Go Chic

News from Ridiculous Awesomeville: our favorite dance punk Taiwan trio Go Chic has taken their support slot relationship with Peaches to a whole new level. The legendary Canadian foulmouth, along with Belgian electronic producer Goose, will be mixing the ladies’ (and one gent’s) second album. The group announced it on their Facebook yesterday, and we expect further details to trickle out soon.

In the meantime, enjoy their first album I Am Confused! to see just why Peaches is invested. - MTV IGGY

Taiwanese electro punk band Go Chic performed at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Incheon, Korea this past weekend in a blur of neon skirts, animal print headbands, and, of course, trippy leggings. Armed with confrontational punk tracks that mock Western ex-pats, the three women (and that one guy in the back on drums) fit right in with the headbanging lineup at Pentaport. - MTV IGGY

Go Chic is intimidating. The three girl/one guy band from Taiwan write confrontational electro punk tracks with Peaches-style cajones.

Their lyrics diss, among many things, Americans who come to Taiwan and act all high and mighty. “You’re only here because you’re not cool in the United States,” they say. They’re gonna “teach you some manners.” “Watch your back, I’m gonna pull your hair,” they threaten.

Meeeow!

In other words, the latest racist Internet sensation Peter Coffin ought to stay away from Taipei for awhile.

The ladies came by SXSW for an electric performance of their tracks off I Am Confused! - MTV IGGY

The three ladies (and one dude) in Taipei, Taiwan’s Go Chic don’t seem to care about much besides making raw electro music and effing sh** up. They met and formed the band in 2007 while still in their teens. The members went to the same high school. The track “P.O.D,” off their 2010 debut album I Am Confused, is definitely a Le Tigre-style cold kiss-off addressed to ignorant ex-pat-type westerners hanging out in Asia. “You’re only here ‘cus you’re not cool in the United States,” spits foul-mouthed singer/yeller Ariel Zheng. Ouch! Well, someone had to say it.

The quartet’s disinterest translates into some passionately disaffected dance punk. The kind of thing that’s tailor made for partying until you sweat blood. Their mix of crunchy guitars, harsh synth, and 8-bit style freak-outs — combined with deliciously nasty lyrics — has drawn comparisons to Peaches and Le Tigre. It’s also gotten them on stage for dates with Peaches, Chicks on Speed, and a host of other notorious troublemakers. A lot of their songs about drugs and sex have that youthful nihilism that is actually more reminiscent of Brazil’s CSS than it is of Le Tigre. All that electrified attitude makes Go Chic one of the most well-loved bands in Taipei’s indie scene and continues to build an enthusiastic following abroad. If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll come and break stuff in your city soon. - MTV IGGY

"Go Chic! The one CD I bought, because a) they made it easy to buy and b) they were by far the best discovery we made at SXSW. I’m almost afraid to put it on, for fear that it won’t be as great as the show was. They’re from Taiwan and they have attitude The lead singer basically can’t not be joking and ironic with everything she says; fucking loved it. (Check out this interview for a taste.) Like I noted on Twitter, some times you go to see girl bands, and there’s a bunch of dudes that hang out right in front of the stage in order to be as creepy as fuck. They don’t dance, they don’t seem to care about the music, and sometimes they’ll even get a little pissed if the band actually defies their expectations and rocks out. (I saw this happen with at least two dudes at this show.) They want to see cute girls suck, so they can get a sexual thrill while also feeling superior. It’s something a lot of female musicians have to deal with.Go Chic kicked ass, causing everyone to dance and actually create space where women were able to start sharing the front space, which had previously been a wall of dude. They made fun of white dudes with Asian fetishes, dudes who just stand there and won’t dance at shows, people who try to impress them by speaking in Japanese to them, and people who get disappointed when they find out that the drummer is a dude instead of another cute girl. And they caused me to jump up and down for the first time in a long time, and the crowd rushed the stage after the show and snatched up their CDs."
- Pandagon.net

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/sxsw_day_4_this_ones_for_the_fans/ - Pandagon.net

Anyone heard of Go Chic?

I saw this 5-girl, Taiwanese disco-punk group at the Formoz Festival in Taipei, and was quite blown away.

They're like Japan's Perfume, but in another life, gone bad—kicked out of talent training school after getting caught smoking, or staying over at the boy friend's house, or sniffing thinner, they decide to form a punk band instead. In Taiwan. And they recruit two more girls.

