Just in time for Halloween, my new music video for Total Slacker dropped on Pitchfork today! I spent a big chunk of the past summer working on this thing with my friend Rarer Borealis who supplied the animation, and it was shot by Chris Person, who recently helped me clean a dirty bathroom and got a whole lot of green slime dumped on his head for a  Suckers video we did. It was made in my beautiful backyard in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn for just pennies a day, and also a pizza and some beers. My mom was very pleased that I costumed the ghost using a tropical bedsheet she bought me for college – thank you for those sheets, Mom!

If you like the song, be sure and grab a copy of “Crystal Necklace” on 7″ vinyl from Impose Records before they’re gone, and they’re going all right.

We’ve worked a lot with Ellen over the years. She’s shot a calendars, a few lookbooks and just all around brought some sexiness to the label with her photography and stable of models. Ger most recent shoot for our Fall 2010 2nd delivery has garned a lot of press and attention…In no small part due to the very lovely and fresh faced model, Kristen Pyles.

When we set out to shoot this lookbook, it was a happy accident that we eventually stumbled into Kristen because she was not the originally intended to be the model. Because of scheduling issues we were just about ready to scrap the whole notion of doing this lookbook until Ellen swooped in and saved the whole shoot and presented us with the idea of using her newest model, Kristen, to whom we all gave an emphatic “yes!”  Over the past few weeks “Mishka Kristen” has been one of the most popular search terms leading to our site, so I think it’d be safe to say Kristen has captured the eyes and hearts of quite a few of our male patrons.

Acclaim magazine just recently did an interview with Ellen and the girl you’ve all been wanting to know more about, Kristen about the making of our lookbook. Go over to Acclaim and read their exchange with the girls and don’t forget to get another eyeful of that wonderful lookbook as well!

Read Acclaim’s Interview w/ Ellen Stagg & Kristen Pyles

Apache Beat - Last Chants (2010) [Babylon/Beverly Martel] // Grade: B

Brooklyn’s Apache Beat have all the elements to stand out scattered across their debut, Last Chants and in quite a few ways, most notably the tight production and captivating voice of lead singer Ilirjana Alushaj, the newcomers do leave the lasting impression of standouts.

The band look to the base elements of the Talking Heads’ sound—pop, art rock, funk, world beat, post punk—combining the styles in free-flowing arrangements that mix the instrumental with the vocally led. Even in the company of Alushaj’s arresting, throaty voice, the sounds of Last Chants are unexpectedly calming, a collection of shady ramblings pushing the message to slow down, and take your time.

“Knives” kicks the album off to false start, but only because Alushaj’s voice leaves such a strong impression when leading a well-developed melody. Over the steady push of percussion, she shines immediately with a tone of mounting punk folk. With such a talented and unique-voiced frontwoman at the helm, it’s interesting that Apache Beat fought the choice to make her vocals the carrying force of the album. From her dark drone on “Walking on Fire” to the Sleater-Kinney suggestive “Nightwares” Alushaj’s voice is the most unique element on an album of instrumental sounds that while pleasing, we’ve heard countless bands draw from before.

Apache Beat seem to want to push their instrumentation as the album’s strength, going as far as to interject several instrumental-led breaks (“A Break in the Light”, “It Will Be”, “Another Day”, “Momentary Alignment”). Of these interludes, “It Will Be” and “Another Day” are the most successful through their inclusion of vocals as backing to the instrumentation.

Apache Beat have work yet to do in honing their songwriting formula, but with Ilirjana Alushaj at the front and tight production established early on, Apache Beat are only going to get more solid with every release.

Los Angelenos, have we ever got some all hallows even festivities for y’all! This Friday, October 29th MFG bring Los Angeles their third Halloween party, Teach Me How To Chucky. You know like Cali Swag District n shit?

Some of my favorite DJs and producers like Nadastrom, Munchi, and Toadally Krossed Out will be on the 1s and 2s the whole evening absolutly killin’ it. Pun intended.

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I first saw Nadastrom this summer in Philly at the Mad Decent Block Party and my mind was totally blown. These Homeboys went in on a moombahton set that had everyone going nuts. For those of you who aren’t up on moombah get in the know over here at The Fader.

About two years ago these dudes also gave us one of the best Keep Watch mixtapes we’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing (and releasing). It’s quite dark and throbbing and actually perfect for a Halloween dance party so go download that shit, and go Dave Nada! Be prepared for some real sExUaL vybz.

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Rotterdam’s Munchi will be dropping in, for what’s one of his first ever gigs here in the U.S.A. This is dude is definitely one of the maddest moombahton producers in the game right now. He drops new tunes on a weekly basis basically and they’re all pretty bananas.

