#Andy Baker at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio

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Some chill music and a humorous MV from Robot Swing, the ‘Funk/R&B/Soul/Jazz Music Nerds’ fr. Taipei.  This single just came out 10 days ago. =D

"Robert the Robot" has a sad night at the bar. XD

Full a/v credits and English lyrics back at YT, but here are some of the music details:

Keys/Synth, Mixing Engineer: 鄭昭元 ZAOYUAN (aka 鄭昭元 Chao Cheng) Guitar & Vocoder (robotic voice): 洪惟農 Wei-nong Hung Bass: 林恩立 Dennis NZ Lin Drums: 簡聿民 FlyingPP (aka 簡聿民 ‘小民’ Jim Chien) Producer: 鄭昭元 ZAOYUAN, Robot Swing Music, Arrangement, Backing Vocals: Robot Swing Lyrics: 洪惟農 Wei-nong Hung 簡聿民 FlyingPP Recording Engineer: Andy Baker at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio

I think we posted one of the clips from this session last year, but here's another, Robot Swing at YuChen Cinema Studio, lots of tricky rhythm happening in this instrumental:

These guys like to have goofy fun, but they are really talented! (video credits on screen and back at YT) By the way, I don't see 'Black Puss' in their discography on Spotify, maybe it is an unreleased tune?

Links: YouTube,  Instagram,  StreetVoice,  Spotify.

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The Dinosaur's Skin 恐龍的皮 and Waa Wei 魏如萱 about to fly to NYC for the Taiwanese Waves event on Sunday at Summerstage in Central Park.

Dino Links: Instagram,  Spotify,  YouTube, StreetVoice

Waa Links: Instagram,  Spotify,  YouTube,  forgoodmusic YouTube,  添翼音樂 TEAM EAR MUSIC YT playlist,  weibo

CINEMAPHONIC Live Sessions just released their newest clip, The Dinosaur's Skin 恐龍的皮, recorded in March:

Vocal / Guitar: 暴龍 Trex (Skippy Lu 盧羿安 fr. Crispy 脆樂團) Vocal / Synth: 三角龍 Triceratops (Christine Ting fr. Crispy 脆樂團)

I think I have bass & drums identified, but no idea who is on gtr.? Bass: 松鼠嘎嘎 Squirrel (王育嘉) Guitar: 狗勾大刀 Doge Drums: R兔D兔 Rabbit (陳奕欣 Dee Chen fr. 百合花 Lilium and the Crispy full band)

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Newest session from CINEMAPHONIC at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio-- this is the band 非人物種 Inhuman =D

Indie guitar rock with a bit of reggae rhythm. Especially like the sound of the bass gtr in this, but it all sounds good. =)

鄭光顯 (阿顯)-Voc/Gtr, 楊智明-Gtr/Voc, 林建興 (弟阿)-gtr, 呂士傑 (撥屎)-Bass/Voc, 來宥丞-Drums

Links: Instagram, YouTube,  Spotify,  StreetVoice

Let's check out a MV from a couple of years ago, this is a rocker with a few tempo changes, off of their 2021 珍饈 album:

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Everything about this is fun -- the silly movie popcorn opening, the decorations, the outfits. Oh yeah, and it's a killer instrumental tune from Robot Swing performed live at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio for CINEMAPHONIC Live Sessions. =D

 鄭昭元 Chao Cheng-Keys (藍色窗簾 Blue Curtain), 洪惟農 Wei-nong Hung-Gtr, 林恩立 Dennis NZ Lin-Bass (藍色窗簾 Blue Curtain), 簡聿民 ‘小民’ Jim Chien-Drums (藍色窗簾 Blue Curtain)

藍色窗簾 Blue Curtain hasn't posted on fb in over a year, but on Instagram, they posted in January: "Hi! Our 2nd EP is on the way (才怪)"

