La Petite Nurse (小護士樂團)
Pubescent Legumes (青春豆)
Rock
La Petite Nurse (
Unlike many of its peers, La Petite Nurse doesn't follow the over-played format of power pop and rock. Its music is hard to categorize. The band is able to switch and swap from Coldplay-like downbeat numbers to up-beat and typical Taiwan indie scene noise without either missing a beat or sounding stupid.
This ability is markedly noticeable on the band's recently released debut, Pubescent Legumes (青春豆) on which the four-piece perform a mixed bag of tunes.
While there's nothing wrong with the band's more rock/pop oriented tunes oriented such as the Oasis-like opener Into The Sun, the power pop tune Smash the TV (摔電視), the jerky rock anthem Spice Girl (辣妹) and the great alt-pop/blues inspired number Mad Mask (
Downbeat and Coldplay-like tunes such as Die For You, White Lie (
Bobby Chen (陳昇)
Fish Says (魚說)
Rock
The bad boy of Taiwanese pop/rock returns with a new album this month entitled Fish Says (
Instead of sing-a-long anthems and heavy rock riffs Chen's Fish Says is a melancholy affair that sees the popular singer tackling material of an easy listening nature.
Slow ballads, folksy guitar, orchestrated moments and traces of world music all combine to give Fish Says an appeal that is so often lacking from Chen's less personal and more commercial releases.
After a couple of iffy openers the album's title track cuts in like a breath of fresh air. Fish Says sees Chen doing his utmost to sound like any one of a dozen indie-folk crooners, but instead of coming off the worse for the experience Chen is on top form. He can't quite hit all the high notes, but the tune's uplifting beats compensates for his rather off key vocals.
Other tunes of note include the offbeat, yet interesting tango-influenced 1989, the mild rock/blues-like London's Disabled Spaces (倫敦廢人區) and the wistful, piano driven Dream River (夢河).
The bottom line is that Fish Says might not be what one would expect from the hard drinking, hard playing and aging womanizing pop star, but Chen's pensive musical mood pays dividends on what is, in the end, a pleasing album.
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