I happened to randomly walk in on photographer/video/performance artist Laurel Nakadate’s The Wolf Knife while at PS1 this past weekend. The movie is part of a pretty huge exhibit of Nakadate’s work, and I have to be honest, was my first real taste of her work. I really loved it. Nakadate is an attractive woman who puts herself in incredibly uncomfortable situations in front of the camera, as well as creates an uncomfortable relationship between the photograph or video viewer and what he/she is looking at. I’m not going to get into a whole examination of her work, but for example, a large majority of her video work is finding strange men in seedy locales across the country, inviting herself back to their homes, and asking them to, say, pretend it’s her birthday. She videotapes the interaction. It’s the sort of thing that feels like something incredibly bad could happen at any moment, yet nothing ever does.

The show included a lot of her video work (which lasts 3-10 minutes usually) and when I sat down to watch The Wolf Knife, I thought it’d be another short. But after 40 minutes I decided to check the title card and come to discover this was in fact a full length film, and Nakadate’s second as a writer and director.

No one besides my girlfriend and I lasted through the whole film at the showing we saw. People usually came in and lasted 15 minutes, tops, before leaving. One family brought their children in, quickly ushering them out again when the film began showing incredibly questionable situations. I’m not sure if most people walking out weren’t prepared to sit through a 90 minute feature or the film itself just wasn’t their cup of tea, but judging from the many negative reviews the film received when it was first released, I’m going to assume it’s mainly the latter.

Shot entirely on a handheld digital camera, The Wolf Knife features mostly amateur actors playing out what I assume are just loosely-given plot instructions. It’s incredibly lo-fi and the closest thing I can even compare it to is Harmony Korrine’s Gummo, another film people either love or hate. There is some raw yet incredibly attractive cinematography (which mirrors Nakadate’s photographic work) against some very bad acting by the sort of creepy yet commanding screen presences Korrine utilizes regularly – they’re even Tim & Eric-esque in their badness.

The story focuses on Chrissy and June, two sixteen year old girls from Hollywood, Florida who decide to run away to Memphis. The girls are basically both Lolita archetypes, making ideal foils for translating Nakadate’s video art into a feature film. Nakadate does everything possible to amp up the girls’ erotisism short of having them appear nude or engaged in any real sex. But there’s plenty of skimpy and revealing clothing, wettened lips, Sapphic undertones and gratuitous camera angles focusing on thighs and the crotch. There’s never a point where the viewer of the movie isn’t aware of or forced directly to come to terms with the two lead’s youth, naivete and sexual awakening.

It’s a compelling device, but also incredibly uncomfortable to watch (for both men and women, possibly for different reasons), so I’m not blaming anyone who wasn’t able to sit through it. But that doesn’t make it any less successful, as this is the underlying point of almost all of Nakadate’s work. The girls are placed in countless situations of dubious morality as they journey from Hollywood to Memphis, with plenty of inappropriate behavior from older men that seems to stop just before it goes too far.  Oh wait, by the way, the reason they’re going to Memphis is because Chrissy wanted to see and possibly move in with her former 3rd grade teacher who she’s been corresponding with, so that’s a good example of what I mean when I say “dubious morality.” The scene where they meet up is the film’s climax, and easily it’s most disturbing and confusing scene.

Like Gummo, this is not a plot-driven film. It’s all situational and voyeuristic, based on how you, the viewer, process what is happening on screen and what is insinuated. Nakadate has made an incredibly earnest and thought-provoking examination of the confusions females experience when they reach adolescence, be it identity, relationships or sexuality – or all of the above, at once. I really hate to keep hammering home the Gummo point, but I imagine a larger number of our readers have seen it and if you’re a fan of anything Korrine has done (or just that general aesthetic), this not only worth seeing, but incredibly well done. No, it’s not for everyone, but for those of you who don’t mind feeling like a creepy perv for 90 minutes. You’ll appreciate it, and well, you know who you are.

I’m not sure where you can catch a screening of The Wolf Knife (originally released in 2010) or easily find it on DVD, as it’s not available on Netflix. But it is screening at Ps1 currently as part of the Laurel Nakadate: Only the Lonely exhibit (which I also really recommend seeing in general), which is on view until August 8th. The film is free with your admission into the museum.

Somewhere in the Czech Republic, a movement grows. Percolating across the internet for the past year AMDISCS has quickly proven itself as one of the premiere indie labels, especially in the Mishka approved field of burgeoning Witch House artists. Adherents to a paradigm of free release, AMDISCS has been responsible for introducing people to countless brand new young acts both through their releases and their superlative blog All, Everyone, United.

As you may have already seen, we’re incredibly excited to be hosting an In-Store performance that will serve as a showcase for 3 of our favorite AMDISCS artists. Friday, April 28th, 350 Broadway becomes a bastion of swampy synths. Of satanic sampling. Of dirge-like drumming. Of foggy feedback. Of warbling sound walls. Basically, it’s becoming a real live Witch House.

M△S▴C△RA are one of the most exciting live acts in Witch House. Though only one person in studio, in the real world M△S▴C△RA expands to a two person dream dance duo who’s live performance is just as indebted to shoegaze and drone as it is to laptops and dark bedrooms. Their loose, interpretive approach to performance extends to their music, which is freewheeling and unbound by the restrictions of 1′s and 0′s. Their  pitch-black 8 minute jams are a wonder to behold.

After causing a stir with acidic and assaultive early 2010 EP Fevers, Rhode Island based artist Sina Sohrab AKA Dream Boat was suddenly on everyone’s mind. Regardless of the quality of Fevers, everyone was surprised by Visions, the dancey monster than Dream Boat unleashed this past December. If you feel like getting your groove on while also being sort of afraid that something bad is going to happen, then you’ve come to the right place. Hypnotic and loud, Dream Boat will shake 350 Broadway.