All the heat and sweating might be what caused this murky fantasy to pop into my head, but they WERE all dressed in different-colored plastic cocktail dresses, outfits that Perfume might conceivably be seen in, and from far away from the stage where I stood, Go Chic's vocalist looked vaguely like Nocchi and the synth player like A-chan.

Except this Nocchi lowered her pink dress to reveal the black bra underneath, and danced that way for the rest of the show... OK, they have more in common with wild-girl vocalist Japanese punk groups like Limited Express or Midori, and I was a bit surprised to see something like that in Taiwan; while I know almost nothing about the music scene here, the groups I have seen up to now have mostly seemed earnest and understated, and not at all in-your-face like Midori. I also read here that another Taiwanese group, White Eyes, is the same sort of deal, and I was sad to find out that I missed them when they played earlier in the day...

Go Chic call themselves an electronica/hyphy/psychedic group, but there were also early punk, new wave, slow hard rock, funk and synth/disco sounds at the Formoz show. During the faster numbers the crowd in the front pogo-ed and slam-danced, while the Go Chic girls splashed beer on them and the black-bra vocalist kicked stage divers back into the pit... What would have the planners of Formoz's venue, a park with exhibits aimed at teaching kids Chinese and Confucian values, have thought if they'd seen this debaucherous spectacle on the premises??

***

P.S., I love how Go Chic say in their MySpace page: “BTW: it's go "sheeeeekkkkk" not chick, duh!” - Ken M

Go Chic, est un groupe très électrique et coloré basé à Taiwan , en tête de la scène électronique du pays. Spykee Fat, originaire également de Taiwan remix l’un de leur meilleur titre “Hard Date” avec succès. Mais ce n’est pas le seul deejays à reprendre les titres du quatuor qui allume les nuits hype de l’île, avec également ClaraBell, un jeune trio de nipon ou encore Applicants. L’électronique asiatique ne parvient hélas pas jusqu’à la France, alors que la scène local est riche en jeune talent qui aurait beaucoup de succès si elle venait faire un tour en Europe. - WATM Magazine

"Taiwan’s indie scene hasn’t seen this much fun from a “Girl-power” band in a long time. Go Chic’s I Am Confused! is an energetic electro-rock romp that sounds anything but confused. This debut album, from a Taipei group formed in 2007 by high school classmates Ariel Zheng (???), Sarah Wen (???) and Sonia Lai (???), is full of catchy beats, punk verve and a sassy, irreverent wit. Zheng, the band’s 22-year-old vocalist, sings about dancing, partying and boys — some of them cute, some of them repulsive. On the anthemic This is Go Chic, which celebrates “party party people” on the dance floor, she is both flirtatious and taunting: “You’re looking pretty fit/Doesn’t mean I’ll take your shit.” Beneath the disco revelry, Go Chic also sneaks in some commentary about pop culture and the influence of the West. Culture Supervisor, which has a line that inspired the album title, is about a “culture vulture” who is an “East-West mixture.” On P.O.D, Zheng rants about a self-righteous, sleazy foreigner in Taipei: “What’s your job, no wait let me guess, must be an English teacher/You go to clubs every night hitting on hot chicks ’cause damn you’re a player/Keep pimping pumping pompous loser I’ll teach you some manners.” Above all, though, these songs are designed to get your body moving — and they do. Go Chic are great at balancing synth-noise and guitar jams with catchy pop hooks on songs like Hard Date and 24hr Party Pooper. Clap It for the Heartbreakers is another anthemic dance tune and the perfect antidote for those tired of mindlessly stale nightclub music. Go Chic landed a performance slot at the South By Southwest Festival in the US earlier this year, and this party-on-a-disc testifies to their notable talent and confidence as a band." - Taipei Times

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Editorial Direction: Ann Chang
Creative Direction: Gavin Chen
Design Direction: Edi Kuo
Photography: Josh Chang
Stylist: Arvi Chuang
Makeup: Gavin Chen
Hair:Hacker Huang - S.Zine.com

Hailing from Tapai, Taiwan, Go Chic is an energetic electropop band whose great sense of personal enthusiasm compliments their music. The band's debut album titled I Am Confused was independently released in March 2010. Recently, Spinner spoke with Ariel Zheng about Bill Nye the Science Guy, SXSW, and her band's influences.

Describe your band's sound in your own words.

Asian porn. [laughs]

How did your band form?

We started our band in the spring 2007, all of us used go to the same high school in Taipei, and we thought it'd be pretty rad to form a kick-ass girl band.


What are your musical influences?

