"This ain't no Planet of Sound!" ~ Frank Black, THE PIXIES
This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Taiwan indie music website Island of Sound and I'd really like to do something special around the world to celebrate. Possibly a tour in Japan or some event in NY, a party in Taipei? If anyone has any ideas, please contact me!
I got the idea for the project while living in Taiwan in 2004 as a way to show off a few of the great bands I saw. The name came about as a way of showing appreciation to a legendary indie band, namely the Pixies, and applying it to the various sounds you can find when living on the Island. Partially influenced by rock journalism, ethnomusicology and my own experiences as a student of anthropology, I originally started by documenting my personal experiences of seeing local Taiwanese indie bands first hand. The new Island of Sound will be more concise, trimmed down profiles with much less anecdotal material. You'll still get the sense that I was there (if indeed I were), but it won't run on. I also want it to be more of a directory type resource, so it will be useful to foreign visitors looking for places to check out and bands looking to play shows. However, the project is also historical in order to show the development of the indie scene since its beginnings, so there will be information on defunct bands, closed venues, failed record labels. This is mostly to show that these projects weren't in vain and that younger musicians have something home-grown to build on and not just the latest trend coming out of NY or London.
I've been working feverishly on the site for the past few weeks and I hope to have everything to my satisfaction within the next couple months! Of course the scene is ever expanding and there will always be new material to add, so I will start to accept contributions later this year. I will also offer space for advertising, but only for things related to Taiwan including tours, music sites, new releases, etc. Rates will be cheap! So keep checking back!
