Monthly Archives: July 2009

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Music Rainbow Arabia

by Shop Keeper
July 27, 2009 - 6:38 pm

Rainbow Arabia Album Cover Kabukimono

Quickly following up their acclaimed debut “The Basta” the LA duo announces their next offering due July 28th, “Kabukimono”. More varied in color and tone, Kabukimono finds the group expanding on the template laid down with their debut “The Basta” equally inspired by Sublime Frequencies comps, Factory Records, Congotronics adding many new tropical, african, eastern flourishes to their latest material. Produced by Pit Er Pat’s Butchy Fuego the 7 track mini-album features 5 new recordings and two remixes from Brenmar (Bill Salas from These Are Powers) and the future bass, electro-crunked out stylings of SF’s Ghosts On Tape. Kabukimono opens with a tune brighter than anything they’ve previously done, the sunny tribal pop of “Holiday In Congo” immediately shows a departure from the darker Basta EP. The next song, “Haunted Hall” slips back into familiar territory with a sinister, snaking dancehall jam. The driving title track, “Kabukimono” touches upon their new wave influences and the tropical “Harlem Sunrise” throws listeners a pleasantly surprising curveball with the steel drums and Caribbean rhythms. “I Know I Love I See I Go” which appeared on The Basta is completely redone with new instrumentation and vocals into something slinkier and more hypnotising. Rainbow Arabia will be on the road in the US late summer/early fall, where they will be sure to leave every space and concert hall dosed with their infectious dance beats.

Rainbow Arabia – Haunted Hall

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K Remix Ghosts on Tape

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K Max Justus Remix

Bars/Clubs The Longhorn

by Dustin Downing
July 27, 2009 - 12:36 pm

longhorn-1910-large

As a practicing drunkard, I have derived my own bar rider of sorts. It proclaims that I shalt only choose establishments which have cheap drinks, a place for which I can shake that ass, and copious amounts of people to watch me make an ass of myself due to the latter. And I must say Longhorn Saloon in the Stockyards of Ft.Worth, TX; reads good.

The Longhorn Read the full story →

Art/Design Gallery Scary Beasts at Copro Nason Gallery

by Zoetica Ebb
July 27, 2009 - 11:14 am

On July 11th, Copro Nason gallery hosted the opening reception of Monster? – a group exhibit curated by creature painter extraordinaire Travis Louie. The chief premise of this show is to give production design professionals a chance to show off their skills in a fine art environment. Ghouly beauties, scary beasties and several cephalopods greeted visitors from the walls of the fashionable alternative art gallery. Come to think of it, sexy beasts were to be seen on the walls as well as out on the floor in equal parts – among them flame-haired LA sweetheart  Lenora Claire and Doctor Sketchy’s creator Molly Crabapple, who had a piece in the exhibit.

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Event Real Rubber Monster Smackdown

by Chris Gore and Dustin Downing
July 27, 2009 - 11:01 am

Kaiju Big Battel

Punches will be thrown.  Kicks will connect. Backs will be smacked. It’s tense before the bout. And stepping into the ring wearing a rubber monster suit does not make it any easier.  At Kaiju Big Battel (SIC)… there will be blood.  It’s more than wrestling in monster costumes since the smackdown doesn’t just destroy the opponent, this match decimates a tiny model city built for destruction.

Kaiju Big Battel, an unofficial Comic Con event (open to the public of all ages), attracted crowds ready to witness live creature throwdowns inspired by old Japanese monster movies and TV shows.  What might surprise you most about Tokyo-flavored wrestling match is that it is not a Japanese invention at all, in fact, it came from Boston, Massachussets.  The ringmaster and creator of the live events and video series is the Boston-bred Randy Borden.  He created the original event as performance art as a student.  Randy describes its Japanese influence as, “…the cultural feedback loop. Japan takes American things and turns them into Japanese and we take them and turn them back.  We go back and forth with things.” In a way, it’s like pop culture eating itself, vomiting and then… well, you get it.

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Film The Real King of Cartoons

by Chris Gore
July 27, 2009 - 11:01 am

Spike

“I’m an anti-social outcast character. I’m also an anti-family values guy and I was tired of all the kiddie cartoons,” says the legendary Spike of Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation. “My hero is Lenny Bruce and I’m put off by the hypocrisy of our society such as getting upset about nipples.  Babies suck on those.”