We started out listening to stuff like Primal Scream and the Stone Roses, but somehow ended up really liking the electro scene in Europe and the United States. Chicks on Speed has influenced us a lot in particular though, not just through their music, but mainly through the whole spirit of playing music and being crazy chicks for life!

How did you come up with your band name?

I wish we had an amazing story to tell you about how we came up with the name Go Chic, but there isn't. However, I do want to stress that it's "sheek," not "chick." Many people still think we're Go Chick or Go Sh*t.

What's your biggest vice?

Hmm, being an Asian. The worst thing I've ever done would be coming home after 10pm and getting locked outside the door by my mom. [laugh]

What's in your festival survival kit for SXSW?

We're a band of three girls, so I think with some glitter outfits and sexy lingerie walking on 6th Street, we'll do just fine.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Bill Nye the Science Guy from Disney Channel.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Celine Dion's "All By Myself."

Beatles or Stones?

Beatles! Chicks always dig those English boys!

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

We've never been on tour, hopefully we'll have the opportunity to do it soon. But we have seen some crazy stuff here in Taiwan, like a whole family of five people riding on one scooter. That's crazy for me, even as a Taiwanese!

Why do you create music?

We do it so if we make it big, we can get free access to festivals around the world and share backstage VIP rooms with our childhood fantasy artists!

How do your surroundings affect your writing process?

This is a great question for us as we come from Taiwan and grew up in a different environment from the West. The culture, language, and music scene here is very different. But given the factors, we have written some stuff about the conflict and confusion of being Asian, living in a world under the influence of a Western civilization. We tend to see things in a more refreshing perspective, I guess.

Do you prefer to be on the road touring or in the studio recording? Why?

The perfect scenario would be to spend months in the studio recording new awesome tunes, then getting ready to be on the road. The two are inseparable! Being on tour doesn't mean shit if you are not productive in the studio. You won't get much inspiration if you stay in the studio forever!

What are you looking forward to at SXSW?

We were so psyched when we saw that South Central was playing this year, as we are trying so hard to get them to come to Taipei to play. We love them! But now I just can't seem to find them anywhere in the lineup! So right now, we are looking forward to attending some mind-blowing dubstep showcases! Can't wait, can't wait! F*ck yeah! - Spinner

