Taiwan was visited by a few DJ legends over the past weekend. Last Saturday, D-Styles put on a clinic in turntablism at Pipe. Starting late, the dark room with only two spotlights illuminated the headliner, and D-Styles went to work. At first, he scratched with mathematical precision a few songs from the albums he has produced, then he played a classic hip-hop set which featured crowd-pleasing anthems such as Bigger than Hip-Hop by Dead Prez, Simone Says by Pharaoh Monch, and Ante Up by MOP.
At the end of his show, a few local scratchers joined a jam session with D-Styles and showed off their stuff. This would be the equivalent of letting regular guitarists get on stage and play solos back to back with Eddie Van Halen. Needless to say, those who got some applause from the crowd because they could hold their own with D-Styles went home thrilled about the experience.
On Sunday evening at Ull, DJ Yella from NWA rode the Straight Outta Compton movie wave all the way to Tainan. DJ Yella is a party rocker, and he showed the hyped crowd how to twist their fingers into Ws and have a good time by playing West Coast classics from Dr Dre, 2pac, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg and, of course, NWA. After Yella left the stage, DJ Booyah party people dancing to the wee hours, even though getting up for work on Monday was not going to be easy.
Photo courtesy of UpAgainsttheWall.asia
BEAT SQUARE’S 5TH ANNIVERSARY
Soul, funk, disco, hip-hop and new jack swing are king for vinyl purist DJ Chicano (簡光廷, Chien Kuang-ting). For the past five years, Chicano has organized a monthly Beat Square party in Ximending’s Cinema Park on Saturday afternoons. The walls around this area have a ton of awe-inspiring graffiti, b-boys and b-girls are continually practicing their popping and locking and the vibe is always on point. Basically, Beat Square is a modern Taiwan take on a 1970’s New York City park jam, and the best part is that it is always free to join.
■Beat Square 5 with DJ Chicano, Vicar and Bug is tomorrow from 2pm to 6pm at Taipei City Cinema Park (台北市電影主題公園), 19, Kangding Rd, Taipei City (台北市康定路19號). Admission is free.
SKRILLEX REDUX
It seems like just yesterday that Skrillex was supposed to make his grand debut on Taiwan’s shores at the Poseidon Electronic Carnival. In fact, it was only two months ago when that show turned into a shit show. But on Sunday night, Skrillex is booked for OMNI by theLOOP, a reputable place run by a reputable organization.
When Sunday’s show was announced, no one did a double take. No one thought it was weird that Skrillex, on tour in Asia with Diplo as Jack U, would do a one-off show on a Sunday night at OMNI. It was just looked at as a great booking that people would want to see, especially since the last show’s cancellation has inadvertently built up the hype for this one.
Skrillex may only be number nine on DJ Mag’s Top 100 list, but there isn’t really another producer or DJ who is more cutting edge or in demand. OMNI’s extraordinary sound system will be pushed to its limits by Skrillex’s dirty trap, dubstep and electro beats. The party will be packed to the rim, but when Skrillex drops his first track, he will show why he is worth the wait.
■theLOOP presents Up Close with Skrillex and GTA on Sunday from 7pm to 3am, 5F, 201, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路四段201號5樓). Pre-sale tickets are NT$2,000 and available at OMNI and all 7-Eleven iBon and FamilyMart FamilyPort machines. There is a high probability that tickets will be sold out and unavailable for purchase at the door.
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