Music Woodpigeon Returns

December 22, 2011 - 10:30 am

Woodpigeon returns with a new digital EP, For Paolo, available January 24 via Boompa Records. Led by songwriter Mark Andrew Hamilton, For Paolo was inspired by his parents, the cassette tapes they played on long, family drives across the prairies of Canada. Hamilton said, “My parents were always the type to find an artist and album they liked and then listen to it non-stop in the car for years. It’s these tapes which, whether I liked them at the time or not, formed an undeniable part of my musical DNA: Carole King, Falco, a truck-stop Hits of the 1960s compilation. The songs of the For Paolo EP are a valentine of sorts to those old cassettes of my parents – I’d like to think there’s more than just a dash of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tango in the Night’ in the title track, a little bit of girly one-hit wonder in ‘One To Many’. But then again, whenever I think I’m getting pretty close at sounding one way, I’m the only one who hears it – so you’ll have to excuse the thought that there’s a little bit of Boys Don’t Cry’s ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy’ and Iron Butterfly mixed in here somewhere too.” Listen to / watch the video for the title track to the album after the jump.

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Art Featured Gallery The Undeniably Original Sergio Roffe

December 21, 2011 - 12:58 pm

When I was fifteen years old, I stood in front of the Mona Lisa. I stood there— hands in the pockets of my jeans, my head cocked slightly to the side—and I looked; I looked and I waited. I wanted to be changed by it. I waited for some sort of enlightenment. But, for me, it remained empty. I waited for about five minutes; then I walked away.

What makes a piece of art worthy of consideration? What makes it of value? What draws us in? Often, it is a sense of resonance; resonance with elementary emotional images deeply ingrained within us.

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Featured Music My Old School Hip-Hop, Part 4: DJ StoneRokk

December 21, 2011 - 9:56 am

School is back in session. Today, ChinaShop features Mike Stone (a.k.a. DJ StoneRokk), the fourth artist in our six-part series highlighting former students of LA’s Pilgrim High School who have become integral parts of West Coast hip-hop and DJ culture. Last month we featured Project Blowed co-founder Abstract Rude, Brooklyn’s DJ Icewater, and international hip-hop star Roscoe Umali. Still to come: J*Davey’s Brook D’Leau and Busdriver.

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Art Featured Confessions Of A Stay At Home Mom: Photographer Barbara Pickles

December 20, 2011 - 11:21 am

There has been much recent probing into the lost psyche of the 1950’s American housewife, even by mainstream media (i.e. the television series “Mad Men”). The study of psychological torture actually owes much of its progress to discoveries made in the 1950’s in the U.S. and Canada, especially those resulting from certain abusive experiments involving female patients in psychiatric hospitals. Photographer Barbara Pickles uses photography as a medium to address what it means to be a woman—what it meant, what it means now, and what it may come to mean for future generations of women.

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Music Apparat: Devil In The Details

December 20, 2011 - 10:22 am

Of all the obnoxious bumper stickers I’ve seen throughout the course of my life, the one that irks me the most has to be the one that reads, “Drum Machines Have No Soul.” Apart from being an unabashed lover of dance music—of which drum machines are a big part of—I’m put off by the sticker’s implication that other hand-played instruments like guitar or piano, while just as technically “soulless,” are somehow more sophisticated and higher up on the emotional food chain than, say, a Dave Smith Tempest. The sticker also implies that electronic music, in general, is devoid of emotion or feeling. These people have obviously never heard anything by German composer Sascha Ring.

