Tag Archives: Culture Collide

Music Brother of the Jackal: You Can’t Tame Iran’s “The Yellow Dogs”

by Nicole Pajer
January 23, 2012 - 1:32 pm

Bands that perform in Iran must have permission from “The Ministry of Islamic Culture,” a task that is not easy to accomplish. After ruling this out as a possibility, The Yellow Dogs decided to risk imprisonment, fines, and lashes in order to perform their “Satanic” tunes. They began holding band practices on a rooftop which they sound proofed with garbage and started packing in the crowds at their “secret” underground basement shows.

After several years of gaining popularity as a rebellious Iranian band, The Yellow Dogs moved to New York and have been enjoying the freedom to perform without constantly looking over their shoulder. Lead singer/guitarist Obaash recently spoke with ChinaShop about “not giving a rat’s ass” about the laws in Iran, getting arrested for having long hair, and feeling at home in Brooklyn.

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Featured Gallery Music “For Us, It’s Called Music” – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
November 28, 2011 - 10:17 am

This year’s Culture Collide was so packed that we resorted to conducting our interview with Mette Lindberg from The Asteroids Galaxy Tour in the corner of a parking lot. Lindberg didn’t mind. She plopped a squat in her shiny gold sequined leggings right on the asphalt and told us all about the inspiration behind The Asteroids Galaxy Tour lyrics and the magical world that she creates with her musical partner in crime, Lars Iversen.

When heads were quickly turned, we had Lindberg plop on top of a motorcycle in her fantastic glittery gold outfit for an impromptu parking lot photo shoot. She was a good sport, initially concerned about the bike falling over or getting beat up by its most likely musclebound owner, but happily played along. The best shot of all was when Lindberg asked if it was OK if we photographed her “listening to the motorcycle’s heartbeat.”

Check out our feature interview with Lindberg below:

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Featured Gallery Music No Stranger to the Spotlight: Ximena Sariñana

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
November 23, 2011 - 10:20 am

Ximena Sariñana is no stranger to the spotlight. The twenty five year old daughter of a screenwriting mother and director/producer father became a household name in Mexico after appearing in prominent films and telenovelas. After a successful childhood acting career, Sariñana set off to pursue her true passion of writing and performing songs. Her Latin music career quickly catalyzed, earning her placement on the Billboard Latin Album Chart and three Latin Grammy Nominations for Best New Artist, Best Alternative Song, and Producer of the Year. She was also the only Latin artist to appear on the iTunes Best 10 Albums of 2008 Chart.

Sariñana’s latest endeavor is her self-titled English solo debut, a record that has earned her the title of VH1’s “Latest You Oughta Know Artist.” SPIN Magazine included her in their list of “Best Albums of 2011…So Far,” and she’s been nominated for MTV Iggy’s 2011 Best New “Bands in The World Award.”

ChinaShop sat down with Sariñana prior to her Culture Collide Festival performance to discuss how badly Americans have been butchering the pronunciation of her name (Her official bio provides a vowel by vowel description: hi-MEN-a sa-rin-YAH-na). We also talked about her first band being called “Happy Un Birthday” as well as how her latest adventures in cooking have left her with several battle wounds.

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Featured Gallery Music Lindstrom’s Viking Space Disco

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
November 22, 2011 - 10:48 am

One of the most anticipated shows at this year’s Culture Collide Festival was the performance by Norway’s disco Viking, Lindstrom. A legend in his hometown, Peter Lindstrom had a unique rise to what many refer to as the founder of “space disco.” In an interview with ChinaShop, Lindstrom discusses how he went from a young lad who grew up listening to Johnny Cash and Hank Williams in the oil fields of Norway to a notorious dance music producer and record label owner. He also jokes about how his one Los Angeles mission was to try a sip of java from Intelligentsia Coffee, which was recommended to him by the staff of his favorite caffeine house in Oslo.

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Gallery Music Rainbow Arabia and the Lebanese Synthesizer

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
November 4, 2011 - 7:24 am

Danny Preston (keyboardist of Future Pigeon and Whiskey Biscuit) and his wife Tiffany had no intention of starting a band in their early days of sampling beats and experimenting with electronic music together. It wasn’t until a friend requested a basement performance from the married duo that they realized they had something special that warranted being performed outside of the confines of their home.

