Mad Decent? More like mad awesome *rimshot*! If you live in Chicago, or just feel like taking a trip, then make sure to get your tuccus to the Berlin Club in Chi-city for the latest installment of CULT! This time, we’ve recruited up and coming Mad Decent starlet Maluca to set the night off right. I’ve been to a few Maluca shows and have been summarily impressed at each one.

She’s a one woman party machine. It’s also got the Sounds From The Other Side spotlighted Teen Witch, co-founder of the CULT party and all around musical madman. Coming along for the ride is Baby Bamboo, the other resident DJ. This party’s gonna be so good, it’ll turn the city upside poʍu¡

Thursday March 31st, 2011
Berlin
954 W. Belmont
Chicago, IL, 60657

Tim Cohen - Magic Trick (2011) [Captured Tracks] // Grade: B+

The worst thing about Tim Cohen’s Magic Trick is the artwork. Everything else about the Bay Area singer’s latest solo effort—the macabre western twang, the girl-group support, the deadpan croon and the wistful strides— is simply grand. The third release from the leader of the psych-leaning 60s rockers The Fresh and Onlys, Magic Trick, continues the bearded 33-year-old’s prolific past by following both 2009’s The Two Sides and last year’s Laugh Tracks with an appropriate, next-step march through tales of love, heartbreak and solitude.

Over 12 songs, Cohen’s march—backed by members of the Kelley Stoltz band, Aislers Set and other musical friends— sees the singer stopping off to drop a line from many distinctive vantage points of rock/pop history. There are appropriate nods to a variety of different singers, many of whom are the ones with the famous voices you’ve heard before: Chris Bell, Nico, Roy Orbison, Scott Walker, Jens Lekman and that other Cohen called Leonard, remind throughout. Whereas The Fresh and Onlys spend their time pouring through the former genre’s native serration and force, solo, Cohen wanders more through himself, tumbling in the motions of loyalty and betrayal that comes from moving in and out of love. On after-hours strummer “The Flower” over lulling female voices, he yearns: “Give me one more chance to show the world that all of my intentions are pure.” Those “intentions” are then seemingly discarded on the rockier standout “The Spirit’s Inside” when he admits he’s just here “to capture young fancies and undress them all.”

Longer than the last Fresh and Onlys’ LP and released simultaneously with the eight-song solo EP Bad Blood, Cohen makes certain he’s keeping us entertained on Magic Trick, not missing a beat in delivering on the hope of any solo record in framing its singer right at the center. Through decorative arrangements, vintage theatrics and playful piano, the release’s real joy comes from the time you spend swimming laps in Cohen’s deadpan croon. On the ever-growing “Season of Fires,” one of the best of the lot already, it’s his surprising amount of pedigree singing that holds the bouncy, Ariel Pink-like funk jammer together. Consider it the solo answer to his other project’s hit “Invisible Forces.”

Cohen spent last year a transient (his label’s word), touring and playing as a Fresh and Only. Outside of the musical proficiency that comes from within these solo tracks, his home-recorded latest goes after an encapsulation of “almost every moment of solitude, longing, and wonderment” from his days on tour. Though he dubs this song collection a Magic Trick, I can’t much imagine Cohen snapping his fingers to disappear somewhere new; it’s just too much rooted in his own sincerity for that to happen. So, it’s no wonder he confessed to “Impose” that “It’s [simply] how my mind and body work. It’s all I know how to do – record songs.” It’s lucky for us he shines at that one thing. Now, if we can only do something about that artwork…

The Based God releases new songs, mixtapes at a rate that no mere human can possibly keep up with. His latest Illusions of Grandeur dropped a couple weeks back. A few days ago he dropped the video for it’s title track and today the video for it’s remix.

I’m really lovin’ the remix to “Illusions of Grandeur.” The Based God sounds really at home over a beat that I can only describe as Witch House-esque. Fuck it man, I want to hear a whole fuckin’ album of Lil’ B over Salem, White Ring and GuMMy†Be▲R!.

The remix was done by San Antonio’s Beautiful Lou. Thanks to Walkmaster Flex for the heads up.

M.I.A. - Arular (2005)

Vs.

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

The Game is simple… We consider these both essential releases. But what if only one could exist between the two, 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…

It’s been a while. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever put out a solo web edit of me riding fixed freestyle. Over the last two months, I’ve been collecting a few clips of riding in Austin with the Sweathogs. We’ve had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy!

Confession: I have an Android phone. Don’t get me wrong, I love my phone (3G Mobile Hotspot capabilities. Step to me.) but there is one very notable aspect in which we lag behind you iHoles: gaming. It seems we in the droid marketplace receive everything a few months late (or never at all). I mean, I got Angry Birds n shit, but the iPhone does have some pretty dope games on it that stretch the definition of “mobile gaming” and the Droid just can’t fucks with that. One of those games, so I’ve been told, is the recently released Swords & Sworcery EP.

It’s a hyper-pixelated touch based adventure/music game that has been getting rave reviews. Once again, I have not (and cannot) play it, but from what I can tell it seems akin to the stripped down brilliance of the games from Thatgamecompany (flOw, Flower, the upcoming Journey) but with a retro point and click adventure bent. It’s also somehow tied into rock music (hence the “EP”), and presumably much more artsy awesomeness. One of you out there, please download this, play it, and let me know how it is. While I play Angry Birds Seasons. Like a chump.

