Music Woodpigeon Returns

December 22, 2011 - 10:30 am

Woodpigeon returns with a new digital EP, For Paolo, available January 24 via Boompa Records. Led by songwriter Mark Andrew Hamilton, For Paolo was inspired by his parents, the cassette tapes they played on long, family drives across the prairies of Canada. Hamilton said, “My parents were always the type to find an artist and album they liked and then listen to it non-stop in the car for years. It’s these tapes which, whether I liked them at the time or not, formed an undeniable part of my musical DNA: Carole King, Falco, a truck-stop Hits of the 1960s compilation. The songs of the For Paolo EP are a valentine of sorts to those old cassettes of my parents – I’d like to think there’s more than just a dash of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tango in the Night’ in the title track, a little bit of girly one-hit wonder in ‘One To Many’. But then again, whenever I think I’m getting pretty close at sounding one way, I’m the only one who hears it – so you’ll have to excuse the thought that there’s a little bit of Boys Don’t Cry’s ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy’ and Iron Butterfly mixed in here somewhere too.” Listen to / watch the video for the title track to the album after the jump.

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Gallery Music Sparks Flying: Breanne Düren

May 24, 2011 - 10:26 am

Breanne Düren, the bubbly touring background vocalist/keyboard player for Owl City, has recently released an EP of her own. The 5-song disc, Sparks, debuted at number 3 on the iTunes pop chart on its May 3rd street date. Düren, who is currently on tour promoting her latest project, will be jumping back on the road with Owl City and opening up the set for several dates in major cities along the way.

Before her set at Hollywood’s Hotel Café, Düren sat down with ChinaShop to chat about her new solo career. She discusses leaving college to jump on the road for what she thought was a 2-month stint with Owl City, which turned into an opportunity that any artist would kill for, as well as how her experience touring inspired the songs she wrote for Sparks.

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Gallery Music Uh Huh Her: Night Moves

March 20, 2011 - 1:35 pm

The last time I interviewed Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey of Uh Huh Her, they had just wrapped production on their new album. They had no label attachments, and had barely found a way to get it mixed, but their excitement was infectious. It only took one listen to hear why. Noctures is pure, blissful, dark pop. The lyrics seethe with delicious angst, and the beats and melodies scratch and spark against each other like gears in a machine shop. It’s only the band’s second album—their first, Common Reaction, came out in 2008—but it shows an incredible amount of both lyrical and instrumental growth.

Now we’re both in Austin, a few months removed from our initial conversation. They don’t yet have a label on which to release their album—slowly becoming the best album of 2011 you haven’t heard—but that doesn’t seem to be stopping their forward progress. Before our interview, their publicist hands me Black & Blue, a six-song EP of new material that they’ve just written, and it sounds really, really good. Naturally I had to ask ‘em about it. Naturally they had a lot to say.

PS: This is not our bike.

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Gallery Music Who is Sozay?

February 21, 2011 - 1:12 pm

Sozay is a rising Los Angeles rapper who aspires to step away from today’s overdone rap lyrics that cater to egos and empty messages. Striving to provide fans with meaningful rhymes packed with emotion and heart, Sozay prides himself on his ability to comfortably expose his insecurities and give people a true insight into who he really is. Considered a lyrical mastermind, Sozay isn’t afraid to push boundaries and challenge today’s hip-hop standards. He looks to rappers of the past as sources of inspiration and constantly pulls elements of these iconic performers into his music today.

With a persistent work ethic and exploding fan base, Sozay is making his mark on the rap scene. He recently released a teaser EP titled, “Who is Sozay” and his track “High Hopes” is rotating through West Coast stations. Sozay is currently putting the finishing touches on his upcoming debut “Black September” and is about to hit the road in March to share the stage with hip-hop legends, House of Pain.

On February 10th, LA guests were treated to a pre-Grammy party, featuring a special performance by Sozay. Before the guests arrived and rushed the open bars, the rapper, who is soon to be on everyone’s radar, gave ChinaShop a behind-the-scenes look at his booming career.

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Featured Gallery Music Way With Words Takes Red Bull Studios

January 27, 2011 - 10:51 am

By the time I was 18 all I had ever recorded was the outgoing message on my answering machine. Not so much for 16 yr old front man Joey Cirillo of Australia’s newest pop/alt group Way With Words. He and his stoked band of still teen demons, Dylan Giannakopoulos (guitar), Luke  Mann (guitar), Sam Berry (bass), Jack Nicholls (drums), have spent the last 7 days in Los Angeles recording their first EP at Red Bull Studios, an $80,000 reward for winning Australia’s first Red Bull Bedroom Jam.

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Music Street Sweeper Social Club Tonight at the Roxy

November 8, 2010 - 1:48 pm

Boots RileyFeaturing the blazing guitar of Tom Morello and the intense vocal stylings of The Coup’s Boots Riley, Street Sweeper Social Club is more than a band, its a Movement.  SSSC is performing tonight at the Roxy theater in Hollywood.  If you have not yet heard of the band and/or you are a fan of Rage Against the Machine, you will love SSSC and you should get your tush down to Sunset Blvd. for one heck of a show.

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Music Junip: José González Has A New Crew

June 18, 2010 - 12:00 pm

Junip At Bowery

The last time I saw José González play was about 3 years ago at Webster Hall in NYC. It was a solo show promoting his second solo LP “In Our Nature” and I was actually lucky enough to interview him before his performance. It was a wonderful pleasure to find out that the Swedish-based, Argentinean singer/songwriter had an off-stage personality that matched his transcendental, mesmerizing, Latin-inflected, folksy rock tunes. At the end of that Webster show, he recounted a short story which threw all the attendants on a cerebral bender. He told a tale of how a religious man once flung a bible straight at his heart, and how he would have surely been killed if it wasn’t for a few bullets he was keeping in his shirt pocket. The misdirection and symbolism in the story only become clear after pondering his words for a few minutes. And therein dwells the genius of González’s music – as a listener you are absolutely transported to different dimensions and mind zones without quite understanding how he did it.

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