NYC | ChinaShop

Gallery Music Northside Festival: Brooklyn’s Best Day 1

June 17, 2011 - 3:36 pm

It was the opening day of the third annual Northside Festival in Brooklyn and at every step of the way I couldn’t help but make SXSW comparisons. First, there was free beer at the press badge pickup and I was off to a great start. The festival is very definitely music heavy but is also featuring film and ‘Ideas’ showcases.

I saw a few shorts by NYC filmmakers at indieScreen, a beautifully designed small theatre three blocks from my house that I didn’t even know existed, before heading over to The Music Hall of Williamsburg to catch Gordon Voidwell and Theophilus London at the Northside Festival Opening Party. I have to say that Gordon Voidwell stole the show. That voice! Their style! The girl on the keys!

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Gallery Music Coldwave is Coming

by Courtney Dudley

May 2, 2011 - 10:44 am

There is a new-old music trend a-brewing and its headquartered (surprise!) in the underground clubs and venues of New York City.

Coldwave is a term traditionally used to describe a group of European post-punk psychedelic experimental bands in the late 70’s and 80’s that you’ve probably never heard of. Taking notes from the Cure, Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees, Coldwave draws inspiration from punk and goth styles and then chills everything out a whole lot. Think multi-layered analog synths, deadpan vocals and lyrics that would bring yo mama to tears and you’ve got the idea.

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Art Featured Artstar: Katelan Foisy

by Molly Crabapple

April 19, 2011 - 11:06 am

Katelan Foisy wears many hats. An artist, author, magazine founder (Constellation Magazine), pinup model and tarot card reader, Katelan weaves together disparate mediums into a life that is truly art. Find out about her many projects below.

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Music Mandy’s Music Mail 4/15/11

by Amanda Boyd

April 15, 2011 - 6:40 am

When it comes to a collaboration between Sade and Jay Z, it’s pretty much impossible to go wrong or disappoint (according to the ever reliable and trust worthy pandabook). “The Moon and the Sky” (Remix) actually surfaced last Friday (after my glorious post was published), so if you’ve already heard this track, well, here’s a chance to bask in it once (or multiple times) more!

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Gallery Music Oh Land Brings it “Home”

by Courtney Dudley

April 7, 2011 - 11:04 am

Danish electro-pop singer and songwriter Nanna Øland Fabricius, AKA Oh Land, was the topic of much buzzing conversation at this years SXSW. She played a handful of shows during the festival and then turned around and played a four night residency at NYC’s Charles Bank Gallery in Soho in tandem with an art installation by artist Eske Kath.

Backed by a string quartet, keyboardist and drummer, Oh Land performed a thirty minute set to a packed gallery on a stage surrounded by art similar to what appears on her album cover. The set was obviously a collaboration between the two Danes– Oh Land’s characteristic white balloons made an appearance (they are the backdrop for her video ‘Wolf & I’) but were modified with projections of faces, planets, ballet dancers (Oh Land used to dance before an injury ended her career) and other peculiar images.

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Music Mandy’s Music Mail 4/1/11

by Amanda Boyd

April 1, 2011 - 11:27 am

NKOTBSB?! Mind. Blown. So NKOTB were a bit before my time, well I mean I knew girls who were obsessed with them, but at the time I was more of a Green Day girl (Dookie was one of my first albums, totes had the poster hanging up over my bed and everything; man I was a cool 8 year old…), however I was all about BSB (“I Want It That Way”, “Quit Playing Games With My Heart”?! Oh I could die. Such tunes!) so part of me is totally excited about this collaboration of ex-boyband heartthrobs. And their first single is undeniably catchy. This insanity drops May 24th.

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Event Invent The Future: Red Bull Creation

by Shop Keeper

March 25, 2011 - 4:04 pm

Start sparkin’ together those jumper wires, fire up the LED’s, make sure the power tools are on their chargers. From July 7 – 10, 2011, a soon-to-be-disclosed location in NYC will be turned into the ultimate hackerspace and serve as the laboratory for Red Bull Creation. For 72 hours, you’ll be thrown smack into the middle of a marathon of high stakes innovation. New York will become your playground as you roam the streets of the city and the alleys of your imagination, tapping into parts of the brain you’ve never heard of (or strike that, you’re the inventor here, you probably know way more about that than we do.)

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Music Mandy’s Music Mail 3/18/11

by Amanda Boyd

March 18, 2011 - 12:44 pm

Ooooh the sun is shining, the weather is beautiful here in the NYSheezy (it’s about damn time), Friday is finally here and two of my favorites get into town from good ol’ London this weekend! All of which makes for a very excited panda. So, let’s kick off this week’s music news with a track from the immensely talented, Skream! Stream. Check out his remix of Miles Kanes’ (formally of the Last Shadow Puppets, now doing his own thing) “Rearrange” after the jump.

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Geek Geek In a ChinaShop: Whedonistas at the Waystation!

by Teresa Jusino

March 15, 2011 - 2:32 pm

Racheline Maltese, Priscilla Spencer and I, contributors all to the anthology Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon and the Women Who Love Them (Mad Norwegian Press), took over the fabulous Brooklyn Waystation in NYC for a Big Damn Reading, celebrating the release of Whedonistas, which goes on sale today!

For geeks in the New York area, Brooklyn Waystation is a place you should know. It’s a steampunk bar with a TARDIS bathroom. No, really. I went to the bathroom and ended up in 17th Century France.

Kidding. About France, not about the TARDIS bathroom. That part’s true. But it’s a wonderfully designed, geek-friendly place that plays host to any number of events during the week like Steampunk Style parties, live music, variety acts… and readings like ours.

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Music Mandy’s Music Mail 3/11/11

by Amanda Boyd

March 11, 2011 - 11:44 am

For those of you who will be down in Austin for SXSW (totes jealous), be sure to stop by Jack White’s latest Third Man endeavor; a fully functioning traveling record store, which, along with exclusive Third Man products (including “drinking accessories” – natch), also “boasts an all-inclusive sound system backed by two turntables and a microphone.” All kinds of magic happening in that bus.

“Wolves” is the first track I heard from The Good Natured and it was love at first listen; reminds me of a mix between La Roux and Ladytron (which is clearly not a bad thing in the panda book). The guys were recently signed to Regal/Parlophone Records (Gorillaz, Bat For Lashes, LCD Soundsystem) so we’ll hopefully be hearing some more new tunes from them soon. In the mean time, check out “Wolves” and “Your Body Is A Machine” below!

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