Head over to his SoundCloud to get up on his sounds and be sure to start following him to keep up with his releases. Take a listen to “Esta Noche.” Def. my favorite tune of his and it’ll get you hooked.

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The tadpole hoppin’ dudes in Toadally Krossed Out will be bringing it toad style this Friday night. They’ve got some crazy sounds, definitely putting their unique amphibious twist on their tunes. The Toadally Krossed Out remix of Tiesto & Diplo’s “C’mon” was huge this summer. I wish I could be seeing these dudes! Check ‘em for me. BTW has anyone seen this video of the monkey raping that frog down the throat?

Lastly there will be some Mad Decent special guests dropping in. Definitely not Diplo cause he doesn’t live in LA or anything. And don’t forget to pick up your Мишка x Mad Decent merch over at 1547 Echo Park Avenune!

Friday October 29th, 10pm-???
The Standard Los Angeles
550 S. Flower St.
Los Angeles, CA
21+ | Free w/ RSVP!

Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (2010) [Young God] // Grade: B+

Choral percussive bell serenity births caustic, disorderly guitar push to open the first Swans studio release in 14 years. It’s on the budding, 9:30-minute “No Words/No Thoughts” that lofty cosmos play about sleigh bell spice and brooding tenor to create the faultless preamble to this legendary post-rock outfit’s return.

Abusing in its downright appeal, these nine songs praise the Swans name and the variety of impressions this band has represented since their dingy New York formation in 1982. Constructing odes to their shaking transcendent past of avant-folk, post-punk cacophony and industrial cosmos, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky possesses its certain power by purely marginalizing its listener, placing focus inwards on itself.

Fanning the breath of sordid blaze following the massive tool-shed instrumental swirl of “No Words/No Thoughts,” Gira shifts from removing faces, collecting skin and burning impostors in a pile on the apocalyptic fireside sing-along, “Reeling the Liars In” to the wholly arresting “You Fucking People Make Me Sick” on which Devendra Banhart and his daughter guest, singing dazedly over MFWGMUARTTS most haunting offering. There’s also the driving, punch in the face of “My Birth,” opening with,  as if out of outright tumbling confession,  Gira howling atop impending theatrics, “Then I strangled her neck, because I loved her too much.”

Leaving off where 1996’s expansive accompaniment to a nonexistent film, Soundtracks for the Blind did, MFWGMUARTTS delivers most all of what fans would presume from after time away from the Swans moniker. Born from Gira’s release I Am Not Insane, the solo material was reworked for MFWGMUARTTS —7 of Father’s 8 tracks were originally on Insane— to land at an album noticeably full of spiritual themes trolling alongside those of death. Though it’s the first studio effort in over a decade, it seems funny calling it strictly a comeback record; there’s no glitz, no gimmick and certainly no unsettled attempt at fitting into a modern circle its creators shouldn’t be meddling in.

Commeting on the natural characteristics of his feathered namesake, Gira said, “Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures with really ugly temperaments.”

With MFWGMUARTTS, the 56-year-old flexes this Swans’ association, returning with an album that’s just as vicious, growing and so wholly appealing in its sudden shifts that you just can’t take your eyes—and ears—off of it.

Hellboy does it doggy style? Jesus Christ, I’m not even trying anymore. And I have the gall to attack Mark Millar! Whatever, fuck me. Welcome to this week’s rundown of the comic books I’m most likely pulling tomorrow. Bringing home, covered in a brown paper bag. Then, more than likely, reading under a pile of Cheez-It crumbs, my body slathered in euphoria. Get some!

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Captain America #611
Shit stays real for Bucky this week! After getting exposed as the Communist son of a bitch, the Winter Soldier, by Baron Zemo, Jimmy has to stand trial. Does it matter that he was brainwashed? I suppose we’ll find out in the forthcoming storyline. Captain America seems to always be about an the struggle to make amends with the past. Whether we have Stevey helming the shield or Bucky, both of them seem continuously consumed by a past they either never experienced, or sinned upon.

Of course, in true comic book fashion, this sort of relatable internal struggle is made super-external through various comic tropes. Falling into an ocean and being frozen alive, or being the pawn of a nefarious agency. I’m hoping that at some point in his run as Captain America, Bucky gets to more than juggle his anxiety at owning a title that was previously his mentor’s, and his guilt at his actions as the Winter Soldier. Is that his defining point as a Captain America?

