After what seemed to be a week of incessant drizzle, the Taiwanese weather gods had pity on the partiers in Taipei and stopped the pouring for one day last Saturday for Urban Nomad’s Opening Freakout party at Tiger Mountain. A little over 800 people showed up for the festivities, and the bands were top notch, highlighted at sunset by Dread Rider’s always-impressive performance.
The DJs were playing in a humid, abandoned temple with a disco ball where the deities are supposed to be. This was an odd yet perfect setting for Sonia Calico (real name Sonia Lai, 賴思勻) to whip the crowd into a frenzy with her mesmerizing beats. Calico got behind the decks at 5:30pm, which at most parties is a bit early to pack a dance floor. By the time she was done at 7pm, the packed room grooving to her set knew she was on fire.
The crowd at Tiger Mountain cut a swath of the party-going scene. There were just enough hippies, freaks, hipsters, jungle party people doing acro-yoga, balloon animal makers and drummers to make it really interesting. Calico, with her underground trapped-out beats, UK garage sounds and mixing skills using equipment that she had never used before, put on a performance that impressed all of the above. Afterwards, even the disco ball temple gods were satisfied with what they had heard.
Photo courtesy of Chang Tzu-hsiang
SUPAFLY TAINAN
Tainan is the spiritual home to Taiwan’s hip-hop scene and Tony Ling (real name Ling Yuan-ming, 凌淵明) is known as one of the godfathers. Ling has long been a staple of the hip-hop scene. He goes to almost every party and is always b-boying in a corner somewhere. He recently started a hip-hop Friday at the UBar Cafe called SupaFly Fridays. Tonight, two of Tainan’s finest DJs, Twohands and Cap1, will resurrect their Make Room parties and spin the tunes that make the breakers break.
For those unfamiliar with Twohands (real name Daniel Lambert), he refuses to play commercial hip-hop music. He hates artists like Drake and Nelly, and would rather listen to and play Wu-Tang Clan and Sean P. Twohands’ uncompromising style has gotten him behind the decks with some legends of the hip-hop industry like Kool Herc, The Pharcyde, Souls of Mischief, Jurassic 5 and DJ Craze.
This past week, Twohands did something no one in Taiwan has ever done. He released a mix on Soundcloud, Standard Deviation Vol 1, which has nothing but UK grime tracks on it. Twohands keeps it as real as it gets.
Twohands’ partner in crime, Cap1 (real name Carl Mitchell), is a lover of hip-hop in all forms. As a matter of fact, he enjoys penning letters to hip-hop expressing his life-long infatuation with the musical genre.
“I guess the main thing I love about hip-hop is that it can cover any mood I’m in. When I want to get pumped for the day I can throw on Ante Up by M.O.P and start smacking my walls... After enough drinks at the club, I’ll even roll my wrists to some Young Thug or Future.” Cap1 said.
■ SuperFly presents Make Room, with Twohands and Cap1 tonight from 10pm to 3am at Ubar Cafe 30 Beiman Rd, Sec 2, Tainan City (台南市北門路二段30號). Admission is NT$200 at the door and includes one drink.
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