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

In his latest experiment, Psymbionic recreates The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1991 anthem “Give it away,” giving new life to an already energetic funksterpiece. Listen to the remix after the jump.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away (Psymbionic Remix) [FREE DL!] by Psymbionic

As a part of the upcoming generation of electronic music producers, Psymbionic creates aural experiences that demonstrate the possibility for multi-tempo Bass Music and culture to exist within a range of more divergent influences. With this latest project, John Burcham has been moving bodies and turning heads for several years, playing with acts such as Bassnectar, STS9, Beats Antique, ill.Gates, Excision, EOTO, and Tipper. In addition to festival appearances that include Nocturnal, Wakarusa, and Sonic Bloom, Psymbionic demonstrates heavy involvement both on the stage and behind the scenes at electronic showcases such as his local SXSW in Austin, TX. Burcham’s work informs his repertoire with roots in the furthest reaches of the electronic music scene, and grants him a unique perspective on each crowd through the latest developments of the industry. In a live show context, Psymbionic confronts mixes that are limited to the scope of the build and release, avoiding an industry epidemic of drop-monotony that overpowers the flow of music. Burcham seeks to prove that there are more powerful influences in moving a crowd than simple anticipation, providing an interwoven dynamic that relies on the strength of his blend, rather than the sole force or familiarity of the apex. Psymbionic’s theory of music is a journey that doesn’t visit the same place twice, building excitement for what’s next not because you can anticipate it, but because you’ve never been there before.

HOBO-TECH is a type of, well… “depression-era” techno if that makes any sense. The genre is steaming full speed ahead thanks to Jon Margulies and his pioneering use of rocking techno beats, smashed up freight train noises, iron skillets and and synthed-out accordions. Added to this curious concoction are hooks and samples taken from some of Americana’s finest the likes of Tom Waits and John Lee Hooker.

HOBO-TECH has actually taken form as a movement with a look of its own akin to the Steampunk days of yore. Here is a suggestion on what to wear to a recent HOBO party that took place in Brooklyn. “HOBO-TECH encourages all partiers to dress up Hobo style including suggestions such as high-tech hobo, low-tech robot, tech-house hillbilly, boxcar betty, experimental plasma waves bundle scientist, stew bum sys-admin, and Utah Phillips K. Dick.” Sadly, my Dick costume at the cleaners.

This is no crazy faze either kiddos. Since it’s fireside conception at Burning Man in 2007; HOBO-TECH has taken the stage at Coachella (opening for Bassnectar) and has played gigs with ill.Gates, David Starfire and AN-TEN-NAE.

You can connect with HOBO-TECH at one of his upcoming shows: 4/09 Kingston, RI & 4/06 Montreal, QC, CA and if those are not in the cards, just keep your ear to the rail and try to hop on the next time around…

Words and images by Dustin Downing

Hobotech Mixes by jonm/hobotech

So we here at ChinaShop don’t know what your plans are for this Labor Day weekend but if you don’t have any or even if you do, cancel them quick and head out to the Electric Zoo, New York’s electronic music festival out on Randall’s Island.  There will be tons of music, interactive arts displays and plenty of eats to keep your dancin’ pants on all day.

With The Chemical Brothers headlining after a slew of favorites including Major Lazer, Diplo, and Armin Van Buuren (and Flying Lotus… and Boize Noize… I could go on and on) the lineup is stellar even if you’re not an electronic music aficionado.

If that’s not enough to have you on the first train to Harlem, the festival will sport an impressive host of eateries including my favorite ice cream truck, the Van Leeuwen (ginger ice cream? YES).

I’ll be kickin’ it at the Red Bull Music Academy Riverside Stage all day, so come say hey and get down with Bassnectar, A-Trak, Aeroplane, Diplo, DJ Mendhi, JDH & Dave P, Jon Hopkins, Savoy, the Glitch Mob and XXXChange. Just put on something neon, grab a glow light, and shut up and dance already.

Words by Courtney Dudley

1.) Cave City Watermelon Festival

The Cave City Watermelon Festival is held the 2nd week of August every year on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  It is a 3 day extravaganza featuring live Bluegrass, Country, and Gospel Music, seed spitting contests, FREE WATERMELON, craft vendors and more.  Bring a blanket or a lawn chair and your dancin shoes, along with a hearty appetite, and sink your teeth into this tasty annual event.

2.) BeanFest & Outhouse Race

The Mountain View, Arkansas Bean Fest and Great Championship Outhouse Race has been held each Autumn for the last 23 years.  Here you can enjoy live folk, and cajun music while munching on a bowl of free pinto beans with cornbread.  Stick around and root for your favorite “people powered potty” as the kooky teams battle for the prestigious award!

