Thanks to our good friend Numan, we spotted this video of Wiley‘s new group project, A-List. Eskiboy shows the honeys how to be a Midnight Lover and looks the part in our Simon Crest cardigan.

This above video courtesy of Tim Westwood where A-List is compared to a British version of Young Money.

So. What is the expression? Streets is Watching? Street Soldier? Road Soda? Street Tits(? Thank you—I guess—urban dictionary).

Well, add one to the list. Street Kaiju. Street Kaiju in an almost embarrassingly literal sense, even. But no matter: Tonneran, the street monster, is awesome.

Another hit from Nari-san at Elegab—you know, the guy who brought us Shuttlegon and Puppet Seijin—Tonneran is what you’d get if a street complete with tunnel, roadside shrubbery, signal, and of course traffic, came to life and went berserk. And again, he is awesome.

When I first saw the sketches for this sculpt, my mouth sort of dropped open….it was one of those ideas that is so plain, so clear, and so cool that you sort of wonder why nobody’s ever thought of it. It’s the ultimate pollution monster for today’s issues.

The sculpt itself is top-notch. Super-fine detail on the little cars and trucks, and a beautiful texture on all the trees and foliage…it really brings the idea to life. I feel like a nit-picker, but the only thing neutral I’d have to say about Elegab scultps is that they’re all so different until you get to the eyes…which are all starting to feel exactly the same. I’d like to see some variation there.

Paint-wise, again, Nari-san does a bit of mass-grab…the version you’re seeing here is the ‘Black Spray’ colorway. He released 3 or 4 other colors at the same time which really just replace the black strips down the sides with blue, yellow, red, or green. Not the most imaginative of colorways.

One thing, too, I’m noticing about these toys: they’re not like you’re typical kaiju in one specific (and possibly/probably good) way: I’m not really compelled to buy another one of these dudes. The sculpt has so much quirky character that one is enough…no matter what new/crazy color/version comes out. Any kaiju dude will tell you…that is a strange feeling to feel. I usually only settle for one of something when it’s not a very cool toy (or I’m married to it, zing!)…but I’m totally content with and psyched over all these dudes. That’s weird…right?

Anyway. Probably more toy posts soon. I’ve been on a moron-rampage lately.

Hypebeast recently took their cameras to record the ins and outs of what running Mighty Healthy is like. The video includes time spent at their recent pop-up shop at the Reed Space, their Manhattan offices and on the set of a Joell Ortiz video shoot.

I’m glad this clip captures one of the most important and crucial elements of what makes not only Mighty Healthy a beloved brand, but Ray and Dennis just universally loved within the industry: their personalities and humor. Ray, Dennis, Drew and Pat are all pretty candid throughout the video, and it’s a pretty refreshing change of pace from the usual calculated profiles that brands try to capture on video.

Kudos!

I haven’t been into writing for the last week or so. I haven’t been into much at all actually, aside from some mastermind shit that I can’t talk about. But today, I found something worth writing about. No, it’s not that grammatically peculiar rug from the entryway to the Post Office. That photo is just an imagined thing turned real with a bit of photoshop. What prompted me to sit down and write this morning was the stamps that I bought at the Pot Office.

I’m into stamps. Not because I’m into stamps, but because I’m into illustration, design, and small easily appropriated things. I collect stamps, but not as a stamp collector. I use them all anyways. I just buy the ones I like. Another thing that I like about stamps is that they are a sensible thing to counterfeit. Sensible in that it’s easy to make quality counterfeits, and you’ll actually be able to put them to use. I’m not saying that you should be bootlegging stamps, it’s the idea that it is possible that really floats my boat. That, in a world where government agencies have regulated us into very uncriminal existences they have left this very obvious flaw. There are some Mail Artists that have gotten into trouble with the government making counterfeit stamps, but that is a whole other story (but you should peep that link and learn about Mail Art).

So, back to the stamps and why I’m writing though, the Post Office just released some Abstract Expressionist stamps. The thing that really struck me, after the idea of sending mail with Rothko color fields on it, was “Why the Fuck does Jackson Pollock have such a big stamp?” His is the one missing from the middle in the picture above. To me, that’s just affirmation of everything that’s wrong with art, all encapsulated in a stamp. I’ve never liked his role in the art world. I understand his art’s function, but I don’t appreciate the way he’s championed–it’s a lot like that other deadbeat Michel Foucault.

