Posts tagged ‘taiwanese music’
Born by Irreproachable Gorgeousness: 2021 SXSW Online, part two: Music Festival
Trying to make sense of the vast number of musical performances I witnessed at this year’s SXSW Online music festival is a fool’s errand so I’m just going to highlight some of the things that have stuck with me in the weeks after the event.
Although there was no shortage of guitar-based indie rock bands from around the world, SXSW also included some really great performers from other musical persuasions.
The Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation showcase included Dasom Baek, a traditional instrumentalist who incorporates electronic loops into her work. Her set included loops produced by a Korean wooden flute, the daegeum, and the sound of water swished in a metal bowl, overlaid with passages played on a smaller wooden flute. Seated cross-legged on the floor and washed by a single moving beam of light that was at times tinged green or blue, Baek’s set was understated, elegant, and intense.
On a louder, more post-rock tip, Jambinai combined guitars, a trap set, and electronic loops with traditional Korean instruments including the zither-like geomungo, the two-stringed haegeum, and the reedy, metallic taepyeongso, and wordless, softly keening vocals. They worked up a good head of steam in their dark, metal set.
Another Korean act of note was Haepaary, a duo that blended traditional Korean singing styles with electronic beats to create a mesmerizing, evocative atmosphere. Featuring a very big drum and dreamy vocals adapted from 15th-century royal shrine music, Haepaary’s set was pure awesome sauce.
I went into SXSW with the intention of seeing this year’s edition of Taiwan Beats, which showcases indie music from the island nation, and I wasn’t disappointed. Each of the four acts performed in iconic locations in Taiwan and each brought their unique sound and style to their presentation. Vocalist Enno Cheng performed in the mountains of Taiwan, combining her clear, relaxed vocals with understated instrumentation and very subtle synth backings. Interestingly enough, she wore running shoes with her flowing red skirt, not unlike her compatriot KT Chang from Elephant Gym.
I was especially happy that power-punk quartet FireEx was included in the Taiwan Beats showcase, since they had been slated to tour the US last year pre-pandemic and their concert in San Francisco had been on my calendar before COVID killed live music last year. To honor Taiwan’s laborers they staged their set in a factory in the southern port city of Kaohsiung and their performance was interspersed with cutaways of workers doing their thing.
Among other things, FireEx is famous for writing and performing “Island’s Sunrise,” the anthem to the 2014 Sunflower student movement, and they sing mostly in Hoklo Taiwanese dialect. Similarly, the titles of their songs from their SXSW setlist reflected their revolutionary stance. They kicked off with the straight-ahead rock tune Stand Up Like A Taiwanese, followed with the double time beat of Don’t You Fight, which starts with guitar solo and features lead singer Sam’s ragged but clear vocals. The chorus further demonstrates their fiery stance.
Don’t you fight, don’t you fight
It’s a brand new revolution
Time is running out, so let’s go fight
The song shows off their musicality and features a brilliant little break at the end.
The crunchy guitar and deep, heavy bass of Keep on Going, with its strong urgent vocals, subtle harmonies, and crisp drumming, finished off their energetic, anthemic set. This is the music of a people who don’t want to be oppressed by a dictatorship anymore.
Following FireEx was The Chairs, a retro-pop combo who performed in an indoor shrimping-fishing venue. Having spent some time shrimping in Taipei I can attest to its authentic Taiwan vibe and it was a fitting location for The Chairs’ mellow, jazzy set, with their sweet three-part harmonies and acoustic and electric guitar sound. Dressed in neat suit jackets over turtlenecks and collared shirts with white shoes, The Chairs sang in both Mandarin and English, demonstrating how next level Taiwan is.
East London’s Damnably Records showcase was one the best of the lot that I watched, featuring five artists from Asia. The set of the South Korean skate punk trio Drinking Boys and Girls Choir was literally shot in a garage, which all made sense considering their clean, sharp, thrashy sound. The group consists of two girls on drums and guitar and a guy bass player and their sound vaguely resembles the Shaggs on speed. Their Busan compatriots, the quartet Say Sue Me, performed in their practice room which was dressed to look like a suburban living room. Driven by the bass, they played some nice mid-tempo surfy power pop.
Japanese indie power pop quartet Hazy Sour Cherry’s set was fun, poppy, and light. Consisting of four members from Tokyo’s indie scene who play spare, lofi guitar-based pop, they say their biggest influences are the Beatles and it shows. The Damnably showcase also included Grrrl Gang from Indonesia. Another fun power pop group, their sound, with its melodic, plaintive vocals, is mildly riot girlesque, though softer than classic punk.
The highlight of Damnably’s showcase was the all-girl combo Otoboke Beaver, the superb punk band from Japan lead by lead vocalist Accorinrin, whose powerful throaty growling drives the band’s muscular sound. The band’s set was a perfect mix of party dresses and speed thrash.
