K-Picks: Tonight by SPICA

spicaThe past couple of weeks in our garage office of Retrenders our team was blasting Kpop songs from Kpop girl group Crayon Pop, now we are listening to SPICA.

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K-Picks: Crayon Pop 크레용팝 빠빠빠 (Bar Bar Bar)

crayon pop bar bar barAccording to my friend in South Korea, this is the latest and hottest girl group on the Kpop charts – Crayon Pop with “Bar Bar Bar”!  The song went viral and straight to Number 1 on the Kpop Billboard charts.  The 5 members are:  Baek Bo-Ram, Kim Min-Young, Heo Min-Jin, Heo Min-Seon, Park Hye-Kyeong and Sekine Arisa.

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Pitch Perfect Special Edition DVD @ Target

Pitch Perfect DVD

If you haven’t seen Pitch Perfect then you must see it! It’s outrageous fun and it’ll keep you singing. This Limited-Edition Target Exclusive is too awesome for any Pitch Perfect and Anna Kendrick fans! The Aca-Awesome Pitch Perfect package comes along with the DVD, The “Cup” from the famous scene, two markers, 1 pencil and the Bellas’ sunglasses.

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Ramen and a Half @ Jpop Summit 2013 SF

jpop summit pamyu pamyu

Jpop Summit 2013 was held in San Francisco’s Japantown and Union Square districts simultaneously on July 27-28, 2013. The Ramen crew was there to check out this thriving event. We also see Eddie hyped up for Jpop superstar singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Ramon tasting some drinks and having a frightening fun interview with “The Killer Wolf.”

“The Paintings of Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo in Movement”

Dances of Mexico with the collaborative artistry of Ballet!

Some purist say traditional folkloric dances shouldn’t be changed because it changes the theme of originality. That’s fine, but as time moves on, dances take on new meaning in context to moments in one’s life and this is exactly what Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco has done for their piece, “Las Pinturas de Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo en Movimiento”, that will be showcasing this Saturday! – July 27, 2013 2PM & 8PM at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose, CA.

For tickets click here www.cityboxoffice.com

I attended last year’s performance and I’m thankful that I did! I was amazed by the elaborate and vibrant colors of costumes, traditional dances and the interjected dramatic collaboration of ballet pieces into the show to tell you the story of Diego y Frida through dance.

ensambles postcard

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Reading Songs That Saved Your Life: The Art of the Smiths 1982 – 87

Songs That Saved Your Life

It all started with my brother. I was just a kid in the 1980’s and most of my musical knowledge at that time sprouted from my older brother’s record collection. An album he absolutely cherished in late 1986 was The Queen is Dead by The Smiths, who I’ve heard of earlier when he purchased their previous album Meat is Murder. I didn’t pay any mind to Meat is Murder since I foolishly passed it off as another group in his British collection – like another Duran Duran or maybe similar to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Boy was I dead wrong.

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Viral Video Friday: Final Fantasy Dance Tribute

final fantasy dance moves

Dance choregraphers Mike Song and Tony Tran really like Final Fantasy and here’s there dance tribute.  Lock and pop!

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Battle of the Year 2013 – October 19th

battleoftheyearjapan

These bgirls from Japan are battling for a spot at this years break-dancing championships – Battle of the Year.  This 2 on 2 bgirl team battle features Body Carnival vs Kanamyw in the Finals to see who will be sent to Germany.

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MC Frontalot – “I’ll Form The Head”

mc frontalot

My nerdcore hip-hop tune for the week – MC Frontalot with “I’ll Form The Head” featuring Dr Awkward and ZeaLouS1.  A cool tribute to the iconic ’80s Voltron Lions cartoon.

mc frontalot team

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Adidas Unite All Originals – Snoop Dogg & 2NE1

adidas unite all originals

Adidas has been rocking a solid PR campaign with “Unite All Originals” line-up of kicks and apparel wear.

snoop dogg 2ne1

A couple of weeks back, Adidas sponsored a concert featuring rapper Snoop Dogg and Kpop power girl group 2NE1 who are known to rock Adidas Originals x Jeremy Scott sneakers and clothing.

