While many people were on their way back to Taipei following the Lunar New Year last Saturday night, a blowout that has all the signs of pushing Taiwan’s music scene forward happened. Gone were the glossy flyers, video screens and jumbo lasers shooting out of every orifice of a nightclub. Instead, nearly 500 people gathered at Pipe to witness the art installation and DJ show called Super ADD Space Soft.
This was the third Super ADD party and it had a real DIY-ethic as cotton clouds hung from the ceiling and everyone from hipsters to cosplay girls were getting down to the latest underground sounds. A blonde mop top Taiwanese DJ appropriately named Cotton Disco stood out because she was expertly playing headbanging tunes while pouring shots of tequila into the mouths of various revellers. Look for more noise to be made by these Super ADD parties in the future.
This Saturday night, The Wall and its interior video installation space, The KORNER, play host to A1 Bassline (real name Christian Sibthorpe), as well as a dozen of Taipei’s most cutting edge electronic DJs at the Uakti Party Volume 1.
Photo courtesy of James Ho
James Ho (賀捷明), one of the performers who has also helped organize parties at The KORNER, said he delights in the fact that A1 Bassline is not a household name — at least not yet. “He is known to some underground diggers but not the major mass here in Taiwan, which is what makes it a bit fun,” Ho said. “Sometime the best way to find out about a brilliant new artist is to see the act live rather than over the Internet with some shitty computer speakers.”
Ho said that A1 Bassline is a talented UK producer who plays music that’s a blend of house and garage, but with some small influences of drum and bass.
The other DJs playing at Uakti, Ho said, are the best that Taiwan has to offer. “We pretty much picked our personal favorite DJs of different genres in Taipei. It might be a little selfish, but that’s how it is. This is the all-stars team we believe in.”
The KORNER has only been open for three months and is gaining momentum. “Recently we have been coming up with more creative and weird parties, like the end-of-the-world party, Balkan night, fortune telling night. We are even doing a DJ cook you food party in March.”
The Wall is usually divided into two spaces, but to accommodate the 13 DJs, this Saturday it will be divided into three: the main area where A1 Bassline will play, the KORNER area, and the outer area, which Ho dubbed “the chill-out area filled with ambient/dub/IDM.”
“It’ll be like having a beer with your very cool neo-pagan-techno-hippie father-in-law for Christmas,” Ho said.
■ Uakti Party Volume 1 Saturday night at The KORNER inside The Wall (這牆) from 11:30pm to 5:30am, B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Admission is NT$900 at the door and includes a drink.
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