Last Friday we held the opening reception for Adam Wallacavage’s Photos From the Magic Fun Shop at 350 Broadway. It was a fun night and we’re happy everyone trekked out to the shop amid tornado warnings!

The show consisted of about a dozen or so photos that Adam took at the now closed Magic Fun Shop in Philadelphia. It was a one stop fix for novelties, masks and of course magic tricks that was cluttered from floor to ceiling with product that dated back to the 60s.

Wallacavage documented the shop during regular visits until it mysteriously closed down in 2005. No one knows if the proprietor, Ed Turner passed away or what happened to shops contents. Right now all that’s left of the Magic Fun Shop is Adam’s series of pictures and this Philly TV news story.

Photos From the Magic Fun Shop will run for six weeks starting with an opening party at 350 Broadway on July 23rd.  A limited edition t-shirt including various prints will be available for sale at 350 Broadway. Adam also did a fanatstic pink tentacle and skull candelabra (picture above) for the show as well.

Head after the jump for more photos from the opening! (more…)

Rick Ross - Teflon Don (2010) [Def Jam] // Grade: B

“I think I’m Big Meech/Larry Hoover.”

This is the line that opens “B.M.F.” off of Rick Ross’ Teflon Don, released last week. While according to the parentheses, “B.M.F.” ostensibly stands for “Blowin Money Fast”, it’s also a fairly obvious reference to the Black Mafia Family, an Atlanta-based drug operation tangentially connected to Young Jeezy busted by the CCE act in 2006. As far as anyone knows, Ross has no real connection to the BMF. Nor does he have a solid connection to Larry Hoover’s Gangster Disciples, or to the real Rick Ross, the infamous crack dealer that flooded the streets of L.A. in the 1980s and was claimed to be supplied by the C.I.A. As everyone knows by now, Ross, government name William Roberts, was a corrections officer in Miami in the mid-90s.

It’s impossible to talk about Ross without mentioning this almost obsessive fetishization of gang life and drug dealing that’s coupled with former life as a uniformed law enforcer. When he first burst onto the scene in 2006 with “Hustlin’”, in which he claims “the real Noreaga” owes him a hundred favors, we had no idea who the fuck this guy was, or what he was about. Free to build his own storyline, he constructed a massive one, based on nebulous anecdotes like getting “Rich Off Cocaine” airbrushed on his Tims and constant drug-talk. So when the Rawss-gate hit rap in 2008, it seemed like he was toast.

Except, somehow, he wasn’t. He had turned himself into a larger-than-life character, an avatar for the most gangster aspects of rap. In a way, rap listeners had been privately recognizing that a large number of gangster rappers over the last ten or fifteen were either greatly exaggerating or straight up lying about their past. Ross was our collective relief, where we could finally listen to this guy talk shit, know he was talking shit, and still be okay with that. Rap blogs like the trap music-connoisseurs Dirty Glove Bastard could publicly deride him as “Officer Ricky”, but still post his tracks. Ross, on his part, felt like he had to prove himself after the scandal came through between his second and third albums, and delivered with a surprisingly solid third effort, Deeper Than Rap. Filled with lavish beats and rhymes about expensive living, he was able to reach back to the highlights of Bad Boy’s late 90s style and pull it ten years forward.

On Teflon Don, he attempts this trick again. Another relatively short album filled with mostly expensive sounding beats, Ricky is again feeding us tales of big money, drugs, and fancy cars. A recent trend in writing about Ross is that this album is his best because he’s become a better rapper since he debuted with “Hustlin’”, while that might be true, his growth hasn’t been overwhelmingly noticeable, to me at least. He was always fairly solid, now he’s just really solid, though still delivering some questionable rhymes (“If she died on my dick she would live in my rhymes.” What?). The staleness comes with the fact that a lot of this album sounds more or less like a track-for-track rehash of Deeper Than Rap, which isn’t an awful thing, but doesn’t really add much to the Myth of Ross. Why would I listen to “Maybach Music III” when I could listen to its prequel released last year and hear Ross rap about the same shit, but with better guests? Ross has always had choice production, and switching his style up from DJ Khaled-helmed Miami rap epics to J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-directed New York-styled rap epics worked for an album, but it’s just okay here. The style really gets exposed on the awkward, ham-fisted “Tears of Joy” with Cee-Lo, though the clever “Free Mason” with Jay-Z works pretty well.