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Jake Shimabukuro – Life on Four Strings

jake shimabukuroA couple of members on our Retrenders team loves playing the ukulele all day all the time and especially our host Eddie for Ramen & a Half.  I bet you he will DVR this new documentary showing on PBS about ukulele maestro Jake Shimabukuro.  Filmmaker Tad Nakamura took 3 years filming Jake on his ukulele journey.

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Introducing the Cosplay pop outfit: the Super Dolls

superdolls

What happens when you put together a World Famous Cosplayer, a World Cosplay Summit Grand Champion, and Cosplayer/Singer/Voice Actress together?  You get the – Super Dolls featuring Alodia, RiE, and Fujaara with their first single:  “アジアの変身(Asia no henshin)”  The album drops May 2013 in the Philippines and June 5th, 2013 in Japan.

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Actress Anna Kendrick joins Kpop group F(X)

annafx

Exclusive video from Funny or Die has actress Anna Kendrick joining super Kpop girl-group F(X).  I have to admit it’s funny, especially when she’s playing Starcraft.

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Numark’s Latest Mixtrack Pro II is Here!

numarkmixtrackpro2

With the growing popularity of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) in recent years, everybody wants to be a DJ now – and even Paris Hilton (I won’t post any video links because it’s just tragic, but if you are curious, you can find the clips on YouTube.)!  Now back to the subject at hand, Numark made a super popular beginning all-in-one DJ USB controller – the Mixtrack Pro in the past and it was a hot seller.  The company just released it’s latest earlier this month with the Mixtrack Pro II.  For me, I think this is a great starter set for anybody wanting to know more about DJing and having friends over a house party.

MSRP:  $300.00USD

For more info, go to:  Numark Mixtrack Pro II.

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UMF 2013: KASKADE FULL MP3 Download

If you weren’t able to attend Kaskade’s appearance at the Ultra Music Festival (UMF) 2013 then the EDM DJ star uploaded his full DJ jam session on his YouTube channel.  It’s pure stadium dance bliss.

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Bowie Beau Oui: The Complete David Bowie

Complete David Bowie

When this book came across our desk, I jumped at the chance at reviewing this. Having grown up in the 1980’s, I lived through Bowie’s commercially successful Let’s Dance years but soon found out that there was much more to the singer than the very popular “Modern Love” and “China Girl” that were dominating radio stations and MTV at the time. What was at first just my curiosity into what he did in the decades before, blossomed into a lifelong infatuation with one of the best and most innovative musicians of all time. Since then, I’ve meticulously listened through past albums and singles; from the excellent glam rock classic The Man Who Sold The World, through his iconic Ziggy Stardust and Thin White Duke years, to the Berlin trilogy in the late 70’s.

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Sol Republic x Deadmau5 = Sexy Headphones

EDM star Deadmau5 collaborates with headphone maker Sol Republic.  These funky fresh headphones were designed by artist Joshua Davis and the end result is the Deadmau5 Tracks HD On-Ear headphones.

MSRP:  $149.99USD

For more info, go to:  Sol Republic x Deadmau5.

Wanna hear some Deadmau5? Here’s a recent selection – “Professional Griefers” feat. Gerard Way:

Spotlight #8: Behind-the-Scenes with Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco

Retrenders visited Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco to catch a glimpse into the intense planning and preparation that took place months ago for the upcoming 20th anniversary show, “Las Pinturas de Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo en Movimiento” (The paintings of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Movement).

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Ensambles, a premier Mexican folk dance company in San Francisco, has been presenting the art, dance and culture of Mexico on stages and venues in the Bay Area and abroad throughout the last 20 years.