Robot Links: YouTube,  Instagram,  StreetVoice,  Spotify

Let's have a listen to the last MV from Blue Curtain, posted in late 2018:

Written and Produced by: 鄭昭元 Arranged by 藍色窗簾 Blue Curtain Lead Voc: 周瑩慈 & 廖邦儒 Keys: 鄭昭元 Chao Cheng Guitars: 楊友豪 Jody Yang & 潘亮竹 Trumpet: 鄭立偉 Leeway (毛毛) Bass: 林恩立 Cello: 陳關文 Drums: 簡聿民 Chorus: 黃子瑋 & 廖邦儒

Full a/v credits and lyrics at YT

Links:  StreetVoice,  Instagram,  YouTube, 藍色窗簾 Spotify (there are other bands called Blue Curtain at Spotify, so it's good they went with their Mandarin name.)

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Lots of tasty playing in this one from the TPO Big Band 踢霹歐爵士大樂團 =D

Composer: 楊三郎 Arranger: 謝智揚 Featured Artist: 劉士瑜 Shih Yu Liu on the 中國笛 Chinese Bamboo Flute Woodwinds: 高杰 J Geddes - Alto Sax, Bass Clarinet 李哲安 Che An Li - Alto Sax 段承洋 Cloony - Tenor Sax, Flute 林秉宏 (阿強) Art Chang - Tenor Sax, Flute 譚文雅 Wenya Tan - Baritone Sax Horns: 丹尼 Danny Deysher Yannick Barman Solo Trumpet/Electronics 羅丹 Luo Dan 何政融 2MAO Trombones: 林庭揚 Brandon Lin 王翊丞 Yih Cheng Wang 賴奕如 Momo 王則旻 Che Min Wang (Bass Trombone) 陳健勛 Chris (Cimbasso) Piano: 傅麥特 Matthew Fullen Guitar: Ben Holt *Solo Vibraphone: 周嘉慧 ChiaHui Chou Double Bass: 林克安 Derrick Lin Drums: 詹無季 Baron Jan Percussion: 鄭嘉富 Cheng Chia Fu

Recorded by Andy Baker at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio. More a/v credits back at YT.

‘Created in May 2020, TPO is an international group of professional musicians that brings the spirit and sound of vintage American jazz into 21st century Taipei.’ Founded/directed by 高杰伊 Jim Geddes.

 Links:  TPO YouTube,  TPO Instagram

I think this is choral arrangement of the same 楊三郎 composition, with lyrics by 呂傳梓, arranged by 蔡昱姍, recorded in Austin, Texas back in 2013 by the 奧斯汀龍吟合唱團 (Austin Chinese Choir):

You mostly hear the similarity in that lovely opening/recurring melody.

Conductor: Chung-Hwa Chen Piano Accompanist: Eric Wei 魏嘉翔

Lyrics and English translation back at YT.

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Always a treat to see a high quality a/v live session.  滅火器 Fire EX. for Marshall 60 週年. (60th Anniversary) on Marshall 台灣 YT channel.  =D

Links:  FireBall Fest. 火球祭,  YouTube,  Spotify,  Instagram,  火氣音樂 FIRE ON MUSIC YT channel

Let’s hear some more -- This is I Mean Us ( by the way, 章羣 Chun Zhang (aka Zebrateens) wrote and sang this on the album, but new member OHAN is handling the duties here:

Links: Official,  I Mean Us YouTube,  Spotify,  Instagram,  SoundCloud, Bandcamp,  Albums, Merch, etc.

By the way, these were all done at 玉成戲院錄音室 Yuchen cinema recording studio, with Andy Baker at the helm.  Full credits for all clips on screen and at YT.

And this is 大象體操 Elephant Gym:

Links:  Official,  YouTube,  Bandcamp,  Spotify,  E. Gym Instagram

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New single from 椅子樂團 The Chairs

This tune has a sweet vocal melody, and a mellow arrangement. Kinda wish I could speak the language, so I could sing along.