I also loved Marca Unica’s showcase of Música Regional Mexicana, the first in the history of SXSW. These cool Spanish-language groups performed in what looked like an auto dealership, with fancy rims on the wall and flanked by two all-black vehicles. From Houston’s South Side, Equilibrio, billed as trap corrido, mixed plaintive narcocorrido harmonies, dual guitars, and some gorgeous tuba runs. My Spanish skills are very lacking, but their emotion came through in the singing. Solo vocalist Janine was backed by a nine-piece mariachi band including guitarron, horns, and strings, and her set highlighted her big, beautiful corrido vocals.
Another nicely organized showcase was Northern Expo, which highlighted performers from the north of Norway. Northern Expo really tried to cinematically tie together the performances as the showcase traversed a snow-covered city from street level to a tram to a mountaintop.
The showcase opened with a street-level performance by Ozas, a duo of sisters Anine and Sara Marielle from the indigenous Sámi people who performed their excellent yoiking (traditional Sámi singing) backed by a sideman on a double-necked acoustic guitar. The film then followed the rapper Oter, riding in a car through the snowy streets while showing off his intense flow as he spit rhymes over metal beats.
Oter ended up at a tram station, where the showcase transitioned to the performance of I See Rivers, This female duo on guitar and what looked like an electronic autoharp had a fun, quirky neo-folk pop sound with sweet, lilting soprano harmonies.
Once the tram reached the top of the lift the scene cut to the last band, Heave Blood and Die, who performed their 90s-style grunge rock on the rooftop of the building. As indicated by the name, theirs is a more traditional rock style, with screamo vocals over a guitar-bass-drums sound. Props to this showcase for being both musically and cinematically engaging.
A few other acts scattered throughout the massive music festival program also caught my eyes and ears. The F16s, from Chennai, India, played a lively, engaging indie rock set. Lead vocalist Josh Fernandez has a nice range, with good, deep low notes and a sweet raspy falsetto. A fun detail of their set was their bassist sitting comfortably on the floor with the rest of the band ranged around him on sofas or standing up. I’m not sure why but this seemed metaphorical for the casual, comfy mood of their set.
I also really liked Dutch-Turkish psych rock band Altin Gün. They had a good groove with electronic and guitar/bass/drums instrumentation, along with an electric oud and a doumbek, the ubiquitous Turkish hand drum, combining sinuous polyrhythms with some funky grooves to create a memorable sound.
Also of note was UK jazz artist Theon Cross, who played lead tuba (!) over a funky afrobeat groove. Cross also appeared as a digital avatar at the SXSW’s virtual reality showcase, offering an alternative to live performance in the time of COVID-19.
I also enjoyed the off-kilter set of Teke::Teke, a seven-piece Japanese combo based in Montreal. Led by Maya Kuroki’s growly vocals, they have a fun electric enka sound.
Another big ol’ group, Tokyo-based Millennium Parade, had what seemed like ten people on stage. A collaboration between musicians, visual artists, filmmakers, designers, and producers, their big, messy, bombastic funkiness includes two trap sets, a sax, synths, and a rapper and several vocalists as well as a dude on a megaphone. The epitome of chaotic good, Millennium Parade produced a full gorgeous sound, with pentatonic scale vocal processing, rapping, horns, and an animated video backdrop with dancing and swimming babies, expanding brains, and electronic singing fetus in VR headset. It’s P-Funk + city pop for the 21st century.
This is only about half of all the acts that I watched at SXSW which combined with the film festival ate up a good portion of my life for five days back in March. Though it doesn’t replace the thrill of experiencing live music, SXSW Online helped to ease some of the pain of the cessation of live performances during this pandemic year. Here’s hoping this online iteration of SXSW is an aberration and that next year’s SXSW will be back to live music in person in all its loud and messy glory.
Dreaming In Fantasy: Sunset Rollercoaster at Slim’s
Indie pop fans, Sunset Rollercoaster, 2019
Taiwan’s indie music scene is alive and well and we’ve been lucky to be able to see many of its leading proponents here Stateside lately. Recently coming through San Francisco were city pop practictioners Sunset Rollercoaster and they put on an energetic show in front of a sold-out house at Slim’s. The crowd was full of cute Asian indie pop fans speaking drawly Mandarin and the vibe was definitely chill.
Opening the show was Eyedress, aka Idris Vicuña, a Pinoy from Manila by way of Arizona and California. Eyedress teamed up with a rhythm section consisting of a live bass player and a laptop supplying the beats. Ranging from murky pop tunes to more punky songs, Eyedress cranked out a short and lively set that got the crowd going.
Smooth and fluid, Sunset Rollercoaster, 2019
After a nice quick break Sunset Rollercoaster took the stage and the sextet quickly engaged their fans. The band performed both funky instrumentals and English-language songs featuring vocalist and leader Tseng Kuo-Hung, who also kept up a charming patter in English. Although they include a lot of jazzy elements in their set Sunset Rollercoaster isn’t quite manic or obsessive enough about time signatures to be to be math rock, but they do share a similar sound to their compatriots Elephant Gym, who also played Slim’s a few months back. Rather than the jagged and acrobatic time signature changes of Elephant Gym, Sunset Rollercoaster’s switches are smooth and fluid and never interfere with the danceable beats the band lays down. Drummer Lo Tsun-Lung kept a steady and relaxed beat, and saxophonist Huang Hao-Ting easily moved between tenor and soprano, lending a mellow, Kenny G feel to the proceedings. With synthesizer fills by Wang Shao-Hsuan and a bit of throwback cowbell over a bed of bass and guitar, occasionally amped up by a lively guitar solo, the band created a pleasant and agreeable sound.