The company, led by artistic visionary, Zenón Barron, will be presenting its capstone performances at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco and at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park.

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The cast of Ensambles is over 35 dancers strong, with training in multiple dance disciplines. The special presentation will bring together the dance company and three of the Bay Area’s finest traditional musical groups: Vinic-Kay (La Gente y el Canto), Cascada de Flores and Los Compas.

Show schedule:

November 3, 2012 – 7:30pm – Herbst Theater, San Francisco

November 17, 2012 – 7:30pm – Spreckels Performing Arts Center, Rohnert Park

Tickets can be purchased at City Box Office

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For more info, see: Ensambles and Cascada de Flores

Contributed by Al Morales (aka greyluvr)
Host, Retrenders Spotlight

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Viral Video Friday: 8-Bit Blues!

Check out this wicked MV by Kid Koala – 8-bit Blues:

 

Soundtype Track 2 – Jamaica in Two Parts

Since this is Soundtype’s second post, why not write about two recent songs that just happen to have the same song title – and both are very,very catchy. First up is a band from London called Theme Park with their second single “Jamaica” which was released on August 20, 2012. The band consists of two brothers and two school friends and their indie-pop sound resembles another English group, Bombay Bicycle Club, which coincidentally, they’ve also toured with last year. The track has got that tropical, laid-back flavor and, with every listen, it just makes you want to fly to Mo Bay and get some rum.  Here is “Jamaica” by Theme Park:

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Viral Video Friday: Cool Pop Tracks

For today’s Viral Video Friday, I got two cool songs that I’m jamming to on my iPod.

This neat looking music video is by AlunaGeorge.  “Your Drums, Your Love” is a sexy uptempo R&B style track.

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“For My Sins” by Jess Mills is a nice pop ballad for the ears.

Happy Friday!

8-Bit “Never Gonna Give You Up”

So last week we gave you a Mad Men version of the Rick Astley…dare I say “classic?” If that tickled your fancy and are always on the look out for different versions of that heart-swooning song, may I present an 8 bit version?

Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.

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By Contributing Blogger:  M. Do.

Soundtype Track 1 – Tunogo’s Remix of After The Fall’s “Don’t Feel”

We’re starting a new weekly blog series here on Retrenders called Soundtype where I’ll cover emerging artists or indie music that have recently hit my playlist. New music is an obsession of mine – just listening to new tracks takes up most of my day –  so it just made sense to write about and share with our audience which song or artist stood out that week.

Let’s start off the series with a remix from Tunogo, an LA based electronic music act helmed by Bass/EDM producer Jess Labb. She put together a nice dubstep/downtempo mix of After The Fall’s new single “Don’t Feel.” Here’s the track – After The Fall – Don’t Feel (Tunogo’s Benumb Remix):

If you like this, you can download the track for free (while it’s still available) or check out other tracks and EP’s by Tunogo on her Soundcloud page. Jess Labb is currently working on a follow up to the Intemperatus EP out on Sodio Recordings and you can find more info on Tunogo on their site – Tunogo.com

After The Fall (also hailing from Los Angeles) is releasing the “Don’t Feel” single later this month on September 25, and it includes this mix plus three others – here’s the teaser link for all the upcoming tracks.

Next week, I’ll highlight two recent remixes that just happen to share the same song title thus confusing me to no end as to which group sang what. See ya then!

Make Music with Incredibox

I found a new timesuck. Incredibox is an amazing website where you can create your own music by selecting various melodies, beats, effects, and choruses together to create a unique and distinct musical piece of your own. The best aspect of the application is that you can visually see all your additions at work by dragging and dropping various icons representing each desired effect onto the avatar. You can then record and share your creation with your friends and see among which of you is the most musically inclined.

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Spotlight #5: Ozomatli

Retrenders Spotlight took in the eclectic rhythms and musical tapestry of L.A.-based, Ozomatli, during part of the City’s summertime Stern Grove Festival.

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