Anyway, it's another standout tune from an excellent TW band! =D

This an audio-only clip, and the English translation is back at YT.

Links: StreetVoice, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify.

Taiwan Beats YouTube has a series called Spotlight On, featuring Taiwan bands. This is a short introduction to The Chairs from 2020:

And here is one song from a CINEMAPHONIC SESSION they recorded at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio earlier this year:

裘詠靖 YunJin Chiu-voc/gtr, 孫伯元 Benson Sun-bass/gtr, 陳仲穎 Zhong-Ying Chen-voc/gtr.

In addition to the 3 main members, they are joined by Liao Chuang Ting 廖莊廷on clarinet, and 小D Dee Chen on drums. Dee is support musician with a bunch of bands, and is a member of TryAngle Music band.

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雷擎 L8ching (Lei-ching) is a drummer, singer-songwriter, a founding member (and one of the lead singers) of the band *水源 Xueiyuan. =D

Music/Lyrics: 雷擎 L8ching

Produced/Arranged: 雷擎 L8ching & 劉俊成 Cheng

Female Vocal: EMMA (her soaring vocal towards the end of the track is incredible!)

Guitars: 劉俊成 Cheng & 威望 Wei Wong (fr. 二本貓 UrbanCat)

Synth: 劉俊成 Cheng

Bass: 逄捷 Pang Chieh

Vocal/Drums/Electronic Drums: 雷擎 L8ching

Trumpet/Electric Piano: Andrew Page

Prelude Piano: 黃鈺傑 Jack Huang

Prelude Drums: 潘維瀚 Pan Wei Han (fr. 二本貓 UrbanCat)

Backing Vocal: Easy Shen

* I know we've featured 水源 Xueiyuan before, but tumblr search is not working very well these days, so I can't give you a link. =/

Links: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, 水源 Xueiyuan YouTube, Instagram, Spotify

And this was recorded back in April, but it's the newest video from CINEMAPHONIC Live Sessions:

Vocal��Drums: 雷擎 L8ching

Female Vocal: EMMA (I would really appreciate it if someone could get me a link for her)

Guitar: 威望 Wei Wong

Bass: 逄捷 Pang Chieh

Synth: 劉俊成

Fender Rhodes: 黃煜傑

Percussion: 曾俊為

[fyeahcindie]

Huge sound for 倒車入庫 Reversing into Garage at Yuchen Cinema Studio! =D

No idea what they're singing about, but the title is classic: "昨夜墨西哥僵局Last Nite, a Mexican Standoff" XD

里鳳 Li-Fong Mayaw aka ‘Lyvon’-voc, Layne Cheng 鄭愷 aka 鄭力愷 Cheng Li-Kai aka ‘Kai’-gtr, Sadog Sato 陳融 aka ‘Rong’-gtr (SADOG), 廖育槿 Liao,Yu-Jin aka ‘Nikolai’-bass. Miao 喵 (陳銘修 Ming-Hsiu Chen-Drums

Links: Instagram, Spotify, StreetVoice, iNDIEVOX, YouTube, Black Market YT: 黑市音樂

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Misi Ke 柯泯薰 at 玉成戲院錄音室 Yu Chen Cinema Studio   =D

蘇玠亘 Chuck Su aka 蛋 Egg-Synth, 劉哲麟 Chelin Liu (aka Dawei Liu)-Guitar

The song is by Misi, arranged by the band.  Full credits on screen and back at YT. 

