Prior to the show, we sat down with Baylin to discuss how she used her inheritance from her grandmother to record her recent independent release, Little Spark. She cheerfully greeted us and exclaimed that our interview location, the front bar of the Troubadour, was where “Joni Mitchell used to hang out.” Baylin explained that as a child she was notorious for making mixed tapes for her friends, which included tracks by her musical idols (Dusty Springfield, Barbara Streisand, Nina Simone…). She told us how she met her husband in line for the bathroom at Bonnaroo and explained that although she misses LA, the simpler life in Nashville is conducive to her artistic soul.

You haven’t performed in LA in a while. What have you been up to?

I’ve been making a record and crafting these songs and just waiting for the right moment. I felt like when I came back, I would have to play here [Troubadour] so I wanted to have it be an event. The record’s out now and it’s a celebration!

And you put it out independently?

I did and it’s actually been the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my career. It’s just really freeing and it’s nice to know what’s going on and to have that control. I really needed that in myself and I invested in this album with my own finances – pretty much every little bit that I had left – so that was a good risk to take.

I read that you actually used some of your grandmother’s inheritance for the album…

Yeah, all of it. I think she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Every time I called her she would be like, “How are we gonna make this happen kid?” I would say, “We’re working on it.” She was a wonderful, sassy little woman so this is a really nice way to honor her. She appreciated art and music and loved watching me perform. Actually right before she got Leukemia, she came on the road with me and ended up seeing like four dates on this tour. I was opening up for someone and she came to Florida for two shows and she came to New York and Philly and Boston and just had a ball. She loved it. She’d drink her sherry backstage with me and tell stories to anyone that would listen.

Not many grandmas are going on the road with people. That’s pretty amazing!

She was a unique grandmother. Most grandma’s are up at like 5am; she went to bed around 2 or 3am and slept till at least 10 or 11 in the morning. I’d be like the little kid. I’d spend the night and be like, “Grandma. I’m hungry! I want eggs. Come on!” She was like the ultimate rock star.

You relocated to Nashville with your husband. Do you feel like you’re more at home in the music scene there or do you miss LA?

Nashville’s been really good to me – really really responsive and it’s been a really wonderful place for me to harvest who I want to be as an artist. That’s super exciting to me – just sort of having the time. Really, there’s nothing else to do in Nashville than sit and write and cook and do my thing. It’s really simple there. There’s not much to do. There’s not a lot of culture. There are beautiful parks and walks but for the most part it’s a simpler life that I can appreciate. I’m out in LA now for two weeks and everyday I’m like, “We’re going to the Getty. We’re doing all this stuff.” And I love that but in a way, it’s distracting all the time when that is accessible to you. In Nashville, it’s like my only job for today is to write a really good poem – maybe it will be mediocre and maybe it will be great and I’ll feel good that I tried. Then I’ll make lunch and then I’ll take a walk and that will be enough.

What made you decide to have Scarlett Johansson produce your video for “Hurry Hurry?”

We were old friends and we were drinking wine and I played her some new songs and she was like, “That’s it. This week we’re gonna cut a video. Adam Kimmel is going to do the cinematography. It’s done.” And I’m like, “Really? You wanna do this?” And she’s like, “Yes. We’re doing this.” I think she’s gonna be an amazing director and she already is and she’s going to continue to do some beautiful things from behind the lens. I’m excited for her and I’m happy to have been a part of her early directorial life.

Is it true that you did many of the songs on Little Spark in one take?

 Yeah. Pretty much every vocal is one take just because I feel like that initial moment – it’s so alive in you and I’m more in it. Then it becomes work and it shouldn’t. It should feel effortless and it should sound effortless. That’s the kind of records I want to make. Some records don’t have to sound that way but I want this to feel dreamy and intimate and it has to have that freshness and it can’t feel rehearsed so it was not at all.

Do you remember your earliest memory of falling in love with music?

