Steve Aoki’s performance at Luxy last Saturday was a raucous affair well worth the price of admission. “We’re being bombarded with the best feedback one could expect,” said Olivia Wycech from Dancing Through Sunday, the new promotion team responsible for bringing Aoki to Taipei. “He [Aoki] crowd-surfed; us promoters even crowd-surfed!”
Aoki was all over the stage when he wasn’t diving off of it, howling into a microphone and spraying the audience with bottle after bottle of champagne, all while spinning an eclectic set that referenced nearly every genre of music available at your local record store.
The crowd responded enthusiastically, with pumping fists and dancing feet. Finally, after running the gamut from hard-nosed electro to Swedish hardcore punk (seriously), Aoki’s two-hour set ended on a high (though incredibly cliche) note with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. A little bit of alcohol always makes the cheese go down, and the audience — particularly the foreigners — ate it up, all singing and air-guitaring in unison.
Truth be told, Aoki’s mixes are not breaking any new ground musically, and one could not escape the sense that the audience was there to see him as much as they were to hear him — a feeling rendered all the more tangible by the bevy of cameramen on stage, including globe-trotting party photographer Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter.
Nonetheless, Aoki’s on-stage energy is both palpable and contagious. He is an entertainer through and through, and his brand of indie-tinged dance music is readily accessible, particularly to rockers just getting their feet wet in the electro pond. Not surprisingly, Luxy was awash with Converse All-Stars last Saturday. There is something to be said for that.
The Vinyl Word would be remiss to not mention DJ Spykee, who proved himself to be a perfect choice as a warm-up for Aoki, no doubt surprising some folks who had never heard him spin before. If you get the chance, go see him work.
For the aforementioned Dancing Through Sunday promotion group, Aoki was just the first of what it hopes will be a string of artists coming to Taiwan through them. “Dancing Through Sunday’s main objective is to diversify Taiwan’s stagnant club scene,” Wycech said. “Saturday was a strong indicator that Taiwan is ready and welcoming and we’re going to keep pushing it strong.”
The group has forged a relationship with Aoki’s Dim Mak label, and that means there could be some good things in store for the country. “It doesn’t end with Aoki,” said Wycech. “MSTRKRFT, Felix Cartal, Diplo, Laidback Luke, the Bloody Beetroots, and Bloc Party are just a few of the artists on Dim Mak within our reach.”
Aoki was a good start. Let’s hope for more.
For those of you willing to battle through the inevitable New Year’s hangover and keep the party going tonight: The Vinyl Word admires your tenacity.
Tiger Hunting, which opens with a trio of punk and metal bands before blending (though surely not seamlessly) into an electronica event featuring everything from ambient to breakcore to psychedelic trance, takes place tonight from 9pm to 6am on the border between Gongguan (公館) and Jhonghe (中和), beneath the Fuhe Bridge (福和橋) in the Fuhe River Park parking lot (福和河濱公園停車場). For more information, go to tiger-hunting-index.blogspot.com.
Colorful, which features a trance-laden bill courtesy of Revox Records, takes place from 11pm to 5am at Japan Box at B1, 9, Lane 27, Renai Rd Sec 4 (台北市仁愛路四段27巷9號B1). For more information visit: www.revoxrecords.blogspot.com.
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