Scientific Sound Asia presents Roots 6

Event Details

After an unforgettable run as a radio series on Scientific Sound Asia and five successful live editions, Bicycle Corporation and Scientific Sound Asia returned to HAKU Taipei for the sixth edition of Roots. The night continued the established focus on Afrobeat, Nu Disco, Disco and Disco Re-Edits, bringing the warm and groove-led character of the programme back onto a Taipei dancefloor.

By this point, Roots had become a recurring club concept with a clear musical identity rather than simply a one-off extension of a radio programme. Marco Mei and Murphy Kin remained at the centre of the format, giving each edition continuity while allowing the selections themselves to change from one event to the next.

The series had originally grown through Scientific Sound Asia Radio, where Bicycle Corporation used Roots to explore music outside the harder edges of House and Techno. Afrobeat, Disco, Nu Disco, Funk, Soul and re-edits gave the programme a warmer direction while retaining the rhythm and movement expected from a dance music show.

Moving the concept into HAKU Taipei allowed those ideas to develop in a physical club environment. Rather than selecting only for listeners following the broadcast, Marco Mei and Murphy Kin could respond directly to the room and shape the music around the dancers in front of them.

Italian DJ and producer Marco Mei returned for the sixth edition with more than three decades of international experience behind the decks. Based in Taipei, his career had taken him through clubs, festivals and underground music scenes across Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.

Marco is also one half of Bicycle Corporation alongside Italian producer Stefano Ugliano, also known as 6884. While the production project has moved through House, Techno and related electronic styles, Marco’s own DJ work reaches into Deep House, Disco House, Nu Disco, Tech House and a much broader collection of dance music.

That range remained especially useful within Roots because the event did not depend on a rigid peak-time formula. Marco could follow the relationships between Afro-influenced rhythms, Funk, Disco, modern House and contemporary reworks without forcing the music into isolated genre sections.

Disco remained one of the principal foundations of the series because of its influence on later club music. Basslines, percussion, strings, soulful vocals and extended arrangements created a language that subsequently fed directly into House and numerous forms of modern electronic production.

Nu Disco offered a contemporary route back into those influences. Modern producers could retain the warmth and musicality of classic Disco while adapting its structures and instrumentation for newer production methods and current club systems.

Disco Re-Edits added another important layer to the music policy by giving older recordings a different function inside modern DJ sets. Extended introductions, altered breaks and rearranged instrumental sections could make familiar material easier to mix while keeping the character of the original record intact.

Afrobeat broadened the rhythmic vocabulary of the night beyond the traditional American and European Disco lineage. Layered percussion, repeated grooves and live instrumentation allowed those selections to connect naturally with Funk, Disco and House while introducing a different musical foundation.

Marco’s experience as a selector allowed those relationships to emerge through the records themselves. A shared bassline, rhythm or instrumental feel could lead from one style into another without the dancefloor losing momentum.

Murphy Kin returned alongside Marco Mei and brought another wide-ranging musical background to the sixth edition. The Taipei-based DJ, curator and record-label figure had spent years working across House, Disco and independent club culture in the region.

Originally from Shanghai and later based in Taipei, Murphy became active through bars, clubs, parties and music-curation projects across both cities. His background made him well suited to an event where broad musical knowledge mattered more than strict attachment to one scene.

Murphy has also been known as DJ Lucy and became connected with Disco-focused events and music curation around the region. His wider interests have moved through House, Soul, Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, Rock and other styles, giving his sets a deliberately broad foundation.

Within Roots, those influences could be directed towards warmer club music built around rhythm, melody and groove. Older Disco could sit beside House, Afro-influenced material could move towards Funk, and contemporary re-edits could give familiar source material another place on the dancefloor.

The partnership between Marco and Murphy remained effective because they shared enough musical territory to create continuity without sounding identical. Disco and House provided common ground, while their individual record collections brought different influences into each stage of the night.

By the sixth edition, that partnership had become inseparable from the identity of Roots. Returning audiences could expect Marco Mei and Murphy Kin to lead the night, making their chemistry and selection style as important as the individual records being played.

The continuity also gave the series space to develop without relying on novelty or constantly changing headline artists. New records, different combinations and changing dancefloor responses could refresh the event while the central musical philosophy stayed intact.

HAKU Taipei remained the physical home for that development while Scientific Sound Asia Radio maintained the broadcast connection. The same concept could therefore exist as both a recurring club event in Taiwan and a programme reaching listeners elsewhere in Asia and internationally.

That relationship between radio and nightlife remained one of the most distinctive aspects of Roots. Listeners could encounter the programme remotely and then experience Marco Mei and Murphy Kin applying the same musical approach directly in front of a club audience.

For Bicycle Corporation, the series also gave more space to the influences sitting behind its House and electronic music output. Funk, Disco, Soul and Afrobeat could appear directly rather than only through the production techniques and rhythms they later helped inspire.

The sixth edition therefore did not need to reinvent the format established by the earlier events. Its development came from digging deeper into the same musical territory and finding different ways to connect Afrobeat, Nu Disco, Disco and re-edit culture.

Afrobeat remained particularly effective as a rhythmic bridge between several strands of the programme. Repeated instrumental phrases and layered percussion could lead naturally towards Funk and Disco while maintaining the physical drive needed for a club setting.

Disco continued to prove that older recordings did not need to be treated as museum pieces. Carefully selected tracks could still work powerfully on a contemporary dancefloor, particularly when placed beside newer productions drawing from the same musical vocabulary.

Nu Disco added another generation of interpretation by bringing classic influences into modern electronic production. Contemporary arrangements could work with Disco-derived basslines, strings, percussion and vocals without simply attempting to recreate the past.

Re-edits gave both DJs another practical way to connect those eras inside a continuous set. Older tracks could be restructured around longer mixes, stronger instrumental passages or extended grooves while preserving the musical elements that made the originals distinctive.

The continuing invitation to dress cool, dress sassy, dance and feel free captured the uncomplicated attitude behind the series. Roots was never intended to turn deep record collections or musical history into something overly serious.

The main purpose was still movement and enjoyment on the dancefloor. The historical connections between Afrobeat, Funk, Disco and House were present in the selections, but they were communicated through rhythm and groove rather than explanation.

Scientific Sound Asia continues to connect this period with its current events, radio station, DJ agency and music news sections. The Taipei editions of Roots document how the organisation extended a radio concept into a recurring physical event elsewhere in Asia while maintaining the same core artists and musical direction.

Marco Mei’s continuing relationship with Scientific Sound Asia provides a direct link between these HAKU nights and the platform today. His DJ agency profile documents the international career behind his long-running work with Bicycle Corporation, radio programming and club events.

Murphy Kin likewise remained an important recurring contributor rather than a guest attached only to one edition. His involvement strengthened the relationship between Taipei’s club community and the international audience following the Roots programme through Scientific Sound Asia.

By its sixth edition, Roots had developed into a firmly established meeting point between radio, club culture and the musical foundations behind modern dance music. Marco Mei and Murphy Kin returned to HAKU Taipei with Afrobeat, Nu Disco, Disco and Disco Re-Edits, keeping the focus on warm rhythms, deep collections and a dancefloor driven by groove.

Roots 6 therefore continued the simple principle that had carried the event through its first five editions. Dress cool, dress sassy, dance and feel free remained the invitation, while Marco Mei and Murphy Kin supplied the selections needed to keep the idea alive.