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Music Styling for Mr. Popsicle Provided by GWAR

July 29, 2009 - 9:27 pm

“AHHHHH. Yo, man what ya be doin tryin clamber all bloody in me cab like dis?”, exclaims the dreadlocked cabbie in a deeply set Caribbean accent as I plop myself in the back seat. “What happen to ya, ya get al blasted up an runover by a bus or sometin?” ‘Let me explain’, I say as I glance up into the rearview mirror and stare into the eyes of what appears to be a dimly dome lit meat Popsicle.

You see my birthday tends to be that one day of year, much like everyone else; I want to be special and full of great memories. Hanging out with close friends, downing a 5^th of Jack on a rickety bar top, and maybe getting a lil’ action if I stumble across a sorority girl with self esteem issues because one arm is shorter than the other. But this year I decided to spice things up a bit. I would spend my special evening shooting a fanciful event full of drugs, homo-erotic sex acts, and murder. No silly, I’m not talking Randy Newman at Sea World. I’m speaking of GWAR at Comic Con 09’.

To be fair, I’m not a huge fan of the music of GWAR, mainly because I couldn’t tell you within in reason just what in the hell is being grunted on any of their albums in the last 25yrs. But aesthetically, it is rumored that this is one of those shows you have to attend in your lifetime. So, I packed a specialized dive bag for my rig, and set off into a cyclone of madness which can only be equated to the last battle scene from “300.” Please excuse the shoddy workmanship of the images, there is a certain inebriant complication of shooting with a camera housed in a duffle bag whilst being hosed down in pseudo-blood by a headless Obama. Enjoy.

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Music Ryan Beaver

by Dustin Downing

July 27, 2009 - 6:44 pm

Ryan Beaver is a young up and coming Texas Country music singer. For those of you not familiar, “Texas country” is a lil’ bit country with just a smidge of rock n’ roll. Ryan was recently selected to perform the National Anthem @ The Stockyards of Ft.Worth, Texas during the opening of the Red Bull X-Fighters event in front of 25,000ppl. I decided to ride with him and document the 36hrs of his life on the road with the band leading up to the fireworks. No fancy tour buses here, no roadies to load your gear, and no bottles of Cristal on the table. This is a real band.

Words and photos by Dustin Downing

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Music Pseudo Slang

by Shop Keeper

July 27, 2009 - 6:41 pm

Pseudo Slang is the collaborative effort of Emcee Sick of Xtracts of Slang and producer Tone Atlas of Pseudo Intellectuals. Based in Buffalo and Chicago respectively, PS have been closely followed for almost a decade, garnering international praise and acclamation for creating music that steps outside the standard boundaries of contemporary rap.

Under the umbrella of self-founded and managed record label Baby Steps Hip Hop, Inc., Pseudo Slang released their debut project The Catalogue in October 2004, a compilation of tracks PS recorded between 1999 and 2004 serving as a comprehensive collection of Xtracts’ and Pseudo’s unreleased work leading up to the formation of Pseudo Slang.

Pseudo Slang – Bedouin

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Music Corridor

by Shop Keeper

July 27, 2009 - 6:41 pm

Corridor is the alias for multi-instrumentalist Michael Quinn’s musical project. His self-titled debut album features eight tracks of lush, noise-drenched stories of passion, loss and coming of age in the modern world. Quinn himself, whom still in his early 20’s is considered a seasoned player in the post-hardcore scenes in Boston and Seattle. Upon recently moving to LA,, Corridor wasted no time getting key slots on shows with Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Xu Xu Fang, Winter Flowers and Rainbow Arabia, as well as packing up the cello, guitars, samplers and keyboards in his old vw wagon and performing unforgettable live shows at dives and art galleries across the USA. Taking his influences from 70’s kraut-rock, Swans, Joy Division and Django Reinhart, he makes sounds that only few can dare to categorize.

Corridor – Barricks

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Music Rainbow Arabia

by Shop Keeper

July 27, 2009 - 6:38 pm

Quickly following up their acclaimed debut “The Basta” the LA duo announces their next offering due July 28th, “Kabukimono”. More varied in color and tone, Kabukimono finds the group expanding on the template laid down with their debut “The Basta” equally inspired by Sublime Frequencies comps, Factory Records, Congotronics adding many new tropical, african, eastern flourishes to their latest material. Produced by Pit Er Pat’s Butchy Fuego the 7 track mini-album features 5 new recordings and two remixes from Brenmar (Bill Salas from These Are Powers) and the future bass, electro-crunked out stylings of SF’s Ghosts On Tape. Kabukimono opens with a tune brighter than anything they’ve previously done, the sunny tribal pop of “Holiday In Congo” immediately shows a departure from the darker Basta EP. The next song, “Haunted Hall” slips back into familiar territory with a sinister, snaking dancehall jam. The driving title track, “Kabukimono” touches upon their new wave influences and the tropical “Harlem Sunrise” throws listeners a pleasantly surprising curveball with the steel drums and Caribbean rhythms. “I Know I Love I See I Go” which appeared on The Basta is completely redone with new instrumentation and vocals into something slinkier and more hypnotising. Rainbow Arabia will be on the road in the US late summer/early fall, where they will be sure to leave every space and concert hall dosed with their infectious dance beats.

