This might be the wrong place to ask but I figure it’s worth a shot
On my recent visit to Taipei I was introduced to a number of popular nightclubs, bars, and lounges like Luxy, Room18, Barcode, and W (just “W”, if I recall correctly, a hotel with a bar on top and my favorite of the bunch). The clubs were quite mainstream with music that was not quite to my taste and a focus on getting wasted and picking up. That’s alright, of course, but it isn’t always what I’m looking for when I go out on a weekend.
What I’m keen to find is what you might call a more “underground” party… that’s a bit of a loaded word so I’ll try to describe what I mean. The focus is more on the music, not on picking up. The DJs actually know what they’re doing and aren’t on stage just to look pretty and get everyone to sing along to pop songs. People often focus more on dancing than preening and standing around. Sometimes there are art installations and interesting performance throughout the night. The focus is more on a quality experience instead of drinking until you fall over.
Where I’m from there is a fairly clear distinction between clubs like Luxy and the sort of party I’m talking about. Clubs like Luxy are always easy to find; they’re popular and tend to have an advertising budget. The more underground events are often a bit hush-hush, even word-of-mouth only, which is why I’m asking. Maybe someone here has an idea of what I’m talking about…
Thanks for the leads. I’ll take a closer look at some of those when I’m back in town. The bottle cap factory looks cool and I’ll be checking out Earthfest for sure.
After you’ve tried all the recommended places, and more, you’ll eventually realize that Taiwan is a small “country” town on the decline in music as well as everything else (except beef noodle soup, which can actually be had better other places, but don’t say that to anyone in Taiwan), and you’ll need to go way underground, and pop up in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore…New York, Paris (not as good as it used to be…), Ibiza, Miami, Berlin, Austin…
This is why, for the first time in my life, I occasionally sit home on a Sat night and forum post… but I’m outta here again next week for a few weeks of underground.
