Listening notes

Before traveling to New Zealand to attend my friends’ wedding, I stalked their Instagrams and saw they were accumulating a solid vinyl collection. I wasn’t sure of the bride’s taste in music, but I knew the groom leaned heavily towards lo-fi indie rock (especially Flying Nun Records and the Dunedin Sound).

So a few months before the wedding, my partner and I spent an afternoon at a Datao Vinyl Record Store (大韜黑膠耳機專賣)—reportedly the largest vinyl store in Taiwan—listening to a bunch of local bands, and choosing the three albums that would make up our wedding gift.

For the bride and groom, and anyone else with a passing interest in lo-fi / indie / alt-rock, here are my listening notes:

The Great Bremen Show

Bremen Entertainment Inc.

Bremen Entertainment Inc. (布萊梅娛樂股份有限公司) comprises, according to the record store clerk, “a bunch of 20-year-olds from a cafe in Taipei”.

I’ve been unable to verify the cafe part—she gave me the Google Maps link but it had bad reviews so I didn’t visit—but online I did find some English-language intel about the band. An alt-rock collective, their three-guitar lineup pushes a psychedelic rock sound fused with absurdist narrative world-building.

The Great Bremen Show is their second album, written with the goal of creating a heavier sound and tighter compositions than their debut. It features exclusively English lyrics—not for any philosophical reason, but because vocalist Michael Wu felt less connected to the material when writing in Chinese.

As the second part of a “parallel universe trilogy”, The Great Bremen Show features an imagined Che Guevara-like figure as a castle-dwelling general who’s obsessed with cult movies and magical realism. His story involves a pursuit with a cowboy assassin, somehow culminating in the return of the castle’s princess.

The band members play themselves in the story, bringing music to this psychedelic world.

The opening track, Peace and Quiet (Bremen announcement) won Best Rock Song at Taiwan’s 2024 Golden Indie Music Awards.

The Great Bremen Show won Best Album.

Standing Here

Fire EX.

Fire EX (滅火器), a punk rock band from Kaohsiung, has long been a voice for social activism and Taiwanese identity.

Standing Here, released in 2009, is their second full-length album and a defining moment in the band’s evolution from underground punk outfit to voice of a generation. The title suggests a kind of defiance—not in the form of confrontation, but in the quiet power of presence. It’s about holding your ground, staying true, and refusing to be moved by forces that seek to erase or diminish you.

That sentiment would become central to the 2014 Sunflower Movement, when students and activists occupied Taiwan’s legislature to oppose the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA).

The agreement would have increased economic dependence on China and undermined Taiwan’s democratic oversight and sovereignty. Over 500,000 people protested against it, with up to 30,000 occupying the legislature and surrounding area at any one time.

The fifth track on Standing Here, called Good Night Formosa—notably sung in Taiwanese, not Mandarin—was widely played at the protests. (‘Formosa’ is an old Portuguese name for Taiwan.)

Consequently, student activists asked the band to write an original song for the moment. They quickly composed Island Sunrise—also sung in Taiwanese—which became the unofficial anthem of the Sunflower Movement.

In the midst of the protests, Fire EX famously played it live outside the legislature. Their performance was broadcast to protestors inside, and recordings quickly spread through social media. This cemented Fire EX’s legacy as the sound of the pro-democracy, pro-independence, pro-Taiwanese identity movement.

In the end, the scale and intensity of the protests meant the CSSTA was never ratified. At the 2016 elections, the ruling KMT (Chinese Nationalist) party lost the presidency.

Nine years later, they’re yet to reclaim it.

Bossa Nova

Sunset Rollercoaster

Sunset Rollercoaster (落日飛車) is a Taipei-based indie band inspired by The Velvet Underground. The name came from a 2009 photo booth picture of the band, which featured a rollercoaster at sunset in the background.

Bossa Nova, from 2011, is their first album. It blends blues rock, folk, and power pop, creating a laid-back jam-session atmosphere.

The opening track, Bomb of Love, introduces the album’s playful tone with a catchy rhythm and whimsical lyrics. No Man’s Land follows, offering a more introspective sound with its mellow guitar lines and reflective lyrics. Hogi Hogi LaLa Jo stands out with its experimental approach, featuring nonsensical lyrics and a quirky melody.

On Side B, Punk brings a raw energy to the album and showcases the band’s versatility, while A Little Piece of Sadness offers a brief melancholic interlude, highlighting the band’s emotional range. The album ends on a contemplative note with My Monday Throne.

Collectively, these tracks demonstrate Sunset Rollercoaster’s ability to navigate various moods and styles while maintaining a cohesive sound.

Despite Bossa Nova receiving widespread acclaim in Taiwan’s indie music scene, the band went on hiatus after its release. But they re-formed four years later, and have remained active through to 2025—releasing another four studio albums and winning five Golden Melody Awards.

Locally they’re known as Taiwan’s most romantic band. Drummer Zuo Long told the Boston Herald many fans have proposed at their shows:

“So people would bring their significant other to one of our concerts, and that would make them a better couple. We don’t know who it was that first called us ‘the most romantic band’, but we heard about it and liked it. At an ordinary level, we are seen as six very awkward boys, and being awkward is very romantic.”