Erlend Oye seems to be on a mission to defy not only genre, but geography as well. The 39-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter is currently backed by an Icelandic reggae band (The Rainbows). He lives is Sicily and has lately begun writing songs in Italian, though for his latest album, Legao, which came out last October, the first release was a song with a Portuguese title, Garota (meaning “girl”), and the music video was shot in South Korea.
His musical trajectory has been just as erratic. Oye, pronounced “oh yay,” started out as an electric guitarist, and launched his first band, The Kings of Convenience, in London in the late 1990s. By the mid 2000s he was in Berlin, DJing and cultivating an electronic sound, notably hanging tight with Royksopp, a euro-dance duo of fellow Norwegians. At the same time, he formed a second band, The Whitest Boy Alive. The group, initially going for an electronic sound, it quickly settled into the light, coffee-shop friendly genre of indie-pop. Though that band officially called it quits last summer, Oye, who is sort of a dashing nerd on stage, has remained in indie-pop, now as a singer-songwriter leading his own band. His new album is full of soft, catchy tunes that sound like a highly talented musician who lives far from Brazil and is trying to remember what bossa nova sounds like. It’s music that has heard of the sunshine, but doesn’t know how to dance around in it. One can suppose that this is what they call reggae in Iceland.
Perhaps it’s no wonder that Oye’s music is popular locally, where indie rock crowds tend to be shy and almost never dance with confidence. Oye has been to Taiwan twice before, first in 2010 with The Kings of Convenience, then in 2011 with The Whitest Boy Alive. Both shows filled Legacy with several hundred fans, and both were produced by The Wall, which will host Oye’s next visit on Tuesday. This is Oye’s first Taiwan show performing under his own name.
Photo courtesy of SSIGHBORGGGG
■ Erlend Oye performs on Tuesday beginning at 8pm at The Wall, B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd, Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Tickets are NT$1,500 in advance through www.books.com.tw.
SSIGHBORGGGG
Seoul’s indie scene is in many ways a mirror image of Taipei’s, only a little bit bigger. It’s a mix of locals and expats creating alternative energy in the margins, and the trickle of K-bands touring through Taipei is steadily growing.
Photo courtesy of the Wall
On Sunday, Revolver will host a gig by Ssighborgggg, a high-energy math rock project of two Americans living in Seoul. Sean Maylone plays keyboards, guitars and other electronics, and DeAnthony Nelson plays drums. The music seems to draw from all sorts of alternative electronic genres, ranging from experimental rock of Battles and the abstract electronica of Aphex Twin to nerdcore hip hop beats. It’s purely instrumental and always a bit cerebral, but on occasion, it achieves a manic, danceable energy.
In Korea’s music scene, Maylone is known both for his band and as a promoter. Contacted by e-mail, he says that he and Nelson started Ssighborgggg first, then LA-based, Asian-American hip hop producer Nosaj Thing e-mailed them through their band page “and asked us if we could set up something together.” He then started promoting shows under the label SuperColorSuper.
SuperColorSuper has so far put together shows for Nosaj Thing, Caribou, Gold Panda, Zach Hill (of Deathgrips), No Age, Yacht, Xiu Xiu and others. Ssighborgggg played all of these as one of the warm-up bands.
Maylone says the group plays instrumental music, because, “there should be no ‘face’ or ‘meaning’ that a voice guides a listener within our music. We provide the songs, so listeners should go to their own places and meanings as they experience it.”
They’ve also managed to carve out a niche for themselves in Korea.
“In Seoul we’re between a few punk bands and some on the electronic side —- it’s a place we feel at home, which might sound really strange for two Americans. We have lots of bands we regularly play and drink with and some tight producer and press friends,” says Maylone.
However, he adds that “it’s not a place to blow up as a weirdo band. It’s uphill in the music scene for all non-K-pop bands. We’ve seen our music catch attention in more exotic lands faster.”
In short, it sounds a lot like Taiwan.
■ Ssighborgggg plays with local acts Kishikan (既視感), BHD and Constant & Change (康士坦的變化球) on Sunday from 7pm at Revolver, 1-2 Roosevelt Road, Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市中正區羅斯福路一段1-2號). Tickets are NT$400 at the door.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from