By Sinead
On 1st November Taipei Music Center hosted the 16th Golden Indie Music Awards ceremony, handing out 22 gongs alongside live performances from previous winners, nominees and international acts.
Rapper Hsien Ching 陳嫺靜 was the star of the night, taking home gongs for Best New Artist, Best Alternative Album and Best Hip-Hop Song. She was beaten to the Best Hip-Hop Album award by her university senior someshiit’s 山姆, who also started his music career at the famed NCCU Afro Music Club (政大黑人音). Winning for his album “A Fool 愚公”, he capped off a medley of rap/hip-hop acts with a climactic performance of his single “Kinds of Kindness 善良是“.
Lilium 百合花 won both the Judging Panel Award and Best Album for their Taiwanese rock/funk record “Everything Will Go Wonderfully”, taking to the stage with Golden Music Award Siri Lee 李竺芯 to perform their title track. Elsewhere funk/jazz/r’n’b fusion quartet Robot Swing upgraded last year’s Best Live Performance award to Best Band this year, while ELLE SHIMADA was crowned Best Asian Creative Artist.
Highlights on the night included an opening set by GIMA favourites Sorry Youth 拍謝少年, a multi-lingual, multi-genre mash up from Taiwan’s The Chairs 椅子樂團 and Thai rapper AUTTA.
Check out the ceremony here, and the full list of winners below (bolded):
【Uncategorized Awards】
■ Best Album
《VAIVAIK》／Sauljaljui(Album Producer:Sauljaljui)
《Moon Phases》／Enno Cheng(Album Producer:Chunho)
《GOOD SOUND WITH ATTITUDES》／Trout Fresh(Album Producer:Trout Fresh、LuuX)
《People, Places, Things》／FunkyMo(Album Producer:Jerry Li)
《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium(Album Producer:Cheng Ko-chun、Hsiao He-Shuo )
《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))》／Hsien Ching(Album Producer:Jerry Li)
■ Best Band
FUTURE AFTER A SECOND／《Xenobones》
88balaz／《Legend of the Romantic Baseball Warriors》
Cat’s Bile／《Juicy》
Lilium／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》
Modern Cinema Master／《I See You》
Robot Swing／《IS IT ALIVE? (Live at Yuchen Cinema Studio)》
■ Best Singer-songwriter
LÜCY／《Dance on the Shoreline》
Sauljaljui／《VAIVAIK》
Enno Cheng／《Moon Phases》
FunkyMo／《People, Places, Things》
I-Shuo Lin／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》
YILE LIN／《True Colors》
■ Best New Artist
BRBP／《BRBP》
FTK／《5ENOM》
Tickle Tickle／《Taste of Life》
Hsien Ching／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》
SherryZ／《Time》
Dremedreman／《The chosen one of the village》
■ Best Instrumentalist
Minyen Hsieh ／《Punctum Visus》／Tenor&Soprano Saxophone
Kenny(CHUNG CHI,WANG)／《19%》／Drum
Sauljaljui／《VAIVAIK》／Yuequin(Moon Lute)、Percussion
Cheng Chun Wu／《Dual Legendary Rhythms – A New Worldview》／Percussion, World Hand Drums, Erhu, Synthesizer
Rich Huang／《Dual Legendary Rhythms – A New Worldview》／Drumset, Percussion
Tony Li／《Born to Lose》／Guitar
ZAOYUAN／《All On You》／Keyboard, Synth
Wei-nong Hung／《IS IT ALIVE? (Live at Yuchen Cinema Studio)》／Guitar
■ Best Live Performance
《【The End of the Second Tour】Tour Final Taipei THE WALL LIVEHOUSE》/88balaz
《《Leowangboat》－Southside53》/Leo Wang
《 punkhoo x 2024 FIREBALL Fest. 》/punkhoo
《The Dinosaur’s Skin I Dig You Movie Concert》/The Dinosaur’s Skin
《Modern Cinema Master Tour 2025》/Modern Cinema Master
■ Best Asian Creative Artist
《Brains in a Vat》／Fat Hamster and KANG New
《Dirty Mirror Selfie》／Jacqui
《3 AM Conversations》／Lomba Sihir
《Membangun & Menghancurkan》／.Feast
《LULLABY FOR THR RIVER IN MY BODY 》／ELLE SHIMADA
【Category Awards】
■ Best Rock Album
《19%》／BEYOND CURE
