If you couldn’t make it to Spring Scream or if you did but didn’t get enough, don’t worry. A few of the international acts are sticking around and you can see them at two venues in Taipei this weekend.
Tonight Bliss hosts After the Scream, with post-rock soundscapes from instrumental band Collider, the hard rock of Doublewide, Gross Fugue’s multimedia electronic rock, The DoLittles’ progressive rock and The Pinetop Surgeons — the odd band out in this mix — playing bluegrass. The night finishes up with French reggae/dub selector Zion Selectah.
It will be interesting to see how the crowd reacts to such an unusual mix of genres.
Gross Fugue’s last show at VU Live House (地下絲絨) was sadly under-attended, given the band’s high-energy performance, which features a stand-up bass that is played with a bow to elicit a variety of sounds and effects, guitar, vocals, visual media and highly eccentric lyrics.
Tomorrow Japan’s Skunkrice plays its driving heavy electronic rock at VU Live House for the Asian Rock Festival. They share the bill with KbN, Collider and South Korea’s Nevada 51.
Skunkrice’s music is darker and deeper than standard club fare. But with catchy, gritty bass lines and an industrial hard-core meanness, it is made for dancing.
The band was established four years ago by T2low (Shinichi Wakide), but didn’t get “serious and busy” until Sin (Shinichi Kosuge) and Kojiro (Takashi Sasaki) joined the group a year ago, T2low said. They tour extensively to “show people that Japan is not just samurai, sumo and geisha,” he said.
T2low cites Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy as influences, but he’s into “anything that sends a message of people living hard and moving to the next level.”
He chose the band name Skunkrice because rice is a staple in Asia and is “a big part of our lives.” As for the skunk part, T2low said he’s “kind of cute but stinky,” just like the animal. “There’s another meaning for skunk but [I] don’t think you can put that in the newspaper,” he added.
Nevada 51’s sound is self-described as “rock with a conscience.” The band, which was first formed by high school classmates in 1997 under the name FID (Fighters in Destiny) but changed to Nevada 51 just before they graduated in 1999, plays music in support of various causes, especially anti-war events.
The group’s moniker references Area 51 in Nevada and the band members’ interest in UFOs and the paranormal. Influenced by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Limp Bizkit, it’s no surprise that Spring Scream organizer Jimi Moe described the outfit as performing “really fun, poppy rap like Blink 182.”
Underground experimental group KbN has been playing unique electronica for over a decade now. And Collider’s music has a moving, hypnotic quality that would put the dance floor to sleep were it not for the way the music spirals up in intense crescendos.
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