to see panties flying toward the DJ booth. You may have noticed that DJs are not the prettiest bunch of personalities, but Zabiela has poster-boy looks and draws the pop-star stalker crowd. In addition, he is really talented and is able to create layers of sounds that build up a groove before pulsing into breaks. He owes a debt to Sasha with his tech-house sound but is moving into progressive territory with a tougher bass and pumping change-ups.
His interview before playing around 1am was boring (he revealed that he never travels without his laptop) but then he wasn't helped by some dumb questions. He was charm incarnate, however, and has more best friends in Taiwan after his second visit.
Tonight: The big news is Paul Oakenfold, a DJ who deserves the moniker "legendary" before his name. Having been a pioneer of the UK acid movement in the 1980s, the rave scene, Ibiza madness and "Madchester" clubbing in the 1990s, he has done more than most to push dance music into the mainstream. The musical mogul will attract the purists and those looking to see where the innovator is heading now.
Taipei's newest hip-hop weekly, Filthy Fridays, begins in earnest tonight at Eden with residents Bao Bao and Choyce Kuts. City and jungle collide at Luxy for Concrete Jungle.
In Taichung, Swank presents Lick it Again at Liquid Lounge with DJs Saucey, Declan, D'Jones and Dickweed. An NT$350 cover includes a free drink.
Tomorrow: Citrus is overripe at Luxy. NT$500 before 11pm and NT$800 afterward. AAAportIS presents A-One with the irrepressible Edmund on the decks, joined by the effervescent Jimmy Chen from AXD, at Eden. Cover is NT$350 before midnight, which includes a free drink, or NT$500 after midnight for two free drinks. In Taichung, Disco Revenge presents the Bikini Remix at BoBo with Andrew Ford, Boyan and Paul Energy on the decks.
Next Wednesday is Eden's newest offering, Acid Test. "Expect downtempo grooves, a dark room, sofas and tons of candles." The evening starts at 9pm with Abracadabra.
Upcoming: Kid Capri at Luxy on Saturday, June 25.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby