The city’s basketball community is in mourning with the news that Troy “Escalade” Jackson died in his sleep at just age 35 in Los Angeles a few nights ago. The Queens native has been a staple in basketball in New York since putting his skills on display at Rucker Park. It’s sad that not enough sports blogs are really talking about and I just felt like honoring the life of Escalade here on the Bloglin.

Known for his smooth dribbling, Jackson toured with And1 Mixtape, the Harlem Globetrotters , and even enjoyed a full ride at University of Louisville while weighing an astonishing 500 pounds. And you thought Barkley, Big Baby and Robert “Tractor” Trayler were big!

His size never stopped him from doing what he loved most as his skill and stature (he was last listed at 6’10 375) was utilized to entertain the masses when And1 was in their glory days. Jackson was the younger brother of former New York Knicks point guard Mark Jackson but might have out shined him with his energy and community work as he was also a spokesman for STD prevention.

A big game and a big heart is what Escalade will be remembered for as the basketball world recovers from his death.

Our pal, your pal, everyone’s pal, Nate “Igor” Smith recently did a quick shoot with one of the hottest ladies in porn today, Andy San Dimas. Smith explains this shoot was thrown together in a matter of minutes giving the lovely starlet a Driven by Boredom shirt and his favorite Keep Watch Fitted.

I’s actually a pretty sexy ass combination as the beauty of San Dimas (yes that is a homage to Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey) thrown together with everyone favorite eyeball just kind of worked. Of course I could totally be clouded by the fact that she wasn’t wearing any pants and later pretty much nothing at all.

San Dimas was recently awarded Adult Video News best actress for her role in This Ain’t Glee XXX (which is exactly what it sounds like except with way more sex) as well as the XBIZ Award for Female Performer of the Year. Nevermind the hat, props to Nate for having one of the better established porn stars get all naked in her bedroom for him while her boyfriend was next door nonetheless.

Head over to Driven by Boredom for the way more NSFW stuff and bring your tissues.

Rabbits – Lower Forms (2011) [Relapse] // Grade: D

While I wouldn’t consider Rabbits’ sound “hardcore” by any means, I will give them and their low-fi, noise sound a nod to the genre. Sure, there are elements of early Converge and maybe even some Daughters in there but these guys are clearly gunning for the demented, northwestern low-fi deranged sound, a la Burning Witch. The only difference is, Portland ain’t Seattle and Sethro ain’t no Edgy on the vox.

When I first heard about Lower Forms, I was hoping it would live up to the Relapse hype machine. Does it? Well, not based on my expectations, or shall I say preconceptions. It’s arrogant, annoying and yes, overhyped. But maybe it’s just my preconceptions that ruined the first rotation for me? In all fairness, I’ve tried to rotate this album every which way and it still screams “meh.” With that sigh of indifference, I’d love to conclude this review but I’ve found some of the nuances to be charming.

I like the opening track, “Rot” Like the name implies, it’s a festering, stewing pit of decay. Withered and emotionally-charged, filled with heavy distortion and noise. Right up my alley right? Sure. While I like the opener, the rest of the cuts are like slices to the wrists. “No Depth” sucks and “Weight Here” sounds like early Liars. Quick drum lines, distortion and that god-damned dance punk vocal spike at the end of each line. I hate that shit. “The Flow Below” begins nicely with a heavy layer of percussions and some riffage overlay. The Edgy side is back but then “Invisibugs” makes me want to drive spikes into my eyes and ears. Fuck it, just about every orifice needs to be plugged as the vocals decay into a major annoyance.

It’s hard to nail down another good track. With “Duck, the Pigs” being one of the last saving graces of the album. “Noise to Share” and “We Beat” are mediocre at best and “A Tale of Tales” sounds like a fucking joke. I was mildly impressed with “Burn, Sun, Burn,” the last cut on Lower Forms but let me emphasize mildly. It sucks to be left with a taste of indifference after engaging in a hyped up album but I’ll leave it at the fact that Portland just doesn’t churn out good music. Stick to coffee guys. Leave the music for other cities.

First Jimmy Fallon, now this…if anyone had some sort of doubt that 2011 wouldn’t be all about Odd Future, I hope this is further proof that the crew isn’t going anywhere except everywhere imaginable. MTV News tagged along with them as they made their trip from NYC to Philly.

In addition to the video clip, the article on them, another feature on them airing on Thursday’s RapFix; MTV also just posted a whole separate piece focusing on OFWGKTA blunted hero, Domo Genesis. I know we post a lot about Odd Future round here, but for MTV that’s on some Nirvana in the 90s level overkill coverage. Everyone and their mother are going to know the Golf Wang come this summer and then start arguing over who was into them when. Fun, fun stuff.

