There are 14 Aboriginal Tribes in the island of Taiwan. They are constantly fighting to be seen, to be heard, and simply to be. All of the tribes used song and dance to tell stories, preserve family histories, so these people often have these amazing innate talents. Within, the Paiwan Tribe, there is this amazing group called Matzka. They infused reggae into their traditional tribal music and created an amazing sound using a lot of their mother tongue in the songs. To me, their pure love for music, for performance, for their people is amazing. (FYI: All the tribal languages including Taiwanese are ‘dead languages’ meaning they are not taught in school. The only way to preserve the language is by passing it down--and we AIRA sisters understand/speak one of them!) So not only is their sound new to Asian pop culture, it’s making a statement.



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Tags: Aboriginal Taiwanese Band, Matzka and Dehot, Paiwan Tribe

LP, Badlands, by Dirty Beaches

During a very late night dinner yesterday, where delirium and alcohol on empty stomach overtook hunger, we started talking about taxi stories, which led to a discussion on the film NIGHT ON EARTH by Jim Jarmusch. In my book, I believe it to be one of the first movies that led itself into creating this whole Indie Vignette movie genre that eventually became mainstream when Love Actually was widely received. But unlike Love Actually, Night on Earth has this dark, black, grimy humour coupled with emotions deep beyond the warm fuzzy stuff, that it rips your guts and heart out, all at the same time. Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re crying until tears start to impair your vision...and then it hurts, just enough for you to process. Black screen for 1/16th of a second and then a new story is happening in front of you, only to feel it all over again. Oh, and when it’s really good----by the end of the movie, you just FLOAT . Waiting for your head to process what was felt in your heart. WHOA. To me, that’s what it’s all about...whether it’s film, music, fashion, books, words, people, LIFE. Once there’s an attraction or spark of curiosity, the feeling becomes ingrained, and this whole energy, universe, balance thing reacts--either super strongly and loving...or an absolute shut down, shut off, black.

Dirty Beaches’ ( aka Alex Zhang Hungtai ) debut LP, Badlands, has this dark, creepy element to it that makes me think of a piece of weathered wood, drifting in the swamps, floating on black dirty waters with just rays of sunshine peaking through everyday. And to many, it parallels films with “stylized noir of David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, and Wong Kar Wai...squeezes the sounds of early rock’n’roll and 1950s music through a lo-fi, distortion-drenched filter.”~pitchfork

But hey, listen to it yourself and see what you feel, how you feel, and why you feel. I love it because it MAKES ME FEEL.

-k.

Tags: Dirty Beaches, Badlands, Rock

One of the most fascinating, beautiful productions we have seen in a long time. It tugs at you from the root of your heart. The People of the tribes, the Dong Ba culture, the Mountain Spirits, Nature, the Altitude, the Music...it hits you all at once. You know exactly why there are tears in your eyes.


Podcast

Tags: Impression LiJiang,