As a kid, my parents always had music on in our home. My dad loved Frank Sinatra and my mom loved Zeppelin and Barbara Streisand and Bette Midler. We had everything; it was kind of all over the place, which was great for me as a kid. My mixed tapes that I made my friends, they were like, ”What the heck is going on here.” Then I remember being in sixth grade and hearing Fiona Apple Tidal and “Sleep to Dream” is the first song on that. My mom brought it home and was like, “I really think you’re going to like this record.” I put it in and my parents had just invested in this nice Bose sound system and I remember I turned both speakers towards my head and I just wanted to be inside that song. I’ve never had that type of experience where I literally wanted to know every layer. That was the first time I was really moved and I thought, “If I ever make music, I want something that feels this big and just surrounds someone like this.”

Have you seen her live before?

I haven’t. I had tickets to two of her shows. One she canceled a tour and the other, I had to go to my friends Bat Mitzvah and she told me that if I went to Fiona’s show that we would not be friends anymore and it turned out a month after that we were never friends and never spoke again. I went to that Bat Mitzvah and missed Fiona’s show. But you know, it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe one day.

Rumor has it that you met Nathan standing in line to use a porta-potty at Bonnaroo? Is that how it went down?

Yeah it was. He saw me from a distance and made his way to me. He was like, “Who’s the blonde?” Everyone was like, “Don’t even go near her man. She’s too good for you.” But he came near me and he hasn’t really left since so it’s a nice thing.

Are you enjoying married life?

I’m really enjoying married life. It’s great. It’s getting better. You know there are always the growing pains in any relationship; it’s complex. There’s moments when you think this is the pit of despair and then there’s others when it’s heaven on earth but I think that in anything there’s highs and lows. It’s good because for my work I can capture some of those moments and dig into that.

You’ve said that certain songs on this record were difficult to write. Is there anything in particular that you can elaborate on?

There’s just certain lines… There’s some pretty obvious songs that were just really tough times but at the same time if I was going to be honest with myself and the listener, I felt like I needed to write about it because it was a crucial moment in my process as a human. If I left that hole out, it wouldn’t feel honest in me. “Joy is Suspicion” is not a happy song but it’s about hope and loving what could be and all of that.

Did you write about your grandma on the album?

Not directly but in many different lines… There’s a few lines, like Little Spark – “I’ve been looking for you in the dark. Give me just a little spark” is about her. There are little moments of my grandmother and a few songs that didn’t make the album that I’d written about loss. It didn’t make any sense to me that you could love that deep and then it vanishes. That just confused the hell out of me for about six months. It’s pretty intense shit and then you dig into it but I realized energy doesn’t die. If I know anything, that is a fact.

Is it hard for you to sing some of your more emotional material live?

Oh no. I like it! I like sharing that part. It’s why I do it. It’s what moves me when I watch someone. I want to feel like they’re exposing themselves emotionally. When it’s genuine – you know… I think my songwriting is pretty simple. It comes off the page of my journal and it’s simple but it’s direct.

Do you and Nathan ever make any music together?

No we’re just supports systems for now. That’s the plan. He is incredibly supportive of this project and the direction and I’m headed in and could not be any more supportive honestly. It’s actually been a relief because you never know how your partner is going to react when you’re taken away from home by something else. It’s just really lovely that he’s grown into a good man and knows how to respect art and what I’m doing and is just now along for the ride.

Words by Nicole Pajer (@NicolePajer). Photos by Catie Laffoon (@CatieLaffoon)

Band Lineup:

I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME (CD Release)
- “Pink Floyd meets NIN” – Dave Navarro
- “Their sound reflects the influence of European electronic artists known for their song writing and live shows…” – Vikton Phoenix, Buzzbands.la

OMNIFLUX (Debut)
- Debut solo project by Mahsa Zargaran (Sabrosa Purr/Big Black Delta)

INTO THE PRESENCE
- Featuring members of UFO, Train, and A Perfect Circle

GINA & THE EASTERN BLOCK
- Featuring drummer/producer Marc Jordan (Credits include: Velvet Revolver, The Cult, Slash, Milla Jovovich)

8MM
- Husband & Wife trip-hop duo feat Grammy nominated producer Sean Beavan (GnR, Marilyn Manson, NIN, Slayer, No Doubt)

DJ Shaun Lopez
- The other half of Chino Moreno’s (Deftones) new electronic project Crosses

Plus:
Lucid Absinthe Supérieure tasting by The Los Angeles Absinthe Club

See you there!

