The appearance of Chozie at Shag and Luxy last week proved, regrettably, that there are few genuine star DJs on the Taipei dance music scene.
The Australian who now lives in China but was a fixture on the local news and in the downmarket rags two years ago because he "had one leg" (
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
At Shag on Thursday, Chozie played a house music set that lifted the spirits and forced the feet to dance. At Luxy he played breaks. As the DJ who came after Chozie tells it, "He's a hard act to follow." Not only is he a real showman -- flipping records, smiling for the camera, geeing up the audience -- he's technically sound, has a deep knowledge of music and practices hard. He takes the pulse of the crowd, always picks the right record, hits the spot and slides it in. They say it's like good sex. It is.
It's a shame to say, but Beijing and the US are two drains down which the talents of Taiwan disappear. Another DJ who I rated highly was J4, who is now in America.
As for the rest, well, Victor Cheng (Ricochet) is the most talented and the only local DJ with factor X, or star quality. But he's gay and plays his best sets at AXD. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the majority of hetero metros don't want to go there, even though the AXD sound system has been tweaked to near-perfection and the crowd is uninhibited and prepared to dance at the drop of a needle. Victor's supporting cast includes Jimmy (Taipei 101), Tiger and Eric Huang: all good DJs. If you don't believe it, check them out at the monthly Lady's Night tonight. One of the world's top trance DJs, Sasha will be turning up at AXD next Friday.
While in the realm of trance, DJ Joe Ho gets deserved respect and his Resident*001 debut album made its mark, but he needs to break out. DJ Edmund is known for his silky smooth skills and he has his disciples. When he's good, he's very good, but when he's not he's horrid. DJ @llen (tomorrow at Eden) has been in command of the decks in Taipei from the beginning and his contribution to the local dance scene was seminal. Currently, however, he's more influential because of his La Groove organization and a stable of DJs that includes Nina, Gravity, Dark, Da and Zeon.
As for Ministry of Sound and its resident DJs, they are all capable without shining that brightly. MoS is for the occasion rather than the music, unless it's got the big-name imports passing through. Damian is talented, but could do better. Buff is possibly the most versatile DJ in the country, but that does not make him the best.
SL and Saucey have made a name for themselves at Luxy and now at Eden with their Deep Inside sessions. My colleague said Saucey was the best DJ in town and the crafty Canadian says so on his fliers. SL has a nice touch. But both DJs are playing to the converted and would do well to introduce something new for me to rave about them.
Other DJs who have tickled my fancy include Chewie, Lim Qiong (
An Internet vote on a local Yahoo club a few months ago pretty much confirms the above, but adds Reason (deservedly) to the list. He's No. 1, with Victor and @llen following. It's not far off the mark, with the caveat Victor is the top of the pops now because he's got the length, the breadth and the rhythm to satisfy any dance music enthusiast.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless