"Pornography"w/Mike Dextro, Ole, DJ Duckcomb @ Pianos, June 27th

middle: Mike Dextro

Here I am with LIGHTING BOLT’s second CD in the background. It’s distracting me from this review so I just turned it off. I went to Pianos on the lower east side of Manhattan and the music in the upper lounge embraced me. It was “Pornography” night, last wednesday, june 27th. OLE was spinning mash-ups and MIKE DEXTRO joined him for some 909 rave stuff. It was good laptop DJing. No “tan-man-with-spikey-hair” shit at all really:) Mike dropped a familiar Bucketheads (Kenny Dope Gonzales) house track, and also the JUSTICE remix of Daft Punk’s “human after all.” Mike makes his own tracks that you can listen to HERE. Next up after Mike was DJ DUCKCOMB spinning only vinyl. He spun some minimal disco that I hadn’t heard before plus some mainstream disco classics. Everyone listen to BANGKOK IMPACT on Holland’s BUNKER RECORDS. His sound quality is deep. Mike Dextro has his own parties (MAGAZINE MAGAZINE, HEROINE CHIC) and DJ Duckcomb has his SHAREGROOVE events with Shakewell.

Shakewell (left) Duckcomb (right)

Thanks to mike for the party pix:)

Also,thanks to XIAOTING for helping me find my way around that night, as usual. She is a music journalist (among other things) from China covering a large variety of rock. She has written for China's Rolling Stone and works for Annex, at the moment. She is constantly branching out in the indie music scene. she lives in new york and is illmad-rad, in general:)

:)-r KG!

Kaiju and Nick:)

First hand experience working on KAIJU BIG BATTLE from NICHOLAS DES JARDINS, an integral member of the Kaiju force:)

"Really any live show is going to be fun. There is so much build up to them with writing scripts, matches and practicing, and building buildings, props, sets, and costumes, and so much stress over how the show will go. When it all begins and Louden begins his introduction, this adrenaline rush of calm washes over, and it doesn't leave till the fans do. I mean the calm doesn't mean that I'm not running around backstage yelling at people waving about monster hands and heads, as I shove them out into the spotlight, but a calm to my nervousness of... will the fans like us/get us."

"As for more in-depth sort of info, shows usually involve at least a month of set up before hand. On the day of we load in, set up the ring, set up backstage, have matches walk throughs and whatever other practice people feel they need, a final talk through and wait nervously as an opening band usually plays."

"My favorite monster is Gomi-Man. He is big, so impressive, he's a bad guy so more fun to play (you get to drench people in "toxic sludge"), and one of the few costumes that I feel have an expression on their face. He is also made of "trash" so the easiest and most fun to repair."

thanks for everything nick!

:)-r KG!

last friday, june 15th Rubulad loft party (brooklyn) + KG news

ok, news update
The Kid Ginseng track featuring Paul of Hope has been recorded. we had a great time in the session and in addition to his voice, he contributed lyrics. The 3 layer, harmonized crew vocals sound illmad rad. expect it to be on my MYSPACE, mixed and mastered within the next 2 weeks:) take a minute and check out Paul's band SIGNS OF HOPE positive attack,GO!

Moving along,
The Rubulad party had a great ambience. it all took place in a multi-room, 2 story loft, plus a rooftop. at first, the ornate decorating made me think it would be a hippie party, but no. it was a diverse DIY, and fun crown. There were 2 rooms with stages for bands, and then 2 DJ rooms.

The main dancefloor seemed to start off with funk/soul, then disco. and around 2 or 3am some moroder stuff came on! That is when I danced:) sorry funk/soul, I need arpeggios. then around 4-5am there was techno. it sounded good and i danced but the deep quality of the italo vinyl definately won. in the other room, the DJ seemed to play punk/hardrock like joan jet or the Slits.

one highlight of the party was the "igloo." it is a structure near the main dancefloor which is made out of paper mache, and lots of pillows. there are little nooks that you can climb inside. there is a bottom-floor nook, a 2nd story nook, and then the top of the igloo where one can watch the dancefloor. This tiny chillout area is where you are forced to meet people, which is a pretty cool idea. I liked it:)

the DJs consisted of:
Gimme Gimme Dan
Marty Violence
Sports Casual
Catalyst
B Dub
Justin Carter

The party is located on:
Flushing ave. between Classon and Taaffee
L train to Bedford ave. B61 bus on Driggs to Flushing ave.
then left under BQE. Rubulad is on your right just past the gas station

you can find out about Rubulad and more at DJ SMALLCHANGE.COM

Crystal Castles FUN party @ Studio B 5/25/07

photo by Stuart Pillinger

So, when I saw CRYSTAL CASTLES weeks ago at Studio B I felt very comfortable. I missed seeing ADULT. there earlier this year due to crunch-time recording:( Anyway, Crystal Castles had stage presence due to their singer (alice?) doing NON-STOP jumping/jogging. The syllables were spaced in a way which allows her to move her body while shouting. at this show it was a 3-piece with a live drummer. so he was there along with singer, and hunched sequencer/programmer dude (ethan?). the singer had on a "T-Ball" childrens shirt, along with stretch jeans, but MORE important was the strobe-light! I believe it was the Bangers spinning. I didn't study the DJ's hard enough but dancing when that shit dropped was really fun. there was a moment of loud disonance that I remember. so I had a great night. special even. I was with my friend KELLY HERESY. in '05 we put together a HONG KONG COUNTERFEIT and THE MR MOVE show. He's got some europian dates! sick bra.

