It’s no secret that we around Мишка are big big fans of the recent relaunch of Uncanny X-Force. The work that Rick Remender has done to reinvent that (sorry) pretty stale series has been above and beyond. Remender, who previously did runs on Punisher War Journal (with Matt Fraction), as well as his own series Fear Agent, is kicking ass and taking names. He also writes for video games (Whole Milk approved Bulletstorm included).

Basically, he’s becoming one of the best new (ish) voices in comics. Giving him Uncanny was a big vote of confidence from Marvel, and he’s delivered in spades, so they decided to hand over another one of their flailing franchises. Oh, Venom, the potential you have as a character. Since the Symbiote first made contact with Eddie Brock, Venom has been for me perhaps Spider-Man’s most conceptually interesting villain. First off, he looks fucking awesome, and the relationship between the alien and it’s host is very interesting to explore.

However, I haven’t been impressed by a Venom comic in, oh, forever. But, luckily, Remender has taken the reins and led the story in a brand new and very successful direction. The new host for Venom is former bully turned war hero Flash Thompson. The leg-less Flash is employed by the government in a new defense program based around pairing up a soldier with the Symbiote. So, Venom is now a “hero” (which Marvel tried in the past with Brock). However, Flash can only spend a certain amount of time bound with Venom, or else it will take over his mind.

The first issue sets the stage more than starting up a larger arc, but features some great character work with Flash (including a look at his past alcoholism) as well a truly awesome battle with Jack O’Lantern (who I’ve always liked a whole bunch). Tony Moore’s art is moody and rich with detail. The new look for Venom (more streamlined, uniform like) is a cool re-branding, and generally I’m very stoked for this series to continue. Go Rick Remender, go!

Explosions In the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (2011) [Temporary Residence] // Grade: B

It’s been four years since the most accessible purveyors of the almighty post rock sound, Explosions in the Sky released any new music. The 11-year-old sound is still very much their own; immediately recognizable and intricate and it takes but minutes before the player’s guitars release great potential from string necks, allowing opener “Last Known Surroundings” to really reach, like some soaring Hermes above. Though it’s been their longest time between albums, it’s still very much a sound that we’re used to from these Austin boys. Following 2007’s All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone, a record that took a pair of years to lay to tape, the band are taking an obvious route in letting Take Care, Take Care, Take Care function as a welcoming party for their listeners that might not have yet grown tired of the known post rock release. Whereas a variety of instrumental offerings usually find benefit in supporting and fostering, rather than purporting something to their listener, Explosions in The Sky are making sure that their thematic, sonic and visual elements aren’t at all lost in the drifting, quiet-loud-quiet celestial shuffle.

Getting past the homecoming nature of Take Care isn’t easy, as pieces of the six-song album’s most blunt imagery is supporting the idea with open arms: the artwork, a painting of a vine-overgrown entryway where mail is stuffed into an adjacent box, is quite the frank visual of what any natural return might look like. There’s also the opener track’s title (the aforementioned “Last Known Surroundings”) as a reminder of where they were, back at “All of a Sudden,” land. The band has stated that going immediately after ones’ emotions is key to their efforts and with Take Care, like previous releases, they do just that. Whereas the first song functions as a comfortable 3-minute foyer, it’s the album’s second offering, the slow-growing and coda-exploding, “Human Qualities,” that finds the band leaning more heavily on what they can do with space, silence and delicacy over the usual ballooning flutter-and-march combo to come up with something that pleases not just your ears but instead, plays with your sonic, visual and sensory receptors all at once. In the song’s mid-section, it nearly gets silent and headphones present themselves as a listener’s only resort. Once affixed, the song reveals its own titular, lifelike quality- a heartbeat, three quick thuds a few times over before the frail guitar returns, to bring the song back to life. Sure, it’s the band acting far too plainly after representation, but by now, Explosions in the Sky have likely earned that right a few times over.

A favorite here is “Trembling Hands,” a song that succeeds in functioning to remember how this band not only inspired acts of the pondering instrumental world, but also that of sharp-dressed post punk citers like Interpol, who you can’t help but think of once the song’s halfway mark hits. As mentioned, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is full of much the same type of Explosions in the Sky’s pantheon-ruling genre’s enduring principles of listener anticipation, sustained delicacy and instrumental command and once these six songs are finished, the release feels very much like the sort of record we have just come to expect from the band. In the last decade, the group has rode from Austin unknowns to motion-picture soundtrackers and though a lot has changed in their genre since they started— or even since they last released material— the band have done so all on a sound they remained very much wedged under, supporting and exploring just enough over each album to continue a forward progression.

I thought I was into Game of Thrones but this Florida resident is so down with the Starks that he beat the shit out of his cousin over it. Drawing that kind of fan loyalty after only one episode bodes well for HBO, who just renewed it for a second season. Hells yeah.

After an hour long series of introductions and politics in last week’s pilot, “The Kingsroad” sets those pieces into tense motion. It’s not all love between the Starks and the Lannisters – the only honest, good blood is between Ned and King Robert. The scene in which they talk about their war with the Targaryens was a highlight of the episode for me. Because of his nearly oppressive sense of loyalty, Ned is still willing to travel to King’s Landing to take his position as the King’s Hand despite his son Bran remains in a coma after his fall. We all know that Jamie Lannister pushed Bran from the high window after witnessing his incestual relations with Cersei.

And through her cruelty and overall bitchiness, we see who wears the codpiece in the Lannister household. After the altercation between Arya, the butcher’s son Micah, and that snot-nosed piece of human shit Joffrey, it could have resolved with no more blood being shed. Instead, Cersei demands her pound of flesh to be taken from Lady, Sansa’s direwolf. It was Arya’s direwolf Nymeria who nearly took Joffrey’s hand off, but since he took off, Lady is sacrificed in the name of Lannister Justice. Robert might be a whoring, goofy oaf, but Cersei is one evil bitch. Actress Lena Headey is playing the villain very well so far.

Sansa’s lie may have led to the death of her direwolf, but on an even more brutal level, it caused the death of the butcher’s boy. Ned knows that Sansa was lying, and the moment he sees the dead boy slung over the Hound’s steed he realizes the true weight of the consequence. His daughter’s lie caused the death of an innocent boy. Westero is a brutal place for laymen.

One Lannister I think we can all agree upon is Tyrion, the witty imp who loves whores and crispy bacon. Peter Dinklage is truly killing it as the royal brother no one really seems to like (or trust) and his balls and mouth are sure to get him in trouble down the road. He’s the king’s brother in law, but not untouchable. Bran being shoved out of a window is proof enough that royal blood can’t act as a shield. And with Bran’s awakening at the end of the episode, we’ll see if he spills the beans about the queen’s incest. The failed assassination attempt is proof enough that his fall was no accident.

The Starks have been backed into a corner by the Lannisters, time for Ned and Cat to make their moves!

Our homie Shea from DPH put up a new edit today featuring his pet snake, 4 pegs and the new All-City Airwolf frame.

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)

Vs.

Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)

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…

Poly Styrene was the first female punk icon I was ever obsessed with. I was in High School at the time, and really how could I not fall in love with this cute girl with bright clothes, curly hair, chubby cheeks and braces who thumbed her nose at all authority and conventions. Up until then I hadn’t really listened to or known much female-fronted punk. Not because I was all “girls suck and can’t play guitar” or some shit… I just wasn’t seeking it out, nor was anyone really introducing it to me. I sadly was under the impression that any good band with a girl in it, probably had one for the novelty of it. Oh and I also hated saxophones.

But in spite of all of that I found Xray Spex and fell in love with them. And while that didn’t inspire me to hunt down more bands with sax, it did broaden my horizons and lead me to Siouxsie, L7, The Delta 5, Bikini Kill, The Slits, That Dog, Huggy Bear and countless others.