Digital Boy + Shark return harder than ever with new sonic carnage in this premiere for Karmaloop’s debut mix series! Not happy with the ubiquitous face melting caused by their first outing for Discobelle’s “Mixin It Up” series, the duo is back with something that will truly define their sound, their ideals, and their attitude.

Serious Business is a massive hour-plus mix that features 52 tracks from the worlds of grime, techno, bassline, UK hardcore, and dubstep, with exclusive original treats (like their own personal take on Aphex Twin classic, “Come To Daddy”) all tied together by their cuthroat approach to music.

Digital Boy + Shark create something here that brings insular worlds together in a way that’s somehow connected by sheer adrenaline and excitement, always finding a way to bring the mix to a peak at all times. While enduring and enigmatic, listeners better be prepared for something truly special and soul-busting… Pray for bass!

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, our very own Badman Shark. In just under a year of activity they have established the shape of Rave to come: 2011 will see the rebirth of Techno – through Rave, Hardcore and decades of blood, sweat, and tears – into a new unadulterated form of sonic abuse.

In the recent past, the duo completed remixes for the likes of Crookers, Congorock, and The Deftones, and spawned two classic rave anthems: “Gangster Rave” and “No One Can Stop US”; they are currently working on their live set and a new track featuring vocalist Carrie Wilds and drummer Igor Cavalera (Mixhell/Cavalera Conspiracy) that will soon see the light of day.

To further celebrate the dawn of the new age of rave, the duo teamed up with us to produce this tee shirt design featuring the cover art (available in black and white) that is on sale exclusively on Karmaloop. One seriously sick design to full indoctrinate all you Gangster Rave neophytes out there.

Download the mix below and clear the next hour of your schedule because you won’t be able to concentrate on anything else. Full tracklist for this monster mix after the jump!

Karmaloop Presents Serious Business by DigitalBoyShark

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GuMMy†Be▲R! – Oakland (2011) [Self-Released] // Grade: B+

I get it, believe me I do… Witch House isn’t for everyone. But part of why I love it so damn much is that it’s basically the Internet incarnate flowing seamlessly amidst low bit-rate samples smashing into the reds. It’s clandestine. It’s bewildering. It’s bad. It’s amazing. And it’s truly the only music form that couldn’t have ever existed outside of the right here and now. Believe you me, it’s no easy task to group and manipulate so many familiar sounds to make music that at once still sounds familiar and yet is entirely its own thing. But best of all is that it and the artists who either embrace or reject the title are ever evolving apart from one another yet eternally on the same wavelength.

Chris Johnson AKA California’s GuMMy†Be▲R! is one such artist who’s been almost amoeba-like in his fluidity. Over the course of a handful of EPs released last year, those familiar with him have witnessed an artist slowly breaking out of his shell and the usual tricks we associate with the new genre. We got a taste of his true potential via “Arizona Lights ’97″ off his 2010 EP Spectral Analysis, and he returns now with a whole seeping bowlful on his first full-length, Oakland.

Oakland is one female-crooner-shy of fully turning Witch House into full-fledged Witch HOUSE. It’s a rich and symphonic club-ready epic that forgoes much of “dragging” to head into a terrain we don’t usually associate with artists whose names we can’t pronounce, that of the blissfully upbeat. But then again, Chris Johnson did forgo the more sinister sounding monikers prevalent in the scene for something as cheery as Gummybear (or rather GuMMy†Be▲R!), so is it all that surprising that under the spells of so much chaos magick, this candy raver’s soul does roam?

Oakland is Witch House’s first full-fledged, dancefloor-friendly assault from start to finish… so much so that were you not there to witness GuMMy†Be▲R!’s evolution to this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if you scratched your head wondering how and why this album could have anything to do with, say, King Night. But fist-pumping anthems they may be, they’d still be better appreciated after downing some coedine and attempting suicide. But that’s just how the coven rolls.

“His opponent from St. Petersburg FL, at 231 pounds, Barry Horowitz!” So begins a wrestling match for one of the sport’s most unlikely competitors, and the video for one of rap’s most unlikely rising stars. Horowitz was a mulleted middle aged Jewish guy who’s special move was literally patting himself on the back, and who’s inexplicably unaltered birth name stuck out in a world of Diesel, HHH, and Hakushi.

Action Bronson, as we all know, is the ginger bearded doppelganger of Fat Joe who raps about his chef skills with a flow and voice that’s as good as anyone who’s doing it today. His album Dr. Lecter just dropped and is a much needed reminder that NY rap is still wildly unique and relevant. Needless to say, Bronson has proven himself in his arena more than Horowitz ever would, but it’s nice to know he still considers himself somewhat of an outsider. Not because he shouldn’t be big, but because I would hate to see him lose that “self aggrandizing chef with knife-like lyrical precision” Bronsoliñi swagger he does so well.

Most of the hype swirling around Odd Future tends to focus on Tyler, but seriously, how incredible is Hodgy Beats? Dude just dropped a brand new track sampling some Moody Blues (I know it isn’t “Knights In White Satin,” but it just made for a good post title, k?) courtesy of BamBeeno. If you aren’t already jockin’ the shit out of Hodgy, take a listen, I guarantee it’ll change your tune.

Download “Mystery” right fucking now!