The weekend isn’t over yet. Just sayin’. Major Lazer knows this.

The XX – Infinity (Flufftronix Bootleg Remix)

Florence + the Machine – You’ve Got The Love (The XX Remix)

Drop The Lime – Set Me Free Featuring Carrie Wilds

Evil Nine – They Live (Alkaseltza Remix)

Doctor P – Badman Sound

Bonus:
Mumdance – BBC 1Xtra Mix Ft Jammer, C Gritz & Diesel

I recently bought this indie game Machinarium and was pretty blown away.  Straight up: it is kind of nerdy, but if you give it a chance I promise you are in for a treat.

The game, by Czech developers Amanita Design, is a flash-based point and click puzzle adventure game.  *SNOOZE* right?  Nope.  First off the game is beautiful, fucking gorgeous.  It is all completely hand-drawn (a rarity nowadays) and with a completely unique look to behold (the closest comparison I can make to it is a pseudo-steampunk aesthetic).  It also has one of the best scores I’ve ever heard in a videogame. Honestly, I need to get it now.

The story involves a little robot who gets shot out of his little robot city and you need to get him back into his city somehow, all while piecing together why he got kicked out in the first place.  Your little robot hero has one key ability, he can shrink himself real short or stretch himself real tall.

The puzzles can get pretty fucking difficult at times, which is why there is a DOUBLE hint system!  First, you can click a lightbulb at the top of the screen to get a quick drawing of the main objective on the current screen.  If you need serious assistance your second option is to click the book icon, play a quick minute long sidescrolling shooter, and then see a a very detailed step-by-step comic of EXACTLY what you must do to continue on.

I got pretty caught up in the game after just a few minutes with it.  Sure the visuals are great, and the music is swell, but the slow dishing out of the story was what kept me playing. The game is out now for PC and Mac or I guess computers as the game is flash based and can played on a website.  The full game costs $15 but you can play a demo of the beginning for free.  For real, try this demo yesterday. CLICK HERE PLZ.

A huge treat for us, all of Baroness (John, Summer, Pete & Allen) along with their tour manager Jason and friends Hush & Pete. rolled up into 350 Broadway today before their show at the Bowery Ballroom later this evening! I don’t think it’s entirely sold out just yet, so all of you wait ’till the last minute guys should be good tonight.

Jason & Allen checking out Ellen Stagg’s provacative show on the wall at 350. Roll through and see it in person before the Hasids make us take it down.

Those of you haven’t yet heard Baroness’ newest, the Blue Record I don’t even know where to begin with what you’re missing. Easily one of this year’s best albums! Make sure you catch them in your town as they tour in support of it.

All of you by now should be familiar with Joker. This young protege of the grime master Plastician is proving to be a great heir apparent to the thrown. His own productions and remixes have been revered by many, while his synth heavy basslines have shook the earth to it’s core! His huge remixes for Zero 7, Simian Mobile Disco and production work for Purple City and Digidesign have brought much hype and energy around his name.

He is currently touring throughout the US and will be hitting Philly tonight, NYC tomorrow and Tuesday Seattle all supported by Mishka. Check him out tonight at the Mad Decent Mausoleum along side the Mad Decent/Subdivision hometown crew, Kingdom (Fool’s Gold) and Nightslugs.

Tomorrow night it’s time once again for Trouble & Bass! Brooklyn’s finest bring you a banger as Nightslugs and Joker hit Santos and truly turn it into a “Party House”.

West Coast alert for SHIFT who are bringin’ their monthly dose of dubstep by bringing Joker out to Seattle.

1-2-3 BASS MOSH!

I remember Lamour telling us about working with Nike on these well over a year ago. And I was like “Whatever Joel, where’s my tee graphic!?” Well it looks like they’ve finally dropped and they’re beautiful. I hope Lamour can bring a pair of these into the office so we can get a better look, but just from these pics you can already tell that these are beyond sick!

