Brooklyn’s BL§§D OU† are one of the fresher faces of the emerging Witch House scene in full bloom. In a short time the duo’s apt mastery of droning synths and booming beats has justly endeared themselves with both fans and blogs alike. Today, the duo unleash their first ever video for their standout track “//MYR†L3//WYCKØFF//,” honoring their Bushwick home.

The video was directed by Sterling Crispin, the director of such noted videos as Pictureplane‘s Goth Star. The video was shot at the Market Hotel in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Sterling created additional digital animation in his studio in Denver. The video is a precursor to tomorrow’s digital release of their debut album, 3MPIR3 §†Å†3 via AMDISCS. The album will also be available on vinyl the following week with a limited pressing of just 500 records. Check out the Bloglin’s glowing review of it from earlier this month and get on the ground floor with this Brooklyn based covenant.

So what better way than to help support the city’s own by checking them out on Thursday? BL§§D OU† will be making a rare special live performance at S!CK over at Santos Party House this Thursday with White Ring and Von Haze along with Pictureplane DJing the event. If you wanna grab a ticket in advance shimmy over to the event page.

Thursday February 3rd, 8pm
Santos Party House
96 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10013
$10 Cover | 18+

Gunplay – Inglorious Bastard (2011) [Maybach Music] // Grade: C+

When Kanye and Jay-Z put out “H.A.M” I was super excited. In my mind I thought it would be all the classical pomp and circumstance of “All of the Lights” mixed with the marauder brutality of Lex Luger’s “B.M.F.” Basically, I imagined that it would sound like the opening of a Dimmu Borgir record – heavy as shit and beautiful at once. It was going to be the “black superhero music” that Jay talked about, and the “castle music” that Ye bragged about on twitter. But, that didn’t happen. Instead we got a tepid Lex Luger track with some operatic vocals thrown on top towards the end. No regality, no power – just Ye and Jay impotently boasting. The track didn’t work because, to match Luger’s over the top (yet sparse) production, you need vocals that take up a lot of sonic space. Luger’s tracks are mostly bass and high pitched noises, leaving the mid levels completely bare – you need someone who can fill all of that up, and energetically so (preferably screaming). Ross can do it, god knows Waka can do it, Gucci can do it, if Jeezy didn’t have a Bricksquad embargo he’d work great – Ye and Jay not so much. There’s another dude we can add to the list of rappers who “gets” how to rap over a viking rap track, Gunplay.

Until the release of this mixtape Gunplay has been most widely known for getting caught on video snorting a pile of cocaine big enough to make a polar bear’s dick go limp – in front of cops. Clearly a stand up dude. Gunplay is to Rick Ross what Waka Flocka Flame is to Gucci – the incredibly hood and agro dude you keep in your crew to make tracks with overt threats of physical harm. While he isn’t as focused on being the demigod of pure unbridled rage like Waka is, he’s still exceptionally pissed off, all the time. He’s so pissed off that he starts out his mixtape by DJ Fletch, Inglorious Bastard, by shouting people out over a war mongering remix of Clint Mansell’s theme from Requiem For a Dream – if that doesn’t put you in the mood for some testosterone laden aggression nothing will. He follows that up with a Lex Luger produced track featuring Waka Flocka called “Rollin” that’s pretty much just Waka and Gunplay angrily listing off all the things church youth groups spend so many Saturdays and afternoons trying to convince kids not to be involved with.

Following “Rollin” is “Walking On Water” which might just beat “B.M.F” as the best Rick-Ross-as-Darksied track in existence. The track is built around a vibrant, fluttery synth line that reminds one of music that would be cued during vintage Steven Speilberg alien landing scenes – think E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind – but in this movie Gunplay, Ross and the rest of the Triple C’s play the role of the zenophobic military dudes who want to blow up the peaceful aliens. Another standout track is “On My Lap,” it raises your standing heart rate with it’s fire alarm synth stabs and cathedral bells while Gunplay has a fit screaming about things he likes on his lap – namely women, drugs and guns. Also, props to Gunplay for telling a chick to “nibble on the head bitch, bite balls” if there was any doubt that he’s a tough dude, he settled that debate by letting us know about his sexual predilections. Seriously, who wants someone to bite their balls? I can’t get down with that, call me a pussy, I’ll be the pussy with functional testicles.