Anyway, here is youtube footage from the studio B may 25th show!

CRYSTAL CASTLES LIVE w/strobe!

so...more up-to-date info about artists, and KID GINSENG will be coming soon!

:)-r KG!

RANDOM:

KELLY


X0 !ALL-MINE! 0X

Favorite '07 hXc shows!

Hot Cross

WOW! so much to catch up on! Im going to list some bands I've seen in '07, so far. I don't go to every show but I have my favorite bands. let's start with last january. I saw HOT CROSS at ABC NO RIO in manhatten. here is the link to Billy Werner's blog he does vocals:) I appreciate his love of dance music. I later saw them again at Cake Shop with TRANSISTOR TRANSISTOR, because I couldn't get enough. as far as LEVEL-PLANE goes, I basicaly missed out on alot of innovative hardcore in the the 90's (while I was obscessed with DJ battling) anyway, Hot Cross replaced others as my favorite current band besides MODERN LIFE IS WAR It was my second time seeing them. I loved 538 JOHNSON. A brooklyn band that I've seen a few times is DEAR TONIGHT The track from the new record is recorded well:) the snares sound punchy.

you can see Dear Tonight this weekend june 16th at 538 johnson. it's a benefit for ABC no rio.


that's all for now:) next I am going to feature a few bands that I have played with...recently.

Richard Serra, KG show, and HNATIW!

Yo bloggers,

I went to the Museum of Modern Art in manhatten last wednesday and saw the HUGE 15-20? ft. sculptures by Richard Serra, an american artist. the exhibit was displaying work from the 1960's to present, 40 years. one can walk around inside these huge pieces, and to me, the slant of the sculpture can upset one's balance slightly, plus again they are MASSIVE!



Check out the MOMA page for him and take the internet tour for yourself:) you can see a youtube video of them setting it up in the garden with a crane:) ch-check it!

Richard Serra at MOMA

here is a little flyer for a show I just played last sat. june 2nd.
DUTCH TRAIN: LA LA LAND, DEN HAAG, EXPRESSSSSSS!



the "dance kids" were slamming!!!

RANDOM:

what happend to the MASS. electronic duo, HNATIW? they have taken a long break and are apparently playing shows again:) I met tim and eric in northhampton mass, in '02. later on I traded shows with them a few times. they are fucking great! their myspace has been deleted but their website is up:

WWW.HNATIW.NET

you can even see footage of one of their performances here:

LIVE!



hands rocking the sequencers!

that's it for now, I'll keep you posted on shows and colabs!

-r KG!

5/15/07 blog debut!

Hi,
This is my first blog ever. I'm finally joining the rest of the internet music and youth scene. I write and record electronic music and alot of it has vocals, sometimes instrumental. It is my outlet for the many compositions in my head:) you can hear my stuff on myspace at www.myspace.com/kidginseng

here is the website my label made for me Official Website

I play live:

This picture was taken in Jan. '06 in The Hague, Holland, opening for Chicks On Speed

Recently, on may 10th '07 I just got back from Paris and Bretagne, France. I was sitting at Cafe De La Marie, on the Place St. Sulpice, in paris, and I met Jarvis Cocker for those that don't know, he was the singer for Pulp, the best brit-pop band of the mid '90s (in my opinion.) you can listen to his solo music here www.myspace.com/jarvspace it's REALLY good.

here I am in port blanc in the french countryside. The land of druids!

right now Im about to play a bunch of Connecticut shows (see myspace) and teaming up on a recording with vocals by Paul of Hope. He is the singer for Signs of Hope
an amazing, melodic, youth-crew style hardcore band. a great band in CT and nationwide. Outstanding vocals. soo positive. I also have plans for september to record with Anat Ben-David. She will travel from england to the US. She was a member of Chicks On Speed for a while. you can look her up on my top friends on my myspace.

I have also been asked to collaborate with Hong Kong Counterfeit If you like italo disko, they are carrying the torch!


This is a logo for Kraftjerkz Productions which is myself with partner J Steady. He is the first on my top friends on myspace.


RANDOM IMAGES:



my mother taught me how to use this cassette 4-track in around '95 so I could record a casio. I used it's gritty sound up 'till '03.



here is the split EP I did with A Beautiful Lotus. "Her Best Days Outshine Me"