Hanna Hais
House music fans will want to catch this French DJ, who’s lauded for her good taste in beats and sultry voice. Hais, who was invited to Taiwan by the French Institute in Taipei, performs at the DJ stage tomorrow and Sunday.
www.myspace.com/hannahais
Lazy Habits
Hip-hop with big band soul and a British accent: Lazy Habits are from East London. You’ll even hear a little mariachi in the mix. This eight-piece group, armed with two deft MCs, a scratch DJ and a jazz band, is a sure-fire party waiting to happen.
www.myspace.com/lazyhabits
The Clippers (夾子電動大樂隊)
The Clippers were one of Taiwan’s most memorable bands during Spring Scream’s early days. Fans loved the dancing girls on stage and the group’s mix of rock, dated karaoke music and social satire. The band returns to Spring Scream with a few new members, but expect the same campy humor from lead singer and actor Xiao Ying (小應), who recently enjoyed a little stardom in the hit movie Cape No. 7 (海角七號).
obaigonn.pixnet.net/blog
Ciacia (何欣穗)
As one of the most talented singer-songwriters in Taiwan’s indie scene, not to mention a producer with a keen ear, Ciacia is always worth a listen.
www.myspace.com/ciacia.her
Matzka and Di Hot (馬斯卡和辣肉樂團)
This dreadlocked Paiwan (排灣) musician is guaranteed to please sun-soaked crowds with a unique blend of reggae, hard rock, soul and Aboriginal folk. Don’t be surprised to find yourself humming his catchiest song, Ma Do Va Do (像狗一樣), long after the show.
www.indievox.com/matzka
Daximen (大囍門)
This hip-hop outfit of three MCs raps in Mandarin and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) against a backdrop of funky beats and jazz riffs. Daximen’s sound and rhymes lean mainstream but stay clear of Mando-pop territory.
www.indievox.com/mrbrownchen
Celluloid (賽璐璐)
Another veteran band from Spring Scream’s early days, Celluoid plays blues and garage rock. The band might lack the style and sheen of younger groups on the underground circuit today, but it always delivers for audiences that simply want to rock out.
Elisa Lin (林依霖)
Elisa Lin is one to watch. This young folk rocker looks as if she’s already being groomed for Mando-pop stardom, but her original songwriting and soulful voice keep things real. She often performs with IO, a group of talented Chinese Canadian rockers that won ICRT’s Battle of the Bands last year.
www.myspace.com/elisa010
88 Balaz (八十八顆芭樂籽)
This four-piece band’s punk-inspired garage rock is a perfect match for Spring Scream’s “let loose” ethos. Lead singer Ah-Chang (阿強) probably won’t be stage-diving into the crowd on a bicycle like he did during his first time at the festival, but that same energy will be present.
balaz88.pixnet.net
Zenkwun (神棍樂團)
Plenty of bands experiment with traditional Chinese instruments, but Zenkwun uses them particularly well in its brand of pop-rock. Listeners will hear strains of nanguan (南北) and Hakka music in the sounds of the erhu (二胡) and suona horn (嗩吶) laced between electric guitar riffs and loud drums. And how can you not like a band whose lead singer named himself (Obiwan, 歐比王) after Obi Wan Kenobi?
www.indievox.com/obiwan1103
Milk
Festivalgoers who keep track of Spring Scream history will welcome the return of Milk, one of the most beloved and storied expat bands in Taiwan. The group is back after a hiatus of several years.
theroamads.blogspot.com/2007/07/tribute-to-great-taiwan-band-milk.html
The Money Shot Horns
The Money Shot Horns are a crowd pleaser. Their brand of funk, groovy soul and R ’n’ B appeals to many, thanks to charming lead singer Dooley Chandler. His magnetic stage presence and the talented musicians in the band form a lasso that pulls you onto the dance floor from the very first note.
www.myspace.com/themoneyshothorns
My Skin Against Your Skin
My Skin Against Your Skin has given Andrea Huang (黃盈誼) room to grow from her days as the head-thrashing lead singer of Rabbit Is Rich (兔子很有錢) into a performer with a wider repertoire. She still punks out, but now also delves into smoky blues-rock vocals reminiscent of another queen of disquietude, PJ Harvey.