3.) Caroling in the Caverns.

One thing to definitely not miss on you special trip to the Ozarks is ‘Caroling in the Caverns.’  Each holiday season, traditional Christmas carols are performed deep within the earth at Blanchard Springs’ Cathedral Room. The blend of area folk musicians’ voices and instruments paired with the cave’s perfect acoustics make for one radical X-mas experience.

4.) Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival

By far the most interesting thing to do is this four-day music event held in early June at Mulberry Mountain. It attracts about 18 to 20 thousand attendees for an adventure in all things eclectic.  Past festivals have hosted the Flaming Lips, the Black Keys, Wilco, Ben Harper, Widespread Panic, Bassnectar, and more.  Camping and swimming are encouraged so bring your suit and tent, and maybe some face paint and juggling balls for good measure.

What are you waiting for? Book your tickets to Arkansas today!

For the past three years, the Red Bull Music Academy stage has made significant moves to bring unique, vibrant and sometimes challenging acts to Detroit’s signature electronic festival. The Red Bull Music Academy stage has welcomed progressive acts ahead of their time, such as the first-class dub-step of Bassnectar (before he was selling out 3,000-plus capacity venues across North America) to the mash-up mastery of Girl Talk (before people knew he was an engineer turned deejay) and Flying Lotus (a product of the 2006 Red Bull Music Academy held in Australia). Don’t forget the wide variety of acts ChinaShop was proud to cover at both Movement 2009 and, of course, this year. In the end, the Red Bull Music Academy stage is simply taking a page out of the electronic music genre itself — constantly challenging the idea of “what is” and “what isn’t” electronic music as musicians redefine their craft and technology pushes forward. This year, the Red Bull Music Academy stage welcomed two more innovative artists from two very different worlds — the early dub-step pioneer Martyn of Holland and the classical pianist turned groundbreaking electronic wunderkind Francesco Tristano.

Red Bull Music Academy

Martyn forged his way into deejaying through the club scene in Holland in the late ‘90s. His passion for the nightlife and the music that fueled it continued to grow until he heard a void that needed to be filled. “There was a very hard drum and bass sound, and then there was a melodic one … but there wasn’t a middle ground,” recalls Martyn, a pair of large aviator glasses resting over his eyes. “After a while, I got fed up looking for it, so … I decided to find that middle ground in my own music.” Martyn would go on to forge rudimentary beginnings of dub-step (think echo-heavy, grime-esque house recorded inside of a cavern similar to what British-based Burial does today). Today, Martyn denies much of a bridge between what he was doing then and what dub-step has transformed into today. “In the last year, dub-step has changed radically. It’s almost a completely different form of music.” Regardless, Martyn’s knack for freakishly cohesive mixes and early innovations to the genre has landed him the title of “pioneer” via critical bloggers, journalists and artists alike — a title he hardly wears like a badge. “It’s just what other people make of it, you know?” he explains. “At the end of the day, you just do what you think is right. Whether that’s pioneering or not, that’s up for other people to decide. For me, it’s all about a personal expression and constantly reinventing myself.”

Pianist and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Tristano has been tagged with similar labels. From an early age, Tristano would improvise freely on the piano for hours at a time. “You could have called that classical, you could have called that jazz — I was playing many moods,” recalls Tristano. Tristano would go on to study at the Julliard School, moving on with a Bachelor and Masters of Music before studying at various conservatories across Europe. In 2004, Tristano won the International Piano Competition for Twentieth-Century Music in Orléans — not your typical Movement fare. But it was his discovered love for electronic music and his way of deconstructing and rebuilding the sounds of his new found favorite sounds that would set him apart. “The more I listened to techno,” says Tristano, “the more it had an impact on the way I was playing the piano and how I was composing. Basically, I wanted to sound like a very minimal language, to have lots of rhythm and expanding on the idea of the piano being a machine … that does much more beyond the keys.” By reaching inside the piano and manipulating the various components — playing with the strings through variations of hammering and muting — Tristano would “remix” Detroit techno classics like Derrick May’s “Strings of Life” and go on to collaborate with Carl Craig and Moritz von Oswald at last year’s 2010 Red Bull Music Academy in London. While Tristano’s talents reach far beyond his classical upbringing, the Barcelona-based pianist shares the same rebellious attitude towards a world of music around him that continues to force labels and define genres. “Boundaries only exist if you apply them to yourself,” continues Tristano. “The point is that I play piano. I play classical recitals where I’ll play some contemporary stuff and maybe I’ll throw in some techno standards, but [I’ll] play it on the piano so the classical audience has a chance to discover it in another form. But isn’t that what remixing is all about? To present music in another form?”

