Shy Child – “Criss Cross”

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New York’s 8-bit dance rock duo Shy Child return after a three-year hiatus with a new track, “Criss Cross.” The new song features the band’s characteristic keytar and drum pairing with a denser, more eighties-sounding sound. Since their 2007 debut on Wall of Sound records, Shy Child have toured with the likes of Muse and The Klaxons and gained international recognition with performances for Stella McCartney at Fashion Rocks and BBC Two’s Later… with Jools Holland. →

For those who don’t already know, Junior Boys may have created a near-perfect dance album of 2009.  When I spoke with co-founding member, Jeremy Greenspan regarding some of their influences, he accredited their sound to “blue eyed soul” through the filter of such luminaries as Steely Dan and Carol King.  Taking their stylistic cues, they’ve blended proto-disco, early house and experimental electronica a la BBC Radiohonic and voila!  What comes together is a smooth, albeit long awaited, transition into their third release, Begone Dull Care. →

In the middle of the night while most Californians were sound asleep, the state legislature passed a package of bills and a bond that rewards bad actors instead of solving the water needs of real people and the environment. The corner piece of the new deal is an $11.1 Billion taxpayer-funded scheme that will appear on the November 2010 ballot. We are extremely disappointed that the Legislature passed up an →

The Bloggomist: Why I Love DC
Food Opinion

Ben Ali, founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl, passed away a few weeks ago.  Lines have stretched out the door of the Ali family’s business as the DC community has gathered to honor Ben’s legacy. For many of us in DC, Ben’s Chili Bowl goes far beyond the half-smokes, shakes and chili served in Washington’s historical U Street corridor (the intersection of 14th and U Streets).  →

The Bloggomist: Design in the Blood
Technology Opinion

Social media has opened up an unprecedented mode of communication where ideas, images, events, inspiration and all kinds of content can spread like wildfire. So it was only a matter of time before the bells went off in the corporate ranks as they woke up to the 21st century; a world where market feedback came to their doorstep. Tapping social networks is fast becoming a significant resource for information, and what better way to receive free, fast and essentially instantaneous feedback from a broad demographic →

The Big Juxtapoz Party!
Los Angeles, CA
11/14/09

Juxtapoz Art and Culture Magazine will have their Juxtapoz 15th anniversary benefit auction party “The Big Payback” hosted by Upper Playground to celebrate all participating artists and take the opportunity to come hang out with the Juxtapoz team. The party will take place next Saturday in LA in a huge location at the Factory Arts Complex. The event benefits the non-profit Power House Project of Detroit.   The anniversary art auction will be going on from October 20th to November 20th. →

WITHNAIL & I
Los Angeles, CA
11/17/09
Richard E. Grant gives not only one of the greatest comedic performances on film of the last few decades, but also one of the best on-screen drunks ever in Bruce Robinson’s criminally underseen Withnail And I, which comes to the Cinefamily in a rare 35mm screening. Grant and Paul McGann breathe boozy, riotous life into the duo of Withnail and Marwood, two out-of-work actors in late ’60s London who decide to take a break from their drug-and-drink- →

The Bloggomist: Table of Content
Food Opinion

One spring afternoon about three years ago, I spent a good while driving up and down Hyperion Ave., scowling as much about my inability to locate my destination as I was at my empty, audibly indignant stomach. Both hungry and fed up with the crooked, U-turn unfriendliness of the street, I’d just about abandoned my search when, finally, I spotted Viet Soy Café. →

The Bloggomist: Acorn & Oak Tree
Fashion Opinion

This fall, footwear’s taken a turn towards the professorial. The oxfords that started showing up a couple years ago have finally marched straight into our hearts. So, whether you’re channeling Woody’s tweed and rakish neuroses or Serge’s suavité in jazzy Repettos, here’s a list of my favorite brogues to carry you from library to discotheque. →

David Lynch Foundation Television is premiering a new, exclusive video on DLF.TV of a studio visit with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. Featuring an interview with Billy discussing his creative process and footage of him working on new material and holding auditions for a new drummer, the video is an intimate and exciting look at the in-studio developments of the Smashing Pumpkins. 

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