Of note in discussing Gunplay is his odd obsession with Nazi aesthetics. His mixtape’s title obviously makes reference to the Tarantino flick about nazi killing jews. His upcoming album, Valkyre is in reference to the Bryan Singer/Tom Cruise flick about Nazis attempting to kill Hitler, both end up on the right side of the Nazi/humanity debate. But things get trickier when you realize that Gunplay has a swastika tattooed on his back. In trying to find some explanation for this rather odd obsession, you can uncover a rambling interview of Gunplay arguing for the multiple meaning of the swastika throughout history and it’s re-contextualization by Hitler – my condensation, not his words. Throughout his lyrics I haven’t been able to pick out any references to Nazis, WWII, panzer attacks or even Germany save for “fuck you in German, cursing like I’m foreign.” All in all it seems less like dude’s trying to be offensive or insensitive and instead just doesn’t really give a fuck about pedestrian things like not talking about Nazis all the time. I have a feeling he’d get along surprisingly well with Jeff Hanneman.

This mixtape doesn’t reinvent the wheel or anything, it’s angry trap music. But, its really good at being über aggressive angry trap music. If you bumped the hell out of Flockaveli and need some more songs to add to your “FUCK SHIT UP” playlist then this mixtape will do you well. If you need a new soundtrack to “do hoodrat stuff with your friends” then consider this your early Chinese New Years gift from Maybach Music.

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Provided by DatPiff.com

In case you’ve been hiding out for a minute from the hip-hop scene or if you’re just a donut, Stalley is the one of the scene’s fastest rising stars (if you missed my previous post on the dude, check it here). His thoughtful wordplay and precise delivery has quickly brought him to the upper echelon of the underground’s finest.

Noticing talent when we see it, we’ll be bringing you Stalley’s Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music) come February. Until then, we’ve got his latest video for “Slapp” above (which was just featured on MTV) and a couple downloads to hold you over. Without further ado…

Download Stalley’s “Slapp” and “Tune Up.”

New York City’s DJ Shiftee has translated his intuitive math geek mentality into far-reaching success on the turntables!  With a degree in Mathematics from Harvard and 2 unique DMC World Champion titles under his belt, this overachiever can do it all. On Sept. 12, 2009, DJ Shiftee, represented the USA in the 2009 DMC World DJ Finals.  He took the title, was automatically inducted into the DMC DJ Hall of Fame and brought the fabled gold Technics turntables back to NYC!  This new title places his name along side over 20+ legendary DMC World Champs including DJ Craze, A-Trak, DJ Cash Money, DJ Cheese, Rock Steady DJs (Apollo, Mix Master Mike & Q-Bert), Plus One of Jack Beats, the late Grand Master Roc Raida and many others.

In 2007, Shiftee also became the only American DJ to date to win the DMC Battle for World Supremacy title.  This victory served as the catalyst for widespread international recognition, allowing Shiftee to take his talent and creativity across Asia, Europe, and the US to some of the world’s biggest clubs and most prestigious venues.  Along the way, he has performed on show lineups including A-Trak, Craze, Dieselboy, Z-Trip, DJ Funk, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Q-Bert, Klever, Tittsworth, Triage, The Upbeats, El-B and more!

When he’s not teaching the art of DJing at New York University (as an adjunct professor) and Dubspot DJ & Production School in NYC, Shiftee spends his time figuring out new and innovative ways to decimate the dancefloor. He fuses an astute ear for cutting edge music, an incisive understanding of the latest technology, a world champion skill set, and a keen sense of the crowd, creating an experience that is always unique and exciting.

So what better way to start our Keep Watches for 2011 then with the new year with a gigantic mix Shiftee? After one listen you will definitely feel like the standards have been raised as you journey through an array of classic and modern grime as well as dubstep and overall bass heavy tunes. Alot of familiar names in the tracklist as it features new tunes from Rx, Udachi, Flinch’s remix of our recent Hussle Club release, gangster ravers Digital Boy + Shark and a brand new wobbling exclusive from the man himself called “Cowbell.” There will be twists, there will be turns, and of course, there will be scratching. Full tracklisting after the jump.

