Scientific Sound Asia presents ‘Roots’

Event Details

After an established run as a radio series on Scientific Sound Asia, Bicycle Corporation and Scientific Sound Asia brought Roots into a physical club setting for its first edition at HAKU Taipei. The night translated the programme’s focus on Afrobeat, Nu Disco, Disco and Disco Re-Edits into a late-night session built around warm rhythms, soulful selections and groove-led dance music.

The concept behind Roots was deliberately different from a conventional peak-time electronic music night. Rather than concentrating on harder House or Techno, the event returned to musical foundations shaped by Funk, Disco, Afro-influenced rhythms and the records that helped feed later generations of club music.

That approach reflected the identity of the Roots radio programme itself, which had developed as one of Bicycle Corporation’s regular shows on Scientific Sound Asia Radio. The series gave Marco Mei and his guests room to explore Disco, Funk, Soul, Afrobeat, Nu Disco and related music beyond the narrower boundaries of a conventional club set.

For the first live edition, HAKU Taipei provided the setting and connected the radio project directly with the city’s nightlife. Contemporary material from the venue confirms that Roots became associated with Marco Mei and Murphy Kin at HAKU, with later editions continuing the pairing and its Disco, House, Afro and Funk direction.

The line-up brought together Italian DJ and producer Marco Mei and Taipei-based selector Murphy Kin. Both had long histories of working across different areas of dance music, making them well suited to an event where musical knowledge and selection mattered more than staying inside one tightly defined genre.

Marco Mei had already spent more than three decades behind the decks by the period surrounding Roots. His career began in Italy’s underground electronic music scene before international bookings took him through clubs and events across Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.

He was also one half of Bicycle Corporation alongside producer Stefano Ugliano, better known as 6884. The project developed a substantial catalogue across House and Techno while Marco’s DJ work remained considerably broader, allowing Disco, Deep House, Nu Disco, Funk and Afro-influenced music to appear naturally within his sets.

That broader musical vocabulary was especially important to Roots. Marco could draw from Disco, Nu-Disco, House and related styles without forcing the night towards the harder electronic direction heard in some of Bicycle Corporation’s other programmes.

The project also allowed Marco to revisit the musical foundations behind contemporary club production. Funk basslines, live percussion, soulful vocals and older dance records could sit beside modern edits and reworks designed for present-day sound systems.

His long experience as a selector meant those records could be treated as active dancefloor material rather than historical artefacts. Roots was therefore less about nostalgia than about showing how older musical ideas continued to function inside contemporary clubs.

Murphy Kin brought a different but equally wide-ranging approach to the first edition. Also known as DJ Lucy, he had become active across Taipei and Shanghai through DJing, music curation and his Ting Ting Disco project.

His background also included work connected with the film industry, something Scientific Sound Asia later described as influencing the cinematic structure of his DJ sets. Rather than remaining at one tempo or building predictably towards a single peak, Murphy Kin could move gradually through contrasting moods and genres as though constructing scenes within a film.

His selections have included House, Hip Hop, Rock, Punk, Indie, Jazz, R&B, Disco and other styles depending on the room and occasion. That breadth made him particularly compatible with Roots, where the freedom to move between musical periods and traditions was part of the concept.

Murphy Kin also became closely associated with Ting Ting Disco, which organised parties in Taipei and Shanghai from 2015 onwards. The project later expanded into other Chinese cities and wider Asian touring, strengthening his connection with regional club and alternative nightlife culture.

Within Roots, however, his focus moved towards the warmer side of that collection. Disco, Soul, House and groove-led selections could sit alongside Afro-influenced material and contemporary re-edits without losing the fluidity that characterised his wider DJ style.

The combination of Marco Mei and Murphy Kin therefore gave the event two selectors capable of working beyond standard genre boundaries. Their shared interest in Disco and House provided a common centre, while individual tastes in Funk, Afrobeat, Soul, Nu Disco and other styles gave the night enough range to remain unpredictable.

Afrobeat was an important part of the musical framework because its rhythmic language has influenced Funk, Disco, House and numerous forms of modern club music. Bringing those records into the same programme as Disco Re-Edits highlighted those connections without needing to turn the event into a strict genre history lesson.

Nu Disco provided another bridge between past and present. Contemporary producers could borrow structures, instrumentation and vocal ideas from older Disco records while reshaping them for modern club systems and DJ sets.

Disco Re-Edits extended that idea even further by allowing selectors and producers to restructure older material for contemporary dancefloors. Longer intros, extended breaks, altered arrangements and stronger rhythmic sections gave familiar records new uses while retaining their original musical character.

That approach suited HAKU Taipei, where later promotional material continued to associate the venue with Roots and the combination of Disco, House, Afro and Funk. The continuation of the night suggests the first edition established a format strong enough to develop into a recurring club event rather than remaining a one-off extension of the radio programme.

The live event also strengthened the relationship between Scientific Sound Asia’s broadcasts and physical nightlife in different Asian cities. A programme transmitted internationally through the radio station could become a club night in Taipei while retaining the same artists and musical identity.

That connection reflected the wider role of Scientific Sound Asia as both a broadcaster and an events platform. Its current activity brings together radio, events, a regional DJ agency and music news covering underground music across Asia.

Roots also became one of several recurring Bicycle Corporation programmes associated with Scientific Sound Asia. The project continued to feature guest selectors from across Asia and beyond, with Murphy Kin returning to the radio series repeatedly in later years.

That continuing relationship between Marco Mei and Murphy Kin reinforced what worked about the original club pairing. Both could approach Disco and House from different directions while sharing enough musical ground to make the transition between selectors feel natural.

The event’s invitation to dress cool, dress sassy, dance and feel free captured the uncomplicated attitude behind the night. Roots was designed around good records and movement rather than rigid club etiquette or an overly serious presentation of underground music.

For Bicycle Corporation, bringing the programme into HAKU Taipei allowed a radio concept to become something experienced collectively on a dancefloor. For Scientific Sound Asia, it extended an existing broadcast relationship into another Asian city and documented the platform’s growing connection with Taipei’s independent music community.

The first Roots edition therefore established a live format centred on Marco Mei, Murphy Kin and the musical territory between Afrobeat, Disco, Nu Disco and contemporary edits. What had begun as a radio series became a Taipei club session where classic influences, modern production and two experienced selectors could meet without losing the easy-going spirit at the centre of the programme.