Working as Apparat, Ring makes some of the most beautiful and emotive music you’ll ever hear, regardless of the medium, and his latest full-length, The Devil’s Walk, takes ever greater pains to connect to the organic realm that acoustic music fans are so precious about. In the vain of composers like Steve Reich and Ezekiel Honig, Ring is a master of sonic manipulation, breaking down components to their rawest form before stacking them back up again like an obsessive bricklayer. His successful 2009 side project with Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary of Modeselektor—entitled Moderat—was a much looser, dance-oriented affair than his previous solo albums, and allowed Ring to extend the scope of his singular sound past the confining techno walls he rose to prominence within. Rather than obscure his melodies behind heavy curtains of analog synthesis, Ring lets them shine through on The Devil’s Walk. He also sings (a lot), which lends a near crossover vibe to songs like “Candil De La Calle” and “Song Of Los.” It is, in a word, soulful.

The Devil’s Walk is arguably the most impressive album in Ring’s catalog, and one of the best listens of 2011. While you’re reading this interview, pop open another browser window to listen to a few tracks: “Ash Black Veil,” “Black Water” and a Mogwai remix of the aforementioned “Song Of Los.” Then Google Roger Linn, download a copy of Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock and stop reading stuff stuck to the back of a car.

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Art SHOP SMALL: Independent Clothing Boutiques in Silver Lake

December 19, 2011 - 4:37 am

The infamous Black Friday waffle iron incident is the surest sign that we’re on our way to hell in a hand basket. Now, why not have that hand basket be made by edgy local designers? Black Friday and Occupy Wall Street have spawned the Shop Small movement, which aims to support local, independent businesses. We’ve perused the Eastside and created a list of some of the best clothing boutiques in Silver Lake. Enjoy!

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Art And Now For Something New: Artist David Paul Flores

December 16, 2011 - 1:12 pm

I have always been captivated by the appearance of land seen through an airplane window—the way it’s coated in simplicity, homogeny and precise division. Looking down on the earth below, my experience is while flying is not unlike a child ogling a children’s pop-up atlas. Urban artist, David Paul Flores, creates a similarly wondrous and surreal experience with his signature “stained glass” style.

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Art “Two Faces” and 500 Hours

December 16, 2011 - 10:22 am

This is what 500 hrs of airbrush on 1 painting looks like.
 Welcome to the hyper-detailed world of “Two Faces.” An original painting  created by Chris Elliman.

For three months straight Elliman powered through the rendering of “Two Faces” . This airbrush painting is a diptych which is two pieces that work together or apart. At first glance and from a distance you might see the face of a man and a woman. Upon closer inspection you realize the faces are made up of other people, places and things. Hundreds of characters living their lives in this strange and detailed world.

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Art Featured Through The Lens And Back: Photographer Jennifer Popperl

December 15, 2011 - 12:56 pm

Photography has as many aims as it has photographers. Some use the medium in order to recreate a subject in an especially raw, candid light, capturing a moment, which would have otherwise remained silent. Others use the lens as a tool to disorient an audience’s view of normalcy by dressing the mundane in garb of the absurd. Up and coming photographer Jennifer Popperl uses her lens to allow for multiple, seemingly incompatible moments, to exist simultaneously.

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Featured Music Bring the Noise: Red Bull Noise Complaint

December 15, 2011 - 11:48 am

Two highly successful New Jersey based rock bands are returning to their home state to celebrate its role in making them who they are today. This holiday season, Senses Fail and Saves the Day return to New Jersey’s famous Starland Ballroom located in Sayreville for not only one of their stellar performances but for a chance to give back to the local music community as part of Red Bull Noise Complaint. A dollar from each ticket sold to the December 23rd show will be donated to the upkeep of the famed Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ. The small no-frills venue, open for nearly 30 years, has hosted rock and alternative acts such as Pavement, Ween, The Flaming Lips, Gaslight Anthem, The Bouncing Souls and Lifetime. The Court also provides a stage for up-and-coming local acts and offers regular free shows for the strapped-for-cash student looking to catch some live music.

To pass along the torch, a local up-and-coming New Jersey band was chosen to open for Senses Fail and Saves the Day at Starland. That group, Banquets was selected at a Red Bull Noise Complaint showcase at Court Tavern on Friday, November 18th.

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