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Film Fridays 5 Reasons Ben Stiller Is Better When He’s Crazy

by Jeff Nau
January 20, 2012 - 7:20 pm

Wow, that’s a tremendous-looking trophy

After trying to make it through Tower Heist on VOD, I found myself confronting two uncomfortable truths: 1)  that’s 20 minutes I’ll never get back. 2) Psychotic, angry Ben Stiller — or at the very least, the disturbed Ben Stiller — is the only way to forget all this. So here’s 5 roles, comedic and otherwise, that could be enough to make us forget Night at the Smithsonian and even Meet the Fockers and the one that came after that.

5. Happy Gilmore: As the old folks home attendant who forces seniors into a sweatshop so he can sell their quilts on the black market, Stiller’s genius here is equal parts handlebar mustache and sad truth.

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Featured Music Speech Debelle: Mercury In Retrograde

by Rich Thomas
January 20, 2012 - 10:48 am

Take a look at this. It’s a cellphone video of Speech Debelle being announced as the winner of the 2009 Mercury Prize, shot by someone at her table. Their reaction says it all: elation, surprise, shock and awe, really. An underdog in the truest sense of the word, Speech Therapy took home the award for best album by beating out a field that included heavy favorites The Horrors, La Roux, Friendly Fires, and a then-little known artist named Florence and the Machine. It was a massive turning point in the South London rapper’s carer, but not just for the reasons you’d expect. Things got better, but then they got worse. The ensuing journey— documented, analyzed and cut to lacquer—unfolds over the neck-nodding beats and righteous melodies of Freedom Of Speech.

Confessionals, love songs, block party affirmations, sociopolitical rants. All subject matter is in bounds on this album, and each tune is supported with a spot-on blend of live band instrumentation and lab-tested synthesis, courtesy of producer Kwes. And her flow? Undeniable. Speech gels with hectic electric guitar (“The Problem”) as easily as she does with sparse acoustic (“Angel Wings”), and “Studio Back Pack Rap” proves that she’s got one of the most inventive cadences in the game right now.

With the Mercury in her rearview, a new album simmering on the hot plate, and an Olympic-sized accomplishment coming soon—a reinterpreted version of her Speech Therapy single, “Spinnin’,” will be the first official song in the 2012 torch relay—Speech Debelle checks back in with ChinaShop for a State of the Union.

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Music “Wonderland” at the Supperclub: Aoki’s Album Release Event

by Mike Bucher and Catie Laffoon
January 19, 2012 - 6:34 pm

Standing at the back of the Supperclub dance floor the bass rattles my chest like an old truck washboarding down a Mexican dirt road. I like it. There are people everywhere, packed in and each more obnoxious than the next. As I stand there observing, a girl in 6 inch heels steps squarely on my big toe. I yelp out loud. Caravanning waitresses caring bottles of vodka stream through the crowd bottles held high adorned with mega sparkler flares burning bright as if to announce the coming of a new king. The crowd pulsates with excitement anticipating Dim Mak founder, DJ extraordinaire Steve Aoki’s “Wonderland” DJ set celebrating the release of his highly anticipated, heavily cameod album.

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Featured Gallery Music Wu-Tang Is For The Children… and Everyone Else

by Rich Thomas and Joe Gall
January 18, 2012 - 10:53 am

Though Kanye West’s notorious bum rushing of the VMA stage in 2009 will go down in the pantheon of bizarre award show moments, it still plays second fiddle to the granddaddy of all podium-jackings. Next month marks the 14-year anniversary of O.D.B.’s proclamation to a stunned Shawn Colvin and an international Grammy contingent that, regardless of how you saw it, Wu-Tang was the best. Let me repeat that. Fourteen years ago this happened, and the full-length that lost the Best Rap Album award (to Puffy no less) was Wu-Tang Forever, far from their best work. But who’s laughing now? Who’s managed to singlehandedly keep the spirit of posse cut alive in an era of me-first rappers who myopically extol the virtues of popping bottles and not much else? The Wu. That’s who.

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Music Tuesday Newsday: New Releases from Bombay Bicycle Club, Attack Attack!, Martina McBride, Any Difranco, and Kidz Bop Kids

by Shop Keeper
January 17, 2012 - 7:16 pm

 

English indie rockers tap the vein for their latest Fix… Ani DiFranco keeps up her prolific streak with her 17th straight album… speaking of long-lasting, Guided by Voices quickly approach their 30h anniversary with Let’s Go Eat at the Factory… and Martina McBride now has a Greatest Hits Album out… so not a terrifically exciting week… see ya in seven…

Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix
Guided by Voices - Let’s Go Eat at the Factory
Ani DiFranco - Which Side Are You On?
Attack Attack! - This Means War
Kidz Bop Kids - Kidz Bop 21
Martina McBride - Hits and More
Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Color
Cate Le Bon - Cyrk
Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur
Jessie Baylin - Little Spark
The Big Ink - Future This
Howler - America Give Up

 

Fashion Shop Talk: Miyu Decay

by Zoetica Ebb
January 17, 2012 - 3:43 pm

Miyu Decay purveys accessories for the dramatically-inclined romantic. Billowing feathers, gathered lace and vintage silk contrast with silver animal skulls, tribal coins, buttons and heavy pendants. Cascading necklaces, towering headdresses, sparkling bracelets and more are hand-crafted by Stephanie Inagaki, the artist behind Miyu Decay, who launched the brand two years ago. I sat down with Inagaki in her Los Angeles studio to talk about the past, the future, and the art of dark bling.

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Music Saint Motel Announce National Tour, Unveil “At Least I Have Nothing (Junk Remix)”

by Shop Keeper
January 16, 2012 - 11:42 am

Off the heels of their first vinyl release, 7″1, Los Angeles-based indie pop quartet Saint Motel are pleased to announce their upcoming national headline tour. Kicking off in San Diego on February 8th, the band will embark on their spring tour culminating at SXSW. A full list of dates is after the jump.

To celebrate the trip, the band has made the stems from both songs on 7″1 available to all at http://www.saintmotel.com/remixes/ for your remixing pleasure, and dropped their latest offering, an energy filled remix of their most recent single “At Least I Have Nothing” from crime capitalists Junk.

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