The Black Keys - Brothers (2010) [Nonesuch] // Grade: B

The Black Keys don’t make bad albums. They make “holy shit” albums and “pretty good” albums and “hey, that’s not half bad” albums, but never anything terrible enough to spawn legitimate backlash. They’re a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race band, workhorses in the truest Ohio corn-bred sense, and if they ever feel like parodies of themselves—well, it happens. Years-honed and distinctive sounds risk a little repetition. At least they’re not cartoons, you know. At least they’re not, like, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Besides, what they repeat, they repeat knowingly. The latest since 2008′s (“pretty good”) Danger Mouse-produced Attack & Release—not to mention a bevy of side-work, including Damon Dash’s Blakroc—Brothers feels refreshed to the max, the duo Keys finding their way back to Rubber Factory (“holy shit”) with a few new tricks up their sleeves. It’s loose and humid, a bunch of scuzzy stoked blues-rock jams that love a roadside riff just as much as they do a glammed-out falsetto. “Everlasting Light” may be “Planet Queen” for the good ol’ boys, but “Howlin’ For You” is precisely the sort of swamp-stomp that inspires True Blood episode titles, then carries out the final credits. Just you wait; Alan Ball’s gonna love this.

And what’s not to love? Aside from the length—maybe that’s not to love. Maybe so much riffing gets a little laborious over 15 songs, and maybe it’s too heavy on the sloppy Delta ballads. But maybe that’s interesting, too; Brothers is exciting in very measured doses, and it (almost) always keeps you hotly anticipating the next explosion. And anyway, it’s still way to right of “not half bad”. “Holy shit”, not quite—but if the Keys carry this refreshed vibe through another album, they might get real close.

Woods – Death Rattles

2Pac – From the Cradle to the Grave

Grave Babies – Gouge Your Eyes Out

Death – Lack of Comprehension

Mew – Why Are You Looking Grave?

77Klash brings some BK wobble mysticism with his newest joint “Asphalt Jungle” from his Shadow of Death EP out now on Trouble & Bass. 77Klash is joined by T&B mainstays AC Slater behind the decks and The Captain hyping him up through the video.

Get hype on the track and don’t forget that 77Klash will be performing with The Captain at our 4th of July throw down, Red, White & Brews. I have sneaking suspicion you’ll probably see this performed. See you there!

ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ jut leaked the theme for the Zombie Rave 3 Mixtape which I can only assume will be dropping maybe in the next week? Early july?? I don’t know but it couldn’t come soon enough in my book!

Befriend Mater Suspiria Vision on Facebook to stay updated. This one will have an upped 300 download slots, but then again the last one was supposed to have 200 and it tapped out at 100… so who knows?

In the meantime enjoy the “Theme From Zombie Rave 3″ and prepare for a Summertime apocalypse!

I don’t deal in conspiracy theory. I deal in conspiracy FACT!
- Michael Ruppert

He’s blown the whistle on CIA drug trafficking, exposed mainstream media cover-ups, and predicted the economic meltdown way before we knew the terms,”mortgage backed security” or “credit default swap.” Now, subject of the documentary Collapse, Michael Ruppert warns us of the complete social and economic breakdown of civilization as a whole…PAY ATTENTION.

Peak oil curve suggested by M. King Hubbert in 1956. Click to enlarge.

Remember this term: PEAK OIL. It’s the point of oil production where you’re on top of the bell curve, reaching half of the available resources; never able to increase production ever again. It’s all downhill from the peak, and civilization consumes more and more oil as our standards of living increase. Since the 70′s, scientists and speculators alike have been concerned about the possibilities of the day humanity finally sucks the last drop of oil out of the planet.

Ruppert suggests that day is coming sooner than we know. There are no more major oil finds left and it has those in power scrambling. Why is the US so concerned with IRAQ? Why would Saudi Arabia, who owns 25% of the known oil reserves on the planet, move to the vastly more expensive offshore drilling if their supply was dwindling? PEAK OIL. If Saudi Arabia has reached their peak, the WHOLE PLANET has!

Let’s divert away from peak oil and focus on the current economic crisis the world is facing. Between toxic loans and fractional reserve banking, the dollar is crumbling. Banks will soon become insolvent and all of our savings accounts will be wiped away like numbers on a calculator. Forget cities, entire countries are going bankrupt. Yet, we as a civilization believe that our standards of living should be constantly growing. It is how society is modeled. If we can’t believe in the concept that things will be better for us in the future, there would be revolution. According to Ruppert, this is exactly the reason why global governments withhold the oil reserve estimates and continue to print more fiat money for bail outs. Our global economy simply can’t sustain itself anymore because we believe in infinite growth.

So…what happens when Infinite Growth collides with FINITE ENERGY? When you can’t just print up more money to generate more oil?

This is as good as conspiracy theory gets. Ruppert’s fact based vision of our future is paranoia inducing, isolating, subversive, while both terrifying and enlightening at the same time…right up my alley! But documentarian Chris Smith (American Movie) eschews the sensationalism and apocalyptic visual FX stylings of the Alex Jones variety, opting for a more direct approach. This is a little under two-hours of listening to a middle aged man while he sits in a dingy room speaking his mind…and it shook me to the point where I wanted to jump off a bridge after email blasting a manifesto to everyone I know. But don’t take the leap just yet, Ruppert has solutions to guide us into a new aeon free of oil dependency. See this movie. Visit his website. Buy his books.

Every aspect of human existence is on the table. Evolve or perish!

We got a double dose of Laurens a little while back when Lauren Flax and Lauren Dillard who are better known jointly as CREEP dropped by the shop and the office to brainstorm some things in the works.

