I don’t really have very many records left anymore. I’ve been selling them off for the past decade once they saw CD or digital release to make room for other crap I’ve accumulated or just whenever I’ve need extra cash. However this double 7-inch is something I’ve held on to and never thought of selling. Not because it’s one of my favorite pieces of music (it’s far from it), but there’s just an unexplainable something about it I couldn’t part with. From the hand silk screened artwork, red & yellow colored vinyl, to how perfectly it captured the essence and sound of the 80s Post-Punk scene. It isn’t perfect and sometimes a rough listen, but it is always very engaging, mysterious and left me wanting just a little more as soon as it’s 15 minutes of songs were up. But on top of all that, this obscure little double 7-inch is where I took my alias from. My Pal the Crook is the 2nd track on Sara Goes Pop: Arab O Habab EP and even though it isn’t the vinyl’s stand out track, it’s title always made it a really enticing track for me! Taunting me to listen to it over and over as if with each new listen it would morph into another song that better fit it’s name. It never does, but that’s basically the power of the entire 7-inch. It is what it is and never changes, but for whatever reason you always think you can make it sound like what you want on every new listen to it.

If you’re a fan of the early jangly Twee Pop like The Shop Assistants, Marine Girls & The Raincoats you really owe it to yourself to listen to this. While keeping the art-damaged rough and angular sound of The Homosexuals, Sara’s voice adds a very delicate and almost pop sensibilities to the music. Either as Post-Punk or Twee this is like any other album before or after it and a shame how obscure it is.

Amos & Sara (sometimes known as Sara Goes Pop) were one of a multitude of off-shoots from Jim Welton AKA L. Voag (Amos) of the Post-Punk revolutionaries, The Homosexuals. After leaving the band he went on to release countless albums, EPs and singles here and there. For a brief period L. Voag teamed up with female vocalist & multi-instrumentalist, who as far as I know only goes by the name of Sara. Together they produced a few very hard to find cassette only and some vinyl releases. Many of those earlier releases were much more experimental and incorporated a lot of Free-Jazz noodling. Much like the title suggests Amos & Sara did indeed go Pop, or as much as they could while still sounding like the same band on this Arab O Habab 7-inch. It’s probably the most accessible and best recorded of L. Voag’s material from the Amos & Sara era. Hopefully this will spark some of you to explore the multi-disc The Homosexuals retrospectives that have come out in recent years.

Amos & Sara: Sara Goes Pop - Arab O Habab EP

You may remembering Devo re-recording their song Whip It as “Swiff It” for a Swiffer commercial. Now they’ve made “Brush It” for a toothbrush that plays music inside your head. This opens up a Pandora’s box of what will be next. Musical tampons and toilet paper dispensers? You can’t parody Devo because they beat you to it every time.

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork

The Halo Benders - Don’t Touch My Bikini

Death From Above 1979 - Blood On Our Hands

Rage - Don’t Fear the Winter

Iced Earth - I Died For You

Matt from Free Gold Watch showed off his official collaboration with Levi’s! Two San Francisco companies, doingr it right! 6th Pocket! Money lining! Passport pocket! This is unreal!

Gareth on the right is and OG from Silas! But right now he is the mastermind behind shoe brand Pointer. Currently the easiest place to get it in the US is over at the Reed Space. Goand check out a pair!

We were climbing down the hill when this happened?????

Why? Why not!!!!!! Jasper (Rogue Status) had to go to the hospital to get patched up!!!!

I am in Barcelona right now. It’s fun and if you’ve veer been here you know what I mean! Anyway…It’s been an eventful past few days but tonight was the craziest yet!

Went with my boy Kish to the illest dinner spot. There was hanging Serrano ham and an insane paella! They also had this rotisserie chicken thing happening outside which we passed on.

This isn’t our party but I just wanted to illustrate how large and wild the place was!

This was the hottest kitchen in Barcelona.

I told these guys I was going to write a 1000 words about this picture, but I lied. We all went to the Vice party which was on top of this mountain. While it wasn’t a big deal getting up there, we just all knew it would be a bitch to get back down after a night of partying!

So here we are, its the end of the party and there is no way to get home! No cabs, no more booze and no more fun… or so we thought…

The going back down the mountain crew! I am not even gonna attempt to point them all out, we just need to get home!

If you haven’t checked out the new Actual Pain Sketchbook Collection up on our site then you need to get punched in the face! Straight Iron (Not Italian) Mike style!

You can also currently visit our Pop-Up Shop on Bedford Ave and N 5th St in  Williamsburg, to view and buy the entire (or rather what’s left) collection and take in the shop’s makeover courtesy of  T.J. Cowgill, The man and the myth behind Actual Pain! Now go rob a liquor store and buy some clothes!

T.J. was also kind enough to leave behind the very sketchbook full of all the original illustrations he used in creating his Summer 2008 Sketchbook Collection! Pretty fucking sweet and disturbed, just how we like ‘em!

Holler at your Booty Call boys this friday in Paris! With special guests Feadz (Ed Banger) & The Top Billin Crew!

Get wrecked!

Christie Brinkley. 1980 was a good year.

Sports Illustrated has an image archive of all their Swimsuit Issue covers, which I recommend checking out as a cure for mid-day boredom. I actually haven’t picked up a Swimsuit issue in years, but the re-up’ing of the annual swimsuit calendar is a tacky custom I’ve come to appreciate and cherish.

