Premiere: Sandy’s Trace ‘Beholden’

A new compilation on Tzusing’s Sea Cucumber label spotlights new Taiwanese experimental electronic music. Listen to ‘Beholden’ by Sandy’s Trace below. 

Comprising five tracks, ‘FINAL Taipei Compilation’ features music from local artists B E N N, jondu, Lujiachi, Meuko! Meuko!, and Sandy’s Trace, each of whom brings a flair for feverish, deconstructed beats, menacing bass and sizzling melodies. These tracks tear pages from EBM and technol textbooks, dipping them in sticky ink of noise, industrial music and even a little bit of melodic death metal. 

The compilation was curated as a collaboration between Taipei club FINAL’s founder Hsu Chieh (許傑) and Tzusing. FINAL has become a crucial outpost for the local underground music scene, with a policy of promoting new talent and encouraging experimentation. “I think FINAL can really put Taiwan on the map a bit more as far as making more cutting-edge electronic music,” said Tzusing of the venue. 

‘FINAL Taipei Compilation’ is described as a love letter to the city, and is dedicated to its young creative community and “their collective experience of a region’s national pain, restlessness, and purity”. 

Sandy’s Trace kicks the release into gear with ‘Beholden’, which erupts like a cyborg’s take on the melodic death metal style popularised in Gothenburg Sweden in the late ‘90s. Digital beats rumble with double-pedal brutality, while synths and distorted guitar samples glitch and snake around on another excitedly. It’s a jolt of raw adrenaline that perfectly sets the pace for the rest of the release. As Sandy’s Trace puts it: “In ‘Beholden’, waves of energy swell against an impenetrable ceiling. This track is meant to serve as a power object for its listeners.”

‘FINAL Taipei Compilation’ will be released on 17th March. Pre-order it here.