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.

Named one of bass music’s foremost purveyors in Billboard’s Year In Music issue, 12th Planet dominated 2011 with a sold-out, 50-date North American tour alongside Skrillex, released the ‘Who Are We?’ EP on his influential dubstep label SMOG, which just celebrated their 5-year anniversary, and co-produced a track on Korn’s latest foray into dubstep (“Way Too Far” with Flinch). He has also lent his signature crushing bass and resonating energy to remixes for MIA, John Legend, Travis Barker and more, and has collaborations coming out with Dizzee Rascal, among others. With his star rising internationally, 12th Planet was also dubbed “US dubstep godfather” by UK’s dance music bible Mixmag, as he’s emerged as an ambassador of the now fully established American dubstep movement.

Check out the apocalyptic new video for “The End Is Near Pt. 1,” which premiered exclusively on SPIN.com:

12th PLANET ‘THE END IS NEAR!’ NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2012
PRESENTED BY SCION A/V

Feb 2 Miami, FL @ Grand Central
Feb 3 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
Feb 4 Athens, GA @ Bad Manor
Feb 5 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Feb 7 Virginia Beach, VA @ Peabodys
Feb 8 Washington, DC @ District
Feb 9 Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage
Feb 10 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Feb 11 Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
Feb 12 Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
Feb 13 Boston, MA @ Middle East
Feb 14 Montreal, Canada @ Le Belmont
Feb 15 Toronto, Canada @ Wrongbar
Feb 16 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Feb 17 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
Feb 18 St. Louis, MO @ 2720 Cherokee
Feb 19 Nashville, TN @ Club Mai
Feb 20 New Orleans, LA @ Ampersand
Feb 21 Dallas, TX @ Trees
Feb 22 Oklahoma City, OK @ Kamp
Feb 23 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
Feb 24 Phoenix, AZ @ Madison Events Center
Feb 25 Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock
Feb 26 San Diego, CA @ Voyeur
Feb 28 Orange County, CA @ Dubtroit
Feb 29 Los Angeles, CA @ Avalon Hollywood (*venue change)
March 1 San Francisco, CA @ Mighty
March 2 Portland, OR @ Roseland
March 3 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall

Download ‘Amorphous Music Mixtape Vol.7′ here.

TRACKLIST:

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic (Bassnectar Remix)
Bassnectar – Wildstyle [live edit]
Futurebound – Blind Cobblers Thumb (Giz-roc edit)
DC Breaks – The More I Want (Bassnectar edit)
BLUR – Song 2 (Bassnectar Remix)
Bassnectar & Jantsen – Red Step
NastyNasty – The Goalie (Bassnectar Remix)
Foamo – Centavo [live edit]
Bassnectar vs Mochipet – Sloppy Face
Shotgun Radio – A Bad Place Ft. Mimi Page (Minnesota Remix)
MyBack – Blomman
Little Jinder – Youth Blood (12th Planet & Flinch Remix)
Bassnectar – Underwater

VAVA VOOM SPRING TOUR DATES:

