Ace Hotel is definitely the place to stay if you ever find yourself in Portland, Seattle, Palm Springs or New York City. Their offbeat, nouveau-bohemian interior design has been attracting artists, designers, geeks with style & international jet setters — you know, people just like you — since 1999. The New York City location has morphed into something beyond just a place to rest your head.
Still nursing that hangover? Take another swig of recovery beer and dry your cryin’ eyes, my friends–2010 looks is already looking bloated as hell, with a laundry list of various music, events, shows, and assorted craziness. We’re going to be covering some new events here, going in a different direction there… from the kitsch to the kinky, though, we’ll have it all, or as much as you think you can handle. As for what else we’ve done…we figure, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 2009 turned out awesome for ChinaShop, so we wanted to take some time to a)thank you guys for reading and b) let you know that we’re just getting started.
We plan to keep covering up-and-coming bands (that rock), concerts, and just generally all the weird stuff we think you’d dig. We’re also gonna be looking more into comics, branching out into new kinds of music, and the latest in the gaming industry–only better. Coming up we’ll have our usual coverage on SXSW, Gala’s take on the latest in the world of fashion, Dustin Downing’s psychotic brand of photography, and some new stuff like The Black Dahlia Murder Tour, The Hollywood Erotic Museum, and it only gets weirder from there. Chances are, if it looks interesting enough, weird enough, perverse enough, funny enough– we’re gonna be there.
A big hail for all your comments and feedback — don’t know about you guys, we’ve been turned on to a lot of great different music just by taking a chance, and judging from your it sounds like a lot of you have as well.
FatCat Records | There’s an apt moniker for a band whose music always seems almost sentimental yet never quite reaches the road of sappiness that so many other bands seem to be going down these days. Frightened Rabbit is well-produced, but not over-produced; they navigate between the more intricate and acoustic melodies of modern indie rock but also sparse, minimal tones not unlike (dare they be mentioned) Coldplay. And Frightened Rabbit deserves anything but points for bravery, as there’s nothing spectacularly new about them. But therein lies their appeal: This is happy, catchy post-new wave indie music, a bit more upbeat then fellow Scots The Twilight Sad, and a welcome part of this new flood of Scottish indie rockers that seems to have broken through the reservoir lately. Their most recent release, Swim Until You Can’t See Land, is perhaps the best example of what folky, indie rock should sound like and to a certain extent always has. And perhaps that’s exactly what Frightened Rabbit wants you to understand – they’re not going anywhere and they’re fine with that.
Words by Jeff Nau
A light-hearted look at the trend of ears in high fashion .
Jeremy Scott
There is a serious ear obsession in the world of fashion right now. Comme Des Garcons showed Mickey Mouse-esque hats in their FW07/08 show, a slew of British celebrities designed their own mouse ear hats for a charity auction & Jeremy Scott created a black matte helmet with ears — very Apocalyptic Disney — which Rihanna wore in the music video for Hard. What is going on?
Legendary b-boy crew Full Force celebrated their milestone anniversary in Las Vegas on January 2, complete with a full-blown and appropriately decadent after-party at the Red Rock Casino and Cherry Nightclub. Enlisting the most worthy in the rising scene of b-boy talent to aid the party, spectators were encouraged to strut their stuff for the masters, and the party kept a competitive streak while maintaining the family vibe it’s become well-known for. That’s probably why the event felt as much like an all-out battle, as it did a friendly fight between true champions.
Tomlab | The first thing you might notice about Gigi : The drums are heavy, booming, almost epic. Not of the thrashing, bashing double-bass kind, but those of a large, looming, almost militaristic fashion–which lends sort of an odd sound to what at first seems like such a run-of-the-mill indie folk band. Mind you this isn’t on every song, but it still helps add a touch of the unique to the band. And having some extremely talented backup singers helps as well: take, for instance, the Astrud Gilberto-sounding “Marquee”, reminiscent of that golden era of bossa nova, only redefined under Gigi’s own sound.
I have an unadulterated love for most things 80s New Wave, so Baltimore’s Animal Collective is already a guilty pleasure. There’s a little more to it than this–AC mixes in a little proggy noise with their New Order-esque melodies, with a bonus being how strikingly a song like “Also Frightened” resemble, if only remotely, the calliope behind The Beatles’ “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” While drawing on the ghosts of British pop-rock past, Animal Collective aren’t shy about letting their own influences sway the band–here’s a couple of clips of the band from The Red Bull Music Academy Site, playing “Headphone Highlights” and at an appearance at Chairman Mao’s in NYC.
When Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor revealed to the public that his highly anticipated multimedia project — a concert film version of the group’s groundbreaking, multimedia Lights In The Sky tour — had to be shelved, fans were understandably devastated when they learned the months-in-the-making compilation might never see the light of day. After nearly a year, it turns out that Mr. Reznor has re-strategized and come out with something much more ambitious (and interactive) than originally planned.
Opaque could best be described as a sort of novelty restaurant in Santa Monica, California — one that a lot of people seem to have heard about through the grapevine but to which few have actually been. If you haven’t heard, it’s where full-course meals are served in a completely pitch-black dining room (yeah, the above pic was taken with a flash-bulb) and plays like a sort of sensory-deprivation experiment that sort of doubles as a gourmet dining experience. One of the first things you notice about the place is how seriously they take their theme — even the outside makes it stand out as the only place on the block in total darkness. So is it worth all the hype?