Recently my roommate, Matty Pipes, and good friend, Steven Bloodbath, released the first mixtape from their musical duo, PIPES.

Meant as a lead up to their first release on Brodinski’s new label, BROMANCE, the mixtape not only includes a couple tracks that have become local hits around L.A., but several new tracks showing off what is sure to be a bright future for these guys. It’s a little Azari & III meets C+C Music Factory with a lot of sexiness and swagger thrown in. Putting on the mix gets me excited about the culture collide that is happening in Los Angeles right now, a place where seemingly anything musical can happen…

The one thing missing from this mix is PIPES excellent live show. It no where near comes near the sheer over-the-top coordination that goes into each performance.  Did you see the Madonna half-time show this past weekend at the Super Bowl? Well, she probably should have reached out to PIPES first and asked for a few pointers.

DOWNLOAD the mix now!

Tracklisting :
1. THIS IS PIPES feat. Sean deLear 0:00
2. FUNCTION 2:17
3. NIGHT ETERNAL feat. Sean deLear 6:41
4. HEARTBEAT feat. Alexis Penney 11:15
5. CONFESSION 15:22
6. L.A.B.K. 19:48
7. WANTED ON STAGE 23:30
8. FREEDOM feat. Sean deLear 27:30

One of things we set out to do with CHAMPAGNE is to create a venue where the latest and most boundry pushing electronic and dance music can be showcased.  There is no finer example of this than French Fries and Bambounou.

Both hail from France and both are part of a new wave of French sound that is blowing the doors off of anything that falls under the typical ‘big room’, ‘electro’ or ‘super techno’ stuff that has dominated these last few years. They are pushing the envelope and including a not only a larger Hip Hop influence, but are very playful with their choice of beats and classic 808 influence. They also make a solid case the ‘less is more’ in that more often than not the choose to make music with sparse sounds and empty space instead of the multi-layered, crunched sounds the US dance floors have become accustomed to. These guys can easily call Canblaster, Myd, Surkin, Sound Pellegrino, Marble Players, etc as peers. If you are a fan, then this is the show for you.

Need some examples? FRENCH FRIES recent Podcast for XLR8R is fantastic! You can check it out here: XLR8R MIXTAPE

See below to listen to BAMBOUNOU’s latest release from Sound Pellegrino as well.

And the best part about FRENCH FRIES playing Champagne? He wrote the theme song (Not really, but it is his latest single…)!

Tomorrow night marks the return of Champagne, the new weekly Wed party I do with Zane Landreth and The Nightchilde! Champagne’s mission is to expose what’s new in dance music. The next wave, the headier stuff, the classy side of things, etc. Wed is our first outing for 2012 and we’re starting things off with a bang: DJ DODGER STADIUM.

DJ DODGER STADIUM is the new project from Jerome LOL Boys and Samo Soundboy.  It’s progressive, it’s fun and it’s nice when two of the more creative heads in dance music come together.  I’m excited for this project and to see what the boys bring out live.  With a name as epic as ‘Dodger Stadium’, well…

Starting this week at Champagne we’ll have FREE CHAMPAGNE every week from 10-11!

And don’t be shy, ‘Like’ Champagne on Face book HERE.

2011 was an incredible year for music. I remember going through and making lists of records the past 2 years trying to come up with my best of lists and it being a little too easy. I always had a Top 10, but didn’t dare go much higher. While there were some great records, I didn’t have nearly as difficult time as I did this year picking out my faves. Maybe I didn’t take the time to explore as much and maybe my musical tastes have broadened, but I feel like 2011 was just better than most.

Below is the list of my Top 25 Records of 2011 in the order I love them. Below that I have 70 honorable mentions that are also albums I like, but connected to less personally.

I realized my top 5 albums this year all have a great story behind them and some sort of personal connection, especially the top 2, which I think are amazing triumphs for the artists.  Growth from the last album to these was substantial, the end result being… magic. I also feel like these were overlooked.

I looked around at several other Best of 2011 lists before making this. I wanted to see if there was anything out there I’d missed and see how mine compared.  While there are some simularities, mine ends up being pretty unique. So if if you take the time to read this, hopefully you find something new or are reminded of something you may have missed as well. That’s my favorite part about these lists: The Discovery.

Anyways, without further ado….