* 3/02 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
* 3/03 Las Vegas, NV Rain
* 3/04 Avon, CO Snowball Festival
* 3/25 Miami, FL Ultra Music Festival
* 3/31 – 4/01 Santiago, Chile Lollapalooza Chile
* 4/07 – 4/08 Sao Paolo, Brazil Lollapalooza Brasil
* 4/11 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room
* 4/12 Kansas City, MO The Midland
* 4/13 Madison, WI Exhibition Hall @ Alliant Energy Center
* 4/14 Chicago, IL Congress Theatre
* 4/17 Burlington, VT Memorial Auditorium
* 4/18 Boston, MA House of Blues
* 4/19 Boston, MA House of Blues
* 4/20 Philadelphia, PA BASS CENTER V The Liacouras Center
* 4/21 Rochester, NY Rochester Armory
* 4/24 Norfolk, VA The NorVA
* 4/25 Richmond, VA The National
* 4/26 Knoxville, TN Knoxville Civic Coliseum
* 4/27 Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center
* 4/28 Birmingham, AL Boutwell Auditorium
* 4/29 Tallahassee, FL The Moon
* 5/03 Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz Civic Center
* 5/04 Sacramento, CA Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
* 5/10 Blue Lake, CA Blue Lake Casino
* 5/11 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
* 5/12 Seattle, WA BASS CENTER VI WaMu Theater

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:

Room 16: The Los Angeles Free Music Society: Pyramid Headphones, 1976. People sat around on the hotel room bed and placed black cardboard pyramids on top of their heads. The pyramids were rigged up with speakers and each one produced a unique electronic racket. I tried to get away with merely observing but quickly changed my mind when a participant handed me a pyramid and insisted that I give it a whirl. With the cardboard on my head, I heard a mixture of beeps and twangs and the gentleman next to me yelling “Aren’t the colors beautiful?” I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about but it sure sounded cool.

Robert Wilhite: Bob Wilhite in Concert, 1975 occupied Room 9. Visitors were invited to pick up the motel phone and dial “106” to call another room and hear a performance. Every person who participated was treated to a different experience.

Room 8 featured Bruce Nauman, Violin Turned D.E.A.D., 1969. This was a replication of Nauman’s practice of incorporating boredom, exhaustion, and the superimposition of unlike systems into art and music. The room was occupied by an extremely focused violinist who played the D, E, A, D notes for an entire hour.

John Cage, Variations IV, 1963 took place in Room 25. Here, guests were encouraged to participate in making various musical sounds with a variety of ‘instruments.’ As Scott Benzel sat on a bed playing around with a laptop, people stood in the corner and ran a crystal over a cactus, which was hooked up to a speaker system. As the interactive exhibit continued. People changed the television channels to create new background noises.

Welcome Inn Time Machine gave Southern Californians the change to relive some of the most bizarre, unique, and cutting edge moments in experimental music history. It also made many reexamine the way that they look at household objects. I know I’m now tempted to add a cactus to my musical instrument collection. Those thorns make wicked sounds!

Words by Nicole Pajer (@NicolePajer). Photos by Catie Laffoon (@CatieLaffoon).

On the tail end of his Tour de Roses—a sort of reinvention procession that’s featured a host of new material from not one but two purported LPs due this year—the Trinidad-born and Brooklyn-raised rapper wasn’t just one of music’s biggest stories. He was a fashion icon as well. The aforementioned Cole Haan collabo was just the beginning. He’s been in bed with Bushmills, and those varsity jackets he and his crew are rocking on stage in these photos from their Detroit show come courtesy of a partnership with Nike. His age? He’ll turn 25 this month.

London is a mixed bag of emotion. Dizzyingly creative, an interview with him can run the gamut from esoteric to sociopolitical. Sometimes he speaks in hurried, disjointed fragments, other times he can wax philosophical about a specific designer’s fall collection in ways that are so focused you’d think he was renting space in the designer’s head. And don’t get him started on Michael. He’s got a special place in his heart for the King of Pop.

“You can see all different references on my Tumblr,” says London. “I might post a photo or a Marvin [Gaye] song. But you know, I have no problem if people can’t quantify my catalog when all is said and done. I want people to only think of Theophilus London when they think of me. I might wear a Michael Jackson shirt because I love that guy in spirit, but I’m not gonna compare myself to him. I’m not gonna copy those guys. They were the greatest to me, and I just want to take their spirit and their soul and learn off their whole career. There are too many fake Michael Jacksons out there.”

