Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Strange Boys at The Echo (February 26, 2010)
Just because I’m not budgeted to hit any shows this month doesn’t mean that I’m not listening to music all the time. And some of it isn’t even from my childhood. This batch of new (and somewhat new) releases isn’t arranged alphabetically but more like how I’d place them on a mixtape. Start off with some garage-y rock, ease into classic reggae, and then hit the punk and thrash. Yeah, right? Longtime Giant Robot fans will recall that I interviewed Strange Boys and Lee Scratch Perry in the pages of the print magazine, while more current readers will remember the online interview with Classics of Love’s Jesse Michaels from just a few weeks ago. As for RAD, only the hardest core/borderline unhealthy Giant Robot maniacs would realize that the bass player Anthony worked at the GR shops on Sawtelle and played on the softball team back in the day.
You might recall my gushing review after attending preview night at the Chinese American Museum for its current show, Breaking Ground: Chinese American Architects in Los Angeles (1945-1980). I returned to the Downtown L.A. destination when it wasn’t so crowded to talk to co-curator Steven Wong (above) about the show.
MW: Architecture can’t be easy to show in a museum because so much of it is felt when you walk in a building or stand in its shadow.
SW: It’s hard to show architecture in a museum, and to understand architecture as an art form is even harder. But it’s something we interact with on a daily basis. Everyone has a relationship with architecture whether it’s conscious or not. When I was doing research for the show, I realized that Chinese American architects were responsible for many iconic buildings that really molded my experience as an Angeleno growing up.
Classics of Love at Barfly in London, UK on 17 May 2009 (Imelda Michalczyk)
On the upcoming, self-titled Classics of Love LP, Jesse Michaels declares, “Life is a game where you see who gets the most money/Life is a game where you see who gets the most power.” Those are some cool punk lyrics on their own but the ex-frontperson of Common Rider, Big Rig, and Operation Ivy backs up the sentiments by starting rad bands that never get played on the radio, play huge tours, or cash in. Instead, Michaels just makes totally honest, somewhat trashy, energy-packed, and supremely melodic ’70s punk-inspired music with hardcore and ska leanings. So I was stoked when our mutual friend Mike Park asked me if I wanted to contact Jesse about his band’s latest release on Asian Man Records. Cramming 13 songs into 23 minutes, its brand of raging punk channels Bad Religion (“We Need a Change”) as much as The Specials (“Castle In The Sky“) . Of course, the breathless, humanist, blue-collar lyrics are pure Jesse Michaels. Here’s how the conversation went…
Wolves in the Throne Room at The Echoplex (January 26, 2012)
It’s about time I checked out some bands that I haven’t seen a million times before. On Thursday, I finally got to see Wolves in the Throne Room. The Washingtonians famously play ecologically inspired black metal on vintage gear by candlelight. Oh yeah, they also play a contemplative and mind-blowing blend of drone and thrash. Super dark, extremely heavy, and much more riff-oriented live than on vinyl. Who knew sage and smoke machines could go together so well? Sadly, after waiting in line outside for so long I only caught the last song by Chelsea Wolfe and totally missed Hive Mind with Harrassor.
Kay Sage (United States, 1898-1963)
Yesterday, I was invited to attend a preview of In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States at LACMA. The show is the first of its kind, defying the traditional presentation of female surreal artists as merely wives and mistresses. It also conveys how the art movement was able to reach new heights in North America, where gender barriers were being broken more quickly than in Europe and additional inspiration and energy was coming from Central America.