Halloween has arrived early this year. And twice. The first weekend of freakish festivities kicks off tomorrow night with two parties catering to dance music fans. You can still expect a jam-packed weekend with Halloween-themed parties next week, but none hosting internationals acts. Due to the exorbitant fees attached to booking dance music DJs these days, most of Taipei’s Halloween parties have relied on local talent.
Halloween Massive
First up, Halloween Massive returns for its ninth year, taking the throne as one of Asia’s biggest Halloween costume parties. Although the party has gradually expanded from its solely trance roots, Paul Van Dyk is one of this year’s headliners. The German Grammy award-winning DJ has long been a legendary purveyor of trance music since the early 90s.
Photo courtesy of SixSix Asia
The rest of the lineup is solid, with special attention given to Krewella. It is the first time that Taipei will host the sisterly duo consisting of Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf who brings that big festival sound that’s running rampant in America and beyond. Morgan Page supports them on the EDM front, and Orjan Nilsen will round the night off with more trance music. Also on the bill are homegrown talents Reaz:on and Hunter L.
■ Halloween Massive, tomorrow at 9pm at the New Taipei City Exhibition Center (新北市工商展覽中心), 1, Wucyuan Rd, New Taipei City (新北市五權路1號). Admission is NT$2,200.
On the dark side, Korner will host Berlin-bred DJ Subb-an. The theme will be dystopia. He is one of many DJs responsible for the underground tech-house renaissance that originated in Europe and has spread around the world. He headlines regularly at Fabric in London and Watergate in Berlin, two cities responsible for the more sophisticated style of electronic music which is gaining traction in the region. Subb-an’s style is a sure sign of the direction that dance music is heading towards.
Photo courtesy of Third Brain Management
Ironically, Subb-an owes his wealth of knowledge in music production as well as his rapid rise in the underground dance music circuit to the years that he gave up partying. He traded this time to study sound in university instead. Subb-an will be guiding Korner through its very own technological doom, where synthesizers and drum machines champion the machine revolution.
■ Subb-an, tomorrow at Korner/The Wall from 11:30pm to 5am at B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Admission is NT$650 and includes a drink.
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