Very true, and if London keeps up his accelerated, high profile trajectory, there will be a surplus of Theophilus pretenders out there vying for his number one spot.

Words by Rich Thomas (@TheLandfill). Photos by Joe Gall (@JoeGallPhoto).

Lana Del Rey’s album is finally out, after months of hype and her viral video games vid… see if it stands the test of time… Ringo is still going strong and will probably be the last Beatle alive at this rate…. get out your leather and spikes and party like it’s 1983, the new Bleeding Through is out… or get our your hot topic belt… Faith No More keys guy Roddy Bottum releases another Imperial Teen album after another 5-year hiatus… bye.

Alcest - Les Voyages de L’ame

Bleeding Through - The Great Fire

The Jealous Sound -  A Gentle Reminder

Ringo Starr - Ringo 2012

The 2 Bears – Be Strong

The Doozer - Keep It Together

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Out Of Frequency

Hit The Lights  -Invicta

Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting

Candy Dulfer  -Crazy

Soja – Strength to Survive

Prinzhorn Dance School  -Clay Class

Imperial Teen - Feel The Sound

Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

The Internet - Purple Naked Ladies

Fionn Regan - 100 Acres Of Sycamore

Exdetectives -  Take My Forever

The Pines - Dark So Gold

Check out what happens when DJ Spider trades snowboarding lessons with Louie Vito for scratch technique, and get a peek at Reggie Bush’s hidden penchant on the tables after the jump.

ChinaShop caught up with Wallpaper. following their recent stop in LA. Check out the interview after the jump:

How do you describe your sound?

“Loud fun and weird. No genres, just happiness and power and freedom.”

Tell us what people can expect from a live Wallpaper show…

“All of the above. Plus Novena Carmel.”

What is the story behind you being called Wallpaper?

“Pop music is Wallpaper. Background noise with boring patterns and colors.”

How did you all get together?

“One by one, in different ways. Novena is actually my stepsister. Arjun I met in the war. Derek and I opened up a coffee shop together in the ’80s and Tom is my uncle.”

What is something about your music that makes you different from other artists out there today?

“It’s ‘music-al.’ I also say what I want to for real real. Too many artists are just forcing out hot garbage about cold garbage.”

What are your musical guilty pleasures?

“None are guilty. I like what I like and can back it all up!”

We came across a cool video of you performing at a pool part at The Standard in downtown LA. Are these typical Wallpaper gigs?

“Yeah I get down with a lot of those type of intimate situation gigs – house parties and what not. Never too good to not have a stage.”

What’s the coolest gig you’ve ever played?

“Wow. They get cooler and cooler so the more recent are always the best. Headlining Great American Music Hall San Francisco and The El Rey in LA were pretty special for me.”

I read something about you having a past crush on Al from Step by Step…was in the tomboy thing?

“Wow! Researchin’ me dog! I dunno she just had it goin’ on for me at that time. Something about a girl in denim overalls you know!”

Your albums have had some interesting titles. Can you explain the significance of Doodoo Face, #STUPiDFACEDD, etc…

“#STUPiDFACEDD is just a state of mind. It’s not a face. Doodoo Face is more of a face than a state of mind. But yeah I should prob not use the word ‘face’ in my next album. ‘ALBUMFACE.’”

What is your preshow drink of choice?

“Mix whiskey and champagne (The James Murphy) ain’t bad. The Hobo (Red Wine and Coke). The Angry Hobo (Four Loko).”

Worst decision you ever made prior to taking the stage to perform?

“Drinking all aforementioned drinks.”

What makes the best Wallpaper audience?

“People who are comfortable with themselves and do what they wanna do!”

Anything else we should know about Wallpaper?

“Yeah, but I can’t put it in writing.”

Words by Nicole Pajer (@NicolePajer). Photos by Catie Laffoon (@CatieLaffoon)