It’s not that I mind it, but rather I’m interested in seeing Brubaker carve out a legacy for Bucky as Captain America outside of those two extentuating circumstances. Dude has a robot arm, and wields a gun. I mean, that’s a hell of a start to a legacy. Let’s get a smidge past the brooding, before the Captain America movie (presumably) forces the position back to default.

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Fantastic Four #584
Benjamin Grimm and Henry McCoy both suffer under the same continual cocktease: that of being able to regain their human form. Whether it’s sloughing off a body cast of shitty orange stone, or ditching the claws and feline attributes for something a bit more hairless, the two poor dudes are perpetually enticed by this possibility. Well, tomorrow it seems that Ben is going to get the ability to push the flesh. Detailed a couple of issues back, Reed’s little think tank of young geniuses found a way for Grimm to regain human form for a week a year.

It’s only going to end in tears, folks. Tears.

Hickman’s F4 is continuously fantastic – puns a-fucking-hoy! But seriously. It’s as wondrous as it is insightful, and as epic as it is rooted in heart. As both a dork, a philosophy nerd, and a fan of narrative, it milks all my important glands.

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Beasts of Burden/Hellboy
I caught onto Beasts of Burden via a strong push by the peoples over at Comics Alliance. I’ve yet to read it, though it’s been safely ensconced in my bookmarks folder for a while now. Good lord, and e’gads! I only have so much god damn time/money/concentration left in these faulting synapses of mine. But this week, I’m snapping up the Beasts of Burden/Hellboy crossover. I’m hoping my virgin Beasts experience won’t be tainted by lack of knowledge pertaining to the universe, but we’ll see.

I’ve been on a huge Mignola kick lately, with Baltimore: Plague Ships being about as much carefree fun as you can get in a comic book. So here’s hoping his teaming up with Beasts writer Evan Dorkin can continue the run. The artwork is courtesy of Beasts penciler Jill Thompson, and from what I’ve seen from the previews of Beasts of Burden and this issue, it appears both tasty and delicious. That’s my utterly depthless insight into this title.

File under: hopeful, moderately-blind buy.

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Nas – Illmatic (1994)

Vs.

Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979)

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…

Brand new video from Diplo and crunkmaster general, Lil Jon for their collaborative track “U Don’t Like Me.”  For the video Diplo tapped the Taiwanese CGI production house NMA (Next media Animation) whose reenactment videos of the Tiger Woods “domestic disturbance” and Steven Slater’s Jet Blue “meltdown.” you’ve probably seen somewhere on the internet once or a thousand times before. For two and a half minutes watch Diplo & Lil jon go from Tekken, to Bust-A-Groove to Need For Speed all via what looks like an old Sega Dreamcast processing engine.

What Up NMA, you couldn’t render a Bear Mop fitte don Li Jon since he always wears one? U don’t like me :(

A lot’s been going on in the world of Bike Videos. Let’s start it off with Torey‘s new Witchtape. It features food, wrecks and Witch House from Salem.

Vuelo Velo’s 1 track frameset gets some love on the Velodrome and in the streets.

RATSKL is holding it down in Malaysia.

The Red Hook Crit is a yearly event thrown in Brooklyn. Track bikes only, no brakes and ridden on an open course. This year the crew from Brooklyn took their event to Milano!

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Enter the kind of shit I could geek out on, endlessly, forever.

My buddy Caleb—who’s boundless creativity is rivaled only by his never-ending cache of a sort of knowing, unabashed pessimistic optimism—sent this to me under cover of the following letter. We had been discussing this Frankenstein poster that was being auctioned off for about half-point-five million, and somehow the conversation got here:

“Here is my depressing hermit Fickr-not-flickr zine, Into the wastes.”

I am completely blown away. I think this is so black-metal…so mysterious. It harkened (hearkened?) me back to a simpler time. A time when one could come across something (like this) at the library, or the record store, or a bulletin board, or wherever and be at once totally smitten AND totally confused. With no real way of finding out more.

My only regret is that I did not stumble upon this organically…I have been robbed of my childlike wonderment at the mystery of this thing. Instead, I know that my rad friend—a Campbell’s kid in corpsepaint—put it together for no other reason than to hate/love it.

And now you, O loyal order of water bloglinite, can be robbed in kind of the mystery, but not the wonderment. You’ll have to imagine the glint of the staples and the feel of the shitty newsprint, but!, click through for some white-hot, totally radical, send-away-for-it-as-fuck photozine action.

It has been suggested to me, also, that this may become an ongoing thing. In true zine fashion, we’ll never know until it’s here, but, if you wish, you can get down with Ye Wastes at Flickr.