Adia (阿弟仔)
The Chosen Ones
Adia's
Featuring tunes from all three albums plus a couple of EPs by the offbeat, off-center and frequently off-his head-musician-cum-studio engineer/producer Adia (
With everything from jerky pop standards to spoof orchestrated Mando-ballads, and from mild electronica-fused numbers to Beijing Opera-loaded hip hop songs, Adia pitches musical curve ball after musical curve ball.
The material might be a far cry from the mainstream, but it is addictive. And if you manage to make it through the first half a dozen tunes without resorting to the fast-forward button you will be hooked.
Set out in chronological order, the album begins with the humorous Taiwanese bubblegum-rock-like ode to illiteracy, I Have Never Studied (
It might all sound like a lot of bull, but Adia is a very talented studio engineer and composer. If you're reasonably open-minded and enjoy being taken on roller-coaster musical rides, then this is a great compilation. If not, then tough. Adia's warped musical mind and his even more twisted sense of humor will sadly be lost on you.
Rose Din (螺絲釘)
Rose Din (螺絲釘)
Click Music
Why on earth four-piece power-pop combo Rose Din (螺絲釘) opted for an English moniker that has been taken not from the meaning of its three-character name but instead from its pronunciation is anyone's guess. After all, you'd have thought that any garage band with a genuine whim for making a splash would have been more than happy to name itself simply "Screw."
Packed with a blend of American Hi-Fi and Jimmy Eat World power chords, as well as a few more localized brands of tinny power pop, this self-titled debut is a pretty reasonable piece of work. Sure, the combo could do with slightly more oomph in places and should have employed more bass and less treble, but then you can't have everything.
The album doesn't get off to the blistering start it so deserves. Instead of making a splash with one of the albums better numbers, Rose Din meanders in with a tinny piece of pop titled Mr Happy. Sounding like a college band experimenting with a four-four-two beat combination for the first time, this lackluster tune doesn't do either the band or the album any justice.
It's not until track three, the gnarly buzzsaw guitar-loaded Day Dream, that the band's true potential is realized. Other great tunes include Pretty Woman, which should prove to be a real crowd pleaser, Happy, Happy I Love You, a topsy-turvy anthem that brags a chorus on which the band's two guitars clash with a real vengeance and Really Me (真的我), which sees the band toying with rudimentary yet passable guitar solos.
If Rose Din's independently released debut is any indication of the band's future potential then local fans of power pop have a lot to shout about. Of course, a major label could sign the combo and sadly we all know what happens then -- power pop turns to power pap over- night!
Zhang Yu-wei (張羽偉)
The Very Best (出狀元)
Blue Lime
Although he remains a relative unknown outside of the nation's more avid Taiwanese folk circles, Zhang Yu-wei (張羽偉) has still somehow managed to walk away from two of the nation's most prestigious movie/music awards
ceremonies clutching silverware.
In 2000 he won a Golden Horse Award for the Best Original Score and last year was named Best Taiwanese Male Singer at the Golden Melody Awards. The critics may have lauded him for his work, but Zhang's hybrid brand of folk/rock continues to lurk somewhere on the never-never-land peripheries of the mainstream and underground scenes.
As far as the record-buying public is concerned The Best Of (
The double CD set, which features a studio album of "new" material and a live CD, differs somewhat from his solo 2002 release. Unlike his concept-like debut album, on which Zhang painted a moody musical portrait of Taiwan, The Best Of sees Zhang employing a backing band, incorporating more blues/rock riffs into his earthy brand of folk music and veering away from the morose.
Listeners familiar with Zhang will notice the difference from the get-go. The album's opener, The Best Of, is a tune that sees Zhang shying away from standard acoustic folk and instead branching out into the realms anthem-like rock music.
Along with mixing it up with rock and blues, Zhang also takes the time to get mildly political on his new album, with the gritty Shit! Taiwan is Repressive (今嘛的台灣是按準).
While the songs on The Best Of are all well-produced and well-written, the material is such a far cry from his gritty down-to-earth Taiwanese folk of old that fans might not take too kindly to Zhang's new found musical inventiveness.
Phil Chang (張宇)
The Good in Man: New & Best OF (男人的好: 新歌+精選)
EMI
Phil Chang (
Since debuting over a decade ago with his Fast Walking (
Fans of Chang's might find the title of his latest album a bit familiar and they'd be right, as instead of penning a new name he simply lifted a song from his 1997 hit album, The Whole of August (
The whopping 31-track double album features a smorgasbord of Chang's hits, misses and so-so tunes. Along with getting a whopping earful of Chang, the CD set also comes with a free disk featuring videos for several of his most noteworthy numbers.
Packed with Mando-pop standards, Chang's The Good in Man is not an album for those looking for something fresh. The tunes are same-same, the rhythms predictable and, as ever, Chang's voice gets pretty monotonous after four or five songs.
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