Alex Zhang Hungtai

Born in Taiwan, Alex Zhang Hungtai has, since the mid-2000s, developed a trajectory spanning post‑punk, no wave, ambient, noise and improvised forms, initially under the name Dirty Beaches. The solo project relied on spare songwriting, lo‑fi textures and a highly cinematic approach to sound. After several cassette releases and the albums Old Blood (2007), Horror (2008) and Night City (2010), Alex Zhang Hungtai broadened Dirty Beaches with Badlands (2011), then with the double album Drifters/Love Is the Devil (2013), where songs increasingly intersect with ambient, jazz and electronics. Stateless, released in 2014, marked a shift toward instrumental work and saxophone, before Dirty Beaches ended that same year. Under his own name and the alias Last Lizard he has since pursued a more open practice between piano, sound collage and improvisation, documented by Knave of Hearts (2016), Divine Weight (2018), Young Gods Run Free (2020) and Swimming Bird (2022). He has also developed a regular activity in film, composing music for August at Akiko’s (2018), I Was a Simple Man (2021) and Godland (2022).