Inside Taipei’s Techno Club – Korner

I went for a techno club night out in Taipei, to the club Korner (the Wall). No, I’m not using “techno” in the context of Top 40 EDM like Zedd & Martin Garrix. I’m talking about actual underground dance music. Yes, Taipei techno DOES exist!

I grew up in Taiwan listening to Taiwanese pop music and American pop artists like Britney Spears. After I left home at age 18, I slowly grew a deep appreciation for underground dance music. During my tenure in Europe, I stomped all over techno clubs in Berlin and Amsterdam, best cities in the world for the scene. Knowing the Taiwan I grew up in, I couldn’t fathom Taiwan having a techno scene.

In a country like Taiwan, locals’ preferred nightlife activity is visiting karaoke lounges. Clubbing is limited to Top-40 & Mainstream EDM clubs like Elektro, Myst, and Room 18, and even that is an activity that attracts mostly American-born Taiwanese kids and expats. I believed that there wasn’t even a techno club in Taipei.

That’s why when my friend YR, advised me of the Taipei techno club Korner, I was keen to check it out but skeptical at the same time. I didn’t dare go in with high expectations… what would it be like and what kind of people would be there?!

Korner, Taipei Techno Club
Korner, Taipei’s Techno Club

According to Korner’s Facebook page, it’s a “hidden club for open mind people”. They also periodically host men-only or women-only parties called “Adult Game Club”… based on the erotic event posters, I can only imagine they are “adult-level” parties. Definitely quite open-minded, even for Western standards! Just to be clear, I went to Korner on a regular co-ed, techno night.

Visiting Taipei’s only techno club was an unexpected and eye-opening experience for me. YR and I went on a rainy, cold Saturday night in January. Korner is in a basement inside of a commercial building in the Gong Guan area, away from the typical Xin-Yi nightlife area of Taipei. The entrance fee was $650NT (around $20 USD), which included one drink.

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First impressions of the club surprised me. It definitely had a Berlin-esque vibe – grungy, no frills, industrial, and full of smoke. If it weren’t for all the Asian faces in the crowd, I would have thought I was in Europe again! That said, Korner also had the highest concentration of non-Asian faces I’ve ever seen in Taiwan (Taiwan is one of the least touristy countries in East Asia).

In terms of music, Abdulla Rashim (Sweden) and Diskonnected (Taiwan) were spinning heavy techno all night long. You seldom find this kind of music in Asia.

No bottle service in this club, and no one was taking selfies!

Now, the crowd was a very interesting mix of characters. They roughly split in the camps of alternative Taiwanese techno kids, geeky looking Taiwanese kids, foreigners (likely English teachers or exchange students), and Taiwanese girls who love foreigners.

Some people I observed:

  1. The omnipresent white guys dancing with Taiwanese girls
  2. Europeans loving the techno
  3. Geeky looking skinny Taiwanese guys with t-shirt and glasses swaying to the music
  4. Edgy looking Taiwanese girls just dancing and losing themselves to the music
  5. Super drunk Taiwanese girl with a rising mini skirt (it was one of the coldest days ever in Taipei) chasing a poor Taiwanese guy around and grinding on him. He clearly did not want the attention and snuck away when the girl wasn’t looking.
  6. Three people carried out of the club throughout the night due to being drunk. Typical Taipei…

It’s always pretty interesting for me to observe people’s behavior clubbing in Europe vs. elsewhere. In Europe, people all dance a certain way and interact a certain way since techno is very much part of their culture and DNA. However, in Taipei the scene is very nascent underground. Due to that, people arrive at techno clubs without preconceived notions of how to act so you get a medley of all sorts of people. You don’t see your homogenous Berlin-style black-uniform-donning Berghain techno kids in Korner. Here, everything goes and I love that.

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One complaint I do have was the setup the club. The main room was long and narrow, and the back of the club didn’t have a good sound system. So, it was hard to squeeze to the front of the venue even though the club wasn’t packed, and in the back you can’t hear the sound that crisply.

There’s also a seating area that was kind of in a metallic cage, so that was kind of cool, giving off an industrial vibe. Apart from the main dance floor there’s another tiny room tucked away with a DJ spinning, but I didn’t spend much time there.

Techno clubbing in Taipei was awesome! I’d totally go back. I went with low expectations and ended up positively surprised. I’m noticing this as a trend for my partying experiences in Taiwan! Is Taiwan the next hotspot for electronic music in Asia? If you’re into techno, check out Korner on your next trip to Taiwan. It’ll give you a very interesting perspective on Taiwan’s techno microcosmos. Oh, and you’ll be in for some great music and a fun night too!


Techno heads traveling to Taipei, Taiwan must visit Korner! 👌

6 Replies to “Inside Taipei’s Techno Club – Korner”

  1. Interesting. Never know what you will find in different areas of the globe..

    1. Indeed!! There are great scenes and venues in the most unexpected places.

  2. Nice. I found out about the place when they booked Ben Klock. I’m gonna go visit when I’m there in Jan then.

    1. You should definitely check it out!

      On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 10:18 PM, Travel à la Tendelle wrote:

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  3. Thanks for your post! I am going to Taiwan next year and am a techno lover and always keen to check out other clubs while traveling aside from those with the usual top 40’s music. This post has been most helpful!

    PS maybe try Singapore’s The Council next time? 😀

    Cheers,
    Mel from Singapore

  4. There was a techno club The Edge on the corner of Roosevelt and Hoping Dong in the late 90’s. Basement down steps. Open most nights. Till 6am weekends. Saw Paul Oakenfold amongst others at the larger @live club on Hoping Xi, which had a techno night weekly. Carl Cox played but I didn’t go for reasons I can’t recall. KK super disco, way out east of the city had Japanese techno nights monthly too.
    There were occasional raves in the hills above Beitou, and at least one in Pingtung County too.
    It was a small but very enthusiastic scene. Plenty local DJ’s too. The only one I remember was Office Head. Cos of his cool name.
    Your description of the clientele sounds familiar though. They’ll be in their late forties or fifties now. Like me.

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