While we’re on the subject of girls in swimsuits over the past few decades, here’s a lil’ sumthin’ you might enjoy.

We’re very proud to present to all of you…

The Actual Pain Sketchbook Collection/Mishka Pop-Up Shop!

Our Pop-Up shop has lasted months longer than we originally anticipated, but it’s run is about to come to an end very soon. To cap off a wonderful run we’ve decided to hand the shop over to one of our favorite artists & brands… Actual Pain! We couldn’t think of a better person or way to say Rest In Piece to our little tomb of retail.

Starting today, at 2pm, July 1st, the Pop-Up shop will be open and fully Actual Pained out from head to toe! It will also be the first place worldwide to get the ENTIRE ACTUAL PAIN SUMMER 2008 SKETCHBOOK COLLECTION! You can also find limited quantities of the entire collection on our Webstore.

We even collaborated on a very special shirt for the collection! Inspired by last Fall’s epic Rasputin album & artwork from metal great Derek Riggs, T.J. (of Actual Pain) set forth to do up an illustration for what could have been the 7″ single and T-shirt for the monstrous single… Shield, Protect Thy Master!

We would also like to invite to a full on Metal bash we’re throwing in honor of the collection at Trophy Bar tomorrow night! Come Hang out with us and T.J. of Actual Pain and get wasted listening to some truly righteous Metal!

Actual Pain Sketchbook Collection Party
Trophy Bar
351 Broadway
J/M/Z to Broadway

Mishka/Actual Pain Pop-Up Shop
218 Bedford Ave (Entrance on N. 5th)
L Train to Bedford

Ill be here all week lurking. Stay tuned for updates!

One of my favorite LPs, from two of my favorite MCs… Godfather Don & Kool Keith. And while Kool Keith’s has since been replaced by Ghostface & MF Doom as the Hipster’s favorite MC of choice, he’s hardly kicking around in obscurity nowadays. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some criminally over-looked and sadly out of print gems to his name. The Cenobites one and only album happens to be one of those forgotten gems.

Originally released in 1993 as a 12″ EP on the now defunct and irreplaceable Fondle ‘Em Records, this record was not only Kool Keith at the peak of his free-form maniacal genius, but also at his absolute grimiest! Kool Keith brilliance has always seemingly been about who was handling his production, couple him with a bad producer or let him produce himself and he goes so way off the deep end that it’s unlistenable. But pair him with someone who knows how to cater a beat to his flow and you get absolute magic. Godfather Don does exactly that through-out the album. Taking the darker, off kilter production he introduced on the Ultramag’s final album, Four Horseman he amps up the gullyness factor by 10 here and now handles half of the MCing duties. To this day I’ve never heard another MC compliment Keith’s spacey, frenetic delivery the way Don does with his beefy jackhammer assault.

The Cenobites EP, has seen a few reissues since it’s initial release even expandeding it to an LP by adding remixes and previously unreleased tracks… most notably Return to Zero, a re-named Ulltramag’s Checkin’ My Style featuring a previously omitted Godfather Don verse. But with Fondle ‘Em no longer serving the best of the best when it comes to Hip Hop, the last times this album saw print was 8 years ago. For those of you who’re only familiar with Keith’s Dr. Octagonecologyst, you really owe it to yourself where that album’s genius first began perculating.

P.S. Look at that fucking amazingly awful cover design… I love when bad design is so bad it unknowingly becomes great.

The Cenboites - The Cenobites LP

The Australian company, T-World Is releasing the 4th Issue of their celebrated Tee Shirt Bible at Boundless NY.

Come through and party Brooklyn Style at Boundless NY in Williamsburg Brooklyn.

So Many FREE GIVE-A-WAYS!!! Get fresh for the Summer at the best shop in NYC.

Open Vodka Bar and Whiskey Bar with Sounds from Pete Leonard and Teddy King.

RSVP to Party@boundlessny.com

PARTY STARTS AT 6PM…

The Official After Party is at Hope Lounge right around the corner….

Boundless NY and King Stampede. They do things right.

Boundless NY
143 Roebling Street ( Between Metropolitan Ave and Hope Street )
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.821.9690

There really is no need to introduce these guys. Welcome the Crookers to the mopster fam.Bangin hard beats from every angle they form the powerful Italian Triad (along side mopsters Bloody Beetroots and Congorock) that quickly spreading its tentacles on earth wind and fire. Prepair for combat!

Read up on them in the July issue of MixMag, see them destroy LA and get their BBC One Essential Mix! Instant classic!

Chris & Cosey - October Love Song

Pavement - Cut Your Hair

Ceremony - Stars Fall

Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven

Trisomie 21 - La Fête Triste

The famous Mix CD series is back! Musical Murdah Vol 2: The Dark Issue! From the Stockholm native Selecta Seb-One. This is how Seb-One explains the mix in his own words:

This is mainly a hip hop & grime mix for the people who like dark and relatively slow beats. I’ve tried to capture a certain dark mood through the whole mix but it varies a little bit in other aspects. The first half is more hard hitting, bass driven and energetic with a lot of electro elements while the other half is more emotional and inspiring but yet powerful.

The Dark Issue is now up for listening on the Doombox and is available for sale at the Mishka Pop-Up Shop. For optimal listening, listen to the mix at night! And look out for more forthcoming volumes from Seb-One!

Reduced Admission HERE