Ross still has the ability to surprise. Much like the title track opener of DTR, the album opener here, “I’m Not a Star”, is a ferociously spit, hookless monster, riding a J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-produced beast in the style of Shawty Redd (yes, it’s a monster riding a beast). The two other album highlights, “MC Hammer” with Gucci Mane and the aforementioned “B.M.F.” with Styles P, also go for the gothic trap style beats, both provided by the excellent Lex Luger. If Ricky wanted to fully embrace his bullshit next album and make an album full of trap bangers, I’d be okay with that. Ricky’s a survivor, and somehow thrives for all his contradictions. He’s kinda like rap incarnate, and that means I can’t really hate him. Teflon Don is a pretty solid turn, but hopefully he pulls out some new tricks for his next super-expensive project.

“Holy Beast of Bethlehem”, Part 6 of Season of the Vogue Witches from Mater Suspiria Vision’s upcoming Invasion of the Body Witches… one dark and scary step closer to full audio/video album experiences.

Alright, I’m just going to come out and say that I’ve pretty much given up on ever genuinely enjoying this show like I once did. Perhaps it was a delusion, some sort of apparition or glamouring that tricked me into thinking this show was dope. But at this point, it comes off like a mush of romance and homoerotic tension. And while I am typically a lover of both romance and homoerotic tension, I’m pretty sure that from now on True Blood will be spent counting the time until a real show comes on.

I’ve figured out that this current season can be broken down into three distinct entities.

1. Eric Northman Cock Teases Everyone
King Dandyfuck, or whatever his name is, killed Eric’s dad. Who was a King. And now in a manner to ingratiate himself into the King’s inner circle in an effort to ultimately kill him, he’s begun hitting on him. And King Dandyfuck’s husband. I dug this at first, since I imagined myself being hit on by Eric and I glowed a bit inside. Then it just sort of kept going, and I’m like, alright dude, do something.

But he isn’t content just cock-teasing King Dandyfuck and the king’s typically flamboyant husband. He also spends a good amount of time growling and making comments at Sookie, and then Sookie is like “Roar roar I’ll never forgive you, roar roar, gap-toothed annoyingness.” So Eric walks around a lot in tight-fitting shirts and running his finger up and down people’s stomachs. Every episode. Forever.

2. Sookie Does Dumb Shit While Bill and His Dumb Maker Go Emo
This has been an essential part of the series for the last two seasons. Sookie runs around like a petulant bitch, heading into danger every episode. She just yells “Bill!” through the Whistling Caverns that are her front two teeth, while disobeying every good suggestion ever.

Meanwhile!, Bill and his maker Lorena just say pathetic overwrought bullshit to one another. “I wish I could have seen you before the show’s writers ruined you, Lorena!” and then she cries a lot of blood and everything is terrible and she says something like “I will never stop loving you, William Compton!”

While this is going on, I turn to my girlfriend and I say something like, “Fuck, I can’t wait to watch a real show.”

3. Everyone Else Gets Too Much Screen Time And Sucks
Jessica is hot as hell and glamours people, which is awesome. I wish I could stare at her in her cute waitress outfit, but I can’t. Why? ‘Cause Lafayette is spending time with Jesus just so Alan Ball can make people uncomfortable with two dudes kissing. Sorry Alan!, I’m fine with it. Meanwhile, Jason is trying to hit on some hillbilly slut, and slapping the asses of varsity quarterbacks. But if that isn’t boring you enough, Sam Merlotte is dealing with his yokel brother and the fact that his white trash uses Bro Merlotte in pitbull fights or some shit.

Seriously? That’s the side-story they’re going with? All the side characters have far too much screen time, which takes away from the 10% of the main storylines (if there actually are some) that doesn’t suck. So in the end its a bunch of fast cuts while a bunch of attractive people walk around Vampire Hotel and the shitty bayou.

Snorecore.