Keep Watch Vol. XXIII: Shiftee by Мишка Bloglin

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Spring Cleaning Sale Continues: 50% Off In-Store & Online

Color us giving, but thanks to the success of our two price reductions over the past two weeks we present a 50% off sale. We’re talking half off on nearly every damn thing (minus the calendars and latest goodies). You really have no excuses this time around to not get what you want because it’s half price.

Think about it fitted’s half price, parkas half price, t-shirts galore half friggin’ price. If you don’t carpe diem this deal then I guess I’ll have to! You know how much I get paid as an intern? Millions. I make Randy Moss money here people, that’s straight cash homie. That’s a lot of cream to splurge on the hottest deal of the year. So don’t you dare sleep on a sale like this because it’s not getting any cheaper. Seriously.

Just because the stuff is cheaper doesn’t mean it’s going out of style any time soon, we’re just super nice as well as super stoked on our new line that we have to get rid of it all! Make sure you keep your paws off the satisfaction flannel however because that’s got my name written all over it, seriously I’ll hunt you down if you sellout in my size.

What the hell are you waiting for? Get to the stores or break out your computer because we want all of y’all to be dropping Hamilton’s Aaron Burr style.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

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Мишка LA
1547 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA
213-536-4234

Hercules & Love Affair – Blues Songs (2011) [Moshi Moshi] // Grade: C+

On paper, there’s little not to love about Hercules & Love Affair’s latest Blue Songs. 11 tracks of wicked Chicago house, a real Frankie Knuckles situation, you know, with piles of strobe-lit atmosphere jumping back and forth from milk to acid. Co-production by techno legend Patrick Pulsinger and Meat Beat Manifesto’s Mark Pistel. It should be the mother of all throwbacks—especially when you consider Andy Butler’s wizardish ways with sound production—but in practice (and pitched against H&LA’s 2008 self-titled crossover epic), Blue Songs feels a bit…flat.

And sure, you could blame some of that on the absence of Antony Hegarty’s swirling theatre of a voice, but the issues run deeper than personnel change alone. Blue Songs is an homage that wants to be something else; some grand and referential statement connecting the dots between then and now. But in its desperation not to appear one-dimensional, the album forgoes the period’s most satisfying elements: tense and hysterical ramp-ups, all that over-the-top technicolor. Rather than build on the punch of its first few songs—the throbbing “My House” and “Leonora” especially—Blue Songs falls into mid-album, slow-jam quicksand, the aural equivalent to an afternoon nap. Don’t get me wrong: “Blue Boy” and “Blue Song” are beautiful songs in their own right, so chill and atmospheric, but they feel confused smack in the center of a record primed for the club—and take the energy down so far that it barely has time to recover. Blue Songs definitely has production going for it—Butler, Pulsinger and Pistel absolutely kill with pulsating, authentic sounds—and the guest vocals of Shaun Wright, Aerea Negrot and Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke are warm and gorgeous as anything on H&LA’s debut. But overall, you’ll wish the album stopped holding its roots at arm’s length and let itself exist, purely, in the place it so clearly wants to be: Chicago,1989. No apologies, no distractions. Just the floor.

I found WIK▲N through the usual Soundcloud band associations, click through, click through, and then a gem emerges. This is interesting stuff, new Witch House sounds that groove nicely and occupy a spaced out realm that borrows from old ambient stuff and progressive electronica and mashes in some chillwave elements. It’s dreamy and beautiful, droney and dark, perfect sounds to lose yourself in for an hour or so. Occult ambience and fuzzed out dirges to soundtrack ceremonies in ruined churches!

We need the return of chill-out rooms at clubs/raves/squat parties like they used to have back in the day, so much Witch House and chillwave is just crying out for that kind of club experience, clubbers crashed out on cushions and piles of coats, drifting away in a haze of drones and haunted downtempo beats, séance circles forming spontaneously amongst the crowd and palm readings taking place in corners in exchange for chicken bones and raw crystals.

D▲WN SHROUD by WIK▲N

WIK▲N also seems to have a full blown triangle obsession and occult theme going on. Listen to some of these song titles; “BL▲CK SUN RITU▲L”, “ILLEG▲L GR▲VE MUSIC”, “D▲WN SHROUD”. This is someone who has jumped feet first into the genre and made it their own.

