“We local deejays haven’t been and will never be what you think we should be,” says Spykee of recently formed duo Tomodachi DJs, which is currently making waves in Taipei and will deliver an eclectic electro-rock set tonight at The Wall (這牆).
The Vinyl Word has been coveting Tomodachi DJs for several weeks now and finally got the chance to catch up with Spykee (小胖) and Fruit Dragon (水果龍) on their mission in bringing electro-rock to a scene dominated by house and hip-hop.
“Party after party, we Taiwanese want more and more,” says Spykee. “We start choosing what we wanna see, start criticizing, judging and even reviling.”
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TOMODACHI DJS
Their project is an attempt to bring a more Taiwanese style of party to music lovers only, and not just a bunch of people, “taking pictures of the deejay and videoing the sets. Or bimbos making out with foreigners or some retarded ABC dudes,” says Spykee.
Polite it isn’t, but point duly noted. While the house scene gets better every week, Top 40 hip-hop nonsense retains its hold on clubbing in general. “With the growth of sensational music journalism and the big clubs, the market has been conquered by mainstream hip-hop music,” says F Dragon. “Which has made it impossible for the development of indie-electro.”
“Hip-hop is killing everybody,” says Spykee. “Especially after the media [turned it into a fashion trend]. Five years ago, there were all kinds of clubs. Now, everything is about hip-hop. So now we have heard Usher in every club for two years already but everybody still raises their hands or screams out loud when they hear the song.”
In its own place Tomodachi throws in classy foreign and Taiwanese rock tunes such as The Rapture, The Whip and local electro-rock band Digihai, while keeping a steady 128BPM to 130BPM electro-wise.
After playing a great set at APA Lounge 808 in Ximending three weeks ago, it was obvious that these boys had something special to offer in terms of technique and style.
“I’m a big fan of 2 Many DJs, so I always wanted to make some mash-up stuff in my set,” says Spykee. “However, it’s very hard playing alone. I decided to use the CDJ-1000’s [a digital turntable that plays CDs] sampling and ultra pitch effect. But even when I used this, I could only play three channels at the same time and it is not good enough. So I asked F about a new project.”
Now with three CDJs, two mixers and a laptop, tonight is, “all about music, and passionate music people,” says F Dragon. “A good sound system and equipment makes the party a lot better.”
Tomodachi performs tonight at The Wall (這牆), at B1, 200, Roosevelt Road Sec 4, Taipei City (北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Cover is NT$250 and the party lasts from 10pm until 4am. Also performing are DJ Kay and Kolette, new to the scene rock ’n’ roll ladies Exploded (Pink) Yodas, and Boogie from Partytoom, none of whom will deviate from the mash-up vibe.
Download Tomodachi’s mix tape at www.myspace.com/tomodachidjs. The band’s Web site is www.blog.roodo.com/tomodachidjs.
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