This Thursday, July 26th, or homies over at Fixed and Trouble and Bass bring you New Yorkers a whole bunch of Brits with killer tunes. Who ever thought there would be so many foreigners at one party?

Zombie Disco Squad, also natives of the UK, are some of my favorites dudes in tech house right now. Recently they’ve been releasing some massive tunes on San Francisco’s Dirtybird (yeah my hometown!) and Jesse Rose’s Made To Play.

Breakage has a serious history in the UK jungle/drum and bass/grime/dubstep scene. When it comes to underground in the UK, this dude has been there and done that. Legendary status. More recently Breakage been putting his signature twist on UK grime with dubby riddims, jungly-ass drums, and vocals from the likes of Roots Manuva and Donaeo.

A bass-heavy night is ensured for this Thursday, so make sure you bring a change of underwear. I might even be making an appearance myself, and I know you don’t want to miss out on that.

Thursday July 29th, 9pm
Santos Party House
100 Lafayette St.
New York City
$10 Advance | $15 Door

A friend was telling me last night that Disney held some hyper-nerd scavenger hunt to promo Tron Legacy during SDCC. He had to run (and I mean full blown sprint) around San Diego taking photos of himself in front of strategically placed Tron posters then do a bunch of other fanboy shit that was designed by the apparently really cool and intelligent people who (as I mentioned last week) are perfectly handling the franchise.

The hunt ended up in some location that mimicked Flynn’s Arcade as well as the club from the movie. I could give a shit about engaging in these sort of activities, I just wanted to see the new trailer that surfaced… and he said, well it’s already online. Oh. Well can I see it? Yea? Word.

Click here to watch the new Tron Legacy trailer in HD… and you want to watch it in HD!

El-P - Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 (2010) [Def Jux] // Grade: A

El-P’s production work always reminds me of this one scene in Clockwork Orange.  The scene is right after the milk bar scene – it last maybe 30 seconds or so – it’s a simple tracking shot of Alex walking home at dusk, in a deteriorating, garbage infested housing estate. In the background you can see the estate has some great architecture, futuristic construction, but it has fallen into total disrepair. When you look at that scene you can’t help but be reminded of a modern day housing projects and as an aside to the movie I wonder what kind of rap music comes out of the projects of the future? El-P’s production on his Fantastic Damage and Cannibal Ox’s Cold Vein was pretty much the answer to that question no one asked.  His work is filled with over distorted synths, weird little robot noises, laser sounds and depressing drones layered over old school boom bap drums. It’s noisy, nasty head nodding music – the type of music that’s perfect for spitting equal parts intelligent and aggressive rhymes. You want to finally write that diss song to that kid who keeps talking shit about you utilizing an extended metaphor about robotsex? El-P’s got you straight.

This new mix Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 continues in the tradition of Fantastic Damage and The Cold Vein (and thankfully doesn’t sound like the stillborn I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead) and hits with big beats and a dense collage of distorted melodies and bits of noise. After a brief opening the tape starts out with “Whores: The Movie”, a skittish and uneasy beat that would be perfect for breakdancing to if you had a wild case of epilepsy. If this song is the soundtrack to some kind of documentary about whores, I can tell you that these are going to be some really paranoid and twitchy whores. The type that’ll ask you if you’re a cop every five minutes, which you’re not, but ultimately takes you totally out of the school girl fantasy you paid for. Good song, bad scenario. “Meanstreak” follows up and it’s an epic track in three parts that sounds like it should be the backing for a Wu Tang style posse cut made by The Decepticons (90′s NY gang or cartoon robots, take your pick).

The thing that seems to have changed in El-P’s production since his output of 2002 is a streamlining of  his sound collages and more of a focus on having big beats. His earlier stuff was notorious for having 80 million things happening at once – and compared to most productions he’s still got a lot happening but now it all seems to be absolutely necessary to get the feeling he wants out of the beat. Don’t sleep and think because this is an instrumental album that these are just beats that are waiting for someone to rhyme over them – yeah you could easily put bars over these beats, but even without any vocal accompaniment these songs are fully emotive and go on a discernible journey all their own. If this is the kind of stuff the broke down, brutalist projects of the future is going to be cranking out then maybe losing the second robot war won’t be the worst thing to happen to the human race.

