Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
I just finished watching two more revenge-themed movies from Hong Kong. One happens to feature my friend Daniel Wu. The other was produced by my pals Conroy Chan and Josie Ho.
Mike Park has been playing indie punk and ska since he was a teenager, first with Skankin’ Pickle, then The Chinkees, Bruce Lee Band, and solo gigs under his own name. Along the way, he began releasing albums for not only his own bands but others such as Alkaline Trio, The Queers, Kevin Seconds, and Slapstick, as well as starting the excellent Plea for Peace benefit compilations and tours. Mike has always made music for all ages, but his latest release is literally for the kids. Smile features indie ska songs for children inspired by having two children. After I played a copy for Eloise (above, who especially liked “When The Light Turns Red You Stop” and “Paint With Me” and even came up with custom dance moves), I had to find out more more about the new project by an old friend.
Unwound shot by Ben Clark
Besides being my go-to photographer for Giant Robot, my friend Ben Clark has taken pictures for the likes of Paul Frank, Emerica, Vans, Transworld, and Yo Gabba Gabba! But before Ben used cameras for a living, he shot for fun. When I heard about his most recent project, Wide Angle Sounds, which entails printing up some of his old, favorite shots of bands like Fugazi, Unwound, The Make-Up, and Rocket From The Crypt and putting them online, I was stoked and wanted to find out more. Hence, this Q&A. Holiday shoppers take note: the hand-printed 5”x7” shots are affordable, easy to frame, and cooler than crap.
On Sunday night I got to play records at the premiere party for my friends Tad and Thy’s excellent The Working Man skate video. Actually, it was our mutual friend and actual DJ Wing Ko who was initially invited, but he asked me if I wanted to join him. How could I say no? Isn’t it every dude’s dream to play his favorite songs at maximum volume and make a ton of people listen to it?
For my first, last, and most likely only effort as DJ Moway, I played one set of 7″ singles and another with vinyl LPs, EPs and compilations. Unlike Wing, who did some serious mixing, editing, and other tricks, I just played records. Here are the song lists, as well as links to versions that I put up on Spotify and shared via Facebook. Interestingly, each of the online sets can fit snugly on one side of a 90-minute cassette! That’s appropriate since they’re more like mix tapes for sitting around, shooting the shit, and playing dominoes than packing a dance floor.
Almost impossibly, Boris has been stretching out its style, cranking out albums nonstop, and playing super rad shows without disappointing its hardcore fans since it was formed in 1996. The Japanese band has mastered its unique takes on doom metal, ambient noise, psychedelic rock, and most recently, pop, while releasing limited-edition albums, splits, and singles that make record collector nerds sweat. Sharks were expected to be jumped when Boris released two albums at once (Heavy Rocks is heavy, Attention Please has J-pop influences) on a big U.S. label earlier this year but guess what? Both LPs ruled, and I couldn’t wait to hear how the pop mutations would sound live.