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.
The recent decline in average room rates is undoubtedly bad news for Taiwan’s hoteliers and homestay operators, but this downturn shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. According to statistics published by the Tourism Administration (TA) on March 3, the average cost of a one-night stay in a hotel last year was NT$2,960, down 1.17 percent compared to 2023. (At more than three quarters of Taiwan’s hotels, the average room rate is even lower, because high-end properties charging NT$10,000-plus skew the data.) Homestay guests paid an average of NT$2,405, a 4.15-percent drop year on year. The countrywide hotel occupancy rate fell from
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
In late December 1959, Taiwan dispatched a technical mission to the Republic of Vietnam. Comprising agriculturalists and fisheries experts, the team represented Taiwan’s foray into official development assistance (ODA), marking its transition from recipient to donor nation. For more than a decade prior — and indeed, far longer during Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule on the “mainland” — the Republic of China (ROC) had received ODA from the US, through agencies such as the International Cooperation Administration, a predecessor to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). More than a third of domestic investment came via such sources between 1951
For the past century, Changhua has existed in Taichung’s shadow. These days, Changhua City has a population of 223,000, compared to well over two million for the urban core of Taichung. For most of the 1684-1895 period, when Taiwan belonged to the Qing Empire, the position was reversed. Changhua County covered much of what’s now Taichung and even part of modern-day Miaoli County. This prominence is why the county seat has one of Taiwan’s most impressive Confucius temples (founded in 1726) and appeals strongly to history enthusiasts. This article looks at a trio of shrines in Changhua City that few sightseers visit.
RSS