Monthly Archives: June 2011

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Contributors Gallery Tiger Blood

by Nicole Pajer
June 23, 2011 - 10:51 am

I get really brave when I’m on vacation, especially in other countries. As soon as I step off the plane, I get hit with this euphoric sense of unadulterated adventure. I have to try everything – experience everything. I mean I might never be back in that country again in my lifetime so I enter this mental realm of: ‘it’s now or never’ and get hit with this dose of ‘you must attempt this.’

I’ve gone in cages with great white sharks off the coast of South Africa. I’ve rappelled down 200-foot cliffs over waterfalls in Argentina and I’ve swum in piranha and anaconda infested waters in the Amazon River. I pretty much lose my sense of danger when I travel and my vacations consist of stories that make my parents cringe upon my return. So when my Thailand tour guide asked me if I wanted to stop at this place called Tiger Kingdom on the way to Chiang Mai, my answer was of course yes.

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Music The 5 Best Rock Bands You’ve Never Heard

by Zachary Diebels
June 23, 2011 - 9:41 am

Automatic Static Z Rokk

A very wise friend of mine once said, “Don’t ever be afraid to admit to your influences.” When you’re a young artist, you always want to be different, and can often times find yourself doing interviews in which you proclaim your band or your music seem unlike anything anyone else has ever heard. The truth is, comparisons to your peers (and more popular artists) are complimentary, and your influences inform who you are.

I began my professional music career during one of the greatest movements in American rock ‘n’ roll: 1992-1999. From grunge to nu-metal to rap rock and the birth of emo, I saw bands like Nirvana and Green Day become household names. Music that didn’t sound like it belonged on the radio helped inform what made it to the radio in years to come. As an artist, I always found it inspiring to discover a band that no one really knew, or stumble across music that wasn’t on the commercial radar. Thus, allow me to present my list of the five best rock bands you’ve never heard…but should. Immediately.

Editor’s Note: Zac Diebels, the author of this piece and the one-man production juggernaut that is Automatic Static, has a track from his new album for you to download and listen to while you check the list. It’s called “Clique,” and you can grab it here.

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Featured Gallery Music Punk Rock Pool Party: Old Man Markley

by Lisa Johnson
June 22, 2011 - 9:00 am

One of the best things about Summertime is the abundance of pool parties. But if that pool party is in Las Vegas and Old Man Markley is playing, then it’s possibly the Best Pool Party Ever!

Iron Fist Clothing hosted the Punk Rock Pool Party and Bikini Contest at the Goldspike Hotel in Vegas, just off historic Freemont Street in Old Las Vegas. The pool area itself is classic mid-century motor inn, far from the shadow of the McHotels on the strip. Perfect for sunbathing! And an afternoon invasion from punks around the globe (including Canada and Australia!) which didn’t seem to bother the hotel staff one bit.

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Featured Music Cold Beats and Warm Calls: The Handsome Furs

by Nicole Pajer
June 22, 2011 - 8:58 am

Handsome Furs 3 (2011)

The Handsome Furs is the Montreal-based indie rock project of husband and wife duo Alexei Perry and Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade & Atlas Strategic). The band, who describes their sound as “a juxtaposition of cold, metronomic, electronic beats” paired with “ jagged dissonant and frail, broken or breaking guitars,” are gearing up for the release of their latest album, “Sound Kapital.” The disc drops in Canada on June 27th and in the US, UK, and rest of the world on the following day.

ChinaShop sat down with Alexei Perry who discussed the concept behind the new album. Perry also talks about how music serves as her sense of euphoria and tells us how she and her husband became the unexpected stars of a CNN.com web travel series titled “Indie Asia.”