Grrrrrl Pow! Pow! Power!
Alita Rickards
Go Chic don’t just break the stereotypical innocent-little-girl mold that permeates Asian culture, they jump up and down on it in brightly colored sneakers and smash it to smithereens. The band has become more polished in the last two years since it began and it shows on this album as well as in their live performances, but they have not been overmastered to the point of losing their edge.
You enter the world of the “She” generation through the chaotic robotic intro track This is Go Chic, with it’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics that are more than a just a nod to pop culture; more of a full on head bang to it. “You bought me a shot, it was like a shot through the heart.” Whether or not lead singer Ariel Zheng (???) is always aware of the references is debatable, and irrelevant. Original lyrics like “If you wanna party with me, you gotta scream, shout, jump, and fuck with me” do more to show the ethos of the band: punk rock not in sound but in the I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude.
The second track, Acid Mstrd, makes reference to 1969 and has a trippy psychedelic melody with great back ground vocals by Zheng hypnotically accompanying the extended jamming on the track, and an excellent line “the world was waiting for him to change, but he said ‘ooooh, oooohhhh, ohhhhh’” The lyrics have more depth than previous efforts: “How do we liberate the souls of a young mind?” which echoes the sentiments of the 60s.
Culture Supervisor takes us right back to the future with its creeping synth and no bullshit message. Zheng raps out an attitude-ridden litany of advice for ‘culture vultures’ with their ‘bullshit lectures’ that just manages to avoid being strident.
More video game inspired synth work lead us into 2010 which starts off sounding more like 1980. Synthesizer and guitar player Sonia Lai (???) controls this song with the simple chanting vocals adding a high-speed spoken-word nuance. Half way through, when Zheng shifts into more smoky vocals, it enriches the song and brings to mind an electronic femme fatale singing an anthem to her generation.
24-hour Party Pooper starts off with some unnecessary video game nonsense that quickly leads into an addictive bass line which is unfortunately lost somewhat in the chaos of the song. The phrases “disco slut” and “cranky pants” showcase Zheng’s way with words but it’s Lai’s grinding guitar riffs and the winding spy-movie bass lines of Sarah Wen (???) that shine here. This is one song that would be good to hear live with a more extended instrumental jam version. The interlude that does occur makes me want to jump up and dance, though the fade out at the end is a shocker! It needs a punchy full stop to end that awesome bass, not a dwindling off that leaves me standing awkwardly in my living room as more video games start with the next track.
Is that Ms Pacman? Again the bleeps and buzzing seem excessive, especially when Zheng kicks in with some of the best pop-indie-electro singing on the album. Hard Date is incredibly catchy, bringing to mind a chick version of The Killers at the beginning. Is “Love will tear you apart” a nod to Joy Division or an original creation of Zheng’s own? Does it matter? Go Chic are the future and as she says repeatedly, they “are the reason to dance”. Another one that is guaranteed to get people up and moving, which very likely could become the top single off of the album.
The synth on Pod suits it perfectly, with the song as a whole seeming a bit like a dark Dr. Seuss story told by party girls, with a scathing indictment of foreign men here that has been a long time coming. "You’re fantasizing how you’re making Asian pussies wet/ You’re only here ‘cause you’re not cool in the United States/Well FYI you're also drooping in your shitty old pants.” A spoken piece in the middle puts a more serious slant on the song, which again suffers from an abrupt ending—just like a woman in bed, we want to finish! Don’t cut it off right before we get there. The lyrics and message more than make up for this technicality and may cause many to think it’s about time. In this song, Zheng joins the ranks of Kate Nash and Lily Allen by writing lyrics that tell the truth with no holds barred.
Track eight, Clap it for the Heartbreakers is alternately compelling and annoying. It’s a Go Chic classic, if you can call a song by a band that has only been together for two years a classic. In this album version the song gets catchier at about two minutes in than it has seemed in live versions in which Zheng fittingly uses a loudspeaker to chant the lyrics. Both the lyrics and beat have a lot of potential but it seems raw considering more recent efforts by the band.
Dance With Her is a good example of the more polished sound that the group has become capable of. Although it starts off more down tempo and groovy than most of the album, showcasing Zheng’s ability to sing rather than scream, chant, or shout, it still has a modern edge.
The final song on the album, We Are All Lovers and Runners is a great example of how far Go Chic has come in the last couple years. It risked the same chanting style of track eight but instead has become a fun, upbeat, hyper pop electro anthem for the band. Great drum rhythms from Winston Lee (???), uplifting guitar riffs, and a youthful, engaging melody capture the listener firmly in Go Chic’s sweaty embrace.
Alternating irreverent, in your face, shocking, hilarious, mischievous, sexy, and goofy, Go Chic is a grrrrl band with a post-feminist edge. Apologies to the male drummer, but it is what it is. They are so over inequality they are prepared to reap the benefits of being female without bothering to stoop so low as to use it to their advantage; it is quite simply irrelevant.
In Mandarin, you call a hot girl “la mei” or "spicy little sister," and a hot guy “ku ge” or cool big brother. It’s considered wrong to say “ku mei”, which says something about the limitations girls can be exposed to—and yet this is just what Go Chic’s girls are: Ku mei—cool little sisters. And as to whether or not that is wrong to say? I don’t think Go Chic would give a fuck.
A Woman Without Her Man is Nothing
Tom Leeming
"A woman without her man is nothing" goes the old adage. Depending on your punctuation, you can read that as you like. As a previously all-girl group but now with a drummer dude, Go Chic’s first album, I Am Confused, walks the line between punky pop and electro rock, but definitely leaning towards the manly. “I can not even bother explaining this to you” is the opening proclamation to track one, ironically explained however, as it is called This is Go Chic—a self-referential acknowledgement of a woman’s innate ability to say one thing and mean another.
