In Chinese astrology, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon — a very special event. The theme of a Dragon year is fast change & exciting challenges. The Year of the Dragon invites us to show how well we can roll with the punches — & rewards us for doing so!
The highly anticipated new EP from dubstep producer / DJ 12th Planet, Scion A/V Presents: The End Is Near!, is out now via free download. Its five tracks features original productions with Skrillex, Kill The Noise, Antiserum and more, with premieres in SPIN, Mixmag, Gotta Dance Dirty and MTV.
In support of the release, 12th Planet embarks on a 28-city, North American tour kicking off on February 2nd in Miami, FL. And he’s giving fans a chance to get up close and personal! That’s right,12th Planet will be hosting Meet & Greet contests presented by HEX in select cities with tour mates Flinch, Kastle and Crizzly. Enter now at www.12thplanet2012.com/tour! Video after the Jump.
If Britain’s esteemed photographer, Rankin, had a mantra, it would be that art is more fun when it teeters on the scandalous side. The renowned portrait and fashion photographer is known for his sassy shots of celebs like Heidi Klum, Liv Tyler, Britney Spears, Kate Moss, David Bowie, and more. After years of turning heads in the UK, Rankin decided to grace the United States with a rotating collection of his last 20+ years of working behind a lens. Due to it’s progressive and continuously creative landscape, Rankin chose to launch his first stateside venture in Los Angeles.
Earlier this week, Eagle Rock’s modest little Welcome Inn transformed into a historic music fest. To celebrate experimental music that originated in Southern California between 1949 and 1977, The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) booked mini concerts inside the rooms of the two-story motel. The idea was to give Los Angeles music fans the opportunity to enjoy a variety of musical styles simultaneously and sequentially in a single location across a 6-hour time span.
As guests arrived, they were greeted by a second story balcony performance of Free Jazz: Something Else! based on Something Else! The Calder Quartet was up next, playing the music of Arnold Schoenberg on violins, a viola, and cello.
The evening consisted of 8 motel rooms of various musical expression. Our favorites were as follows:
Utah: land of Mormons, fresh powder &… great vintage?! Yes, it’s true! Next time you’re in Salt Lake City, be sure to get a good lunch, & then hit up the vintage clothing & furniture stores in the area. It’s worth it. Here are a few of my favourite places (& happiest scores!).
If you haven’t yet heard of Wallpaper., it’s time to tune in. Since being selected as MTVs PUSH Artist of the week, the innovative quartet, fronted by vocalist Ricky Reed, has been skyrocketing in popularity. The band is known for their hit single, #STUPiDFACEDD, which catalyzed a Twitter hashtag sensation and landed the band on Top 40 radio stations across the country. Wallpaper. recently packed Los Angeles’s El Rey theatre and treated a captivated audience to their signature “booty-shaking-bass-dropping hits.”
ChinaShop caught up with Wallpaper. following their recent stop in LA. Check out the interview after the jump:
Little is the new big. At least that was the vibe when alternative dream rockers Angels & Airwaves stopped by the Red Bull Sound Space at the world famous KROQ in Los Angeles to play a handful of songs and answer questions from fans. Known for breaking some of Southern California’s biggest rock acts, the radio station formed a partnership with Red Bull last year to create Sound Space, an intimate stage on which some of the world’s best bands could perform for 150 of their closest friends and fans. Following Falling In Reverse, The Fray, New Found Glory, and Sound Space debut performers Coldplay, Angels & Airwaves ripped through a five-song set that included songs like “The Adventure,” “Anxiety,” “Everything’s Magic,” “Hallucinations,” and fan favorite, “Surrender.” Lead singer Tom DeLonge waxed poetic about the end of the world, making doodles of naked superheroes, and why Angels & Airwaves and Blink-182—the multi-platinum pop-punk group he’s fronted since 1992—are two sides of the same coin. After the set concluded, ChinaShop got some extra time with DeLonge in KROQ’s luxurious mail room to dig a bit deeper into the mythology, beauty, and DIY DNA that is Angels & Airwaves.
Worldwide by way of Chicago, Tony Arzadon has brought his big room crossbreed of deep, punchy house and infectious pop to the masses via some of dance music’s choicest labels, including Juicy Music, Movement, and System Recordings. Like many of his contemporaries, it was his success with bootlegs that ignited his approach into the mainstream, having produced unofficial rerubs for Justin Timberlake and One Republic that caught fire with other DJs and across the Beatport spectrum. Though he’s no stranger to nightclubs in Los Angeles and Vegas, Tony is a Chicago boy through and through, raised on a steady diet of deep dish pizza and Bulls basketball. Before he departed to Aspen to DJ the X Games, Tony gave us the head’s up on his latest production project, as well as a list of his favorite Windy City spots for food, drinks, and music.
Dead Sara has been busy since we spoke with them last year. The female-fronted four piece has been packing in venues, exponentially growing their fanbase, and just finished recording their highly anticipated new album. Dead Sara was recently selected to be featured artist on this year’s Warped Tour and has been enjoying success on popular rock radio stations throughout the country.
We recently caught up with vocalist Emily Armstrong who explained that 2012 is shaping up to be the band’s best year yet.
Check out our conversation with Emily as she discusses being a female vocalist in a male dominated rock world, items in her tour survival kit, and the band almost being named Masturbation Salvation:
Stepping into Flounce, a quaint vintage shop situated on a dog-and-pedestrian-heavy stretch of Echo Park Boulevard, is like ducking into an wondrous attic.