Poly Styrene was a punk amongst punks. A groundbreaking presence that left an unrepeatable mark on the musical landscape, she made history the moment she uttered, “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard but I think oh bondage up yours!” The influence of Poly and X-ray Spex has been felt far and wide ever since. Their landmark album Germ Free Adolescents is a landmark work and a primary influence on Britpop and Riot Grrrl. At the center of it was Poly Styrene, a bi-racial feminist punk with the perfect voice to soundtrack rebellion. Poly never sacrificed the intelligence or the fun in her music and style. Her trademark braces and dayglo clothes were a playful rejection of the status quo and of conformity and complacency. She dissected gender politics, consumer culture, and the obsessions of modern life in a way that made us all want sing along with her.

At the core of Poly’s work from Germ Free Adolescents through Generation Indigo, is a revolutionary with a genuine love for this world and the people and things in it. Her indomitable heart is all over the new material from her championing of cruelty free products (“I Luv Ur Sneakers”) to giving voice to marginalized poor people worldwide (“No Rockefeller”) to tackling racism (“Colour Blind”). Poly Styrene never stopped exciting us with her incisive world-view, amazing wit, and her adventurous sound. It is impossible to imagine what modern music would be like without her incalculable contributions but it’s probably not worth imagining a world that never had Poly Styrene in it.

A thrilling work from a true pioneer and rebel in every sense, Poly Styrene’s album Generation Indigo is out now through Future Noise Music and was produced by Youth (The Verve, Killing Joke, The Fireman, Edwyn Collins). The album received rave reviews from Uncut, NME, The Guardian and countless others across the Atlantic. The forward looking Generation Indigo showcases Poly’s humorous musings on pop culture, the internet and fashion whilst also tackling heavier subject matter (war and racism) with her politically aware and intelligent lyrics all in the inimitable voice of a genuine icon.

Poly was only 53 and she finally succumbed to a battle with cancer late last night. Sadly, I haven’t thrown on any Xray Spex in a really long time. And I also feel a bit guilty because for the past year the Bloglin had been getting loads of emails about Poly’s new musical projects, none of which we ever posted about. So it’s a tough spot to not only learn of her death but try and fondly remember someone in my old age I now feel I’ve forsaken. But I guess that’s what sadly sometimes happens.

So while it may have been a good long while since I thought of or listened to anything of Poly’s, as a teen, she truly clued me in to the notion that girls could do anything boys could and be just as badass about it. She was as fuckin’ punk rock as it got for me and I thank her for that. She oozed rebelliousness in away that was never contrived, always poignant and is still unmatched. So much so, that when I think of “punk,” my mind to this day more readily goes to images Poly than say Joe Strummer, Joey Ramone or your street corner Crustos. So stop what you’re doing now and tracks down a copy of Germfree Adolescents and pay the women the respect for every incredible thing she helped spawn.

Times New Viking – Dancer Equired (2011) [Merge] // Grade: C

A few years ago, Times New Viking recorded their fourth album, Born Again Revisited to VHS tape. The music was pure and noisy. Like most of the current variety of bedroom and/or basement dwellers, some still more humdrum than the next, Times New Viking sound as if they don’t care all that much about the product—the way the tunes end up— and instead, more about the excitement and desire that happens along the way of said material coming out.

Dancer Equired, which notches album number six on their Columbus, Ohio bedposts, is reportedly the first the band has ever recorded in a studio, so naturally it’s a friendlier, more transparent effort that should help outright in gifting the group some spunky new fans. Still playing a pure and noisy minimalist clatter that remembers when they garnered frequent mention as flag-wavers for the shitgaze tag or a time when Guided By Voices weren’t reuniting for festivals, Times New Viking have decided on a little professional cleanse that’s certainly a decision for the better. Much like the transition from record four to five when they promised a “25%” higher-fidelity sound, the band have again scrubbed a layer of grime from the guitar-powered brief bursts, delivering on the promise of a more accessible and encompassing “pop” release throughout. Their first release for Merge Records, Dancer is, outside of a different catalog abbreviation and a newly scrubbed shine, pretty much business as usual for 14 songs; a cute sound defended largely by brief and honest ambition clawing at timelessness.

Through they’re on the right track, the trio’s only noticeable change here is that they’ve put some clean clothes on and maybe got a haircut; “It’s a Culture,” “Somebody’s Slave” and “Fuck Her Tears” are the album’s best and outside of a few bouncy foot-tappers and moments when the trio takes a noticeable diversion into something that’s either acoustic-led (“No Good”) or supported (“No Room To Live”), it’s quite hard to dig up much of anything that makes the 31-minute Dancer Equired exciting and, well, all that distinctive.

