Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be (2010) [Sub Pop] // Grade: A-

Somewhere out there is a solid line, a point of no return, at which all these reverb-soaked revivals and teenage endless summer bummers go from fuzzy, messy fun to genre-irritation supreme. Maybe we’ve already crossed it; did Vivian Girls do us in? Did you pale to the idea of Dum Dum Girls, dismissing that Captured Tracks EP as so same-old, same-old? Easy to do (see: the label, the associations, even the name), but a shame if you did—it wasn’t really the same thing then. And it’s definitely not the same thing now.

First, the references. DDG mastermind Dee Dee double-takes a lot of eras, but tiptoe back 10 years to indie-riot darlings The Rondelles; I Will Be is Shined Nickels and Loose Change for the modern set, all bratty energy and fierce devotion to 60s girl groups. It even winks at the Runaways in a similarly subtle way—but then, it also winks at the Jesus & Mary Chain, the Breeders and even Iggy Pop. Derivative? Not necessarily, but who cares if it is; the raw, unmitigated exuberance of tracks like “Oh Mein Me” and “Yours Alone” erases any concern from whence those songs came.

Then, the production. Lump ‘em in with that whole bedroom lot if you must, but DDG have Richard Gotteherer, and that’s a serious one-up. “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy”? He wrote those. Produced Blondie, the Voidoids and the Go-Gos too, and his work with Dee Dee & Co. is just as glittery, explosive and absolutely encompassing as anything he’s done before.

And really, that’s where I Will Be sidesteps the genre-irritation line—returns from that proverbial point of no return. DDG had the guts (and the vision) to slip off the shroud of reverb and come crawling from behind a faraway, lo-fi aesthetic. It’s just not their thing; such a balance of sheer, blistering power and saccharine girl-group harmonies isn’t fit to be disguised. Credit Gotteherer for sculpting that balance in the ideal way, but give DDG their due too; crossed line or no, I Will Be is so beyond associations alone.

It sounds like a joke: four bald guys break into a house, one has an axe. This final minutes of last night’s Breaking Bad were some of the most quietly intense and hypnotic the series has ever produced. If it wasn’t for Mike the PI recognizing the Cousins and having Gus Frings’s number, Walt would be dead. At least, I assume that’s what the Cousins intentions were.

Walt begins and ends the episode with crap in his eyes (mace and soap) – how appropriate! He’s still completely blind to hurt he’s causing those around him, and even when he has some inkling, he thinks a pizza will solve everything. Nice shot Walt, by the way. I hope the pizza doesn’t come off the roof until the finale. What’s it going to take for Walt to open his eyes? Well, the glass eye staring at him from atop his clothes when he gets out of the shower might help. Someone’s watching, Walt. Wise up.

Jesse at least accepts himself for what he is, but Walt even states in this episode, “I can’t be the bad guy.” So sad. The calm demeanor of Jesse and his self-acceptance is pretty chilling. His real estate play with Saul (welcome back, Bob!) satisfied his need for a place and his need for revenge on his folks. I’m sure Jesse sees them as part of the chain of problems that led up to the plane crash. if they never kicked him out, he would have never had to live next to Jane…she wouldn’t have died. Speaking of Saul, he’s dressing a lot snappier than last season. He even got a blue tooth. Blue tooth = success.

Walter Jr. thinks his mom is the bad guy here and that she’s treating Walt way too harsh. But we did get to see some of the “bad guy” in Skyler last night. She’s desperate for cash and offers to help her boss cook the financial statements. She needs money just like Walt did in season 1, when he decided to joint he drug game.

The Ouija board scene with Tio was great. I’m glad they brought him back. I had no idea wwhat the Cousins were doing in the old folk’s home, and when they showed Tio I gave a hearty fist pump.

Better Farms is having workshops each weekend  at a huge farm house up north by the boarder of Canada.  If you’re needing a mini vacation where you can chill at 60 plus acres of nature and are looking to pick-up a fun new skill like Tarot Card reading, Yoga, Horseback Riding or even furniture building then this is totally for you!

Or perhaps you’d like to learn how to shoot erotic photography? Because if you do well then you’re in luck because I’ll be teaching a class on the weekend of July 16-18 and bringing some of my naked models from Stagg Street up along with me.

I will be teaching you to shoot properly outside,  making Erotic art and having some fun.  I’ll be teaching you how to shoot images like these of Emily Marilyn and  Justine Joli with Adriana Sage.  The proper set-up for outdoor shooting, the art of eroticism in photography and how to have fun while you’re doing it!

So sign up now and I’ll see you in nature. NFSW pic after the break!

(more…)

Fresh from the airport and on the brink of throwing down some chaos at Webster Hall this past Friday, Dubstep monsters Caspa, Rod Azlan (of Dub Police) and Benga dropped into 350 Broadway to get geared up with some of the latest pieces from our Spring collection. Our music coordinator Shark bombarded the flick just to get a little bromantic with Benga before their show at Webster Hall.

