Dr Reniculous Lipz and the Skallyunz 白悟空
Sunday at 11pm, Blue Stage
Photo: Steven Vigar
Scat-laced rap tumbling from the run-on mouth of Dr Lipz combines with funky beats from the rhythm section, with Greggo Russell from Collider drumming for the Skallyunz and Spring Scream cofounder Wade Davis on guitar in his third band of the night. Add in a second guitar, bass, sax, a hype man, and DJ Subtle’s scratching and you don’t even need the kitchen sink.
www.indievox.com/drlipz
— Alita Rickards
Photo: Steven Vigar
Squids
Photo: Steven Vigar
Tonight at 10pm, Red Stage
Squids from Kaohsiung will be ripping up the Red Stage with groovy, hip-shaking, head-nodding electro-rock-funk tunes. Samples, loops, and synths are added to live bass, guitar and drums. The heavy use of effects, grinding beats, and sexy vocals with audible lyrics make for a dancefest of live electro. If you miss them tonight, catch them in Taipei at Revolver on April 8.
www.indievox.com/squidboy
Photo: Steven Vigar
— Alita Rickards
The Hsu-nami
Photo: Steven Vigar
Tomorrow at 10pm, Purple Stage
This New Jersey-based post rock group is fronted by an erhu (二胡)-wielding Taiwanese American, Jack Hsu (許正杰), who is fulfilling a lifelong dream by bringing his internationally renowned band, The Hsu-nami, to Taiwan for its first tour here. The band’s song Rising of the Sun was used as the entrance theme for the Chinese basketball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, bringing the group into the spotlight. The erhu, a traditional instrument, is used to fill the role of vocals in the group’s heavy, funky music, made more hard-core with metal drumming and energetic stage antics. The band’s tour continues with shows in Kaohsiung, Taichung and Taipei from April 6 through April 9. See the full story and interview with the band in the Taipei Times on April 8.
Photo: Steven Vigar
www.indievox.com/hsunami
— Alita Rickards
Kou Chou Ching 拷秋勤
Sunday at 6pm, Purple Stage
Kou Chou Ching brings on Taiwan-style hip-hop, with DJ J-Chen scratching Hoklo, Hakka and Mandarin tracks, while traditional instruments like the suona (嗩吶) and the addition of mountain songs (山歌), folk songs, and Hakka bayin (客家八音) keep it authentic. Top that off with meaningful lyrics in the oral storytelling tradition and heavy hip-hop beats for a unique hot pot of sounds and visions.
www.indievox.com/kou
— Alita Rickards
High Tide
Sunday at 6pm, Green Stage
Taipei’s beloved High Tide plays reggae, ska and live dub, with Benjamin Cunningham and Moshe Foster on vocals and guitars. Foster’s socially conscious lyrics give the songs some thoughtfulness, while the beats laid out by Greggo Russell on drums get things shaking. Mix in smooth, funky bass by Mike Tennant and a horn section with Andy Francis on trombone and Wesley James on trumpet and you’re set to rock steady as the night begins.
www.indievox.com/hightide
— Alita Rickards
Full House
Tonight at 9pm, White Stage
Get your rockabilly on with this trio from Tainan. Like a lot of similar revival bands, Full House melds the 1950s and 1980s with Elvis-era rock ’n’ roll grooves played at a punk pace. The band often attracts attention for its double bassist, Kyohei Takahashi, who sports a pompadour and often engages in rock ’n’ roll theatrics on the stage.
www.indievox.com/fullhouse
— David Chen
SA (Samurai Attack)
Sunday at 9pm, Yellow Stage
Samurai Attack, a Japanese band that dates back to the 1980s, has a sound that is sometimes described as “Oi! Punk.” The band is tight, melodically inventive, and bursting with in-your-face energy. Don’t be surprised to find yourself bouncing around the moshpit when the band starts to play, or at least pumping your fist in the air.
www.indievox.com/samuraiattack
— David Chen
Aurora
Sunday at 7pm, Red Stage
Alan McIvor, Aurora’s lead vocalist and front man, said in an interview last week that fans should expect a heavier set than last year as the band has been getting darker and harder over the past 12 months. Sean Luo heats things up on electric banjo, with Spring Scream cofounder Wade Davis on bass, and prolific veteran of the music scene Pete Holmes on drums. (Both Davis and Holmes will be playing with Point 22 at 9pm on the Red Stage, with Davis also joining Dr Lipz at 11pm on the Blue Stage.)
www.indievox.com/aurora
— Alita Rickards
Secilia Luna
Tomorrow at 9pm, Red Stage
Spring Scream gets a taste of visual kei, Japan’s answer to glam rock, when Secilia Luna takes to the stage. Expect big hair, all-white costumes (the group’s members consider themselves “angels”) and makeup as this Tokyo band performs a high polished mix of metal, punk, rock and pop. Cosplay fans won’t want to miss this one.