I’m sure by now you all know that as part of our Spring 2011 collection (which is dropping sooner than you think) we did a small capsule collection with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge/Psychic TV. One of the most interesting parts of working on the whole collection has been seeing how many of our business acquaintances and associates are die hard Psychic TV fans… honestly people I never expected, but isn’t that the beauty behind it all? Never expect things.

However I did know one of our good friends, Dust La Rock was a fan of PTV3. Fan probably isn’t even really accurate to describe just how much Dust is influenced and inspired by Genesis’. We’d been wanting Dust to do a show at our space for a while now, but dude’s a busy, busy guy! However when he found out about our upcoming PTV3 collection he suggested doing a show of work inspired by Psychic TV around it’s release. But we’re talking about Psychic TV here, a Band… and along with the artwork Dust really wanted to do a mix.

So Dust brought in Star Eyes (another big fan of PTV3) with whom he worked on last year’s fantastic Ov Curse mix. The two mined Dust’s vast library of Psychic TV records to compile this hypnotic mix that traces Psychic TVs long and varied history across various rarities and hits. Plus Genesis even did exclusive vocal drops for the whole thing. Those of you unfamiliar with Pyshcic TV, well here you go…this is a must download and will quickly show you not only why we sought out to do this collaboration with Genesis but why he is such a legendary icon. Those of you long down with OTTT, you’re going to find all sorts of tasty nuggets here to satisfy you as well.

Photo by Aris Jerome

So you are a twenty one year old with the world at your fingertips. You’ve just moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to pursue your dream job as a video director.  You’ve already had a couple of gigantic projects to place in your resume. To top it all off, recently you’ve found yourselves gaining respect and attention as a musical artist in your own right.

Oakland reared Renaissance woman Kreayshawn had quite a year in 2010.  After a series of videos for local artists, her work with the Lil B not only attracted a lot of attention, but also inspired her to explore her own inner Based.  The result was her Kitties x Choppas mixtape, by far one of the most refreshing releases of the past year. Her recent relocation was sparked by the desire to fully pursue her career in video direction and photography, although it is quickly being eclipsed by her own psychotic muse.

So what does she do to ease the stress of transition? Kreayshawn’s antidote is to hang around with the homies, smoke headies and make triple X rated pixel pornography on your computer.  Hot on the heels of Internet love, our favorite Kitty with a Choppa has developed a new passion that is just as disturbing as it is adorable. Her obsession seems to dwell on some of society’s lasts taboo. Ass eating, face skeeting, child pornography and white women serving their favorite black men have all fallen victim to her wicked kawaii kreations.

Getting 8 Bit isn’t her only past time, though. Since moving down the Coast last month, Kreayshawn has managed to break bread with the notorious Odd Future [wolf] pack (check a recent jab at Jet Life) and begin her work on a number of new projects, including a Memphis style tape with the recently released V-Nasty and yours truly that will attempt [and hopefully completely fail] to trace the lineage of both the Based Revolution and the Dragged Devolution to those 3 7/8 inch slabs of ghetto plastic from the early to mid nineties.

Life is far more fun in the Trap House than the Witch house, but mad work gets done in both.  Even more importantly, we all just seem to have major fun fucking things up. Be sure to follow Kreayshawn on twitter and check below for a small gallery of Kreayshawn’s awesome triple X rated pixel creations.

Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine (2011) [Carpark] // Grade: A-

Chaz Bundick makes pop music. He may get there via the airy and untethered, those sky-facing songs of Toro Y Moi’s debut and how they lived, sometimes, just beyond your full attention, but even Causers of This had that lilt about it; for all the cobbled-together samples and humming, muted melody, it resonated most as someone angling for a new way to hear old structures.

And Underneath the Pine very nearly blows the doors off that concept. Even if the Causers ambience stands its ground and the pop-counterpart is threaded with so much disco, funk and homage; even then, the album comes off as this new thing—not just for Bundick, but his entire chillwave moment. Pine explores the form with fresh eyes, full band and this beautifully organic sense of movement: water to Causers’ air. The building soundscape of “Intro/Chi Chi” bounced against a glittered disco “New Beat”. The whispery piano in “Divina” creeping toward the straight-up Stereolab of “Got Blinded” and “How I Know”, receding only long enough to make the heavy dance surge of “Still Sound” even more powerful. It’s an album that tricks you into thinking it’s background music—here, put this on before bed, that intro’s all soothing, you’re fine—only to pop up, loud and lion-hearted, with an impromptu party.

But lest you think it’s some giant leap from Bundick’s debut, rest assured: Pine is still very much the work of Toro Y Moi—any of the hypnotic interludes prove that instantly. And really, it’s an easy step from where he’s been before; just now, rather than explore soundscape as structure, he’s seeing what happens if you give those soundscapes a full band, heavy bass and upfront hook. Sometimes you get pop. Sometimes you get disco, chillwave or a sweet-faced drone. But you always, always get Toro Y Moi.

