Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

aaron hartman · alicia jo rabins · Art · crystal ballroom · girls in trouble · greg moore · kento oiwa · kicking giant · land gallery · lois maffeo · monica choy · Music · MW · News · old time relijun · olympia · portland · poses · rachel carns · remake the world in paper · souther salazar · superchunk · tae won yu · the kg · the maxines · the moore brothers · the need · the northern · the owl and the pussycat · titus andronicus · victoria sandoval · Sep 11, 2013

Tae Won Yu’s Poses, Kicking Giant, and REMAKE: The World In Paper in one awesome weekend

Wendy and I flew into Portland, had dinner with my old college friend and his family, and then rolled up to the Land Gallery where we immediately ran into even more friends: artists transplanted from Los Angeles Souther Salazar and Monica Choy, musicians from Brooklyn Aaron Hartman and Alicia Jo Rabins. Portland may be a small town but I guess the world has become even smaller…

Like me they traveled to Portland’s Mississippi district to attend the opening night of Tae Won Yu’s art show, REMAKE: The World in Paper. As fans of his album cover art for Built To Spill and Versus might guess, Tae’s paper constructions are as whimsical as they are meticulously crafted. Wendy and I couldn’t not buy a print.

The art was amazing but the other reason we flew up from Los Angeles was to see Tae play in his new duo, Poses, with fresh drummer Victoria Salvador. As Paul Weller went from the harder-rocking Jam to the more soulful Style Council before finding middle ground in his solo career, Tae has gone from the art-punk Kicking Giant to the R&B-tinged KG to something in the middle with Poses. Fans will not be disappointed and, yes, he is still a rock ‘n’ roll animal. And who is that setting up in the top right photo?

Tae Won Yu’s Poses, Kicking Giant, and REMAKE: The World In Paper in one awesome weekend

augustus pablo · des ark · don't rock the boat sink the fucker · girls in trouble · half you half me · message music · Music · MW · News · osaka ramones · ramones · shonen knife · Jun 23, 2011

New releases from Shonen Knife, Des Ark, Girls in Trouble, and Augustus Pablo

There are some bands that you’ve listened to so much and seen so often that they seem like old friends. Shonen Knife and The Ramones both fit that category for me, and happen to converge in an album that comes out next month. Here’s a preview of that, as well as some newer releases from a label (Lovitt) and a group (Girls in Trouble) with actual friends. As a bonus, there’s a new collection of music by melodica master Augustus Pablo, who was mentioned quite a bit in the articles on Chinese Jamaicans in reggae that ran in Giant Robot 37. Shonen Knife – Osaka Ramones No longer the garage band with a cult following that covered “Rain,” “Luck of the Irish,” Heatwave,” or even “Top of the World” in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Shonen Knife is well-oiled rock ‘n’ roll machine in 2011. Their polish is evident in this faithful collection of Ramones covers, which was recorded to celebrate the band’s thirtieth anniversary. The Osaka trio demonstrates their knowledge of their New York by ending with “Pinhead,” just like a concert, leading up to it with a load of hits and one curveball from Adios Amigos to see if you’re paying attention. While I actually preferred the Ramones covers done in the rawer, rougher, earlier days of Shonen Knife, you can’t expect musicians to regress, and there’s currently The Romanes to serve that purpose. Ultimately, Osaka Ramones is a winning combination for die-hard fans of either band, and I happen to love both. [Good Charamel] Des Ark – Don’t Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker The album starts innocently enough–not to be confused with innocuously enough. A casual listen suggests that “My Saddle Is Waiting (C’mon Jump On It)” is just another acoustic toe-tapper with breathy vocals, but singer and guitarist Aimee Arote is a lot more complex than that and also more fiery. Song titles like “Bonne Chance Asshole” and “FTW y’all!!!” say it all. She has the class, charm, and chops to sneak into the rotation at Starbucks but sneaks in more than enough subversive ideas, dirty thoughts, and hot post rock riffs to get patrons to strip out of their jogging suits or business casual attire and get busy. [Lovitt] Girls in Trouble – Half You Half Me The Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan is no School of Rock, but that’s where Alicia Jo Rabins’ musical project was born. This is her second installment of songs that retell the sordid stories of tested women from the Old Testament and, like the illuminator of a manuscript, she takes the bleakest of situations and goriest of details and turns them into something gorgeous and pause worthy. The first song, “We Are Androgynous,” is pure indie rock gold with Rabin’s melodic voice couched in her own swooning violin and percolating stand-up bass from ICU/Old Time Relijun’s Aaron Hartman. The collection is an absorbing, worthy counterpoint to the better-known, dude-centric Biblical treatments of Metallica and Slayer. [JDub] Augustus...