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Uncategorized Tuesday Newsday: New Releases from Pitbull, Peter Tosh, Devin Townsend, In Flames, and Laura Cantrell

by Shop Keeper
June 21, 2011 - 9:15 pm

Mr. Pit

Here we go…new Pitbull…some re-releases of classic Peter Tosh…Devin Townsend releases the last two albums in a 4-part series, and it’s worth the wait…a lot of metal in the for of Symphony X and Black Dahlia Murder….and Weird Al’s new one is out too…see ya next week with a new one from Limp Bizkit, amongst others…

Pitbull – Planet Pit

Laura Cantrell - Kitty Wells Dresses: Songs of the Queen of Country Music

Peter Tosh - Equal Rights/Legalize It

Bon Iver - Self

The Black Dahlia Murder – Ritual

Crossfade – We All Bleed

Weird Al Yankovic – Alpocalypse

Jill Scott - The Light of the Sun

Symphony X - Iconoclast

In Flames - Sounds of a Playground Fading

Devin Townsend - Ghost/Deconstruction

Gallery Music Kids, WAVVES, Blood and GBV: Northside Festival Day 3

by Courtney Dudley
June 21, 2011 - 5:34 pm

Surfer Blood opened for WAVVES who opened for Guided by Voices during Saturdays day shows at McCarren Park.

Most people in attendance were there to see Guided by Voices. I know this because the demographics were much more something you’d expect to see in Williamsburg’s southern neighbor, Park Slope; lots of old dudes and so, so many children. I totally wish I was one of those babies at music festivals with the hot pink ear protectors on my head and I bet if, god forbid, I ever birth such a thing I’m gonna drag it along with me. Maybe thats what outside day shows are for. Bring your kid to a music festival during the day and everyone will glance over and be like, ‘OMG, isnt that rocker kid so cute. And look at his mother! I hope I have that many tattoos by the time I’m a parent.’ Bring your kid to a bar at 1 AM and you’re likely to get picked up by social services.

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Art Artstar: Kim Boekbinder

by Molly Crabapple
June 21, 2011 - 11:09 am

antlers

Kim Boekbinder is The Impossible Girl. Whether crowd-funding for her first album or opening for Amanda Palmer at the Sydney Opera House, this international rockstar is a honey voiced, pink haired force of nature.  She’s also one of my best friends. Here we talk indie-ness, collaboration, and looking like a fairy tale.

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Geek In A ChinaShop Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (Review)

by Teresa Jusino
June 21, 2011 - 8:06 am

Spider Man on Broadway

Even if you’ve never picked up a comic in your life, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Most Expensive Broadway Show Ever! All those injuries! And when will it get out of previews and actually open? After much brouhaha, lots of money, and big changes in the creative team (namely, the dismissing of Julie Taymor and the hiring of Marvel writer, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, to remedy a flawed book), Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has finally officially opened on Broadway!

And?

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Gallery Music Double Rainbow: Day 2 Northside Fest

by Courtney Dudley
June 20, 2011 - 12:29 pm

It was day two of Northside Fest in Williamsburg and thunderstorms threatened to shut the main event down. But just before Yellow Ostrich went on the Steve Madden stage in McCarren Park, the clouds cleared and a double rainbow stretched over the Manhattan skyline, or at least that’s what I heard via Twitter. I had taken cover in a nearby bar and made it just in time to see the end of Sharon Van Etten as she played to a sparse, rain drenched crowd. The rest of Williamsburg poured in shortly thereafter, anxiously awaiting to see Beirut. The band had been relatively quiet since 2007 but with their release of The Rip Tide in August 2011, momentum picked up and they became a group everyone was talking about again.

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Gallery Music Eminem Ends Bonnaroo With a Bang

by Barbie Brady and Joe Gall
June 20, 2011 - 11:12 am

Eminem was slip-sliding away there for a minute. Self-admittedly his last CD was “eh,” his personal life was a bad soap opera and drugs where his number one activity. When he got sober, he grew up. I’ve heard Dr. Drew, of Celebrity Rehab fame, often say that you are stunted at the age that you start to heavily do drugs and you never really emotionally advance from that place until you are willing to quit. Well Dr. Drew, our little Marshall’s all grows up!

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