Besides being lovingly name checked in Pitchfork’s article on Witch House, The girls have also just recently remixed Memory Tapes “Green Kights.” Their remix takes the warm and fuzzy “glo” usually associated with Memory Tapes into a very dark and cold place. It’s a killer remix! And if that’s not enough check out their remix for Baghdaddy’s “Hot Shit” below.

CREEP are currently working on their debut record which will be out soon on Triangle records. But in the meantime why don’t you catch CREEP doing a live DJ set tomorrow night at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn along with performances by MEN (feat. JD Samson of Le Tigre) and No Bra.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

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

Tesla Boy - Modern Thrills (2010) [Mullet] // Grade: C

Dear 1980s, we are Moscow trio Tesla Boy and we want you to know that we think you’re totally fucking stellar.

Like some letter to the decade’s pretend madcap Santa Claus of Pop, Tesla Boy make Dance music dripping with every bit of accessible 1980’s sweetness. The name alone clues us into their pure synth-circuit worshipping, while lyrics like “I wanna make love with you all night,” splashed over workout beats, arpeggio riff-outs and laser sounds wrap Modern Thrills up nice and tight in some schmaltzy, sugariness that will either make you pass into a full body cringe or an asymmetric hair bobbing dance flail fest almost immediately.

This record plays like the soundtracked parts of Hot Tub Time Machine. If you’ve seen the film, one of the first things you’ll notice is how completely high voltage, Best-Of-the-Decade the music in it is. Scenes mostly play out to some all-to-known (and karaoke-d) hit like “Safety Dance,” “Jessie’s Girl” or “True” as a glaringly familiar nod that we are in (or still would love to be in) the years of DeLoreans and day-glo. Tesla Boy have swallowed every bit of the remembered decade and condensed it into a well-executed, 12-track LP of revivalist, pulsing, athletic, synth bounce.

Fully packed with the quintessential range of 80’s Pop-song headings, Modern Thrills has spindly ballads (“Speed of Light”), calypso-tropical programmed cheese (“Liberating Soul”), sex-scene cringe (“Make Believe Ballroom”), beat-driven thumpers (“Electric Lady”) and my personal favorite, the post-breakup-night-drive-montage sound found in “Rebecca.”

Though quite similar to some of the sounds coming from the Valerie Cherie camp in France (TB have released on the label before) this trio play music that’s just too much rooted in mere nostalgic scraping. Walking between the downright cheap to playful and versed Pop lullabies of the band member’s pasts; total hints of Kajagoogoo and Culture Club are mixed with New Order structures, Duran Duran deliveries and Berlin-like sleaze and it’s honestly a challenge to pick out anything that hasn’t been done countless times before.

Starting with a stormy orchestral synth grow that possess a certain bit of Horror-film-like intrigue, once “Minsk-2” hits its 1:17 mark, like beating a dead horse, the song becomes a wholly familiar slice of 80’s form while the lyrics “sexy lady” are repeated over and over. If you make it as far, the chorus to the following song “Dark Street” plays like a direct nod to Rupert Hine’s “With One Look (The Widest Dream).”

If there’s any shot-in-the-dark reason why you’ve missed the blatant resurgence of the aforementioned decade that’s practically yelling in our faces to pay attention (Devo and Human League in Swiffer ads anyone?) Modern Thrills is worth a truncated listen, yet, otherwise it’s a kitschy, to-the-point album whose chief worth may only be found in heavy in-store mall play at Forever 21 and Clarie’s stores coast-to-coast.

So look I know, you favorite team probably hasn’t performed as well as you’d liked but that’s no reason to kill the celebration. So don’t be  killjoy and come ring in the second phase of the 2010 World Cup with some BASS to go along with those Soccer balls.

And what better way to do so than with the infamous LA Dance Right parties? Trouble and Bass and Them Jeans promise to get us all wasted on bass so do yourself a favor and come early while the booze and bass are flowing a-plenty!

Forza Azzurri!

Friday June 25th 9pm
Puma Social Club
210 Front St. (South Street Seaport)
New York, NY
21+ | Free drinks all night!

Can you tell I really like this new Wavves album? No? You’re not around the Bloglin often enough then. Last week there’s was a short video from Pete Ohs, This week Yours Truly get on board the King of the Beach hype train with their own video.

The Band talks more about the differences between their new album and old ones, and performs “King of the Beach” and “Green Eyes” live at Origami Vinyl in Echo Park. Here’s a little “behind the music” for y’all. That performance was originally supposed to take place at our Echo Park shop, but, yeah.. it didn’t. Oh well!

The band is actually in New York tonight for a show at the Knitting Factory, but it’s sold out. Bummer! King of the Beach however comes out August 3rd on Fat Possum Records though. Go pre-order a copy!

Go Read “Always Grustling: Das Racist Interview”

I’ll be honest, I’m not to sure who Mixpack Records are* but I do know and love Das Racist. These dudes are  are a breath of fresh air when it come to Hip Hop and we’re glad to count them amongst our family and Mopster army.

Anyway, Mixpak sat down with Hima and Victor AKA Kool A.D. on a great interview that’s as much of a showcase for their humor and intelligence just as much as their tunes. These dudes a re a national treasure and if you still don’t “get it” well I feel bad for ya.

And if you haven’t done so yet, please go do yourself a fuckin’ favor and download Shut Up, Stupid. Mixtape or album, whatever you want to call it, shit’s straight-up a top ten Hip Hop release for 2010.

*Mixpak, I’m sorry for not knowing your blog! But unless it’s a site covering Witch House Zombie Ghost Shoegaze Goth, I’m out of the loop.