25. WASHED OUT – Within and Without

24. CULTS – Cults

23. COM TRUISE – Galactic Melt

22. YOUTH LAGOON – The Year of Hibernation

21. YUCK – Yuck

20. BLOOD ORANGE – Coastal Grooves

19. DESTROYER – Kaputt

18. COLD CAVE – Cherish the Light Years

17. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

16. GANG GANG DANCE – Eye Contact

15. THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – Hanna Soundtrack

14. THE WEEKND – Thursday

13. REAL ESTATE – Days

12. DAS RACIST – Relax

11. WAVVES – Life Sux EP

10. KURT VILE – Smoke Ring For My Halo

9. SOFT METALS – Soft Metals

8. DANNY BROWN – XXX

7. DUM DUM GIRLS – Only In Dreams

6. COLIN STETSON – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges

5. PICTUREPLANE – Thee Physical

4. GIRLS – Father, Son, Holy Ghost

3. THE DRUMS – Portamento

2. THE DEATH SET -  Michel Poiccard

1. METRONOMY – The English Riviera

RUNNERS UP & HONORABLE MENTIONS

(in Alphabetical Order)

1. THE ANTLERS – Burst Apart
2. ARAABMUZIK – Electronic Dream
3. A$AP ROCKY – LiveLoveA$AP
4. AUSTRA – Feel It Break
5. AZARI & III – Azari & III
6. BALAM ACAB – Wander / Wonder
7. BATHS – Cerulean
8. BEIRUT – The Rip Tide
9. BEN FROST – By The Throat
10. BENI – House of Beni
11. BLACK LIPS – Arabia Mountain
12. BON IVER – Bon Iver
13. CANT – Dreams Come True
14. CASS McCOMBS – Wit’s End
15. CAT’S EYES – Cat’s Eyes
16. CITIES AVIV – Digital Lows
17. CRYSTAL STILTS – In Love With Oblivion
18. CUT COPY – Zonoscope
19. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE – Codes and Keys
20. DEATH GRIPS – Exmilitary
21. DIRTY BEACHES – Badlands
22. DRAKE – Take Care
23. DUM DUM GIRLS – He Gets Me High EP
24. EMA – Past Life Martyed Saints
25. FLEET FOXES – Helplessness Blues
26. FORD & LOPATIN – Channel Pressure
27. FRANK OCEAN – Nostalgia / Ultra
28. G-SIDE – Island
29. GIL SCOTT-HERON AND JAMIE XX – We’re New Here
30. THE GO! TEAM – Rolling Blackouts
31. HOLY GHOST! – Holy Ghost!
32. THE HORRORS – Skying
33. JAMES BLAKE – James Blake
34. JAY-Z & KANYE WEST – Watch The Throne
35. JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD – We Are The Champions
36. JOHN MAUS – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
37. JUSTICE – Audio, Video, Disco
38. KATE BUSH – 50 Words for Snow
39. LYKKE LI – Wounded Rhymes
40. MODESELEKTOR – Monkeytown
41. MONDKOPF – Rising Doom
42. MOOMIN – The Story About You
43. NATURAL CHILD – 1971
44. NICK DIAMONDS – I Am and Attic
45. OH LAND – Oh Land
46. THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – Belong
47. PANDA BEAR – Tomboy
48. PEAKING LIGHTS – 936
49. PJ HARVEY – Let England Shake
50. PONYTAIL – Do Whatever You Want All the Time
51. RADIOHEAD – The King of Limbs
52. THE RAPTURE – In the Grace of Your Love
53. SMITH WESTERNS – Dye It Blonde
54. THE SOFT MOON – The Soft Moon
55. SPANK ROCK – Everything Is Boring and Everyone Is a Liar
56. THE STROKES – Angles
57. SURKIN – USA
58. THEE OH SEES – Castlemania
59. TIM HECKER – Ravedeath, 1972
60. TORO Y MOI – Underneath the Pine
61. TRASH TALK – Awake EP
62. TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Soundtrack
63. tUnE-YarDs – whokill
64. TYLER, THE CREATOR – Goblin
65. VIOLENS – Amoral
66. VIVIAN GIRLS – Share the Joy
67. WILD FLAG – Wild Flag
68. WIN WIN – Win Win
69. WU LYF – Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
70. ZOLA JESUS – Conatus

New column idea? ‘Really Excited for this Movie!’….

I haven’t been this excited for an adult contemporary thriller in a long time! David Fincher’s remake of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ looks gritty, dark, dangerous and downright awesome. Check out the 8 min extended trailer….

