There’s something oddly refreshing at the heart of France dance duo The Penelopes’ brand of twangy, ambient rock n’ roll. Picture the electric Fender reverb of a 1960′s strat mixed with a layer of synth and bubblegum pop dance beats, and you’re only getting a small part of the picture. The Penolopes’ sound is perfect for everything from breaking up a rave with a brawl, or taking a road trip as far away from the civilized world as possible.
A song called “The Walls are Coming Down” featured in an eye-catching new video that spotlights one of the world’s only remaining escape artists? How could that not pique someone’s interest? Catch up on what’s new with London’s Fanfarlo, and delve into their genre-bending, anarchistic plans for world musical domination.
Giant Step | Mixing different styles of electronica, techno, trance, and more, many of Scott Hardkiss‘ song titles are both self-explanatory and satirical: Beat Freak encompasses a wide variety of different beats, both percussive and synth-based, while others like The Revolution Has Begun are less genre-bending revelations than catchy, quirky observations on electronic music’s self-indulgent obsession with retro effects. Star Power, with its satirical view of trite celebrity fashion concerns, could be a newer mix between Right Said Fred and Rick James, while What We Got is somewhere between self-deprecating and genuinely just plain fun.
On Technicolor Dreamer, Hardkiss breaks a bit further away from his God Within moniker to focus more on this specifically solo musical venture; fans familiar with his jazz and funk influences will find a great deal more of both at play than on other outings. But Hardkiss seems intent on both covering familiar ground as well as surprising the listener: On tracks like It Comes From Above, many of those familiar Euro-pop elements mix with a simple five-word mantra, all in praise of electronic music’s more intangible and ethereal qualities.
Words by Jeff Nau
Scott Hardkiss – Come On, Come On
Merry Karnowsky Gallery recently opened its doors to hundreds of hungry art fiends with its reception of Camille Rose Garcia’s anticipated show. Titled “The Hydra of Babylon” and hosted by Spinerette sweetheart Brody Dalle, this exhibit features Camille’s new art on wood and paper which examines nature’s redemption of human and ecological demise.Birds, deer and damsels in distress peer out from larger than life psychedelic panelsand meticulous ink-on-raw-paper drawings dripping with Garcia’s signature black tears. This body of work is pure eye candy with enough rich paint, glitter and gloss to please even the most ostentatious types L.A. had to offer on the night of the reception.
There are some musicians you talk to who make it known right from the beginning that they’re dead serious about their art. Tyondai Braxton, lead singer of NYC-based Battles and producer/writer/composer behind the new solo album Central Market is undeniably one of those serious ones.
“My brother Donari is a brilliant writer and a big influence on my own work,” he begins.” We bounce ideas off of each other and he’s one of the most creative and insightful people I’ve ever met. His newest novel The Invisible Alphabet has just been completed. My sister Keayr is a television producer for a slew of major networks. She’s brilliant and has the most unyielding work ethic I’ve ever seen. My mother Nickie Braxton is a glass blower, costume designer and violinist herself. Don’t know what to say about the woman other than she’s the most amazing person in my life. And then there is my father, Anthony. He is everything that people say he is, a genius, a virtuoso and an incredible human being.”
Chicago has a lot to offer, amazing pizza, incredible concerts, Da Bears! But what I was really drawn towards was the Real Pirates exhibit at The Field Museum. Let me start by saying that I fancy myself a bit of a pirate at heart. Of course unlike the lame “white” witches, piracy never really gets warm and fuzzy. Johnny Depp put a nice Disney spin on the lot of them but essentially they were just plain rotten. And for that I truly love them. Rape and Pillaging aside they were some of the most colorful characters in history.
Driving up to the museum you can’t help but notice the massive Jolly Roger flag splitting the Roman columns like a beacon calling all the wayward braggarts home. Its skull and cross-swords is imposing, majestic and dare I say it, fun! I was thrilled to get inside and document the exhibit for my fellow enthusiasts. And I sure would have if the “man” didn’t step in to wreck my documenting desires. The irony of trying to share the Pirate exhibit with you is that the souls of those fearless men on the Whydah, the worlds only pirate shipwreck, are damned to spend all eternity being protected from piracy. Copyright laws do apply.
Bringing back the rumbling, distorted white noise sound that made them innovators of industrial, Pigface is one of the few bands that managed to stay relevant in the scene without sounding like charlatans of the genre’s ‘elite’ (i.e., Stabbing Westward and all the other bands which ripped off NIN). Chaotic, soothing, ambient– all are superlatives likely heaped on this band before, but one only need take a listen to their extensive discography to get a hint at how they’ve managed to survive.
“There are actual segments of this show where you cannot feel any oxygen because it is all in people’s lungs. There are periods when we are on stage where if feels like a hairdryer, people are screaming and giving you the energy back so much. There are times in this show where I look around and there is hardly anybody in a seat, they are on the floor laughing.” – Jim Rose, on the audience’s reaction so far to the When Legends Collide Tour.
The legendary Jim Rose has done it once again, this time taking his freak show to the stage and incorporating the legendary and understated, yet controversial Jake “The Snake” Roberts into his theater. Traveling across the globe with high profile wrestlers, attractive females, and an unusually talented ensemble, Jim Rose continues to make audiences cringe with his latest, When Legends Collide Tour. According to Jim, this is the best tour yet. “We’ve got pretty girls, wrestling, amazing circus stunts, and a fistfight. I mean, who can ask for more? If that isn’t testosterone fueled, I don’t know what is.”
ChinaShop caught up with Jim Rose on a much-needed day off in between shows, as he filled us in on what people can expect from his latest project. In addition, Jim was accommodating enough to wake Jake “The Snake” Roberts abruptly from his sleep to break us off a little piece of his troubled past and to explain why he really considers this tour to be the launch of his mighty comeback in the eyes of the media.
Most of us know that Coco Chanel was an important figure in fashion, but why? It’s not just that her fashion house, Chanel, has stood the test of time & continues to dictate moods, cuts & aesthetics. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel truly revolutionized the world of women’s fashion. In fact, she was so influential that she was the only person in the field of haute couture to be named on TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the 20th Century.
Coco Avant Chanel stars Audrey Tautou of Amelie fame. It is the story of Coco Chanel’s extremely humble beginnings, & it finishes just as her star is beginning to rise. Starting as a hat-maker, her romantic involvement with various wealthy men lead to her own shop in Paris, where her reputation was bolstered by her customers, many of whom were revered French actresses or aristocrats.
It’s a bit of a chilly night on Hollywood when I stumble into the narrow, pockmarked concrete alleyway leading to De La Barracuda, a trendy upscale salon/clothing store/art gallery on Melrose (ah, you gotta love L.A.). An eclectic bunch stands gathered on the back patio — hipsters, hip-hoppers and hippies alike, interweaving under umbrellas and climbing over tables, Red-Bulled vodkas in hand. It’s almost as if all the high school cliques you avoided have banded together just to witness a truly multi-talented artist who adequately captures the edginess of their generation. Which makes sense: just judging by the amount of visitors and gawkers, Michael Lau looks to have tapped the mainstream pulse in a huge way.