It gets even worse when you remember that we’re supposed to be in a recession and Pollock’s stamp is the size of 6 stamps, yet it’s still only worth 44 cents. I don’t even want to know how much the Post Office had to pay to obtain the rights to these paintings. It’s just totally fucking mind-boggling. They’re raising the price of stamps, whilst producing artifacts that are far from cost-effective. I salute you United States Postal Service.

Really excited to see this. My first introduction to Bill Hicks was through Tool’s Ænema. Like any youth who had a fanboy fascination with a band, I would always read up on the obscure soundclips found in their albums. One of the more famous quotes was his “man on acid” stand-up, which is also present in this trailer.

The American Movie is a documentary about Bill Hicks that uses some pretty impressive animation techniques to tell his story. Read up more on the film here.

The Specials – Specials (1979)

Vs.

The Kinks – Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

The Game is simple… if only one could exist which would it be? What’s more important… personal relevance, cultural significance, or simply being the better album all other things aside? Choice is yours…

Nemesis #1
Ohhhhh, fuck to the yes. Nemesis is dropping the week. Finally. Mark Millar’s latest license to print money is hitting the shelves and I’m already hyper-ventilating like the fanboy pig that I am. I’ve been waiting for this son of a bitch since it was announced, and now that it’s upon me, I’m geeking out. Let me tell you something. If my boy down at the comic shop forgets to pull me a copy of this I’m going to freak the fuck out. In something of a Hulkian rage, I may or may not flip several shelves and eat as many action figures I can before I asphyxiate and die. Just saying.

The premise is so fucking simple and obvious, even Mark Millar has admitted it’s borderline ridiculous to actually pull off as a title. Millar poses the question, what if a Batman analog was a bad guy? What if a billionaire playboy with all the sweet-ass kung fu moves and guns he could acquire, set out to kill the equivalent of Commissioner Gordon? Either you’re totally fucking stoked about this…or you’re a pretentious windbag. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I still fart towards you.

It’s a little bit of deconstruction this side of the sort of shit that Warren Ellis did with his Batman and Superman derivatives in The Authority, or his work in pretty much deconstructing every superhero archetype in The Planetary. But I think this will be a little more on the visceral, and a little less on the cerebral side. So instead of working out the essence of characters, I assume he’s just going to have lots of bludgeoning and ultra-violence. Absolutely fucking fine by me. I just spent an entire week examining freudian interpretations of Mary Shelley’s Mathilda for class. I’m ready for phallic objects blasting people into mush. Wait, that sounds freudian too. Fuck.

Millar already knows this is going to be a hit. Dude’s already planning a movie. Between Kick-Ass and this, I imagine soon he’ll be bathing in hundred-dollar bills and the alcoholic beverage of his choice. I’m there, dude.

Captain America #604
There’s like nineteen Captain Americas running around right now. There’s Steve Rogers back from the timestream, there’s Bucky back from being a Russian spy, and then there’s William Burnside, a schizophrenic raised to believe he’s Captain America. That’s roughly one for every Avengers title that Marvel is launching after the culmination of Siege. Rimshot, groans from the audience. But no, seriously. What the fuck is going on.

Brubaker continually brings the awesome. And that’s the reason a storyline about Bucky hunting down the aforementioned William Burnside in some yokel town works so damn well. Our boy Burnside, posing as Captain America, is leading a paramilitary group determined to “reclaim” America. A couple of issues ago Brubaker and company got into a bruhaha when someone penciled in some salacious shit onto a sign that was in a scene depicting a Tea Party protest. Being a hippy and a liberal, I wasn’t offended. But Fox News damn near shit their pants so hard, they didn’t just soil his pants, they soiled yours.

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Photo by Nate “Igor” Smith of Driven by Boredom.

Alright, I know I should have gotten this post up a few days ago, but after the Showcase, I got down with a super nasty head cold that kept me bed-ridden since Friday. I still feel pretty shitty, but this post isn’t going to make itself, now is it!?

All in all, the Ov Curse showcase was a rocking good time. The bands were all fantastic and the crowd was energetic and supportive of them all. I took a camera down with me to document the evening, but I’m quite possibly the worst fucking photographer on earth and most of my pictures S-U-C-K! So I’ll be jazzing this post up with various shots from other bloggers and photographers in attendance that are far and away superior to my own.

That’s David on the left from Chronic Youth (who put on the showcase with us) and Damian on the right from Fucked Up. Damian was supposed to host the whole showcase, but I think he spent most of it holding court outside the venue and talking about hardcore, records and touring with most of the bands. Either way, he was, as always, pretty entertaining. For shits and giggles, Damian also started a rumor that Fucked Up and The XX were playing a 3am show later that night on a bridge, and it spread like wildfire… I was totally bummed when I found out it wasn’t true.

This is Dallas’ Awen who opened things up with a pretty dramatic and awe-inspiring set of Apocalyptic Folk. It was so good to finally get the chance to see these guys live; their last album, The Bells Before Dawn, has quickly been rising as one of my favorites and they really need to play out more often!

In case you missed it a few posts down, The Toilet Cobra just did an interview with Dais, Awen’s record label. The interview includes a few questions about the band.

Photo by Jason Fisher.

Drunkdriver played their usual intense set to a packed crowd that was separated from the band with a steel gate. I was shocked that, during the course of their blistering and exuberant performance, Berdan and the crowd didn’t collapse it.

This is T.J., also known as King Dude, frontman for Book of Black Earth and the guy most of you streetwear aficionados will know as the man behind Actual Pain. I don’t think there are enough words in the English language to convey how talented and what a good dude T.J. is. He greeted me as soon as I got to the club, and we spent most of the night hanging out and chatting.

T.J. then got up on stage with just his acoustic guitar and some candles, and played some of the most haunting and beautiful Neo-folk you ever did hear. Afterward, I asked T.J. why he named this project “King Dude” and he replied that it was sort of a joke name that stuck.

Photo by Nate “Igor” Smith of Driven by Boredom.

This is Greta of My Gold Mask, a band who’s name, come the end of 2010, you’ll all probably be familiar with. This showcase was my first time ever seeing them live, and I had no clue that the only instruments that Greta and Jack (pictured below) played with live were a guitar, some effects and a drum kit.

Photo by Nate “Igor” Smith of Driven by Boredom.

There was a bit of a disconnect at first because of how lush their album and most recent EP, A Thousand Voices, sounded, but these guys know exactly what they’re doing and pulled off one of the most exciting and memorable sets of the evening.

Photo by Nate “Igor” Smith of Driven by Boredom.

I can’t believe that this was probably Hussle Club’s 3rd show ever! These guys perform like they’ve been touring for close to a decade. They absolutely brought the packed room at 1808 down to their knees. These guys are all energy and sweet hooks!

And where do I even begin with Terrence? Dude is quickly turning into the consummate frontman… an absolute pleasure to watch and listen to. Both Hussle Club and My Gold Mask will be performing at the Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg on April 22nd. If you’re in town, I wouldn’t dare miss what could end up being one of the greatest live shows you’ll see!

This is Toby, singer and guitarist for Blessure Grave, on your left and Bobby, frontman, madman and just all around jack of all trades for //TENSE//, on your right. This was my first chance getting to meet both of these guys in person after countless email correspondences. And while I was generally excited to see many of the acts performing live, these were the two I was most excited for, and neither disappointed.

Photo by Jessop K. of Out of Print Mag.

While //TENSE// were performing, I let out a tweet which read:

Seeing //TENSE// live can only compare to when I heard Pretty Hate Machine for the first time. The crowd is going insane dancing

I still stand by that statement. Seeing them was a total throwback to my youth… For 40 minutes, they delivered pounding dancefloor anthems that the crowd just couldn’t resist. Truth be told, I don’t think anyone was really prepared to see a band breathe new life and energy into EBM quite like that. Multiple people came up to me to say that these guys were amazing, they’d destroy in NYC. Soon enough…soon enough.

Video of Blessure Grave courtesy of All Our Noise.

Finally, to close out the evening, Blessure Grave took the stage and delivered live on everything their records hinted at. Most of their set was composed of brand new songs, all of which show the band getting better and better over time… something really scary considering how good their old material is! The crowd was awed by their dark and brooding performance, and I’m sure won over by their heartfelt hooks. Come June, Blessure Grave will be hitting up the East Coast for the first time, giving everyone here a chance to see what the hype around them is all about.

