BORDER CROSSING: Taiwan indies in Tokyo

While The Wall was hosting a plethora of foreign bands in Taiwan, a couple notables from the Taiwan indie scene visited Japan for a couple shows. Unfortunately, I'm always the last person to hear about these things and I missed them.

First up, post-rock/slowcore group Sugar Plum Ferry played at a free Nike sponsored event. Yeah, kinda strange, but you can check up on it at this website:

http://blog.clubberia.com/party/116728



Interesting to note, they were on the bill with Hisham Akira Bharoocha a.k.a Soft Circle and formerly of Black Dice. On this page there is a link to an interview with him on my friends' NYC-based webzine PetiteMort.org which can be read here:

http://www.petitemort.org/issue03/29_bharoocha/index.shtml

The second Taiwanese band to come play in Tokyo last month was the mod-style folk pop groove group Won Fu. This is one of Taiwan's most successful indie groups and one of my favorites. Promoting their new release in Japan, Won Fu played three shows in Tokyo at Club 251, Club Quattro and Shinjuku Marble as well as a spot on the NHK Radio program Asia Pops Sounds. you can read up on Won Fu's adventures in Tokyo on the On the One indie music blog:

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ontheone/20080226

Hopefully, next time some Taiwanese indie bands come to Japan, I'll know about it beforehand.