Featured Gallery Music Treasure Hunting at Amoeba Music

September 20, 2010 - 11:14 am

Amoeba Music is such a cool store.  I really feel so fortunate to have it in my city.  I visit often, sometimes with a purchase in mind, but usually just to browse.  I always come out with a shopping bag; the temptation is just too massive.  If you don’t know what Amoeba Music is, I’ll give you the Cliff Notes rundown: It’s basically a ginormous independent music store that sells CDs, records, DVDs, VHS, posters, books, and other music paraphernalia.  In addition, they have a bunch of fabulous in-store music performances, weekly DJs spinning, contests, and all sorts of events.  When you walk in, it’s so big that they have actual printed out store maps available dictating where you can find anything you might be looking for.  You could literally spend hours in the store (I definitely have).

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Contributors ChinaShop Welcomes Amanda Boyd

September 20, 2010 - 10:58 am

Amanda Boyd

ChinaShop would like to welcome its newest contributor Amanda Boyd to the team!  Despite the (frequent) misconception that’s she English, Amanda Boyd was indeed, to quote The Boss, “born in the USA” – New Jersey, in fact. Her love of music comes from her efforts to recover from the childhood trauma of being denied a pet llama; she was given a pair of headphones and a complete Beatles collection. It worked. She currently works for Red Bull and resides in the hipster capital of the world, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.

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Mandy's Awesome Music Mail Friday’s Fabulous Finds 9/17/10

September 17, 2010 - 12:29 pm

gaga-+vogue+meat

So by this point we’re all aware of Lady Gaga wearing a dress made of meat to MTV’s VMAs so there’s no point in really discussing it, but for those of you who are curious as to why she chose to wear it, this was what she said whilst on The Ellen Show:

Well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgement-free human being on the earth. However, it has many interpretations. For me this evening, if we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights pretty soon, we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on own bones. And, I am not a piece of meat.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–B9zaYxehw

And then she held up next month’s Vogue. Guess who’s on the cover wearing a dress made of meat? Girl definitely has the art of self-promotion down.

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Featured Gallery Music Shonen Knife Slices Silverlake’s Spaceland

September 17, 2010 - 10:37 am

Japan’s very own Shonen Knife sliced into Silverlake’s Spaceland on their current Freetime tour. As would be expected of such an occasion, the crowd was exponentially fashionable. For anyone who hasn’t yet had the pleasure of discovering Shonen Knife for themselves, imagine three adorable girls from Osaka, Japan who play garage-rock pop-punk perfection with titles like “Antonio Baka Guy” “Twist Barbie” and “Sushi Bar.” Their musical dollops of ear candy have charmed the likes of Kurt Cobain (see the video below), Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Redd Kross. The latter even named an album for them, 1989′s Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them.  Shonen Knife countered with a love song about Los Angeles entitled “Redd Kross” extolling their longing for long haired boys and hard music that come with the territory.

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Music Silly Walks Movement: Pretty Much Says it All

September 17, 2010 - 9:45 am

SILLY WALKS

Any musicians that even unintentionally salute Monty Python get extra points — but despite their goofy name, Silly Walks Movement makes for a rather calming, somewhat seraphic Soundsystem of reggaeton that’s been credited as ‘single handed responsible for the growing reggae movement in Germany.’ Not to stereotype, but if there’s a country I never thought would be shaking that ass to the sounds of Bob Marley or Peter Tosh, it’s the birthplace of Goebbels and Eichmann. Well, don’t get us wrong — this Movement was born out of pure love for reggae music by a couple guys who would travel to London just to get their paws on a bunch of Reggaeton 7″s and bring them to the Hamburg masses. It seems to have paid off, as David Meyer (Operator) and Oliver Schrader (Selector) eventually attracted the attention of some of the genre’s elite, and ended up doing remixes for everyone from Tanya Stevens to Turbulence. And if you go to Red Bull Music Academy Radio schnell, you can get a taste of some of the finest imported Reggaeton, spun by the best Germany has to offer. Jaaa.

