Live electronica is on a roll. Last Friday night at Luxy saw live saxophone from Rintaro Masui. Hailing from Japan but having grown up in Africa, Masui, whose first language is Swahili, blends Oriental and African vibes into a big chunk of jazzy soul, which was expertly layered over Soulutions’ final set at Luxy’s Sabbatical. The lads ended their four-week residency with a bang having firmly hoisted the flag for locally-based DJs and are now back in the studio working on their own music.
Over at DV8 last Saturday, Viba, Moshang and KusoJ were doing their live thing in the confines of a venue that, despite a lick of paint, has not lost its grimy soul. Moshang’s set was notable for his use of a midi saxophone, which for the less technically minded isn’t really a saxophone, but thinks it is when plugged into a laptop. No one could quite explain how it works any better than that, but it is a clever bit of kit and highly realistic. Moshang kicked off with some solid house and Viba took up the groove peppering his set with electro disco-funk, something of a change from the more ambient fare that’s on his new CD East-West Relations, which showcases Viba’s influences from late 1980s and early 1990s British dance music and a decade or so living out here in Asia. The CD is out now and you can hear samples at www.myspace.com/vibamusic. Gigs are planned for early next year.
KusoJ’s set started off as a good idea, in theory, mashing 160bpm breakbeats with live thrash-metal guitar. The set sounded at times like a rottweiler having a heated argument with a jackhammer; perhaps the drum-machine and the synthesizer weren’t synched properly, or DV8’s fire-hazard of a basement, which has the acoustic properties of a shipping container, didn’t suit.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VIBA
That said, the jury’s still out until their next gig, and at the very least they are pushing the boundaries of experimental electronica.
Not so much pushing the boundaries as going back to their roots, five-piece hip-hop band Fluent have put their debut album up on the web (www.areyoufluent.com — on the download page.) The group, comprising four Canadians and a Parisian who, until recently, were all Taipei based. Two of the outfit are back in Canada, but through the magic of the Internet they have recorded the album pretty much as their live sets go, which will be familiar to anyone who heard them play here earlier this year. Challenging and intelligent lyrics are backed up by live musicians — the band members pride themselves on not using samples — and produce a refreshing sound that will appeal to both true hip-hop devotees and those that, mistakenly, dismiss hip-hop as being only about shooting people in the face for laughs. Well worth a listen.
The fabulous Darren Emerson, who is spinning at Champagne 3 on Saturday night, will usher in the first day of Advent. There isn’t the space here to list the ex-Underworld member’s achievements as a DJ, producer and leading light of the British dance scene over the last decade; suffice it to say that he comes highly recommended, as anyone who saw him at Luxy earlier this year can attest. (He remains Hooker’s top DJ of the year, despite Emerson, inexplicably, flicking Hooker the bird.) Tonight, Junior and Megan will play at Luxy, before they join Marcus Aurelius, Fratzuki and Vinny tomorrow for a safe sex party at Sex and the City (next to Carnegie’s on Anhe Road). Hourly contests will be giving away free condoms, sex toys and lingerie, and it’s free entry for ladies wearing stockings. Oh, and there’ll be porn on the projector.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built