Music Academy | ChinaShop

Featured Gallery Music The Sound of Sweeney

August 18, 2011 - 10:27 am

It was last September when we last checked in with Tutu Sweeney and his talented sidekicks, The Brothers Band, as they record ed tracks at Red Bull Studios for his debut album. Fast forward to today and Tutu is happy to report that the record is finally complete and ready to shop to labels – a task which will occupy his every waking moment upon returning from an upcoming East Coast tour with Aloe Blacc and the Grand Scheme. While video chatting with his brother Te’Amir in Switzerland, Tutu showcased his multitasking skills by simultaneously answering interview questions over the phone.

Tutu gives us an insider look at tracks off the new album and discusses his latest show at the Santa Monica Pier, growing up near the chaos of Venice Beach, and almost getting his arm cut off alongside “The Rock” in The Scorpion King.

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Music Spank Rock! Need I Say More?

by Shop Keeper

January 7, 2011 - 9:16 am

Hmmm. Here’ a particular group with songs called “Pu$$y”, “bitch,” and “BOOTAY.” And albums called YoYoYoYoYo!, and Bangers and Cash, as well as the pictures of some fairly big-bootied girls on the album covers. The question is: Has 2 Live Crew reunited yet again, or could there be a more devious, tongue-in-cheek rapper/DJ behind this nasty piece of work?

The answer, perhaps thankfully, is that the guys who wrote a song called “Get the Fuck Out of My House” — and meant it seriously — have been successfully parodied (perhaps unintentionally) by a more talented and spinner(s) named Spank Rock. Yes, no one’s still quite sure how many are in the group altogether. But when Xfm London breakfast DJ Lauren Laverne gives you her prestigious “Album of the Year” Award, and you’re being played on a Wish-Bone salad dressing commercial, people tend to sit up and pay notice.

His — or their – hip hop songs run the gammut, from the hard-hitting and bass-heavy rap of the early 90s, and combining it with that electro sound that’s dominating the charts today — all for a sound that sounds eerily like the aforementioned Crew, actually — and they’ve even composed an ode to producing God Rick Rubin. You can get a piece of the action right now on Red Bull Music Academy Radio.

Music Raver Chic At The Electric Zoo

by Courtney Dudley

September 9, 2010 - 2:06 pm

If you thought raver style went out with the 90’s, you are wrong. It still exists and is going strong, as exhibited this weekend at New York’s Electric Zoo. There was a strong showing of the favorites– tons of neon, beaded bracelets and so, so much glitter. But it seems 2010’s ravers are taking it to the next level by mixing current trends with old electro staples.

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Music Welcome To The Electric Zoo

by Courtney Dudley

September 9, 2010 - 1:10 pm

There was music, there was food, there was art and revelry. All the makings for a fabulous music festival came together and delivered. With 4 different stages, each boasting their own lineup, Randalls Island park isnt as big as some of the other large festivals I’ve attended (Austin City Limits, cough, cough) so you could easily dart from one stage to another and catch all the acts. And speaking of the acts, wow, what a lineup.

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Music A Conversation with Detroit’s Finest :: Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Slum Villages’ Elzhi and Will Sessions’ Sam Beaubien

by Ryan Patrick Hooper and Dustin Downing

June 4, 2010 - 1:42 pm

Throughout the weekend, the Red Bull Music Academy brought a variety of polarizing acts into Movement 2010’s growing spotlight. On Sunday evening, as the heat subsided and the Detroit River sat calm and picturesque to the south of the stage, local emcees Guilty Simpson and Phat Kat took to the stage with 8-piece funk group Will Sessions (think Detroit’s Dap Kings) to rock the mic and rock the crowd. Running through a catalog of music — from Guilty Simpson’s recently released full-length OJ Simpson (produced by Madlib) to Phat Kat’s legendary hip-hop album Carte Blanche (including a guest cameo on “Cold Steel” by Slum Villages’ Elzhi) along a selection of classic cuts from legendary producer J Dilla — the two emcees set out to translate their rhymes from written lyric to live, fluid poetry while Will Sessions brought recorded sounds live to the stage. It didn’t take long for those unfamiliar in the crowd to wave their hands on command nor did it take long for Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Elzhi and Will Sessions’ Sam Beaubien to dish on the experience of performing together on one stage and the state of Detroit hip-hop while relaxing post-show in the Red Bull Lounge.

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Music Brian Gillespie, Martyn and Francesco Tristano :: Wunderkind Unite at Movement 2010

by Ryan Patrick Hooper and Dustin Downing

June 4, 2010 - 10:06 am

For the past twenty years, Brian Gillespie has sat behind the decks serving up an educated selection of deep, melodic techno, funk and obscure jazz alongside his signature ghetto-tech blend to the Detroit scene. As part of the deejay duo Starski & Clutch (Gillespie as Starski, DJ and producer Todd Osborn as Clutch), has expanded his brand to a fresh audience after an eclectic set on the Red Bull Music Academy stage last Sunday afternoon. But as a representative for the Red Bull Music Academy in Detroit, many don’t realize that the same determination Gillespie puts into searching for records, he also piles into “helping give young, local talent the resources to [experience] the same exposure in a year that would normally take five, 10, 15 years.” Beginning in Berlin in 1998, The Red Bull Music Academy is built to cater to and foster budding talent. While burgeoning musicians, deejays, singers and producers attend, waves of established and often legendary artists come to visit and educate — think ?uestlove, Madlib, Melvin van Peebles, Chuck D, Carl Craig, Caribou and many more. Held at a mixture of exotic locations around the globe, the Red Bull Music Academy is an opportunity for young talent to get lost within their craft, to hone their skills live and begin building a name through one of the most accomplished music programs to date. But the reach doesn’t end there.

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Music Tokimonsta: Jack-Of-All-Genres

by Ryan Patrick Hooper and Dustin Downing

June 2, 2010 - 11:56 am

It’s not easy to describe the sounds of Tokimonsta. An initial impression could you leave in a world as “melodic and sentimental” as the artist herself is cute (see above picture). And even though the 24-year-old Tokimonsta’s catalog is somewhat brief, that initial impression could leave you locked into the wrong idea. Within seconds, this Los Angeles-based, self-proclaimed “jack-of-all-genres” can pull a rough, rugged and hip-hop heavy dose of remixed beats out of her bag and no, she won’t hesitate to use ‘em. “I love listening to varied genres,” says Tokimonsta, “so I wanted something with guitars. I wanted something with soul. I wanted lots of hip-hop in it mixed with that electronic, sonic value. As you create, you realize that the years and years of listening to music expel themselves into whatever music your making.” Kicking things off on Monday afternoon, this is the sort of eclectic thrill that Tokimonsta brought to yet another unique weekend performance on the Red Bull Music Academy stage. ChinaShop caught up with the 2010 Red Bull Music Academy attendee to grab up all the details on how this young deejay came to hone her craft and gain some notoriety with some help from Flying Lotus, the adversity she faced early on in the LA hip-hop community and the broad musical tastes that help keep the audience always guessing. We had a chance to catch up with Tokimonsta at this year’s Movement Festival and this is what she had to say:

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