Each artist checked out the their favorite pieces in the mirror to make sure that they had the precise fit. Caspa was looking pretty clean in the Tacoma plaid shirt.

For those of you who didn’t (or couldn’t) attend the show or attended it but got so fucked up that you don’t remember much of that night, if you head over to Nicky Digital you’ll find a nice photo gallery capturing all of past Friday’s mayhem.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

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

• Our poll on the first R-rated movie readers saw in the theater had some great responses. Plenty of T2‘s, but overall there was a diverse mix of movies. I really like Lelo Cool J’s tale of seeing movies in eastern France.

• Some fresh product dropped this week, including the Мишка script cap collaboration with Starter and the мишка x akihiro namba Tokyo exclusive shirt.

• The Ov Curse SXSW showcase looked amazing. Big thanks to the bands and everyone who came out and rocked out.

• Over on the West Coast, Shark gives us the recap on the latest party at Killing Spree. I really like the above picture.

• Silent Flute and friends put together a Chatroulette Bingo Card which accurately features just about everything you will find on that social networking circle jerk. I experienced for the first (and last) time a couple weeks ago. It’s like a fucking free-for-all. So much cock.

• Toilet Cobra interviewed Ryan Martin and Gibby Miller of Dais Records.

• In the Vidiot’s absence, I curated this week’s Kill With Video. My mother says I need a new hobby.

• Breaking Bad season 3 has begun and they packed so much awesome stuff in the premiere. Besides Lost, it’s the only thing I’m watching on television right now.

• The winner of this week’s Freaky Stylee is Luis Dubuc from Dallas. To enter, check out the rules on the link and send your pic(s) to bloglin@mishkanyc.com.

• Top rated reviews of the week: Skulltaste from Mux Mool, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries from Love Is All, Headfirst from Goldfrapp, and Oversteps from Autechre.

When you title your movie Hot Tub Time Machine you’re basically telling the world you have massive balls. The last comedy to have a name this ridiculous was Snakes on a Plane and that turned out to be a massive disappointment. But Hot Tub delivers in spades. It knows what it is: a guy comedy that also happens to concern time travel. And director Steve Pink (writer of High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank) doesn’t try to make it anything more than that. They do a lot of clever and humorous things playing with the aspect of time travel. Think The Hangover meets A Sound of Thunder. Only instead of a butterfly being stepped on, a squirrel is vomited on.

Dig: Lou (Rob Corddy) is a forty-something party animal whose wife left him. After a night of heavy drinking, he pulls into his garage and revs the engine along to Mötley Crüe. He winds up in the hospital under suspected suicide watch. His family hates him, so he’s released under the care of his old friends Adam (John Cusack) and Nick (Craig Robertson). Adam’s girl has also left him and he lives with his Second-Life obsessed nephew Jacob (Clark Duke). Nick is an emasculated ex-musician who works in a snobby dog care center.  After Lou is released form the hospital, they all decide to get away and enjoy some old-fashioned bro-time. So they retreat to their old stomping grounds, the Kodiak Valley ski resort. It isn’t what it used to be, but thanks to an illegal Russian energy drink and a hot tub, the boys are transported back to the 1980s.

After the shock of traveling back in time wears off – Jacob hasn’t even been born yet – the guys realize they either have to stick with everything they did previously on this night, or try to change their future for the better. Guy comedy conventions abound, but the extra element of time travel makes these conventions feel fresh and uncontrived. The universe changing moral dilemmas facing the guys (sans Jacob) are humorous, but there’s enough heart behind them to actually make the audience take them seriously. The way Jacob is handled is pretty cool. He flickers on and off like a hologram and the big “reveal” concerning his conception is pretty awesome.

One added bonus that makes Hot Tub kick ass is Crispin Glover. Any movie is made instantly better when Glover is on-screen. Here he plays Phil, the bell boy at Kodiak Valley who lost an arm on the night the guys travel back to. It’s a running gag throughout the film as you’re constantly waiting to see how he loses it. There are some close calls, one involving a chainsaw. Good stuff. Chevy Chase also has a small role as the hot tub repairman, but it didn’t work for me. His character wasn’t funny in any way, are we just supposed to laugh because Chevy Chase is in a movie?

Corddy stole the movie in my book. He was awesome on the Daily Show he’s hilarious in Hot Tub. Hopefully he’ll get some more big roles. If you’re not familiar with his work, look him up on Lou-gle. The whole cast is great, with the exception of Duncan. That kid has never done anything for me. I think a lot of people could have played the role of Jacob – why couldn’t they have gotten Jesse Eisenberg?!?!