Art/Design Gallery BUA-YA! The Art of Justin Bua

September 16, 2010 - 10:28 am

Saturday night, the Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles was bustling.  I passed by a plethora of shabu-shabu restaurants, bars, and boba tea joints and made my way into Hold Up Art to see the BUA Pops exhibit.  Urban Art legend Justin Bua joined fans to proudly show off his collection on its opening night.  I walked around the gallery for a bit and took in Justin’s masterpieces.  He had a variety of work on display, some revealing city skylines, while others featured musicians, DJs, and other interesting urbanites.   People were loving his art and after a gallery employee explained to me that the paintings with the red dots on the tag meant that they were sold, I took inventory and noticed that many purchases were being made.  While Justin mingled with fans and autographed his original pieces, one of his friends ran around with a Macbook signing people into their Facebook pages and having them “Like” Justin’s page which really wasn’t a bad idea as far as a grassroots marketing campaign goes.

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Music The School of Seven Bells: Highway to Heaven

September 16, 2010 - 10:26 am

School of Seven Bells

Like a lot of proto-punk/shoegaze acts, The School of Seven Bells‘ members were at a Fugazi concert when they witnessed what they knew was gonna be the next big thing. But it was at that show that guitarist Ben Curtis also stumbled onto an act he wasn’t expecting to see: Bedhead, a Texas-based indie electronic/shoegaze/Velvet Underground-ish sort of act whose ‘droning, relentless’ sound inspired him to pick up that first guitar. His own conception of ‘space rock’ was subsequently born, and he formed the famous Secret Machines, and steal the moniker from bands like Hawkwind and other prog acts who owned it in the 70s. It was on tour that SOSB was formed with the help of Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, identical twins who sung in beautiful, perfect harmony and made his vision complete. The 3 of them caught a big break opening for M83 and a couple of other big name acts, ditched their respective separate bands, and move in together to write music. According to the band’s site, their name is built around the concept of a ‘mythical South American pickpocket training academy.’On Red Bull Music Academy Radio, Ben Curtis talks about some of the acts that initially inspired him, particularly Simple Minds, Lush, and some of the other big names of synth-based new wave/shoegaze bands. Some great stuff here.

Featured Gallery Music VIP Access With Mike Posner

September 15, 2010 - 5:02 pm

The room was eerily dark as Mike Posner stepped onto the stage at the House of Blues on the Sunset strip last night. At first note, I soon became awash in a sea of slackened hipsters and screaming sorority girls alike. Intensely illuminated by the blinding backlight produced by an army of iPhone’s intent on capturing the moment for posterity, ie. Facebook’s sake.  Fear not, for up on stage Mike was not by his lonesome either. His usual accompanying turntable and the all too familiar platinum clamshell were nowhere to be seen, but in their stead set a full 7 piece band.  With “Baby Face” Posner at the helm we were all taken for a cruise through some of his favorite mix-tape selections, current Billboard hits, and even took a turn at a some old skool covers like ELO’s “Evil Woman.”  Just when the crowd became thirsty for more, he wet the whistles of the parched passengers on this Love Boat de Posner.

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Art/Design Grin and Gummi Bear It: Art by Ya Ya Chou

September 15, 2010 - 10:48 am

Joy Ya Ya Chou

Gummi Bears are fantastic! They are colorful, delicious, and have that rubbery mouth-pleasing texture.  They are the perfect snack to eat at the movie theater or to keep in your office desk drawer.  They are timeless and loved by all generations.  They are fun to eat.  You can bite off their heads or shove the whole thing into your mouth.  They are a favorite guilty pleasure of many.  For artist Ya Ya Chou, they are the building blocks for fabulous pieces of art.  Chow is a Taiwanese-born artist who moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to study Experimental Animation.  After earning a reputation in the filmmaking world, her interests spun in the direction of sculptures and installation.  Her work has led her in a variety of directions, most recently the Gummi Bear Series, which explores the relationship between food consumption and class.  After seeing pictures of her impressive gummi bear chandeliers, I had some burning questions about all things gummi bears.

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