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The Vinyl Word

If you know this man, then he would like to say farewell tonight. PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTIST

Several years ago, when this column was christened, vinyl records were still the staple of DJs across the island, and across most of the world too. CD decks, such as Numark's CDN-22 have been around since the 1990s and in 1998, with input from DJs Jon Acquaviva and Richie Hawtin, the first incarnation of digital vinyl was released as Final Scratch, allowing a piece of vinyl to be used to control MP3s on a computer. But it took several years before the supremacy of vinyl was seriously challenged.

Coffey remembers lugging his crates of vinyl from his native Canada several years ago. "When I came to Taiwan, we were the only ones really playing records," he said. "Since then everybody has come to records and left again. It's time to move on."

Coffey leaves the island this weekend but won't be hauling boxes of wax to his new home in Nicaragua. Instead he's having it digitized to avoid excess luggage charges.

However, the complications of transporting records for traveling DJs are not the only reason why CD and digital vinyl replaced traditional turntablism on the island. "It's very difficult to get vinyl in Taipei," says Cookie, who buys her vinyl from UK- and US-based Web sites. "And with the CD equipment available now, you can sound just like you're playing vinyl."

Coffey has another explanation: "There were no record decks for sale anywhere in Kaohsiung, and it was almost that the whole vinyl thing was skipped. People had different priorities due to the way Taiwan had developed: people here weren't yet ready to appreciate technologies gone by, everything was about the new thing."

Hooker, while having a nostalgic twinge for the crackle and hiss of old-school disco discs, also complains that the limited choice of vinyl outlets in the capital means that many DJs are forced to use MP3s. But, he cautions, ripping something off the Internet is not the way to go. "I'd rather hear vinyl, but then I'd rather hear someone playing MP3s than playing crap music off vinyl. But if people are going to play MP3s, then they have to be high quality, or they lose everything when played through a big sound system."

And as DJs turn away from the often inferior sound quality of MP3s, vinyl is making something of a comeback. A-Dao runs Species Records in Taipei's Ximending district, and will be hosting an exhibition entitled Vinyl Renaissance at Eslite Bookstore on Dunhua South Road (see story on page 14). The exhibition finishes on Sunday with a big party.

As he looks back on five years of life on the island, Coffey agrees that the party should be paramount. "I haven't done it [deejayed] for the money, or for who has more wax or more CDs," he said. "I go out and do it every week because I love the music and the people that have supported us. That's what it's about."

Coffey's leaving bash is at Luxy tonight, which features the man himself and Saucey spinning the finest electro, dirty house and techno at Cut'n'Blo, the night Coffey co-founded a couple of years back with Hooker and Taichung's Declan, who is also to play. Entry is a snip at $299 before 11.30pm and $599 after, with two drinks.

At Plush, hip-hop fans can see MC Ethical alongside X-Executioners founding member and self-styled 'Ninja of Rap' Roc Raida. Reports than pan-green lawmakers will insist he plays on the island as DJ Taiwan Raida are unconfirmed as of press time.

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