Never mind that it’s a shady little hideaway, Underworld has been holding it down for Taiwan’s non-mainstream sounds for more than 15 years. And as for why you would want to go to this cramped, dark space for tonight’s Earthquake dance party? Ariel Zheng (鄭思齊), singer of all-girl punk rock group Go Chic, gives reason enough: “All the underground bands started [at] Underworld and we’re all friends, so we hang out there a lot. In that way it’s more chill than the newer venues like The Wall (這牆) or Legacy.”
Go Chic was born at Underworld, and Zheng says the bar “has character and this is how I want it. You could get just 20 people to show up and it looks packed so the vibe is more friendly. The atmosphere is a lot less pretentious than some of the other bars out there, which is why everybody likes going.”
Tonight’s party will feature the latest alternative rock, indie and dance tunes. Spinning are long-established house DJs Randy and Floaty. The former, aka Randy Lin (林志堅), promises a loud straight-up dance-your-ass-off rock party. Yell, jump, sweat, laugh, drink. Repeat.
“Of course we never play your average pop,” says Randy. “The fun thing about being a DJ isn’t just pumping out the latest hits, but what everyone there enjoys and whatever gets people moving. In fact I often like to throw in some classics to keep things fresh.”
He isn’t letting on what will be played specifically, because he likes a good surprise.
DJ Floaty’s playlist will include Ida Maria, Gogol Bordello and Melt Banana.
A word of warning from Randy: “Parties at the Underworld can get pretty crazy. So if this will be your first time, be mentally prepared.”
Bands playing before the party from 9pm are local punk rock girls BB Bomb (BB彈) and Gaba from Taichung. Admission is NT$300 for the music show and NT$100 for the dance party.
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
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
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would