Theme-time once more people. Got a guy so freaking cool, he’s built up an enormously brilliant record label ram-jammed with some of the best bands and scenesters known to the blog world. This Recommender is going to be all about him and those acts he has so lovingly shared with us over recent years.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you FRANKI CHAN and the IHEARTCOMIX record label…
Search online and you will find an abundance of mp3′s, info and links with Franki Chan’s name sprawled all over them. Amongst many others his IHEARTCOMIX label has accrued acts such as: HEARTSREVOLUTION, Toxic Avenger, Ocelot, Totally Michael, Matt & Kim and Acid Girls. Super-cool!!!! They claim to be “dedicated to challenging the music industry standards by embracing the ever evolving sound of our generation“. Perfect if you ask me…
The label also comes in other successful guises – as a radio show, a website, an event promoter, a world-class blog, an online clothing store and an online tv show, making them one of the best party crews in existence.
But I actually want to speak a little about the man.
FRANKI CHAN
This is a fantastic story of an underdog. Moving to Los Angeles, California from his home in Indiana, Franki quickly set out to penetrate the vibrant local music scene.
Joining up with the famous Steve Aoki, of Dim Mak Records fame, (see The Recommender 6 in the archives…), they ran an event on Tuesdays at the well-known Cinespace nightclub.
Sadly, after a period of success, it blew up in Franki’s face, (perhaps self-inflicted?), forcing an acrimonious and bitter split between them both. Steve Aoki, coming from the wealthy background, with the famous acting family and roots in LA, did his best to suppress Franki it seems, but our man persevered, regrouped and developed the IHEARTCOMIX label into the success it is today.
Not satisfied with a simple label to take up his time, he is also a talented illustrator with a comic book obsession, a musician, a DJ and is even sometimes found behind the drums for HEARTSREVOLUTION. What about sleep!!?? Not for this guy.
So this Recommender is for you Franki. The two bands below are on his label. Enjoy…
HEARTSREVOLUTION -
Boy / Girl combo – CHECK! Fashionable and goodlooking – CHECK! New York, Tokyo, LA and Paris heritage – CHECK! Cooler than cool punk-electro tunes – CHECK! As I’ve previously mentioned in GIG LIST 8 (see archives…), this tasty cute couple, also known as Ben & Lo, are bouncing all over the world in the upcoming IHEARTCOMIX tour, supporting the fantastic Midnight Juggernauts (in the UK). Like a more listenable Crystal Castles, these scenesters are shaking just about everything shakeable. Over in the States, these guys are well known for throwing parties out of their ‘Hearts Challenger’pink ice cream van, which strangely and yet totally candidly also sells goofy sweets and Japanese toys! These guys turn up at parties randomly and jam out the back of the van for all to turn to. Original and totally ace, they also adopted the UK artist and fashion designer, Kate Moross, to help design their live sets and imagery. Kate is just about as wonderful a touch as I can imagine, adding art and creativity in places no other band could reach. They are dedicated to progressing the state of music and pushing change in all the right places. Thing is…do you embrace such change? Of course you do…
Find them here: Myspace Last.fm
Hear them here: HEARTSREVOLUTION – C.Y.O.A (Choose Your Own Adventure)
TOXIC AVENGER -
Here we are with another post, so it seems inevitable we have yet another masked, electro, French DJ to show off! I figure there must be a factory in the outskirts of Paris throwing these guys out or something!!! Maybe they’re all actually robots distributed globally as part of some evil master plan, with a planetary mission to blow up all our favourite clubs?!? I blame Daft Punk! Anyways, this fella is all saturated, squelchy bounce. He always provides good quality tunes and he’s also been busy creating superb remixes for all our favourite people, such as: Late Of The Pier, Le Castle Vania, The Whip, Chromeo and many others! Thankfully he now has his first full official EP on release (14th September), called ‘Superheroes’. I give you the ‘Mixhell Earplugged’ remix of this tune because I love love love it! Oh and lastly - his mask is the best yet…
Find him here: Myspace Last.fm
Hear him here: TOXIC AVENGER – Superheroes(Mixhell Earplugged Remix)
OK, thats enough for this edition. Quite a long post I know. Phew. Time for a sit down, as your grandad would say. Until the next rave-up then. Look out for The Recommender on other blogs and media, as I’m now being asked to be interviewed, to be part of other movements and to generally spread the word. Nice.
Go forth and multiply…
Mike