The secret origin of Spike and his mini animation empire is not quite as dramatic as, say, being bitten by a radioactive Bugs Bunny, the beginnings of the fest grew out of boredom. “We put on the festival since there really wasn’t anything to do in Riverside,” Spike says. “The difference between yogurt and Riverside is that yogurt has an active culture.  So we did these shows at the schools and it grew from there.”

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Event Suicide Girls and Comic Con

by Bob Suicide
July 27, 2009 - 11:00 am

Suicide Girls

Normally you wouldn’t think the words nerd and model go together, but The Suicide Girls and Comic Con go hand in hand. This is my second year at Comic Con with SG and I can only say that it’s getting better and better every year.

Last year, we had one booth. We were small, but we were mighty: posing for pictures, signing books, and selling memberships.

This year we’ve grown; now we’ve got two booths—one right across from the DC booth. (Location, location, location!) Even better, Suicidegirls.com had a contest for members (http://suicidegirls.com/boards/Everything+SG/303083/) allowing them to pick costume themes for us to dress up in at the booths each day. Ultimately, we dressed up as Tank Girl, Lost Darmites (in ACTUAL Dharma jumpsuits from the show), and Uhura . Rivaling booth babes at their respective booths, our costumes were pretty epic.

Suicide Girls

There are two misconceptions that I hear on the street and read in forums all the time. That should be dispelled. I think they’ll give you some insight in to the world that is “The Suicide Girls.”

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Music Adultnapper Ransom Notes

by Neil Feineman
July 26, 2009 - 10:43 am

Adultnapper

If there were an award for best pseudonym, Adultnapper, a.k.a. Francis Harris would win in an instant. One of electronic music’s most important artists, this Brooklyn based producer and DJ comes to the scene after stints in grad school (philosophy) and hardcore punk bands. An avid reader of serious literature, he talks faster than he spins and makes you feel smarter just by being part of the conversation.

To prove the point, we begin with the sorry state of the book publishing business:
“Literature is determined by a few publications that tell everyone what is cool and what isn’t. I think Roberto Bolano [late author of 2666, which won the National Book Award this year] is a total poseur but these publications told everyone he was cool and that was it. It’s the dominance of a certain perspective, and it’s happening everywhere and causing us to lose not just real literature, but real music and film too.

Adultnapper – Echologist The Score

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Music Afghan Raiders

by Shop Keeper
July 26, 2009 - 10:43 am

Afghan Raiders

AFGHAN RAIDERS are Mikey and Beans from Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither one of the electronic duo is Afghan nor do they raid, however, these generally peaceful guys have been electrifying dance floors with their infectious riffs and outrageous stage antics, which include showering the audience with gold balloons and bringing hardcore headbanging to dance music.

The duo first started when asked to open for Broken Spindles with only a handful of songs under their belt. In just under a month, they put together an explosive live set, winning over audiences with their single “Future Thinkers,” a song some might call an anthem for new age freedom fighters. Shortly after, the band went on to release their debut EP, “FUTURE THINKERS / SOLID GOLD,” under their own indie label and music blog, Badical Beats. Since then, the duo has been galvanizing dance floors across the US with their over-the-top energy and radical live performances. When Mikey screams, “If this is love then what are you waiting for?!” from their track “Solid Gold”, onlookers cannot resist the urge to dance to the beat and sing along with the hooks.

The band members say some of their biggest contemporary influences are DFA, Digitalism, Madlib, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip and Animal Collective, but both Mikey and Beans spend time everyday researching and blogging about the latest and greatest in music from all genres. This might help some understand why their music tends to seamlessly bridge the gap between genres like electronic, house, pop, and grunge.

Afghan Raiders – Admirals Doorbells

Music Battlehooch

by Shop Keeper
July 26, 2009 - 10:42 am

Battlehooch

For any other band, it’d be unreasonable to say you want to be the first band to play on the moon, but for Battlehooch, it only seems natural.

Formed by a group of UCSC music students, the men of Battlehooch have taken the Bay Area by sheer will alone after moving to San Francisco in 2006. Living in a single house in the outer Sunset district, the band began showing up at every local show, adorned in self-silkscreened headbands proclaiming Battlehooch. Quickly garnering a following of musicians, artists and captivated spectators, the band’s early shows saw them playing with the same abandon as their marketing techniques, a raw blend of future prog, electronic compositions and raw 60′s maximum R&B. Selling out their entire 1000 copy pressing of their self-released EP, Battlehooch became the favorite band of every SF band pursuing what came next; perhaps more than their music, their attitude toward their work and the art of their peers had the Bay Area underground embracing Battlehooch as the way forward.

Battlehooch – The Special Place

Battlehooch - Piece Chow

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