Snapped: KOR Taipei

Taipei is the kind of city where everyone at the table is holding their own bottle of champagne. The clubs are shiny and the clubgoers even more so. The city is sparkling and its nightlife attracts a well-heeled mix of well-to-do western-minded Taiwanese, affluent expatriates exploring Taiwan's flourishing economy and multinational business tourists that love to indulge in the island's no holds barred club culture. Naturally, these aren’t your typical fist pumping EDM folk but that’s about all that Taiwan has had to offer as far as clubbing goes, until now.

KOR in Taipei looks like it's about to change up the nightlife landscape in Taiwan's booming capital. It hasn’t even officially opened yet and already it's already been hitting capacity by about 11pm on weekends. Why? Because they play hip-hop. And funk. And soul. And r'n'b. And they play it on a custom designed shiny gold finished VOID Acoustics soundsystem that sounds sublime and looks like money.

KOR is part nightclub, part whiskey den, part cigar lounge, part cocktail bar and 100% free of EDM. There is no dance floor so it’s more of a lounge than a club - but it feels like a club making it a marvelous alternative for those who have matured from flashy clubs but still like the vibe. It’s a mega lounge if you must but without a hint of cheese like you often find in Asia and more with a dash of sophistication and glamour.

The space is impeccably designed, accented with black, white and gold finishings and a massive gold hued bar serving anything from Ace of Spades to libations made from rare liquors by some of the city’s most revered mixologists who guest bartend throughout the week.

On weekdays, only the space that surrounds the bar is open for a more toned down experience but on weekends a partition opens up to reveal stadium style VIP booths behind the DJ. The entire design comes from E-Tai Design Agency, the same company that co-designed OMNI and won it several awards.

Now let's get back to the soundsystem. The finishing is really chrome and the entire setup was researched and developed specifically for KOR by VOID Acoustics. It’s actually officially being branded as the VOID KROME and will be available for other venues around the world beginning only in 2017. There is over 30 loudspeakers in the main room alone, not including the balcony fills or VIP rooms. Five monitors, two Pioneer PLX-1000 turntables and two CDJ-2000s complement the setup. Needless to say, it's STUNNING to look at and is the bar's best accessory.

KOR is the brainchild of the LOOP and you know who they are because of clubs like Luxy and OMNI, years of events like Halloween Massive and during its almost double decade run they’ve hosted artists like deadmau5, Skrillex, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Armin Van Buuren, Tiësto, Steve Aoki, Calvin Harris, Zedd and the list goes on. And on.

So if you overindulge and fancy a dance you can always shuffle on over to OMNI, which shares an entrance with KOR. But we recommend you chill, enjoy the elegant establishment, stiff drinks and refreshing tunes, all of which are set to revolutionize the clubbing landscape in Taipei and beyond.

Follow KOR here for news on the grand opening in November. We can't imagine they have much to fix but we wish we were going again anyway.

Want to play there? KOR is looking for short and long term residents from all over Asia.