SL (劉軒) has been surfing the crest of the mellow house wave and rising steadily up the Taipei DJ list for the past two years, so a residency at the new lounge on the block, 70s, should be where he takes it to a new level.
He's been buzzing between the US and Taiwan for the past 30 years and started DJing when he was a college graduate, which was after he was a piano and composition student at Julliard in New York, and before he majored in psychology at Harvard.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
"I used to play at this college radio station, it was the graveyard shift for prison inmates. Then it was old school and hip hop. Now, anything before '95 is considered old school. Anyway, it was around '91 and these English guys came along, British blue-bloods, but like kinda anti-establishment. Basically, they hijacked the radio station and put rave on. The inmates were calling in and saying, `You're playing it at the wrong speed,' but the Brits just said, `Shut up, this is the future.'"
He got his first pair of Technics in 1996 and "started getting serious in 1999. In 2000 I was holding residencies in Boston and New York."
Then he came back to Taipei, mainly because of his day job, which is writing books for the teen market.
His father's name is Yung Liu (劉墉), is also a well-known local author.
Asked whether he was an ABC,
SL said, "No, the technical definition of an ABC is
American-Born Chinese. I was born in Taipei. In the States, I am a first-generation immigrant. But now I'm back in Taipei, I feel like I needed to reassimilate."
Musically, he's a rave-generation immigrant in Taipei, where the big and soulful New York sound he picked up from clubs like The Shelter was not appreciated at first. "Down in NY, coz i knew the crowd, it was all great, but here it just flopped.
Taiwanese music started with trance, though it's moving
towards house now. DJ Saucey and I started the Citrus parties two years ago and our first gig had 30 people; now we have regular crowds of 500 plus. Now the Taiwanese are developing broader tastes and right now I'm having an
interesting time. It took a while to figure out.
"`How can people not like this,' I thought. Now, they say, `That's nice, lounge, lets sit down, hao shufu (how comfortable).' I wanna jack it up a bit, introduce some harder elements like drum loops and stuff to keep it interesting."
SL will be developing his sound for the foreseeable future most Saturdays at 70s, which oddly enough, has been open for a while, is having a singles night tonight and a grand opening tomorrow. Joining SL will be Kelvin, Jesse and J. Chen. Expect to be wowed by the decor, which reportedly is like walking into the roller disco in Boogie Nights, with full-on retro furniture and matching fluorescent color schemes. SL also plays an uncompromising set of genuine New York house every month at Living Room, with the next date on Feb. 28.
In case you didn't know, it's Friday 13th again, which means K Fancy is putting on Evil Breaks III. DaveTwomey, who is a UK export-expat DJ working in Japan, will be returning for a few gigs to spice things up, along with DJ Em and Phifty Phive.
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