The album is certainly in your face, with multiple layers of guitar, synth and a driving drum beat throughout with very little let up. Like only a woman can do, there is some serious multi-tasking going on, with tracks such as Culture Supervisor slipping from cool electro 8-Bit Nintendo effects straight into hard electro rock and some great hands going up and down the synthesizer, with a sense of foreboding on guitar leading out.
“We are different, we’re the same. All we do is play the game” spits Ariel Zheng in track three, 2010. A song about telling you all about this current generation but like any good band, much of what is different is actually the same, such as the guitar riff that is thrown in and repeated towards the middle, which sounds fabulously like The Stone Roses’ John Squires on Sally Cinnamon (or any other Roses track he played on while high on cocaine). It is broody in parts also, with big fat chorus and definitely maybe a nod to Rolling Stones in the last 40 seconds. For a track with constant claims of "We are…." the first line sums up this track about right, "We are young, we are fun."
A song about a 24 Hour Party Pooper at track four sounds somewhat distressing. In essence this would be a person who probably doesn’t like partying and shouldn’t be out; perhaps online gaming would be more up this person's street and he or she needs to really work on sociability skills. But to pro-actively go out and try to spoil a party, 24 hours of the day, seems excessive and not very cool. Perhaps this person was once a gamer, and is now trying to deal with real life in 3-D, but poorly, since at a supposedly happy occasion to meet and greet, a live music show is a perfect place to chit chat and dip in and out of conversation. When the terror of talking to someone who is not an avatar gets too much, one can simply focus on the band and look earnest. One even goes as far as to wonder what tactics are employed by a 24 hour party pooper. Telling everyone your mum just died, cry for help suicide attempts, …flamboyant moshing? After listening to this track several times I still have no real idea what it is about. But it is a pretty great track after 10 listens, if you like nonsensical, high BPM imperious lyrical annoyance, possibly about some twat standing in a party looking cool who you might fuck later. Top marks.
If you have ever heard that fucking horrendous, yet terribly catchy song that Pink did about doing ecstasy at a party and ‘getting it started’, and if you can remember her flow in it then welcome to track five, Hard Date. This is a much times stronger though with more punk. (Pinkier?) Zheng’s flow is remarkably similar and even the narrative arc has some resemblance to Miss Pink’s in that a party is entered and ranted about with someone at sometime ‘raping a song’. It has a tight dirty opening to get into (two thumbs up?), which is nice, and again like all the tracks before it the angst and subdued anger of the tune is dominant. ‘We are your reason to dance’ says Zheng over and over. This album is just ‘getting started’. Seriously though—question for Ariel—did you intend to wonderfully and skillfully parody Pink?
"Hey you mother fucking wanker with your super ego, going round and criticizing other people’s culture ... Oh my God I do not talk to biased bastards and dickheads" Like everyone’s favorite everyman Jerry Maguire in the movie of the same name, "you had me at … 'hey you mother fucking wanker'" This song, Pod, is brilliant and slags off all the American clowns over here "fantasizing how you’re making Asian pussies wet." A fair point indeed, glossing somewhat over the fact that a lot of Americans are actually doing something of that nature to the "open party girls" with or without lube. Concise? Yes. To the point? Yes. "You are only here because you’re not cool in the United States." There is also something of a funk bass lick thrown in here, if only a little bit. This song should marry defunct band Public Radio’s Manwhore which used to kill it at the same spots these girls are now treading the boards.
One of the more annoying posits from young Taiwanese students when asked is that ‘men are better at math, women are more patient.’ Well, this should be track 7 if the count be right and yep, patience is needed if you are hoping for something outside of the 120+ BPM, hard rocking, electro clash, fast and furious vocals with ‘eccentric’ overlaid synths. Clap It For The Heartbreakers does just that. Two more to go.
The next track, Dance With Her, Go Chic prepare a different dish. Using similar ingredients they have chilled out their sound a bit. Ariel sounds less pissed, not really bothered if anyone dances with her or not. A much poppier track but still a bit sad. Definitely a tune with atmosphere, helped out by the somber drumming and low-key guitar. Cool breakdown, too. Is that a Stone Roses sounding bass lick again? There is a definite whiff of Fool's Gold in here.
Last track, We Are All Lovers and Runners is another little belter. Vocals sound great at the beginning and like the Pink comment before this time they have a sniff of Uffie, the Queen of Slut Fem-rap, about them flow-wise, with some French in there too? Home of Uffie. Surely not another little ‘homage.’ Very diggable tune. And some happy guitar, too.
Getting into Go Chic was an easy enough treat to have. It is difficult to criticize a young band of the weaker sex getting things done with such attitude. Ironically, belittling chicks in this article has been a boring childish chore while enjoying listening to Ariel and the band wax lyrical about cumming, raping songs and destroying wanky Yankees. Occasionally it is tough to hear exactly what Ariel is yelling about and one or two of the tracks may be a touch similar. This could have been an issue had the album been a plus size 12, but at a slim 9 songs one supposes this is their groove and this is what they are showcasing. And it is a technical feat with many layers of sound to pick at with good headphones and some cracking lyrics. Alas, as an old man with a wooden heart and a dicky bladder, it would have been nice to hear what else Ariel and the band could do with a slower tempo arrangement and if the gnarly fuming voice was tempered a little. For an "all-girl band," Go Chic rock. And rock only. (Sorry drummer dude but we all know you are the heart of the band anyway even though they make you wear a wig). A very accomplished album.
A woman; without her, man is nothing. - Waakao.com