The imagery and titles reflect a Northern European take on things, somewhat Nordic in its references: caves and stones circles and burial chambers. May be unsurprisingly then that WIK▲N comes from the UK (I’m guessing that when someone lists a non weird country as their origin it probably isn’t a lie!)

ST▲NTON MOOR by WIK▲N
BL▲CK SUN RITU▲L by WIK▲N

According to the always useful Witch House forum, WIK▲N, due to high demand, is bringing out a four track EP sometime between now and March, maybe even on CD/Vinyl. Go check out the Soundcloud page to download nearly all of the tracks for free and check out this live mix from a recent party WIK▲N Djed.

It’s one of the best Witch House/chillwave mixes I’ve heard in terms of the cross section of bands included on it, everyone from oOoOO and GuMMy†Be▲R to Blackbird Blackbird, Raw Moans and Balam Acab.  (Track listing is here)

In case you missed this bangin ass time, here’s your shot at redemption as we’re bringing you another balls to the wall event out in Socal. Мишка, in partnership with IHEARTCOMIX, Media Contender, and LA Record are coming at ya like Cleopatra with Check Yo Ponytail 2.

This time around we bring you the sounds of Yelawolf, Craze, and everyone’s favorite rap ensemble Das Racist . We gonna get it poppin’ like it’s 1999 up in this bitch and you best bring your party self (and $20) to partake in what could be, no check that, WILL BE a party like no other.

Word to yo mother hombres you probably don’t want to miss out on this one and we are giving you plenty of warning since it’s not until next Tuesday. Be there or be a parallelogram!

Tuesday February 1st, 2011
The Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
$20 Advance Tix | 18+

Switchblade Simon T-Shirt ($32.00 $19.20)

I, Nick Gazin AKA Toilet Cobra, drew this shirt m’self about five times before Мишка accepted this version.  It took forever but I took all the money I got paid and funded a trip for a couple of friends and I to go to Paris.  It’s nuts how into Mishka the frogs are.  I’d be casually drawing jam comics at cafes with m’pals and the owners would recognize me from the Bloglin and ask me to draw in their guest book and then waive the check.  I still had the moustache at the time and people would actually recognize me from the Bloglin. French bitches would introduce themselves at bars after their corny French wigger guy friends pointed us out. They even forewent that thing that Frenchers do where they pretend they can’t speak English. Things just got better and better. There was one really awful thing where we were on the Eiffel Tower when some guy was base jumping and his chute didn’t open and he died. Other then that it was the best until the money ran out and I had to return to New York so I could design another shirt with a skull on it or some such thing.

Designing shirts for Мишка is pretty much the culmination of years of working and dreaming and slaving and suffering.  The pay-off is fucking ridiculous and it makes you a celebrity in other countries. I love this company. I want to be buried in a Keep Watch coffin.

Get this shirt on Black, White or Red tees while you still can.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725
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Мишка LA
1547 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA

I’ve set off on my journey. There and back again. In case you didn’t hear, I’m watching every single Nic Cage movie. In a row. I’ve seen the inception now. Where it all started. A Nic Cage who is younger than I am now. Almost strange in his normalcy. You forget, or at least I do, that Nicolas Coppola was just a young kid with a dream of being a star, just like thousands of others. Except for the Coppola part, of course. Let’s review.

Day 1: Brubaker (1980) – Dir. Stuart Rosenberg

So, we start with the inauspicious of all inauspiciousness. An extra. Brubaker is a fine film, not a classic but, y’know. Can’t go too wrong with Robert Redford. I tried to pay close attention the whole time, but I couldn’t see Cage. Just the knowledge that he’s in there though. The first time he appeared on celluloid. No one knew the future he would have.

Attempted Day 2: Best Of Times (1981) – Dir. Don Mischer

Tried extremely hard to find this, but I really have no idea how. I can’t even figure out whether it’s a movie or a TV pilot (the internet doesn’t seem to be in agreement), but I know it was a serio-comedic piece about suburban teenagers starring Nic Cage and Crispin Glover. Da fuck? What sort of cosmic fuckery is that? If anyone knows how I could find this, please, please let me know.