If you want to buy a pair, you can grab a pair here. They also have a great 360 image preview so you can take in all of the intricate detail Lamour did on these boots. These really need to also get released as a Quickstrike Air Force 1 *fingers crossed*.

Both the left and right boot are different from one another. One is life, the other death.  They are linked by an image inspired by legendary pirate, Black Bart holding an hourglass with a skeleton on the other side.  I’m sure it was intimidating as hell back in the day.

Click the image to enlarge and get a better look.

Lamour was also kind enough to give us a concept sketch for one of the boots (I believe this is “Life”). Now you can see all of his amazing detail in it’s original glory.

Maybe now that he’s getting that Nike check instead of our measly Мишка checks he can fnally stop decorating for the Sopranos. I’m just kidding, I love you Joel!

Say hello to Deacon Frost. He’s a tobacco dippin, sex-havin, food-eatin, beer-drinkin good ole boy…straight out of Sweden. We’ve had the great pleasure of having him around Mishka HQ for the last couple of months. I must say that I’m sad to see him go, but I know I’ll be able to keep up with his adventures via his blog ShitXfaced. If you ever find yourself needing to know what’s going on in Sweden you can check with him for guaranteed good times, and quality content.

According to the stats list on the pause screen, I’ve completed 65% of Brütal Legend, the second video game offering from Double Fine. If you follow video game news (or  this blog) even a little then you have no doubt at least heard about this game. All the reviews and articles on it have been written and read long ago and here I am coming in a month later like the out of shape guy who completes the New York Marathon ten hours after it starts. This isn’t so much a review as it is a love letter to Tim Schafer and the things he’s made and the legacy of the Lucasarts graphic adventure games which he continues in a roundabout way. I apologize if I write like Dr. Steve Brule when he tries to decribe the video game whose title he can’t remember and he kept getting distracted by his thoughts of the game while trying to describe the game, remembering only that there are swords. I am thinking of swords while I write this.

Lucasarts and the Advancement of Storytelling with Videogames
Tim Schafer, the president and primary creative force behind Double Fine, cut his teeth by making my childhood bearable. In the late eighties and early nineties he was working for George Lucas’s videogame company, Lucas Arts, writing videogames with strong characters, stories, environments and senses of humor. The license to produce Star Wars games was held by Galoob or Jaleco or some other company with a name that looks like it should be producing balloons instead of electronic media. So instead of producing game after game about Star Wars the young geniuses at Lucasarts took the graphicless, text based adventure game genre to the next level. Oh! The games they made! The two Maniac Mansion games, The first three Monkey Islands, Sam and Max, Loom, Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade graphic adventure game, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango all transported me away from the horrors of school and family to places I would rather be. I’d like to give you an overview of just a few of the games that Tim Schafer worked on.

Maniac Mansion was the first of it’s kind, a puzzle adventure about teenagers exploring a mansion in an attempt to rescue their friend. You moved the characters around, completed puzzles and had occasional dialogue with other characters. It allowed you to explore an environment in a way that no game had before. There were multiple ways to win and many hilarious ways to die like microwaving a big dumb guy’s pet and then showing it to him. You watch him slowly realize what you’ve done and then there’s a cut to a shot of your grave in the backyard. It turns out that an evil meteor with a face was controlling the crazy scientist and you can drive a car to the moon. I think this game may have been inspired by the movie Repo Man.

Ron Gilbert was riding the Pirates of the Caribbean and wished he could wander around the ride and explore it. That would then eventually lead him to make  a game where he could do just that, The Secret of Monkey Island. When the game was released it had a stronger emphasis on story, dialogue and humor than anything before it that I’m aware of. You were Guybrush Threepwood as he struggled to “become a mighty pirate.” I would sit with my gawky friend, Michael Barron, and we’d play Monkey Island over and over, laughing at the funny dialogue and in-jokes about Lucasarts and Star Wars. The Lucasarts graphic adventure games were a lot like Disneyland. They were the place I wanted to go to most of all and they immersed the audience in a beautiful fantasy world.

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