While this week’s brood-a-thon did not include a snuff film, it did increase the weight on Bennett and reveal the leak in the Richmond campaign. We learned that not only did allegations of extra-curricular relationships follow him from his previous school, but also that he married a former student. When Holder and Linden question Bennett’s wife Amber, who is very pregnant, Linden snoops and finds a shit-load of tarps and a half empty bottle of ammonium hydroxide – a very powerful cleaning chemical. A toxicology report did not turn up any narcotics or booze in Rosie’s system, but plenty ammonium hydroxide on her hands, under her nails, and in her lungs. I’d convict him on the number of tarps alone, but I doubt Bennett – as much as I thought he was the murderer – is one some professional kiddie killer shit, but Rosie was definitely in his house when his wife was gone.

Maybe he’s just a serial flirt with female students who are into poetry and into making artsy-fartsy, super 8 videos? Now Linden has a cork board filled with images from the video: a blurry sign, someone’s reflection in her bike’s mirror, and migrating monarchs. All that is missing is a plastic bag swirling in the wind. These clues should get interesting (or boring).

After getting stupid drunk at a swank country club with the mayor, Jamie learns that Councilwoman Yitanes is behind the mole. I still really don’t care about this mole crap and until there’s more than a rental car to converge the campaign and Rosie’s murder, I’ll continue not to care. Richmond is a boring character who talks in that annoying half-whisper all the time. Like Jack Bauer did, but not as urgent and sexy. I get that they’re trying to show how a murder can affect politics, but none of it is nearly as compelling as Holder and Linden’s investigation or Stan and Mitch’s grief.

And now Stan, through a friend of Belko, wants to get start up his vigilante investigation, which will inevitably lead him to Bennett. Hopefully it doesn’t get too silly, like Stan smashing in Bennett’s car windows or leaving flaming poop on his doorstep. I’m glad to see more of Belko because let’s face it, Brendan Sexton III is the shit. Have you guys ever seen him in Hurricane Streets? He should have won some kind of junior Oscar for that.

So there’s enough on the table now for The Killing to pick up the pace. I haven’t complained about the show’s pace yet, but “Super 8″ felt really boring to me. I think because the damn campaign took up so much time. Right now it’s riding that thin line between “slow build up to greatness” and “just slow.”

You all are familiar with Clams Casino right? I mean I hope you guys are. Seriously. Dude has been killing it with his beats lately lacing up Souljah Boy, The Jealous Guys and Main Attrakionz to name a few. Dude signed with Tri Angle a couple of weeks ago and “Gorilla” will be on his upcoming release for the young label.

It’s a dope track and even inspired Jamie Harley (Dude behind Twin Shadow’s “Castles In the Snow” and How to Dress Well’s “Lover’s Start”) to make this pretty awesome and totally unsolicited video for the song. A great way to get the hype machine rolling on a release that I’m sure is going to be in heavy rotation. Want more Clams? Well our boys at Space Age Hustle recently sat down and chatted with dude and dropped this great lil comp of Clam’s Instrumentals and Remixes. Mangia! Mangia!

Back in February, Brooklyn speaker-busters BL§§D ØU† dropped a mix called Destroy MP3s. It kicked ass and had a bunch of remixes plus new tracks from BL§§D ØU† and new side project EEEE. Now, just in time for Summer, they’re back with the second edition of Destroy MP3s, That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore. And a great time was had by all. This one is bigger, stronger, and faster. It’s on some 6 Million Dollar Man shit.

It’s 32 minutes of your ear holes getting smacked around like a little punk bitch by scuzzed out sounds and deep dark dance music. I would also recommend you let yourself get hypnotized by that there cover art while you enjoy remixes of tracks by Rihanna, Destiny’s Child, Marilyn Manson, and much more. Destroy MP3s 2 is available for download here!

Destroy MP3s.2 :: That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore by BLISSED OUT