Known for his Eastern musical touch, Code (吳鎧帆) is a most extraordinary electronic music composer. His latest offering, Asia River (江水), a sublimely blended full-length album (combined with a DVD of four music videos), is another showcase of his considerable talent. With elaborate use of traditional Chinese musical instruments, Code tempers the mood throughout this eclectic mix, which encompasses everything from ambient, down-tempo and breaks to progressive house and drum ’n’ bass.
The music videos masterfully incorporate traditional Chinese artistic elements such as calligraphy, ink painting and Chinese opera, to complement the music.
“It took me six years to finish this album,” Code said. “In the end, I realized that most Taiwanese people can’t seem to relate to the kind of music that doesn’t have vocals, so I thought ‘why not make some videos to go with it?’ I had four different visual artists to do the project and the result is very satisfying. I think visualizing the stories in my music really helps people to better understand what it’s all about. ”
Photo Courtesy of Code
There has been quite a buzz on the Web since the album was released two months ago. That said, the DJ keeps a low profile — there wasn’t a release party, nor a tour to promote the album.
“Actually I did plan to have a very special press-release party, but it fell through because I was still trying to finish the album at that time and there would’ve been too much hassle to organize everything on my own. And trying to get news reporters to show up would be the hardest part because most of them probably wouldn’t be interested in this kind of story anyway. I seriously didn’t want to be worrying about stuff like that, so in the end I decided to give myself a break,” Code said. “And recently I’ve been really busy working on a new project.”
Code is in the process of starting an electronic music band with a keyboard player and his girlfriend as the vocalist.
“Deejaying has started to feel a bit too dry for me after all these years … I feel it’s about time to make some changes, to do something more lively with the music,” he said. “So right now I’m spending all my time making music for this project so we can start performing soon.”
On the Net
www.myspace.com/codewu
soundcloud.com/codewu/tracks
www.facebook.com/djcode.wu.fanspage
www.hinote.com.tw/product.aspx?sn=6452
www.streetvoice.com/djcodewu
Upcoming gigs
Today from 9:30pm to 12:30am at The Villa Herbs, 32, Ln 11, Leli Rd, Taipei City (台北市樂利路11巷32號). Free admission
March 16 from 11pm to 4:30am at The Wall, B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1).
Admission is NT$800
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