Actual Day 2: Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) – Dir. Amy Heckerling

First off, what a great movie. I had forgotten how fucking dark this thing was at times. I guess the story is that Cage originally had a much larger speaking role (which may have been filmed and some people have seen? I dunno) but it got cut down. Big time. He works with Brad in the restaurant, and there’s a good shot of his face in the scene where Brad gets fired. Still got those big crazy eyes. He and Judge Reinhold will eventually star in an erotic thriller together, Zandalee, which I will be watching in a few weeks. Should be really weird.

Day 3: The Outsiders (1983) – Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Huh. Another Nic Cage as an extra movie. He shows up in the big fight between the Greasers and the Socs at the end of the first act. Kind of frustrated at the lack of Cage thus far in my journey, but you gotta be thorough with these things. This is the first instance where you could charge Cage with benefiting from nepotism (not that I ever would). His uncle Francis Ford Coppola directed it. It’s also notable for Cage assumedly meeting the people onset that he would be working with a lot over the next few years: Diane Lane, Matt Dillon, and Tom Waits.

Day 4: Valley Girl (1983) – Dir. Martha Coolidge

Here we go! A Nic Cage starring role, complete with fucking terrible hair and some brief, if wondrous, moments of the future Cage peeking through. This is a pretty straight up teen romcom (I guess marketed as a Los Angeles retelling of Romeo and Juliet, though the similarities are pretty minimal). It’s got a great soundtrack (Modern English, whatup!) and Cage is totally good. The movie is funny, and full of insanely over the top faux-teen dialogue. He plays a punk kid, and you can tell he was supposed to have a big future as the ruggedly handsome bad-boy-with-heart-of-gold leading man type. But one scene, where he gets incredible drunk, shows the wolf coming out a little bit. Plus, I mean, the hair. What an omen of things to come.

Day 5: Rumble Fish (1983) – Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

As I mentioned, I started to do this because I think Cage is actually a really good actor. Valley Girl is all well and good, but Rumble Fish is actually really great. Once again: Coppola, Dillon, Lane, Waits, and also a young and fantastic Mickey Rourke. Another S.E. Hinton novel too. Cage has a relatively brief but meaty role as Rusty James’ (Dillon) conniving frenemy Smokey. Take that Chris Tucker. He has a monologue near the end about being a manipulator that he absolutely crushes out of the park. His unconventional line delivery, though clearly still figuring itself out, is also present. Two thumbs up on this one.

Day 6: Racing With The Moon (1984) – Dir. Richard Benjamin

I had never even heard of this movie before, let alone seen it, but it’s actually pretty darn good. It stars Cage and Sean Penn as young kids in northern California in the early ’40s. It basically concerns their last bit of time before they have to go off to war, and how they’re going to tie up all their loose ends/get it off their mind. Also got a cameo from Crispin Glover, who punches Cage in the face. Surprised that didn’t cause some sort of black hole. I’ve started to notice that, despite this being like 30 years ago, Cage literally looks exactly the same. It’s kind of really weird actually. He’s much better than Penn at this point, basically acting the shit out of everyone else in the movie. Also has a monologue about how he likes alcohol because it taught him how to thrust his pelvis. Fucking right. Also, Elizabeth McGovern boobs.

Day 7: The Cotton Club (1984) – Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola strikes again, along with the other usual suspects. Richard Gere and his tiny mustache star here. Cage plays his unhinged younger brother who dreams of being a real tough mob guy. Coppola is pretty much firing on all cylinders with this one, and Cage does nothing to slow him down. Great period piece about the cast of characters frequenting a popular nightclub in the ’30s. It’s also got James Remar at his “looking exactly like Lawrence from Office Space” best, playing an insane gangster called Dutchman. Cage is a sorta evil, sorta just dumb and ambitious racist in this one, plus he gets to wear sweet hats/mustaches (see above). He’s good to the point where nepotism isn’t even considered. You can tell uncle Francis is impressed with him. He’s also very physical, like a live wire. We’ll certainly be seeing much more of that soon.

So there you have it. Week 1. Started out with not a lot of Cage, but I’m about to get into the meat of it. Next week will contain Raising Arizona, which I’m always excited to watch, along with some other choice picks.

All Posts: Intro, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10.