Any lyrics that roughly translate as “Every day I walk down the street/I sense that everyone is pretty horny” deserve some attention. And Taiwan’s Touming Magazine (透明雜誌) feature plenty such gems. As he does in catchy number Sexual Hell (性的地獄) (the source of this horny lyric), frontman Hung ‘Monkey’ Shen-hao’s (洪申豪) songwriting frequently pays tribute to teenage angst and sexual frustration, mixing these subjects into the band’s alt-rock sounds in a fun yet surprisingly blunt way.

The four-piece group – featuring Hung on vocals/guitar, Tang ‘Trix’ Shi-jie (唐世杰) on percussion, Chang ‘Vince’ Sheng-wen (張盛文) on guitar and Hsieh ‘Martin’ Ming-hong (薛名宏) on bass – formed in 2006 and have received respectable popularity both at home and in the Japanese scene.

The band credits old-school alternative-rock pioneers such as the Pixies, Weezer and Sonic Youth as inspirations, and while they say they’re still proudly upholding punk roots in what they perceive to be a dying scene in Taipei, they also seem comfortable venturing into a lighter, warmer sound – as evidenced in songs like the mellow September Classroom (九月教堂) – or even exploring an appreciation for Motown and hip-hop, as they did on their 2010 full-length debut, Our Soul Music.

They’ve just released their second EP, Touming Magazine Forever (which sports a cat on a bunk bed for a cover). And while the group of four are all hitting their late-20-somethings, we hope the EP title is a statement of intent: sexual hell forever.

Ami Jones 

Touming Magazine play Hang Out on Fri Aug 10. More info here.