Rainbow Arabia – Haunted Hall

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K Remix Ghosts on Tape

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K Max Justus Remix

Music Adultnapper Ransom Notes

by Neil Feineman

July 26, 2009 - 10:43 am

If there were an award for best pseudonym, Adultnapper, a.k.a. Francis Harris would win in an instant. One of electronic music’s most important artists, this Brooklyn based producer and DJ comes to the scene after stints in grad school (philosophy) and hardcore punk bands. An avid reader of serious literature, he talks faster than he spins and makes you feel smarter just by being part of the conversation.

To prove the point, we begin with the sorry state of the book publishing business:
“Literature is determined by a few publications that tell everyone what is cool and what isn’t. I think Roberto Bolano [late author of 2666, which won the National Book Award this year] is a total poseur but these publications told everyone he was cool and that was it. It’s the dominance of a certain perspective, and it’s happening everywhere and causing us to lose not just real literature, but real music and film too.

Adultnapper – Echologist The Score

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Music Afghan Raiders

by Shop Keeper

July 26, 2009 - 10:43 am

AFGHAN RAIDERS are Mikey and Beans from Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither one of the electronic duo is Afghan nor do they raid, however, these generally peaceful guys have been electrifying dance floors with their infectious riffs and outrageous stage antics, which include showering the audience with gold balloons and bringing hardcore headbanging to dance music.

The duo first started when asked to open for Broken Spindles with only a handful of songs under their belt. In just under a month, they put together an explosive live set, winning over audiences with their single “Future Thinkers,” a song some might call an anthem for new age freedom fighters. Shortly after, the band went on to release their debut EP, “FUTURE THINKERS / SOLID GOLD,” under their own indie label and music blog, Badical Beats. Since then, the duo has been galvanizing dance floors across the US with their over-the-top energy and radical live performances. When Mikey screams, “If this is love then what are you waiting for?!” from their track “Solid Gold”, onlookers cannot resist the urge to dance to the beat and sing along with the hooks.

The band members say some of their biggest contemporary influences are DFA, Digitalism, Madlib, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip and Animal Collective, but both Mikey and Beans spend time everyday researching and blogging about the latest and greatest in music from all genres. This might help some understand why their music tends to seamlessly bridge the gap between genres like electronic, house, pop, and grunge.

Afghan Raiders – Admirals Doorbells

Music Battlehooch

by Shop Keeper

July 26, 2009 - 10:42 am

For any other band, it’d be unreasonable to say you want to be the first band to play on the moon, but for Battlehooch, it only seems natural.

Formed by a group of UCSC music students, the men of Battlehooch have taken the Bay Area by sheer will alone after moving to San Francisco in 2006. Living in a single house in the outer Sunset district, the band began showing up at every local show, adorned in self-silkscreened headbands proclaiming Battlehooch. Quickly garnering a following of musicians, artists and captivated spectators, the band’s early shows saw them playing with the same abandon as their marketing techniques, a raw blend of future prog, electronic compositions and raw 60′s maximum R&B. Selling out their entire 1000 copy pressing of their self-released EP, Battlehooch became the favorite band of every SF band pursuing what came next; perhaps more than their music, their attitude toward their work and the art of their peers had the Bay Area underground embracing Battlehooch as the way forward.

Battlehooch – The Special Place

Music Nas, Makin’ it Look Easy

by Max Herman

July 21, 2009 - 3:54 pm

Remaining relevant in hip-hop is arguably tougher to do than in any other music genre/culture, but Queensbridge-bred rhymer Nas makes it look easy. When he made his debut on Main Source’s “Live At the BBQ” in ’92, potent lines like, “When I was twelve I went to hell for snuffin’ Jesus,” quickly made Nas an MC you purposely sought out. Like many hip-hoppers in ’94, I remember listening to his debut, Illmatic, on repeat that summer in awe. On top of the first-class productions from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Large Professor heard on this classic, Nas’ vivid street narratives and raw metaphors unfolded like moving, gritty cinema that you just refuse to stop watching.

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Music C-Sick and Nas

by Max Herman

July 21, 2009 - 3:54 pm

It has to be surreal going from making beats in your grandma’s basement one year to working with hip-hop mainstay Nas the next. But C-Sick, the winner of the Red Bull Big Tune 2008 beat battle, doesn’t come off as nervous about being a part of this landmark collaboration. Instead, I see this 18-year-old newcomer as quietly confident and eager, not wanting to draw attention to his own anticipation.

Nas- Film

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