I was a little surprised how neatly everything wrapped up, but I liked these characters enough to be satisfied with the end. In conclusion, Hot Tub is an original guy comedy with a great cast and a one-armed Crispin Glover. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Deathface is the hive mind entity created by Johnny Love of Guns ‘N’ Bombs. It is the product of locking a group of sociopaths and misanthropes into a basement studio with a supply of high-powered hallucinogenic substances and a pile of heavy bass lines injected with dubstep, industrial and metal. With the advent of dubstep to the American soil, quite many years past it’s prime, its been lending a hand to producers that walk the heavier line and through the sounds of Skream, Caspa and Benga its opening new doors and ears throughout the country.

Stemming from the electro scene (R.I.P.), Johnny Love is no stranger to the stage and has stepped into the future to bring back a set of rave to the grave visuals that will hypnotize you into a trance, not for the faint of heart!

Dwelling in the occult, Love has contacted the master of ceremonies of Book of Black Earth/King Dude and mastermind behind Actual Pain, to create an exclusive rendering of Deathface himself.

The shirt should see the light of day in the upcoming months a nice compliment to Deathface’s upcoming debut EP, The Horror, out in on Trouble & Bass. The EP will feature a slew of hard hitting tracks and artwork by Turbokrapfen (who is known for his work with the Bloody Beetroots).

2010 is going to be a year struck by the sign of the devil running throughout a multitude of different musical genres. This barrier breaking EP will be the epicenter of that darkness and if you need further proof of the devil, well no evidence comes harder than this above video

If you’re still breathing after this barrage of bass, here comes the fatality: an exclusive and unreleased live mix for B2TF Taipei featuring a slew of unreleased Deathface grave smashers!

Welcome back to another installment of Freaky Stylee where we choose the best fit of the week and award that person a $75 credit for our online store and of course bragging rights! If you think your fit is great, then don’t ruin it with a crappy photo! Great fits, deserve great pictures. Contestants can enter multiple times to Freaky Stylee, even past winners. So submit those images of yourself rocking Мишка as part of their outfit and who knows? You may win! Guys and gals are all welcome to enter. Check after the break for complete rules on entering into next week’s Freaky Stylee! Good luck and now on to the fits…

—–

This week’s winner some of you may recognize as Luis Dubuc of The Secret Handshake. It’s always pretty cool and an all around good think when people who don’t need to enter Freaky Stylee for a $75 online credit do.. but Luis has been rocking Мишка for a minute now.

Name? Luis Dubuc
Age? 25
Location? Dallas, TX

What do you do? I play in a band called The Secret Handshake

Describe your style? I like to wear things pretty fitted, just try to keep it simple and classic looking.

What are you wearing? Мишка Tacoma flaid flannel, Topman cardigan, Cheap Mondays jeans, Oki Kutsu shoes

What are you currently listening to? Jonsi, Mayhem, Burzum, Darwin
Deez, Yeasayer

The Secret Handshake are currently working on a new album in Los Angeles, Thank you for taking some time out from that to send this photo in. Seriously a great fit, thanks Luis!

(more…)

Over at Script Shadow, a site that puts up new and old scripts for download, they recently did an “Alternative Draft Week.” They put up first and final drafts of a different movie each day, including the ultra-rare Empire Strikes Back script written by Leigh Brackett. I have no clue how they even got it, the script was previously only available at the Lucasfilm Archive and the library of Eastern New Mexico University. Both locations restricted the script to be copied or checked-out.

Brackett had previously written hundreds of sci-fi short stories and her screenwriting credits included the classic Raymond Chandler adaptations The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Based on his story outline, Lucas asked Brackett to write the script. Shortly after turning it in, she passed away from cancer in March 1978. Lucas, however, did not like the script and discarded it completely. Then he wrote two drafts himself before turning it over to Lawrence Kasdan. Brackett got writing credits for the film, but the consensus is that Lucas attached her name out of respect for the work she did during her illness. What a guy.

Brackett’s script begins in a similar manner as the ESB we all know – Han and Luke are riding around on “snow-lizards” looking for signs of life on Hoth. But once Luke is assaulted by the Wampa, deviation is immediate. The Rebels are hiding out in an “ice castle.” The Wampas are super intelligent and attack the castle. Darth Vader lives in a castle complete with gargoyles that “cower” a whole lot. There’s no Battle of Hoth. Hoth is actually what Bespin is called. Yoda is named Minch, resembles a frog, and fights Obi-Wan. The bounty hunters are absent. Han’s stepdad “Ovan Marekel” is mentioned a lot. Vader is not the father, although Luke’s dad does make an *ahem* appearance.

It’s not that it’s a bad story, but ESB is so perfect that it’s impossible to imagine any of Brackett’s ideas being good. There are one or two things that I think would have fit in well for the final product, specifically landscape shots on the ice planet, but it’s just so different from the ESB that I kept laughing as I read.

The download has since been pulled from Script Shadow, but if anyone wants to get their hands on it, ask me nicely and I could email it to you.