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Music

Touring the talent in Taipei

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – It’s a little surprising to head down a small alley off a main street in Taipei, Taiwan to emerge in a bright, intimate record store and find Canadian artists like Broken Social Scene, The Stars and Kevin Drew front racked among discs by local artists and international alterna-stars.

But White Wabbit is not a typical record store. It’s the indie music epicenter of Taiwan’s local scene. And it’s head quarters to White Wabbit Records, a Taiwanese label affiliated with Canada’s Arts & Crafts and home to first rate Taipei band Aphasia, themselves released in Canada on Arts & Crafts.

I’m in Taiwan along with NXNE music fest programmer John Kastner on a talent search looking for bands to bring back for this summer’s festival in June.

And an investigation of Taiwan’s indie music scene would be incomplete without a White Wabbit/Aphasia hook up. Aphasia played Toronto last summer as part of Taiwanfest at Harbourfront Centre (see a video here) as well as Lee’s Palace and they’ve helped bring BSS to Taipei for local showcases and are a respected, connected act among this island’s active indie community.

Half way through our 10 days stay in Taiwan, we’ve seen 25 bands and among the inevitable duds have been some amazing and inventive performers. We’ve taken the bullet train up and down the island and seen some impressive bands along the way.

In addition to probing the Taiwan artists, we’ve tapped into an island-wide network of bloggers and indie music promoters who are all exploring ways to create a commercial and sustainable base for these decidedly off the radar acts.

Here’s a video reel of some of the highs and lows of our this Taiwan-trek.

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