www.secilia-luna.jp
— David Chen
All Japan Goith and Skaraoke
Sunday at 10pm, White Stage
Okinawa and Taiwan will come together through ska, reggae and rocksteady when All Japan Goith and Skaraoke play back-to-back sets. The two groups have just released a collaborative album that shows two different shades of ska. All Japan Goith has a harder punk edge and brings in elements of Okinawan folk, while Taiwan’s own Skaraoke borrows a bit from Latin jazz and swing. Either way, expect to be dancing.
www.myspace.com/skaraoke
www.goith.com
— David Chen
Dark Eyes
Tomorrow at 10pm, White Stage
Around the world, there are jazz bands devoted to the music of French guitarist Django Reinhardt, the father of “gypsy jazz.” Devotees in Taiwan include Dark Eyes, a quartet formed by a group of National Taiwan University students. The band’s repertoire, made up of swing standards from the 1920s and 1930s, is a welcome blast from the past.
www.indievox.com/darkeyesjazzband
— David Chen
88 Balaz 88顆芭樂籽
Sunday at 9pm, Purple Stage
What would Spring Scream be without 88 Balaz? The four-piece ragtag band, which plays punk-inspired garage rock, is a fixture in Taipei’s underground scene and has also grown up with the festival. In the early days of Spring Scream, lead singer Ah-Chang (阿強) was known for having stage-dived into the crowd on a bicycle. Though that’s not likely to happen this time around, you can still expect plenty of energy from the band’s set this weekend.
balaz88.pixnet.net
— David Chen
My Skin Against Your Skin
Sunday at 8pm, Red Stage
Andrea Huang (黃盈誼), the matriarch of My Skin Against Your Skin, leads the band with her trademark neuroticism and PJ Harvey-like intensity. The group’s 1990s-style alternative, punk and gothic-influenced tracks, with titles like Dirty Babe and Jealous Lover, aim to take listeners on a thrill ride in a fast car. Buckle up!
www.indievox.com/msays
— Alita Rickards
Lazy Lady
Tomorrow at 6pm, Purple Stage
This Taichung nu-metal and rap band, which has been around since 2003, caught the attention of representatives from Toronto’s North by Northeast Festival who visited Taiwan in February. The band was one of 10 indie groups short listed for a possible invitation to Toronto this summer, but in the meantime it returns to Spring Scream to keep local fans moshing and headbanging.
www.indievox.com/lazylady
— David Chen
Roxymoron
Sunday at 10pm, Blue Stage
Expect addictive beats with a disco flair from drummer John Stephenson, psychedelic and atmospheric guitar riffs from Dan Semo providing ambience, and lead vocalist and bassist Ben Smith taking it up a notch with rhythmic rock and punk-inspired rambling. The combination is energetic, fun and intensely danceable.
www.indievox.com/iamroxymoron
— Alita Rickards
io
Tomorrow at 8pm, Green Stage
Judging from their polished rock arrangements and MTV-friendly looks, the four Chinese-Canadian rockers that make up io hold mainstream pop aspirations. But there’s nothing wrong with a band being slick at Spring Scream, as long as it can hold its own live. These guys shouldn’t have much of a problem — they won ICRT’s Battle of the Bands in 2009.
www.indievox.com/ioband
— David Chen
Vampire Watching Television 吸血鬼看電視
Tomorrow at 3pm, Purple Stage
These punk hipsters are new on the scene but put on a good, loud, intense show. The sound is cranked to a hearty 11, with so much poppy, catchy surf-punk slapping your eardrums that earplugs are a good idea if you don’t want to end up with a hearing aid. It’s going to be pretty intense for an afternoon show, but might just kick things off for the day.
www.indievox.com/vampirewatchingtelevision
— Alita Rickards
Macbeth
Sunday at 11pm, Yellow Stage
Macbeth is one among many Taipei indie bands trying to shape late 1970s and early 1980s post-punk into a new mold. At times the Joy Division influence comes on too strong, but for the most part the band is persuasive enough to lure you into its world of noirish rock.
www.indievox.com/wearemacbeth
— David Chen
Collider
Sunday at 10pm
Yellow Stage
With dual guitars manned by Joe Witt and Rafe Walters, Tom Squires on bass, and Greggo Russell on drums, Collider specializes in long instrumental sequences that create haunting soundscapes in which the mind has a chance to wander and explore. The band builds in post-rock intensity throughout the songs, and then thrashes like crashing waves as they climax.
www.indievox.com/collider
— Alita Rickards
Green!Eyes
Tomorrow at 5pm, Red Stage
This Taipei-based trio, a side project of Tizzy Bac bassist Levon Hsu (許哲毓), plays indie folk and rock along the lines of Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco. Lead singer Yuchain Wang’s (王昱辰) personal and sometimes overly cryptic lyrics will put listeners in a contemplative mood, while the band’s drawn-out and noisy guitar jams will likely draw cheers from a sun-soaked, beer-drenched crowd.
www.indievox.com/greeneyes
— David Chen
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
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
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