Los Angeles, listen up! This Thursday we’ll be celebrating the one year anniversary of our Echo Park shop. I can’t believe it’s already been a whole year since we decided to set up a home base on the West Coast. Man time flies… In honor of the occasion we’ve linked up with MFG and Mad Decent to takeover one of their incredible Dance Right parties. Best of all the party is totally free as long as you RSVP.

We’ll have some free schwag giveaways while you guys party your asses off to the sounds of Paul Devro, Grahmzilla and our headliner for the evening, Pase Rock. It’s gonna be a night to remember, so get your ass of the couch that evening on come through.

Thursday February 24th, 10pm-2am
La Cita Downtown
336 South Hill St.
Los Angeles, CA
Free w/ RSVP | 21+

Close the door and turn out the light. If you use your mind’s eye, you’ll see an infinitely tendriled machination coming your way. Don’t even sweat that, okay? It’s my mind-parts worming their way into your synaptic cores. They’ll be done soon, and when they’re gone, you’ll have the latest edition of Near Mint Condition in your mushy grey matter. The column that blathers on, and on, and on in verbose unedited prose about the comic books I’m interested in this week.

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Action Comics #898
Are you still being an asshole, or are you reading this comic book yet? This title is the thunder. The culmination of a talented writer, a gorgeous penciler, and the desire to tell a hilarious, absurd storyline. In the past few months, Luthor has shot the shit with Death, gotten into a philosophical debate with the Joker, and beaten some serious ass. It’s a hodgepodge of wit sexy panels. I dismissed it at first because I’m a dismissive douchebag who thought that sticking Luthor in his own titles just didn’t make sense. Was a money grab. All of that has been thrown to the wind, cast aside like autumn leaves. This week Luthor is going to run into Larfleeze, and I imagine the alien avarice motherfucker and him are going to engage in yet another bizarre encounter. Cornell just wants to trot Luthor into the path of one prominent DC character after the next. I’m down with that.

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Shit I Should Be Reading: Scalped #46, Morning Glories #7
There’s a good amount of comic books currently running that I’m not up to date with. Call it a function of having to read floaty bullshit about paratexts in the influence of meaning on a copy of DeFoe’s Robinson Crusoe. I’m not frontin’, I’m awash in that gunk. So time is limited. Whenever the schooling gods smile upon me, I hope to begin to read Scalped. Everything I’ve heard about it informs me that a) it’s fucking awesome and b) that I’m a choad-stuffed choad for having not gotten around to it yet.

Then there’s Morning Glories. I’ve heard almost exclusively awesome things about the title, save for the inestimably rageful description of it as “LOST” meets Zac Efron’s dance moves. Sir Rager is probably correct, but it didn’t stop me from whoring out $10 for the first trade last week. It sits amongst a bunch of other trades, waiting for me to crack their spine and eat their souls.

But for those in the what, Morning Glories #7 comes out this week. For many I assume it gets their glands flowing with blood and vigor.

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Animated All-Star Superman
I know you’re asking, what the fuck is an animated movie doing in a comic book column. Well, I’ll tell you, inquiring lads and lasses. It’s a scientific fact that All-Star Superman is the greatest Superman of the last forever. And while I haven’t been able to personally confirm it, a good amount of websites are commenting that the transition from panel and text to celluloid has gone flawlessly. This is the story that a thousand Morrison bonerbots (hi!) splooged over, only animated.

I didn’t pay attention to the first three-thousand glowing articles about it, but eventually it overwhelmed me. My forcefield eroded, I was helpless to its allure.

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First of all, I would like to say, greetings! This is my first post here on the Мишка Bloglin, and I am excited to be sharing with you fine readers some of the crazy/sexy/cool shit I get down with. The first crazy, sexy, cool person, place, or thing I will be talking about is Naomi Elizabeth.

Naomi Elizabeth is a brilliant Los Angeles based performance artist, and somewhat of an outsider pop enigma. I say that because I really don’t know much about her, and I am not sure if many people outside of the USA’s experimental noise/freak community do either? What I do know, however, is that she is incredibly talented as a songwriter, and that I want her to be famous.

I really havent heard much of anything from Naomi since 2008, when i was blown away by her now classic video, “It’s Not Easy When You’re Me” but yesterday I was surfing Noisebloid (the Internet’s greatest and only noise scene tabloid) and realized that Naomi has a brand new video! “God Sent Me Here to Rock You” is another brilliant song/video/performance by Naomi.

What I love about her is that I cant tell how much of “Naomi” is her actual self, and how much is a character created as a sort of post-feminist critique on the idea of women as objects of sexual desire within pop music. Is she reclaiming feminine power while being aware of and gaining from the male gaze? Either way, I am a huge fan. keep the music coming Naomi. All of her songs are available to download for a small fee at her website along with more gorgeous photos of the pop genius. You should also hit up her YouTube channel for more videos.