Aristophanes

Taiwan Beats

8pm, Elysium

Despite the island nation’s compact geography and proximity to larger markets, Taiwan’s vibrant pop music scene resonates throughout Asia. Saturday’s showcase, sponsored by music website Taiwan Beats, samples a broad swath of it. Queen Suitcase won the grand prize at New Taipei City’s massive Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival in 2010. The quartet serves up a winning swirl of surf, psychedelia, girl-group vocalizing, and spaghetti Western-isms on their 2014 debut, The Carefree Hyperspace Band. Fellow Ho-Hai-Yan winners Trash deliver stylized alterna-rock laced with strategic blasts of raw power. Taipei trio April Red exquisitely combines sleek electronic and traditional Chinese musical influences. Ethereal vocalist Shao Shih provides the “it” factor. Spinning since age 15, DJ RayRay won Taiwan’s Red Bull Thre3style DJ competition in 2013. Aristophanes scales new hip-hop horizons with her breathy Mandarin flow and esoteric tracks. Her stock increased dramatically after collaborating with Grimes on “Scream” from last year’s acclaimed Art Angels.

This article appears in March 18 • 2016.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.