Well not my boyfriend, but probably Bethany Cosentino’s of Best Coast. Really awesome fan video for “Boyfriend” from Best Coast’s debut, Crazy For You. Which officially drops tomorrow from Mexican Summer records.

You know us, we’re always big fans of the cable access aesthetic.

Digital Boy + Shark: Spirit of ’91 Mix for Discobelle’s Mixin’ It Up

This is the debut mix from Italian duo Digital Boy + Shark. 40 minutes of cut throat mixes and edits to be reckoned with that play out like a freight train destroying everything in it’s past. The lines between time are blurred by hyper speed and heavy bass creating a time space continuum from which there is no escape!

Done for Discobelle’s Mixin It Up series, Spirit of ’91 features the dance floor smasher “Gangster Rave”, the anthem “No One Can Stop Us” and their soon to be released remix of Congorock’s “Babylon”, this is more than an introduction… It’s a warning!

Past, present and future collide as the forefather of Italian Rave music, Digital Boy, joins forces with one of New York’s most infamous bass warriors, Мишка’s music man, badman Shark. In just under 5 months of activity they established the shape of Rave to come.2010 will see the rebirth of Techno through Rave, Hardcore and decades of blood, sweat and tears. Digital Boy + Shark have spent eons hoarding the best parts of dance music genres and are now ready to blend it into one grand punch to your face!

With support from all the Italian heavy weights like Crookers (for whom they will be remixing “Royal T”), Congorock and Riva Starr and international champions of modern sound Doorly, Buraka Som Sistema, Trouble & Bass, Night Slugs and DMC champ Shiftee; the duo will be looking to release it’s first single in October and EP shortly after including collaborations by Iggor Cavalera (Sepultura, Mixhell), vocalist Carrie Wilds (Drop The Lime, Crookers), alongside remixes by Buraka Som Sistema, Congorock, Adam Tensta, Rx (feat. Chae Hawk), Mr. Vega, Bare Noize, Alexander Technique, Blatta & Inesha, Deathface and Kaptain Cadillac.

For more info about the dastardly duo and their original tracks found in the mix, check out Gangster Rave.

Menomena - Mines (2010) [Barsuk/City Slang] // Grade: B

After three full-length albums, Portland’s Menomena have established themselves as solid mainstays within indie rock. They’ve showcased a prowess at writing great hooks and proven themselves talented multi-instrumentalists. With a tested formula in their back pocket, Menomena step forward on Mines, their fourth full-length release, pull out their notes of past successes and add the bullet points of “emotion” and “experimentation” to their repertoire.

Opener “Queen Black Acid” is a weighty start with the vocal line, ” I walked right in through a rabid storm”. The instrumentation is minimal, allowing Justin Harris’s slow tempoed words to carry the composition. “You bring me down / So down,” comprises a chorus moodier than its buildup. It sounds like sitting in a dive bar pouring your heart out to the aging bartender’s calming ear. Followed by the swiftly moving, crunchy blues guitar and piano of “TAOS”, Menomena early on establish a balance that sways between the emotional and the energetic.

With its mixture of the band’s familiar blues influence and baritone sax-led smooth jazz underpinnings, “Oh Pretty Boy, You’re Such A Big Boy” is a welcome experimentation. It’s obvious the band isn’t quite sure how to make their vocal stylings work within this sound, but nonetheless you welcome their effort and the interest the track adds to the overall mix. “INTIL” is a more successful instrumental experimentation, slowly building via gentle washes of sound and thoughtful words to a midpoint structured around vocal echoes and light tropical influence. It pairs magically with the multiple, breathy focal points, its only downfall an abrupt end.

Mines could just as well been titled Minds, offering a deeper glimpse why the trio have come to be an inviting and stable career act. True, the experimentation could be pushed further and at times the vast shifts in pace between tracks can feel jarring, but as a whole, Mines is a pleasing balance of what you’ve come to expect from Menomena delivered with new experimentation and deeper emotions pulled out from within.