Mullet and Nautica, Sunset Rollercoaster, 2019
As with the other Taiwanese indie bands I’ve seen, Sunset Rollercoaster’s fashion choices reflected their laid-back aesthetic. Their nerdwear attire included flowery baggy button-down shirts, culottes and khakis. Leader Kuo had a particularly idiosyncratic two-toned mullet and another member sported a throwback red, white, and blue Nautica jacket and white athletic shoes.
The enthusiastic crowd recognized most of the band’s tunes, swaying to the beat and at times lustily singing along. During their last song, an upbeat rendition of their single track I Know You Know I Love You, vocalist Kuo busted out the falsetto and the crowd cheered happily. After ingesting Sunset Rollercoaster’s funky, dreamy bops everyone went home smiling and content.
Whispering Waves: Hush at Bottom of the Hill and Elephant Gym at Slim’s
hush, Bottom of the Hill, 2018
Because its huge and influential neighbor China regards Taiwan as a renegade province, the island nation effectively exists in diplomatic limbo. Taiwan therefore continues to use soft power to try to gain global support in its battle to maintain its sovereignty. The uptick in interest in Taiwanese food in the US is no accident, as evidenced by the recent feature spread on eater.com as well as the incursions of Taiwanese chains such as the upscale bakery 85 degrees. Like South Korea’s successful marketing of hallyu, or the Korean Wave, the government of Taiwan is also supporting these forms of creative and culinary diplomacy as Taiwan works to maintain support around the world in the face of continued reunification pressures from its massive neighbor across the strait.
As part of this, Taiwanese indie rock is starting to be a thing outside of Taiwan. South By Southwest’s lineup has for several years included Taiwan Beats, a showcase for Taiwanese bands playing at the influential rock festival. Notably, this program is sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, a sure sign of the government’s acknowledgement of the influence of pop culture in increasing Taiwan’s profile and sway internationally. The organization Taiwanese Waves has since 2016 organized a show in Central Park’s SummerStage program featuring a selection of Taiwanese indie bands. Taiwanese Waves has also arranged tours for some of these groups, and including a couple of shows here in San Francisco, with the singer hush last fall at Bottom of the Hill and math rock darlings Elephant Gym last month at Slims.
Fey, hush, Bottom of the Hill, 2018
hush (birth name Chen Jia-wei) falls squarely into the shoegazer genre, with introspective and somewhat cerebral songs that utilize a dreamy midtempo beat. But hush’s appealingly expressive vocals elevate the his sound beyond the emo. His sweet pure high notes showcased in his upper register and his somewhat fey stage persona made for an engaging performance. Hush was ably backed up by rocking combo of guitars, bass, and drums, with a bit of synthesizer and electronic drum pads thrown into the mix, demonstrating the vitality of Taiwan’s indie rock scene.
Math rock band Elephant Gym is a very different animal than Hush (sorrynotsorry) and their vibrant show at Slim’s captured their engaging stage persona. At first listen Elephant Gym may just seem like jazz fusion (polyrhythmic, unusual time signatures, mostly instrumental) but the ferocity of their live show demonstrated the differences between the genres. Elephant Gym puts on a great show and they definitely put the rock into math rock.
e gym from valerie soe on Vimeo.
Led by bassist KT “Tif” Chang, the trio also includes Tif’s brother Tell Chang and drummer Chia-Chin Tu. The Chang siblings’ mom trained them in classical music and the band has been active since 2012 (with a brief yearlong hiatus in 2014 to allow for compulsory military service), gaining popularity in indie rock circles in Taiwan and throughout Asia. Their US debut took place in 2017 at SummerStage in New York City and their performance at Slim’s was the final show of their first US tour, which also included a stopover at this year’s Taiwan Beats showcase at South by Southwest.
Muscular, Elephant Gym, Slim’s, 2019
Throughout their set at Slim’s they kept up a charming patter in fairly serviceable English, with Tif casually swigging what may have been beer and Tell rolling his eyes at his sister’s antics. But when they got into a groove they shook the house with their bass-driven, angular rock music, surging through several fluid and muscular polyrhythmic numbers. By the end of their set they had the audience cheering for more as Tif moved front and center, flailing wildly on her bass as the band charged through their nimble and energetic closing songs.
Elephant Gym sold out all of their shows on this US tour and hopefully their success portends more indie Taiwanese bands making the trek across the Pacific. Global recognition of Asian rock music is on the upsurge and it’s great to see Taiwan sending some of their best over to the States.
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