《Xenobones》／FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
《Legend of the Romantic Baseball Warriors》／88balaz
《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium
《I See You》／Modern Cinema Master
■ Best Rock Song
〈Something New〉／《Something》／Destroyers
〈The Worship of Mammon〉／《Alright, alright, alright》／Reversing Into Garage
〈Dead Talents Society – Movie《Dead Talents Society》English Theme Song〉／《Dead Talents Society (Original Soundtrack)》／Joanna Wang
〈disappoint〉／《Juicy》／Cat’s Bile
〈Everything Will Go Wonderfully〉／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium
〈I Hope Your Eyes Experience〉／《I See You》／Modern Cinema Master
■ Best Folk Album
《Parod》／Sapud Kacaw
《VAIVAIK》／Sauljaljui
《phian-lâm》／Ming-Yo Hsieh
《The Wind that Found Me》／Giyu Tjuljaviya
《On the road》／Naa’u
■ Best Folk Song
〈This is My World〉／《My Nova》／Kowen
〈Dipin Kari Tang (feat. Taiwu Ballads Troupe)〉／《VAIVAIK》／Sauljaljui
〈phian-lâm-hong〉／《phian-lâm》／Ming-Yo Hsieh
〈Child of the South Link (Home to Home)〉／《The Wind that Found Me》／Giyu Tjuljaviya
〈Heaven’s Reunion 〉／《Bitter-Sweet Playground》／CHIANG,MENG-HSUN
■ Best Hip-hop Album
《hái-kháu》／SAVAGE.M
《A FOOL》／someshiit
《GOOD SOUND WITH ATTITUDES》／Trout Fresh
《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》／Hsien Ching
《Oreintal Beauty》／DJDIDILONG
■ Best Hip-hop Song
〈Rule men Freestyle〉／《Rule men Freestyle》／YANG SHUYA
〈Knock’em off〉／《KNOWT!S》／KNOWTIS feat. someshiit
〈VacuumB (beat by Flowstrong)〉／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》／Hsien Ching
〈Monga Snake〉／《Oreintal Beauty》／DJDIDILONG
〈MY MESSAGE (feat. Shing02)〉／《MY MESSAGE (feat. Shing02)》／PUZZLEMAN
〈RLGL〉／《When It‘s All CED and Done》／CED
■ Best Electronica Album
《Elixir》／Wring Out Laura(Lin Yang Kuei)
《5ENOM》／FTK
《Nonlinear Random Vibration & Response》／KbN
《Regrow Protocol》／Oberka
■ Best Electronica Song
〈5ENOM〉／《5ENOM》／FTK
〈Hilarious〉／《Hypocrite》／B E N N
〈Moonlight Raving〉／《Moonlight》／Sonia Calico
〈BOUNCE〉／《Everything Sparks Joy》／AIKO TOMI
〈Wildbait〉／《Regrow Protocol》／Oberka
■ Best Jazz Album
《Punctum Visus》／Minyen Hsieh
《OR》／Tracy Yang
《Ctrl+Z》／Plutato
《The Sea, The Sky, The You and I》／Daniel Chen
■ Best Jazz Song
〈Tjelu kata Likuljaw〉／《Atavism》／Kuljelje Ljamcun feat. Sujong Park
〈Brda〉／《A Letter to Poland》／Yen-Ping Huang
〈Scene Taiwan Collection I. Sea of Clouds〉／《OR》／Tracy Yang
〈Palette〉／《Ctrl+Z》／Plutato
〈The Sea, The Sky, The You and I (feat. Li-Wei Cheng)〉／《The Sea, The Sky, The You and I》／Daniel Chen
■ Best R&B Album
《Heal Me Good》／Yufu
《Harvey Dent》／BRADD
《Time》／SherryZ
《can cancan cancancan》／Chen Yi Heng
■ Best R&B Song
〈Heal Me Good〉／《Heal Me Good》／Yufu
〈Wings and Dirt〉／《Wings and Dirt》／YELLOW
〈Praise〉／《Qrasun》／Kumu Basaw
〈Get a Little Higher〉／《Time》／SherryZ
〈New notes〉／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))》／Hsien Ching
■ Best Alternative Pop Album
《BRBP》／BRBP
《Dance on the Shoreline》／LÜCY
《Everything Sparks Joy》／AIKO TOMI
《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))》／Hsien Ching
《True Colors》／YILE LIN
■ Best Alternative Pop Song
〈Nothing ever stops me〉／《Dance on the Shoreline》／LÜCY
〈Ghost Swing〉／《Ghost Swing》／YELLOW
〈Lover’s Manual〉／《Harvey Dent》／BRADD
〈A Strange Smell〉／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium
〈New notes (prod. by ZAOYUAN)〉／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》／Hsien Ching
〈Pandemic〉／《shhh, it’s under my bed》／Andr
[Judging Panel’s Award]
Lilium /《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》
【Special Contribution Award】
■ Special Contribution Award
vacancy
