Download MP3 | ChinaShop

Music ChinaShop Tea Set Vol. #3

August 21, 2009 - 12:38 pm

A look back at 10 great songs we posted for download in July 2009!

Pseudo Slang – Bedouin – Pheudo Slang is the collaborative effort of Emcee Sick of Xtracts of Slang and producer Tone Atlas of Pseudo Intellectuals.

Corridor – Barricks – Corridor is the alias for multi-instrumentalist Michael Quinn’s musical project.

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K Max Justus Remix – inspired by Sublime Frequencies comps, Factory Records, Congotronics adding many new tropical, african, eastern flourishes to their latest material.

Adultnapper – Echologist The Score – 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.

Afghan Raiders – Admirals Doorbells - 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.

Battlehooch – The Special Place – 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.

Nas- Film – The Red Bull Big Tune 2008 winner, C-Sick collaboration with Hip-Hop lyricist Nas.

Stellastarr – Freak Out – American Indie Rock band based in NYC.

Black Heart Procession – Rats - Indie Rock band based in San Diego, CA.

Awol One- Celebrate – Since coming up through the indie hip-hop scene in the late-90s, , Awol with his gruff resonance is a voice to remember but one that has never been easy to define.

Music Zaza

by Shop Keeper

August 17, 2009 - 1:49 pm

Kanine Records | Riding in on oceanic waves of drone and immense muscular drums, enter the spectral pop duo Zaza. While associated with their peers in Brooklyn’s recent exploding indie-pop/shoegaze scene, Zaza sonically contrast from their guitar-pop brethren in favor of something darker, more mysterious driven by haunting, ethereal vocals and rolling, cavernous rhythms. Recently signing to Kanine Records (Chairlift, Grizzly Bear), the duo is set to release their mesmerizing debut EP “Cameo” this August.

Zaza – Sooner or Later

Read the full story →

Music As Tall As Lions

by Shop Keeper

August 12, 2009 - 12:42 pm

As Tall As Lions - photo by Shawn Brackbill

The third full-length album by New York’s As Tall As Lions, You Can’t take It With You, is a thoughtful, textured tour de force of soundscapes, vocal harmonies, melodies and insightful lyrics about the modern world. The songs’ subject matter faces head-on the politics of God, love, war, and the human condition while examining everyday struggles such as anxiety, isolation, and money.” With You Can’t Take It With You, the band; vocalist-guitarist Dan Nigro, guitarist Saen Fitzgerald, bassist Julio Tavarez and drummer Cliff Sarcona, has made its smartest and most impressive album to date.

As Tall As Lions – Circles

Album available in stores August 18th 2009

08/11/09     Gothic Theatre, Denver, CO
08/12/09     Murray Theatre, Salt Lake City, UT
08/13/09     Neurolux, Boise, ID
08/14/09     Neumos, Seattle, WA
08/15/09     Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
08/17/09     Empire Event Center, Sacramento, CA
08/20/09     The Casbah, San Diego, CA
08/26/09     The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
08/28/09     Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA
08/29/09     Velvet Jones, Santa Barbara, CA
08/30/09     El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
08/31/09     El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

Music The Lords of Altamont Give Good Hurt

by Barbie Brady and Dustin Downing

August 4, 2009 - 11:43 am

The LA based mondo motorcycle band, The Lords of Altamont give me faith in rock n roll. Lead singer, Jake “The Preacher” Cavaliere is a true showman, whether he’s standing on his electronic organ, or owning the microphone, he commands attention. The show this past Friday night at the Good Hurt in Mar Vista CA started with a wall of sound and ended with 5 stylish but sweaty dudes giving it their all.

The Lords just returned from playing 32 shows in 35 days throughout Europe. No luxury tour coaches for these boys, just 5 guys in a rented van with a map and the passion to play. None the worse for wear they managed to make it out a little tougher, a little wiser, completely selling out of every piece of merch they took with em. Turns out they actually are big in Belguim.

Read the full story →

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

Read the full story →

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

Read the full story →

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

Read the full story →

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