More from Misi Ke: a song that came out this summer, it’s a title theme for a drama episode, I think?  (網路劇《北京到莫斯科》插曲)

Written, arranged, and produced by 柯泯薰 misi Ke & Koffkoff (aka Joe Foo from Singapore. Koffkoff bandcamp)

Vocal: 柯泯薰 misi Ke & Koffkoff  (Full credits back at YT)

［ 好 消 息 速 爆 ］

Misi Ke 柯泯薰 及 Koffkoff 憑〈倒轉卡帶 Děngdài〉提名亞洲影藝創意獎 Asian Academy Creative Awards 最佳主題曲 (Best Theme Song or Title Theme)。更恭喜《#北京到莫斯科》劇組共入圍五項大獎，包括最佳男主角、最佳女主角、最佳戲劇類節目，以及最佳音效獎！恭喜 August Pictures，恭喜 黃河，恭喜 Jojo 吴俐璇！

StreetVoice 街聲 已熱騰騰上架這首歌了！大家聽起來！ https://streetvoice.com/weareallears/songs/596365/

〈#倒轉卡帶〉8.09 已全球數位發行 https://misike.lnk.to/Dengdai

[fyeahcindie]

Just saw this promo on the Taiwan Beats Twitter: another TW band adding dates around the US when they come over for sxsw2020!  =D

Let’s go back to 椅子樂團 The Chairs visit to 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio for a ‘Cinema Session’. 

From Andy Baker’s comment at YT: “When we were planning The Chairs live session, we all agreed to try something different. The idea to use the Leslie cabinet (Rotating speaker) on the vocal for one of the songs came up, and so that is what we did. We had a blast making music on this day, and when we finished spent a few more hours hanging out sharing music that has inspired us. Another day I won’t forget. Thank you The Chairs coming in for live session! And please share the video if you like!”

裘詠靖YunJin Chiu-voc/gtr, 孫伯元 Benson Sun-bass/gtr, 陳仲穎 Zhong-Ying Chen-voc/gtr.  They have their producer Eazie Huang 黃榮毅 on keys as well as 潘維瀚 Pan Wei Han on drums.  (Pan is in Urban Cat and Pink Noise, and he also plays live with Vast & Hazy)

Read much more about The Chairs in this interview over at Taiwan Beats. Conducted at the time of the Cinema Sessions performance, and translated to English by Wang Hsin-Chuan.

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Let’s check out YUFU & the Velvet Impressionism  =D

This is a side project involving brothers Yufu & Yuun Chen and Bebo from the band 鱷魚迷幻 Crocodelia.  Both bands play a psychedelic style, but YUFU & the Velvet Impressionism has a bluesier sound, and YUFU sings in a smooth, crooning style.  3 singles released in January are available at Bandcamp.

This is presented as mainly Yufu’s concept, but the members are listed:

陳郁夫 Chen Yufu ‘YUFU’-Gtr/Voc, 陳郁允 Chen Yuun ‘Frog’-Bass, , 莊泰瑋 ‘Tootle’-Drums (fr. 薛丁格的貓), 鄒秉成 ‘Bebo’-Keys, 鄧亦峻 Yichun Teng-Trombone (fr. 瑪莉咬凱利 Mary Bites Kerry), Che-An Li (李哲安)-Saxophone, and *Fumie C Kikuchi-B. Vocal/Koto.

*Fumie is in the Tokyo female tribal-psych trio KUUNATIC. They did a split ep with Crocodelia in 2018, and have played a bunch of times in Taiwan. I think Fumie has a semi-regular deejay gig in Taipei.

By the way, Crocodelia plan to go into the studio in April to record an album.  We have featured them at least once before, a live rocker from the Cinema Sessions series.  And you can hear their previous releases at CROCODELIA YouTube.   

More YUFU links: YouTube, Instagram, Bandcamp, StreetVoice, SoundCloud

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Let’s check out 水源 Xueiyuan  =D

Chill Rock/R&B with 3 lead singers, and as you can see below, some are members of other bands:  

簡岳虹-Gtr, 余昊益-Gtr/Synth/Voc (Macbeth 馬克白), 雷擎-Drums/Voc (Wake Up！Explosion 威愷爆炸), 羅輯-Perc., 陳威愷 (Wei-Kai Chen)-Keys (Wake Up！Explosion 威愷爆炸), 簡維甫-Bass/Voc (Macbeth 馬克白). 

More links: Instagram,  YouTube,  StreetVoice

They are the newest featured Cinema Session by YuChen Studio:

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A soothing way to end September and prepare for fall: Cicada（Taiwan）at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio!   =D

江致潔 Jesy Chiang-piano, Yang Tao 楊桃 (楊庭禎 Yang Ting Chen)-cello, 謝維倫 Hsieh Wei Lun-guitar, Andy He (Hsu Kang Kai)-violin.  A couple of these names are different in the listing on the video (@4:19) so I’ll include both.

Message in the info section at YouTube:

Cicada! The last of 12 bands to perform on Cinema Sessions. First with no vocal, drums or electric guitar. A refreshing finale to a year long project. We had a listen to their music backwards and thought it also sounded beautiful and decided to make it our intro music. Hope you enjoy, and remember Sharing is Caring! (Although Cicada was the last band to record but Cinema Session is not over yet! Prepare for the next artist to come!)  

Cicada是CINEMA SESSIONS這季總共12組名單的最後一組 也是第一組沒有人聲主唱、爵士鼓和電吉他的編制 對這次長達一年的計畫，是個耳目一新的結局 聽了他們的錄音倒放之後，我們覺得意外的美 因此決定將它作為片頭配樂 希望你們希望，別忘了分享是美德！ （雖然Cicada是最後一組錄製，但並非最後一組播出，請一起期待下一組到來！）

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蔡昀熹 Xico ft. Myller 葉米楽  

Lyrics: XICO / Moonrize 夢離子. Music: XICO / Myller

Arranger/Producer: XICO. Recording Engineer: Troy Lin 林昀駿 (ex-微光群島 Shimmering Islands/Sugar Plum Ferry)

Mixing by 黃文萱 Ziya Huang. Mastered by Mike Marsh @ The Exchange Mastering Studio

The Neon City MV came out in late April, and the reason I picked up on it is because YuChen Studio posted their newest ‘Cinema Session’ clip today, with a less electronic arrangement played by Xico (Voc/Piano), Myller (Vocal), Dizparity (Synth), 劉哲麟 Chelin ‘Dawei’ Liu (Guitar) (Little Shy on Allen Street 擊沈女孩 DESTROYERS), and 許沐恩 Samuel Hsu (Drums).  A lovely marriage of electro & ‘real’ instruments, recorded during a March 31st session:

Full a/v credits for both videos back at YT.  

I mention the mixing engineer 黃文萱 Ziya Huang on Neon City because he posted about another recent project he worked on, a song by 余佩真JenJen. It’s pretty darn cool, so let’s have a listen! (p.s. this MV is slightly disturbing, I’m not sure if the plot has anything to do with the lyrics?) 

余佩真 Jen Jen 昏你 The Wedding feat. a very deep guest vocal by 乱彈阿翔  Luantan Ascent:  (full credits at YT)

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I was looking forward to this -- the English translation of their interview from the 13月終了 Undecimber Fin. at 玉成戲院錄音室 YuChen Cinema Studio. The Cinema Session was shot this spring, the behind the scenes interview (down below) posted in early September, and the translation posted today by Taiwan Beats.  I really appreciate this chance to get to know one of my favorite TW bands!   =D

By the way, you can follow Taiwan Beats on twitter for there latest features and TW music promos.

Adlian Chou (周莉婷)-keys/composer, 劉曜瑄 Xuan Yap Liu (aka 藥仙 Andy Liu)-gtr, 林克 (Link Lin)-gtr (Shimmer Riot), 無品 Pin Wu-bass, 康雅婷 (Hyman Kang)-voc (most lyrics), and drummer-米普 Mipo (Andy’s younger brother).

Besides the translated interview, the Taiwan Beats link at the top of the page has both Cinema Sessions songs, as well as photos.