1976
Late Summer of 1976
Le Musique
1976 hit the local indie scene five years ago, but never managed to achieve the same degree of success and, or notoriety as other acts that sprung up at that time and went on the bigger and better things such as Chthonic (
The band's over-reliance on slow melancholy and rudimentary Brit pop at a time when local testosterone-fueled teenage audiences were looking for raucous forms of musical mayhem, was, no doubt, the main reason behind the bands failing to secure a sizable following of fanatical fans.
Released earlier this month, Late Summer of 1976 is the band's first fully acoustic live album and sees three members of the four-piece act going through the motions.
Recorded at a live show in August of last year, the album features a selection of some of the combo's most popular tunes, yet omits all too many of its finest moments. 1976 warbles its way through slow, acoustic versions of a dozen its melodic and pleasing tunes. Highlights include the pop melody Coffee Shop (
While there is little wrong with the band's lo-fi acoustic sound electric versions of all these tunes sound a whole better.
Zayin
Zayin
Avex Trax
Formed by five Taiwanese guys who met while living in New Zealand, Zayin is the latest in a string of bands to sign with a local mainstream record label, Avex. While the band has shared the stage with large numbers of the nation's more indie oriented acts at spit-and-sawdust dives and seasonal dowdy and over-rated outdoor festivals since its formation almost three years ago, Zayin has cleverly managed to avoid being categorized as just another "alternative" rock band.
Signed to commercial record label, but marketed as a pop/rock act rather then a boy band, Zayin's self-titled debut might not grab the music press by the throat and immediately propel them to superstardom, but it certainly paves the way for bigger and better things. If Zayin can build on this then the band is surefire bet for a nomination at next year's Gold Melody Awards.
The music is tight and well produced and the tunes themselves well written and, for the most part, highly memorable. Zayin's ability to blend fiery rock riffs with pop and mainstream hooks gives the album staying power and makes for a great listen if you can get through to opening 30 seconds of the opener, The End (
Before long, however, the problematic opener bursts into a Third Eye Blind-like power pop ballad worthy of full volume on the sound system and the material that follows is equally entertaining, hard-hitting and well thought out.
There maybe no dud track in sight, but the album's highlight and the tune that makes the album worthy of accolade is Cherry Times, which is a guitar driven jerky rock number that should prove a crowd-pleaser when the band sets out on its promotional tour in the coming weeks.
Various
IS#1
Music543.com/isle
IS#1 is a bit of misnomer for this album. Featuring an odd selection of tunes by an even odder assortment of quite contrasting acts, the album, which has been released by newcomers, Music543.com/Isle, has, no doubt, hit record store shelves as a way of introducing the label's recent signings rather than as a must-buy addition to CD collections.
Ambling in with a dreamy Sandee Chen (
Local Brit-pop wannabes, 1976 does its best to sound like a combination of the Verve and Pulp on Star, popular DJ Lim Giong (
The bottom line here is that IS#1 makes for an inoffensive and at times original and interesting listen, but as a compilation album worth purchasing it falls rather flat.
Various
Ho Hai-yan Indie Music Awards III (貢寮國際海洋音樂祭: 熱浪搖滾 III)
TCM (角頭音樂)
The third album to be released by TCM (角頭音樂) featuring the sounds of the annual Ho Hai-yan Music Festival, Ho-Hai-yan Music Awards III offers listeners much the same as the two previous albums in the Ho Hai Yen series.
Featuring a selection of not-so-great tunes, some of which sound like they have been recorded in an empty baked bean can, none of the material that appears on the album could, or should be judged as "highlights" of the event. Low-lights would, in fact, be a much more fitting appraisal of the material.
Why the record company bothers to release such trash is beyond this reviewer, as it hardly makes one want to rush out and buy tickets for future Ho Hai-yen Festivals.
Considering last year's festival saw stellar performances from long-serving funksters Sticky Rice (
Instead of greatness, we're subjected to so-so recordings of even more so-so performances by unsigned underground bands like Mango Runs (
A really, really laughable and badly recorded rap tune by Stone (
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS