In the mid-nineties, I spent many a late night procrastinating on the web instead of working on whatever term paper I needed to finish. Haujobb’s Solutions For a Small Planet was my soundtrack for many of those evenings. There is something magical about this album that, when combined with too many cups of coffee and the glow of a computer monitor, could make it feel like you were just a few clicks away from being dragged into some futuristic H4X0R conspiracy.

Anyone who has read (or partially read, i.e. me) Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash will automatically recognize the sounds from their speakers, which seem like they were scored to go hand-in-hand with the 90s Cyber-Punk epic. Cold, throbbing rhythms that play more like Film Noir than music, really.

Formed in the early 90s, the German group’s name references (not surprisingly) a German translation of the term “skin job”, from Blade Runner. Haujobb spent most of the 90s perfecting a sound that bridged both EBM and IDM. While usually lumped in with the Industrial movement, Haujobb had much more in common with groups like Autechre than 90s era Front Line Assembly. I still hold 1996′s Solutions for a Small Planet as the last true, bonafied industrial-dance classic of the 90s… before things really took a turn for the worse.

Until a few months ago, I had not listened to this album in almost a decade. I was incredibly surprised by how well it still holds  up and just how relevant it still sounds. This is the sort of album that transcends its tag of “industrial” and is a must listen for all electronic music fans and apocalyptic fetishists alike.

Haujobb – Solutions For a Small Planet

A good portion of my time is spent lurking around the internet for new music to listen to and every once in a while I come across a few artists that I so thoroughly enjoy that I then want to share with everyone I know. Two such cases would be Hussle Club and Void Vison.

Hussle Club is the solo project of Prince Terrence who is probably best known as the drummer for the likes of Santigold, Spank Rock and Heartsrevolution. Hussle Club mixes different sounds that range from pop, new wave  and even the late 70s/early 80s  no wave movement which they lace all together with stories of the trials and tribulations of urban life. It would’nt be absurd to think that if Hussle Club was around 30 years ago these songs would be mainstays at Mudd Club with greats like DNA and The Dance and other bands that Terrence clearly had in mind when creating these songs. To my knowledge the band so far has no releases out just yet, but there is a track available  for download at RCRDLBL along with three others on their myspace page.

A lot of us here at Мишка are pretty into the Goth and Cold Wave resurgence that’s been picking up steam for the past few years. Void Vision are a duo that split their time between Philly and NYC (which seems to be the thing to do these days) that play a perfect mix of dance inducing 80′s Slasher film scores who are not unlike label mates Led Er Est who were recently reviewed on the Bloglin.

Void Vision is currently working on a 7″ and full length that will be out on Wierd Records in the near future. For now though you can head over to their myspace and check out the handful of songs they have posted up there. And check out teh clip above of the band preforming “Sour” at Home Sweet Home

Vibe recently posted a really great two-part editorial all about Atlanta’s Dungeon Family. The Dungeon Family was Rico Wade’s original recording studio and music collective that introduced and coined the ‘Dirty South’ sound. Goodie Mob, Outkast and Sleepy Brown were just a few of the heads that composed this family unit that wrote a huge chapter of rap history and redefined the genre.

The article chronicles Rico’s once lavish, ‘Southern Diddy’ lifestyle to his present state of bankruptcy and drug addiction. Contrasts are made between the Dungeon family members whom have gone on to sell millions of pop albums to those that have faded into obscurity and self destructive lifestyles. A really interesting read if you want to learn your rap history or you’re feeling a little nostalgic over the good old days.

The Untold Story of The Dungeon Family Part One

The Untold Story of The Dungeon Family Part Two

Chromeo – Night By Night (Skream Remix)

Sub Focus – Could This Be Real

DJ Ink – Need You Feat. Dylan (DZ Remix)

Congorock - Babylon

Drumsound & Bassline Smith – R U Ready (Dubstep Mix)

Bonus:
Tomb Crew – Deviate Mix

That’s right! For two days only we are slashing prices up to 50% on select Мишка product. But these deals can only be found in-store at our flagship location 350 Broadway Brooklyn, NY. The season’s winding down so make sure you get your hands on those pieces that you’ve been eying before they’re all gone.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

Saturday: 12-8pm
Sunday: 12-6pm

J/M/Z to Marcy Ave.
G to Broadway
L to Lorimer

Delphic – Acolyte (2010) [Polydor] // Grade: C+

Listening to Acolyte makes me desperate to hear Cut Copy. Not to say this Manchester band bites the Melbourne synth-pop too hard, but their debut definitely inspires less devotion to the album at hand than it does other, better ones. Primal Scream’s Evil Heat. Maybe even The Faint’s Danse Macabre. Man, that first LCD Soundsystem LP was rad too. You see? This is what happens.

But let’s not fault Delphic too much; dance-rock is a slippery genre, one that smacks of so much late 90s/early 00s hype, and anyone who lived it the first time round is bound to be slightly less impressed with a revival. And look, nothing on Acolyte is flat-out bad, not even close; it’s just unremarkable. Ewan Pearson’s production is nice. James Cook’s vocals are wafty, monotone, pleasant. The electronic elements, all manner of synth accents and straight-up techno beats, are interesting sometimes, and the songs are well-constructed enough to be predictable but not so predictable that you can sing along after only hearing them once. So why does it all blend together? Why do the baroque keys of “Clarion Call” muddle with the climaxing squeal of “Submission”? I don’t know either; I just know that it morphed into a sort of compressed, commercial white noise after awhile. Hyped, fine, but not all that ground-breaking.

Maybe this is it: early 00s references aside, the most I can say about Delphic is that they wish they were a Manchester band back when the term meant something beyond fierce and immediate. But they’re not Happy Mondays. Or New Order. They’re not even Crispy Ambulance. They’re just a catchy, well-heeled synth-rock band that, yes, has clearly heard Technique and incorporated the influence accordingly and yes, knows how to write a listenable pop song but no, is not the next great Factory heir, or even the start of a brand new day in Manchester. Acolyte didn’t put me to sleep, and I wouldn’t rush to change it if a song shuffled through my iPod, but I can’t say that I’ll ever actively play it front to back again. Maybe next time.

Eddi from Adfunture showed a sneak peek on his Highsnobiety Blog of a new colorway of our Bootleg Kaiju.

More information and release date coming soon! Keep Watch!

I love Star Wars too much and have been wasting my limited amount of money and time on this Earth pursuing colorful objects related to the marketing marvel/film series for a few years now. I’m obligated to write for the Bloglin and I’ve run out of ideas so I’m just going to revert to what I do best; be a gigantic loser who stays indoors and obsessed over objects in an attempt to avoid human contact. Humans…they disappoint on every occasion but my Star Wars dolls will never betray me or complain about my bad cooking. Here are the ten objects that make life bearable for me.

10) Custom Disneyland Blanket

This is my Star Wars blanket featuring me and my main man/monster, The Vidiot. I got this made after riding Star Tours at Disneyland. People usually assume that I am actually wearing that costume and it’s eerie how Carrie Fisher and I have the exact same hands. Also no one ever recognizes the guy I’m with as being Vidiot.

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9) My Jabba the Hutt set-up

I traded in two and a half suitcases full of comic books to Jim Hanleys in order to get the Jabba doll and throne. Jabba, his dais, Bib Fortuna, Leia in her Boushh disguise and the little vermin of Jabba’s palace are all by Sideshow Toys. Boba Fett and Slave Leia are by Kenner. The background is a colorforms board that was found in the trash. I used to stare at this thing for hours when life got too hard. My eyes would unfocus and I would be transported into a world where everyone spoke like they had the intelligence of nine year olds and bathrooms don’t exist. A world where a giant slug monster is somehow capable of lusting after a human woman.

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8) Sigma C-3PO tape dispenser

I’d been coveting this perverse Japanese item for years before I was able to find one at an affordable price. Sigma, a Japanese company that makes porcelain stuff, produced a bunch of really cool Star Wars items back in the early eighties. The other item from this series that people know is the Taun Taun teapot where the tea comes out of the Taun Taun’s mouth, making it appear that your tea is being vomited into a cup. There’s nothing I don’t like about this tape dispenser but what I like the most is that Star Wars’ gayest character is reclining on his back, inviting you to reach out and pull something from between his legs. Also it is beautiful to look at. These things smash easily so they aren’t as common as old Chewbacca action figures with bit marks on their heads.

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7) Star Wars Record Tote

This record tote was only available from Disney theme parks in the eighties. I used to bring it with me when I DJed vinyl records so long ago.

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6) Kenner Large Size Boba Fett doll

Besides the gay tape dispenser, Kenner’s large size (not 12″) Boba Fett from the original line was something I wanted for much of my high school years. This thing is like fifteen inches tall, comes with a detachable belt, wookiee scalps, a belt, a cape, a gun and a complicated and easily breakable rocket pack. It even has a little hole in the back of his head so you can see what he sees through a little sneaky scope. God this thing is so wonderful. I also like the inconsistencies between the movie costume and this doll. Those big red and yellow bricks on his forearms are pretty goofay. I cuddle with this guy.

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This isn’t meant to generalize ALL Hot Wheels collectors. It just concerns a small group of them I used to encounter. Unless they are all like this. Then fuck em.

Last night I was thinking about how I haven’t set foot in a Toys R Us for a good three years. There’s a Target about a half mile from my place, so I always head there if I feel like some cold-call toy shopping. Just popping into a department store for toys isn’t as suspenseful as it used to be. Since the internet, we just gather; there’s no hunting really.

Anyways, I used to go to the Toys R Us in Rockaway, NJ about twice a week. New shit came in on Wednesdays, so I’d always go that day after school. Give them underpaid kids time to stock my shelves, gnomesayin’? But Saturdays were always my jam. I would get up around 7:00 and drive my Chevy Celebrity to Toys R Us. Once there, I would have to stand outside with the other collectors until opening. I never knew if they had any new Star Wars shit in, but that was part of the fun.

Outside there would always be a handful of dudes, usually Star Wars heads. We’d shoot the shit, maybe talk about trading…and stay far away from the huddle of Hot Wheels collectors. They’d be standing in a circle right up against the door, chain smoking, eyeballing us, and looking over their checklists. They were older than us – maybe in their forties – and always reeked of shadiness. I swear they wore the same clothes every weekend.

A wary employee would finally come over and open the doors, and the Hot Wheels crew would bum rush the poor kid. They’d charge up to their aisle, where the employees would have cases of new stock just sitting there. They wouldn’t even bother putting the cars on the fucking shelf; they knew there was no point. These fools would just tear through like locusts and leave die-cast cars scattered all over the floor.

I’ve been to midnight Star Wars toy releases: Episode 1, 2, and Clone Wars. Each time, everyone showed respect for the store, employees, and other collectors. And there were hundreds of us in there at once. But this small amount of Hot Wheels collectors were a band of cutthroat, obnoxious, douchebags that left that small area of Toys R Us looking like Baghdad. They’d dig through the cases and just leave what they didn’t need on the floor. Then they’d ask the employees if there was any more stock in the back. “Everything is out here,” would be the answer but these dudes would still throw them dagger eyes. Why the store ever put up with these dicks is beyond me.

Maybe I’m just bitter Mattel never made a Hot Wheels Chevy Celebrity.