A few weeks ago GENERIC SURPLUS invited myself, my best buddy, Zane Landreth, Paul Devro and Jamal Dauda to model for their winter line of Men’s shoes. The premise was ‘LAs rising DJs’.

We all met up at Dominic’s in Hollywood for a day of photo shoots and on camera interviews. They laced us each up with a pair of new shoes and we got right to it. Walking into the situation I think all of us expected it to be a fun day doing a favor for a friend, but we came to find out that this was to be a full on national campaign!

Make sure to keep a look out for the full page Generic Surplus ad in Vice Magazine and check out my video interview here:

FRANKI CHAN – GENERIC SURPLUS MIXTAPE by Franki Chan

Hello! Welcome to FrankiChan.com, a site 8 years in the making!

It’s crazy to me that throughout all the years of doing shows, illustrating, DJing, putting out records, etc, that I never took the time to make a website for myself. I thought about it… A LOT, but never did it. There was always some excuse, that I was too busy, too broke, didn’t know what to say, and on and on. It’s endless the reasons you can find when you don’t want to do something (even though underneath it all I always really did).

Back in 2002 I was still living in Seattle. I was doing a bunch of shows up there, but more than anything else, was focusing on the things I wanted to do. This lead me into making my first comic book and making a trip down to San Diego to attend Comicon for the first time (which eventually inspired me to move to LA). After returning from Comicon I had some big ideas of what I wanted to do with myself and what I wanted to be. There was something about creating a comic book around my life, but also being that character in reality. I figured the best way to mix the character I drew on paper with the ‘me’ in the real world was to have a cool website that could be the host for both.

Having no idea how to actually make a website, I began designing mine the only way I knew how: with paint and ink. If you look at the header image and the images below, these were my original designs for the website. Everything was based off of my surroundings at the time. A little bit of art, some photos, some music and all of it combining into one world that equaled me.

I began to take these images around to friends who knew how to do this kind of stuff. A lot of them said my design was crazy, that it couldn’t be down or that it was so complicated it would be way too expensive to do. These troubles plagued me for the next few years in my pursuit to make the website a reality. Even after I moved to LA, but before I began IHEARTCOMIX, I was constantly trying to figure this out, but it never happened. Then I started IHC, then there was Matt & Kim, then Check Yo Ponytail and a ton of other things and I end up 6-7 years later with nothing more than drawings of a dream site.

Around June of 2010, my friend Danny Johnson convinced me to start Check Yo Ponytail again. We decided to do it together. One thing that I knew needed to happen if we were going to do it was that we needed to be very concise and clear with the branding. For years I’d been bogged down with the unending question of “What exactly is IHEARTCOMIX? Events? Record Label? You?”. I did a lot with it except making it clear where the different parts of IHC ended and began, including any difference between what I do as a Artist/DJ and what the business does. CYP2 needed a fresh start and therefore needed a sweet website.

Enter Jeff Tovar (aka Staticka). Jeff does all the webwork for Media Contender and was introduced to me by way of Danny. He agreed to build www.checkyoponytail.com. We had such a great collaborative experience figuring that site out, that I couldn’t resist asking him to make my dream of having my own site finally come true. So, I dug out those old drawings I’d originally done in 2003, showed him, and he agreed. I’d found my man!

We began working on FrankiChan.com in late 2010 with the idea that it was going to launch by SXSW of last year. As most big projects go, we missed the deadline and instead it’s taken us a full year to get to the launch. Taking those original drawings of mine and putting them up against what the finished product is, they aren’t that far off! 8 years later I’m still pretty much on the same track, but I just had a lot of little detours along the way.

So, thanks so much for coming to check out the site. I couldn’t be happier with the end results. This website literally encompasses my entire life. Every significant piece of art I’ve ever done is on here broken down by the years they were conceived. Thousands of Polaroid photos make up the photo gallery with new ones added constantly. Soon, in the right column of this blog page you will be able to access every personal journal entry I’ve ever written. Every mixtape and remix I’ve ever done will be available and you’ll be able to keep up with my tour dates. I’ll be posting in the blog almost daily, continuing with journals as well as writing out all the latest stuff I’m into. And soon, you’ll be able to get yourself some cool merch!

Please take some time to look around!

Your Friendly Neighborhood,
Franki Chan