Interstate 10 is an unusual stretch of road. As well as the requisite million different burger joints, & the now-defunct Spanky’s BBQ (RIP Spanky), there are multiple windmill farms (quite a beautiful sight to behold) & some major designer discount shopping. & then, of course, there are the dinosaurs.
This past Saturday night, Scion unveiled a simple yet ingenious plan for taking interactive art in a new and completely schizophrenic direction: let a number of groundbreaking installation artists into the warehouse, have them take apart the place, and let them build their own respective rooms, designed and perfected to their own preference and according to whatever childhood trauma scarred them for life. You had the one guy with his steam-vacuumed carpeting, and endless collection of VHS videotapes, brown wood paneling, and projector-screen television; another was Justin Van Hoy, who decorated his pristine white room with Karl Malone and Michael Jordan posters, complete with early 90s television set and a built-in VHS player; Rocky Grimes designed his space to look like an elementary school classroom from Fast Times at Ridgemont High — complete with 80s pop art, desks, chalkboard and the animated silhouette of a teacher scrawling some invisible and thoroughly pointless lesson.
Say or think the name Peanut Butter Wolf, look at that pic, and tell me if it doesn’t prompt a snicker or at least put a “WTF” look on your face. After I got a listen of this San Jose-based DJ (aka Chris Manack) who pastes reggae, hardcore hip-hop, soul from the past century, with a bit of the old-fashioned scratching a la Public Enemy thrown in, however – I’ve learned that if anything, it makes for an appropriate moniker. The sweet and soothing melodies of 80′s R&B pop, jazz, and old school soul that Wolf blends so awesomely with more aggressive hip-hop beats, foul-mouthed and borrowed from some of the genre’s most notorious acts. He’s one of those few DJs who can manage to resonate with his crowd and keep his hand on the pulse from second to second: the Parisian masses seem to know every soul and R&B obscurity before it leaves the subwoofer. You kind of have to listen of his show on Red Bull Music Academy Radio to really get a taste of the performance. Whatever it is, it’s working well.
Today’s bloggin best…
- Watch the Silversun Pickups very ’90s alt-rock video for their very ’90s alt-rock music. SPIN
- N.W.A. biopic to be written by Wold Trade Center screenwriter. Prefix
- Hipsters fight over a dead cat on Judge Judy. BPM
- From the creator of Jaydiohead comes Mos Dub. Idealist Propaganda
- Morrissey wrote a poem for a deceased and dedicated fan. Spinner
- People are loving this Joy Division/New Order bootleg blog. Joy Division Bootlegs
- David Holmes unearths an unreleased Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) remix. Hypetrak
- Porn production quality is dead? This parody of ’60 Batman is perfect. Boing Boing
Every week, China Shop talks to a music blogger who is taking part in the new global music community.
For hip-hop fans around the world, few sites deliver a more thorough look at hip-hop culture than HipHopDX.com. More than just a blog, Hip-Hop DX is a complete news portal for hip-hop heads. Meet Jake Paine, the Editor-In-Chief who keeps the site always fresh.
Name: Jake Paine
Age: 26
Location: Philly
Title/Website: Editor-in-Chief, HipHopDX.com
Straight out of Scotland, Rustie is a veritable hodgepodge of dozens of musical genres from over the past 30 or 40 years: at one minute, it’s a flurry of disco symphony samples, the next, a peppering of golden age jazz alto-sax, followed by a dollop of early 80′s electronica and one-hit-wonder pop sounds (remember Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam?). Picture the inbred child of Al Dimeola, Gloria Gaynor, Tiffany, ABBA, and Steely Dan, after they all had an orgy (and an ugly one at that)– and Rustie is your man, re-birthing some of the more irreverent musical moments of the last few decades. Here’s a peek at his Warp Records set at Red Bull Music Academy Radio. If it gets too cute, at least he segues between genres with gunshots.