In addition to the live footage, All of Our Noise also did this interview with Toby Grave shortly after their set. It’s a great clip where Toby speaks about how Blessure Grave’s goth/death rock fits in with San Diego’s mostly garage rock scene, opening up for Christian Death and the band’s influences.

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I unfortunately have zero clue where any of the photos of These Are Powers went! But as usual, the veterans were great and had the crowd (and some locals who strayed in) dancing for a good 20 minutes with an impromptu DJ set before they hit the stage. I’m trying to scrounge some pictures up and will update this post as soon as I figure out what happened. Finally, Light Asylum didn’t end up making it down to Austin this year. We were all bummed!

Autechre – Oversteps (2010) [Warp] // Grade: A-

Autechre isn’t exactly the most embraceable of things. Tangibility? Eh, forget it; 20-some years on and we’ve only got a pocketful of moments you can really wrap your fingers around. Rob Brown and Sean Booth live to propel forward the standards of electro production, to deconstruct (or question outright) the sometimes too-simple notions of beats and bass—to embody IDM by making one hell of a menacing impact. And it’s often straight-up revolutionary but also sort of like trying to hug a school of fish; get too close and the already skittery little things just skitter even further.

But stand still: they do drift back. Hover long enough and the silvery school will circle your feet, envelop you as another bit of atmosphere, and that (weirdly enough) is Oversteps: the electro equivalent to a jumpy mess of creatures allowing you a closer look. It’s not necessarily accessible—that’d be too strange, even for Autechre—but definitely gentle. Less focused on invasive, fragmented shards than the suggestion of watery melody.

Of course, “suggestion” is the key word here; though it moves from baroque chill (“known I”) to beautifully dreamy lullabye (“see on see,” “pt2ph8″), Oversteps still keeps you at a classically Autechre arm’s length. Even the j-poppy “d-sho qub” and hip-hop beats of “treale” keep their distance; parts switched on a dime, melodies turned suddenly sour. And it’s not like Autechre have totally ignored their legacy (though, let’s be serious, they do tend to fully reimagine themselves year by year, album by album). A track like “llanders” embodies the schizophrenic vibe we’ve come to love, all explosive sound collage and piercing, throbbing bass. It’s just that this time, we’re allowed an inch or two more intimacy, so long as we don’t get too comfy. Allow me to beat this metaphor to death: you can’t simply reach down and touch that school of fish, you know. They may swim and swirl and nip at your ankles, but the closeness? Completely on their terms.

This coming week is the turn of Miami to be destroyed, the ocean will turn magenta and the streets will be desolate wastelands after this epic onslaught of bass. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday will be held at The White Room (306 N. Miami Ave.) and Friday will be first at the Pompeii Room of the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel (4525 Collins Ave.) and then followed by an afterparty at the Park West (30 NE 11th St.).

First Up, in the flyer above, is the infamous Bang Bang party brought to you by living legends Craze (Slow Roast Records) and Shy FX (Digital Soundboy), make sure you RSVP for an insured pre midnight entry at rsvp@mishkanyc.com.
Along side will be Jack Beats, Breakage, 12th Planet, AC Slater, Plastician and many more…

Thursday will be the time of the Official SMOG VS BASSHEAD party. SMOG is the premiere dubstep event for Los Angeles and this time it brings its unique flavor to the East Coast with none other than Mary Anne Hobbs and much buzzed about Datsik, Excision, Noah D and Deathface…

Friday’s events focus on the screening of much anticipated dance music documentary, The Electro Wars. It’s screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the director and a selected panel of artist that took part in this time piece. Thanks to Pacha and MixMag we were able to be a part of this amazing night and have a huge after party for the movie featuring Will.I.Am, Boys Noize and some secret guest you’ll have to find out for yourself!

Last but certainly not least, Trouble & Bass‘s Miami Temple Of Boom! This is one is bound to be the end all be all of heavy bass parties featuring your beloved T&B crew and some very special sets by Bart B More, Nero and the Party Like Us crew!

Hope you get out of Miami in one piece!