In an exclusive interview with ChinaShop the Prestons discuss how they unintentionally stumbled upon their electronic project, Rainbow Arabia. They attempted to estimate how long they have been married, and explained that it was their dogs that brought them together.

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Film What is Kamerapferd?

by Nicole Pajer
November 2, 2011 - 10:59 am

Earlier this month, the Methodist Church of Echo Park hosted a series of film screenings. Among the films that caught our eye was a series of 15 small clips, which visualize the world with the camera in pixilation “and a whole lot of fun.” The dynamic duo behind this project is Stephan Müller and Erik Schmitt. The pair of directors calls their project Kamerapferd, or “Camera Horse” to the US crowd. According to Schmitt, “Camera Horse is just a translation for you guys so you don’t think we’re complete freaks.”

Anyway, the film clips are really fun but not as fun as Camera Horse themselves. As Schmitt and Müller currently reside in Germany and couldn’t be with us at the festival, they took it upon themselves to dress in matching clothing, whirl around in office chairs, and tell us about their project through a snazzy video that they put together in response to our interview questions. Experience “Camera Horse” below.

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Featured Gallery Music Gang Gang Dance Makes Contact

by Dustin Downing
October 28, 2011 - 10:52 am

Gang Gang Dance didn’t so much play individual songs for their set closing down Filter’s Culture Collide festival… They just sort of started with a breathy rolling feedback infused with lead singer Liz Bougatsos tubthumping a Native American hand drum intro to “Glass Jar.” Which is not only the opening track from their most recent pop/world album, Eye Contact, but a tribute to their late vocalist who was struck and killed by lightning a few years back. Liz then began to fill that void with an airy but piercing voice that sounded as if it were being piped in from a hash shop easily within range of a NATO drone strike. Synth after layer of ghostly white synth soon began to pile on top of an ever funkier pulsating drum beat. A drum whose passport sounded like it must have stamps from far away destinations the likes of Ivory Coast, Bangalore and Japan, via connecting flights from DUMBO. This melodic Tower of Babel built until the very last crash of a triumphant high hat scattered it abroad upon the face of the parking lot confounding the wrap-up Tweets of all in attendance. Yo tambien.
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Featured Gallery Music An International Cornucopia of Sound: Culture Collide

by Mike Bucher and Catie Laffoon
October 20, 2011 - 12:55 pm

It’s safe to say that one thing all cultures have in common is music. There is something intrinsic to the sonic vibrations of voice, instrument, and song that we as humans are universally drawn to. It is something that transcends culture or race. It is something we all share.

This October, Filter Magazine’s 2011 Culture Collide Festival lived up to it’s name, bringing together musicians from 23 countries to play on one stage right here in the heart of Los Angeles, and successfully creating an international cornucopia of sound.

We at ChinaShop can’t hardly wait until next year’s Culture Collide, adventure but in the meanwhile, we thought we would tie up this years event with a little bow by offering you some of our favorite photographs of the people that made this event so special.

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Gallery Music Chico Mann and His One Mann Band

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
October 17, 2011 - 10:25 am

Marquitos Garcia knows that it takes a special ear to appreciate an “obscure” genre like Afrobeat. While he welcomes a receptive audience, the Jersey-based one-man band, says he enjoys creating his groundbreaking Afrobeat/Afro-freestyle sound regardless of the crowd reaction. In an interview with ChinaShop, Garcia, aka Chico Mann jokes about not having time to gage audience reactions while he’s busy running the show on stage. He pokes fun at his alter ego, Chico Mann (Chico Maeng) and explains that he doesn’t take it too seriously. Garcia is all about the music, and thank goodness because he’s pretty damn good at it.

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Featured Music Culture Collide: A Success in Many Languages

by Nicole Pajer and Catie Laffoon
October 13, 2011 - 10:25 am

Sadly, Culture Collide has come to an end but what a soiree it was! The four day event featured bands from all over the world, including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the good ‘ol U S of A.

The kick off party on Wednesday, October 5 featured The Rapture in a dance-worthy DJ set, a screening of “Nirvana: Live at the Paramount,” as well as the Lucie Foundation’s launch of the Composition: Visual Notes on Music, a gallery celebrating the magic of music photography.

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