Both Martyn and Tristano represent the progressive, often rebellious, break down the box and build it again attitude of the Red Bull Music Academy and it’s subsequent stage. For the past three years, the Red Bull Music Academy stage has invited artists to perform that are ready to push the boundaries of electronic music to the next level.

Words by Ryan Patrick Hooper with photos by Dustin Downing

Since the launch of ChinaShop, we’ve publicly worn a certain fascination with Lorin Ashton and the intense wall of bass he’s built brick-by-brick as Bassnectar. From our first encounter under the Austin sun during South By Southwest to our days spent in Detroit at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and soaking up the Chicago sights with the California-based deejay at Lollapalooza, we’ve always sported our fan patch with pride. After catching up with Ashton’s manager and everything man, Elliott Dunwody (who informed us about the fantastic Playboy bunny brunch he enjoyed earlier than morning), we finally ran into the man himself. Within minutes, Ashton began dropping articulate bombs about his upcoming release, Cozza Frenzy, due in the first week of October on Amorphous Music.

“It’s very difficult to be a music producer worth any spit while on the road,” explains Ashton, as two Lolla-jumpers (read: two hippies sneaking into the festival) catapulted over the fence and were quickly nabbed by two moustache-sporting security guards. “Those old days of locking myself in the studio for three months … are gone.” Indeed, with festival appearances throughout the summer followed by an extensive fall and winter tour supporting his latest release, time is a tough currency to come by. “So, as a result of all that, I’ve got a project … that I’ve been working on for three years. Yes, every song needs to be polished — they are all what I use in my live sets — but they are big, raw, open sketches that I’ve been mashing with other things. It’s been really intense … every moment of the summer has been spent on the road DJing or at home speeding through this trying to wrap it up.”

Words by Ryan Patrick Hooper, photos by Dustin Downing

Whether you were grinding along with the heaps of patrons in the audience, sacrificing your drinks to the Gods above in the VIP lounge or planted on boxes of gear backstage, everyone was smothered in a sticky, relentless coating of thundering bass as Bassnectar closed the Red Bull Music Academy stage on Monday night. Unleashing his Whip-It brand bass lines (imagine those adolescent wah-wahs magnified by a million) and eclectic dub step to new wave mash up style and you’ve got a good reason why the majority of the independent vendors were shut down as the sun set and the more hair than flare DJ took to the stage — who would want to miss it? But Bassnectar’s set wasn’t without complication as Lorin Ashton, the California-based multi-instrumentalist behind the name, is quick to point out.

“Last night, we were in Chicago … for Summer Camp,” explains Ashton, his long, flowing locks a well-known calling card for the artist and excellent fodder for the rabid photographers who stormed the stage during his set. “I was bouncing around on the stage as usual, and two minutes later, my whole table crashes — laptops fall, the whole sound system shuts down.” This wasn’t only Bassnectar’s first trip to Detroit — it was his first time going back to the laptop that failed him so abruptly the night before. “On the first song, my computer crashes,” laughs Ashton. “I’m desperately clinging to reality, yelling at my stage manager and thinking, ‘This is the quintessential way to make an ass out of yourself … get in front of 2,000 people — literally a pyramid of people — and fuck up.’” While such technical mistakes were happening unbeknownst to the audience and the performance raged on, Ashton jokingly acknowledged the power of connecting with the crowd through such human error. “You, too, could be fucking up,” adds Ashton. “In a couple of years, just imagine! You could be standing up here blushing with me.”

From start to finish, Bassnectar brought the type of energy that many artists chase to catch — jocund bundles of energy, brilliant, spontaneous splashes of pinning genres against one another and a physical presence that transcends the usual requirements for what most DJs pursue and practice. But while his performance immediately pounced upon the audience and maintained the “rollercoaster of tempos and sounds” Bassnectar is known for, the last segment of the set welcomed a cooling, sharp left turn of a melt down few saw coming.

“I’ll admit — it’s a standard format,” explains Ashton. “I like the Goldie Locks approach of not too hot, not too cold. It’s fun to take people to that mental extreme and then give them something soft to chew on. It is becoming this tradition of melting it down into what I find to be beautiful trip-hop. It … encapsulates the way entire events used to go in the ‘90s when I was throwing full moon [parties] in the middle of the first with my friends. We would start off, rage it all night and, when the sunrise came, it was meltdown time — beautiful, perfect, sensual, mind-expanding music.”

In the same way B.B. King slides up and down the neck of Lucille, Ashton is quick to assign genders to the balancing act of intensity his performances splatter against the drawing board. “What I’m really focused on doing,” continues Ashton, “is balancing the masculine and the feminine — going into really perverse, perverted music and then going super melodic — and trying to ride those two extremes.”

Words by Ryan Patrick Hooper, Photos by Joe Gall