www.myspace.com/myskinagainstyourskin
Go Chic
Go Chic takes chick power to the nth degree with irreverent but relevant lyrics written from the point of view of modern youth. Hilarious, dangerous and fun, the band takes the piss out of everyone from culture vultures to foreign men, and redefines the “Asian girl” stereotype in the process.
www.myspace.com/gochictheband
Dr Reniculous Lipz and the Scallyunz
With catchy, fun and wacky rhythms and lyrics and rhymes that tickle the brain, Dr Reniculous Lipz and the Scallyunz are a bit like Dr Seuss for grown-ups. Add a rocking live band (with bassist Molly Lin (林孟珊), who occasionally dresses as a nurse), and you have a treat for the eyes, ears and feet.
www.myspace.com/theskallyunz
Skaraoke
Skaraoke’s frontman Thomas Hu (胡世漢) is as engaging and professional as Money Shot’s Dooley Chandler, with the manners of a dapper gentleman and the style of a streetwise hepcat. The group’s big band sound is full of raging horns and toe-tapping beats that speak ska, reggae, rocksteady, swing and jazz. There’s even a bit of karaoke in the mix.
www.myspace.com/skaraoke
Collider
Collider has lost none of its dark, soul-wringing power, despite several lineup changes. Its newest member, bassist Thomas Squires, helps create an angst-ridden and beautifully torturous sound.
www.myspace.com/colliderrockband
New Hong Kong Hair City
New Hong Kong Hair City has set the bar for expat female talent with lead vocalist and keyboardist Danielle Sanger belting out and growling songs full of passion and vigor. Macgregor Wooley matches her intensity on vocals and saxophone.
www.myspace.com/newhongkonghaircitytw
Point 22 (.22)
Composed of a trio of “founding fathers” from the expat music scene, including festival co-founder Wade Davis, Point 22 (.22) is a rock band with songs that are either gut wrenchingly funny or so catchy that they stick in your head for days.
www.myspace.com/point22
Blood Orange
Blood Orange (血橙) is what would happen if you sent a bunch of punks back in time to the jazz age and told them to form a band. With chaotic, discordant melodies that smack into full stops then twist back around for more, it is an instrumental band that doesn’t need a vocalist — the music is the frontman. www.myspace.com/bloodorangetw
After The People’s Republic of China (PRC) published 22 new guidelines on June 21 that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) upgraded its travel advisory to the PRC and the Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau to level 3, or “orange” alert, meaning Taiwanese nationals shouldn’t visit unless “absolutely necessary.” Surveying commuters in Taipei’s bustling Main Station on Thursday, the Taipei Times found only 20 percent of people we spoke to had not heard that the travel alert had been raised to orange. Similarly, only
Over the past year, a peculiar phrase has begun to litter Asian women’s social media accounts: “Oxford study.” An Asian woman vlogging about her dating life — and particularly about dating white men — gets commenters reacting to her updates with the words “Oxford study.” A young Asian student showing off her prom dress with her white boyfriend sees “obligatory Oxford study comment” on her TikTok. “I can already hear the oxford study comments coming,” one Asian woman captions a video of her dancing with her white partner. The phrase “Oxford study” refers to just that: an academic study out of Oxford
In spite of the next local elections being over two years away, there is already considerable intrigue and jockeying for position by politicians and their supporters. The local press runs quite a bit of content, mostly speculative, on who will run in what races and what the outcomes might be. This is an overview for English language readers to get a taste of the state of play. Four races in particular are drawing a lot of heat, those of mayors of New Taipei City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung because in all four the incumbent mayors will be term-limited out. In
The local press is already running lots of content on the jostling and jockeying for power within the parties to be in position to emerge as the chosen candidates in the 2026 elections. In part one of this series we examined some of the strategies being pursued and considerations the parties faced, and examined the races in northern Taiwan. The races in the northern “big six” metropolises share a lot of similarities with each other, and the southern ones of Tainan and Kaohsiung also have commonalities. Taichung will comprise part three of this series, as it is a complicated race