Finally, we’re gonna scale back the noise and amp up the atmosphere. That’s right, we’ve got Witch House slow jam expert Λ (Arc). The top of the pops as far as cinematic and gorgeous soundscapes, Λ (Arc) should be the perfect break from the onslaught of dancing. Choral, anguished vocals and spare use of pianos, Λ (Arc) is a unique artist all his own. His recent AMDISCS release Wire Migraine is a fantastic exploration of a gamut of gracefully dark experimental sounds. I can’t wait to see it done live.

So there you have it folks. For you AMDISCS devotees, this is obviously a must see. If you aren’t yet familiar with the label, I highly suggest you hop on the JMZ, come out and get your mind blown. Best of all, it’s 3 great artists all for the price of none! We couldn’t be happier to be doing an event with this label, and it should be nothing less than spectacular. These things fill up quick, so next Friday bring your black clothes and arrive early.

Friday April 29th, 7pm-8pm
Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725

J/M/Z to Marcy Ave
G to Broadway
L to Lorimer

Shannon and The Clams – Sleep Talk (2011) [1-2-3-4 Go!] // Grade: B

The Hunx and His Punx camp are one brash group of fun-loving hooligans. On new LP Too Young to Be in Love, Hunx’s sass is rivaled by his unruly Punkette, Shannon Shaw. With her name now having registered a few more fans, Shaw rolls out Sleep Talk, the newest and strongest release from her own band, Shannon And The Clams.

If more young girls looked up to women like Shannon Shaw the world would be a lot cooler place. Her throaty wild woman range exudes confidence, bellowing a steady, deep roar across “Baby Don’t Do It”. She milks simple song structures, wringing out clap along hooks, then throwing her voice off the wall recklessly. In title track “Sleep Talk”, a subdued retro croon trades places with a scratchy, impassioned howler of a chorus, backed by the rockabilly swagger of bandmate Cody Blanchard.

Sleep Talk is a much improved Shannon And The Clams. Their 2009 debut I Wanna Go Home was a young band having sloppy fun. Focused songwriting corrals their formerly boundless attitude into a rowdy singalong, led by hellcat and loose cannon extradordinaire, Shannon Shaw.

Grouper – Alien Observer

Death Grips (feat. Mexican Girl) – Lord of the Game

LOL Boys – Blocks

Everyone’s got their freaky deaky side. But not all of us turn it into art. So I commend Dust La Rock for swaggin’ himself out on some BDSM steez for his new art exhibit Joking Victim, which is now on display in Los Angeles. This short film, entitled The Ritual has got it all. Satanic rituals (duh), red robes, copious tattoos, fog, pentagrams, cairns, black candles, evil scripture, runes, and, of course, a mostly naked dust getting gagged and smacked around with a cat o’ nine tails by a hot girl.

The soundtrack was done by Jokers of the Scene, and is quite dope. Not really their usual style, but I like it. I would also like to point out that Dust has a version of the Psychick Cross skull that he displayed at 350 Broadway for BK Scum tatted up on his shoulder (apparently surrounded by… Psychic Pitchforks? I’m not fully up on my Psychic TV symbology game, my apologies). The exhibit description did mention Dust using his body as “medium and canvas”, so I’d say he followed through on that.

Well would you look at that. Stalley dun done it. The bristly bearded young Ohio native, as you know, recently released his highly acclaimed mixtape-album type dealie,s Lincoln Way Night: Intelligent Trunk Music for us. It was well received by all, and Stalley even stopped by the 350 Broadway store for a heckuva performance. We had every expectation that this dude would blow up. But even we were surprised by how quickly this happened.

It was just recently announced that Rozay himself, the bearded one, Rick Ross has signed Stalley onto his Maybach Music label. Playa what?! That’s awesome. The partnership was confirmed when Ross tweeted a photo of him and Stalley together. Them’s some serious facial follicles. Ross even jumped on a swaggery remix of the mix’s title track (shouts to DJ Rashad for his stellar production across that tape btw). First Das Racist, now this! Young rappers, we got the midas touch.

Nathan from Wavves, his pal Matt and I are working on a comic together that they’re writing and I’m drawing. Nate texted me yesterday asking if he could tweet my crappy loose sketches of the initial character designs and I said sure. Within an hour Pitchfork wanted to write about it and I wrote this letter to them for Nate to forward along.

Dear Pitchfork,

Nathan says you want to write about Negative Dad. That is very good of/for you. Negative Dad is like an extra retarded X-Men. There’s heshers, evil parents, cat people, juvenile delinquents with partially functioning mutant powers, aliens, dreams, and it’s all written Nate Wavves and his pal Matt something. I’m doing the art and also possibly inserting some of my own shit in there if the other two guys are okay with it. If all goes according to plan it should even come with a cassette.

Some great comics have come packaged with cassettes in the past. There was a comic by Kyle Baker and KRS-One called Break the Chain that came out a long time ago and a 3D Rocketeer comic that came with one too. They’re not much of a common occurrence these days but I think that I can say that this is going to be our gift (although it will cost money) to people who enjoy pot. Put the tape on, get into a beanbag chair in a space small enough to get clambaked inside of and just read the comic and chuckle at the pictures while your friend plays Nintendo and eats all your Pirate Booty or something.

Sincerely,
Nicholas Gazin

So then Pitchfork wrote about it and the Fader wrote about it too. And people are already shit talking it.

After the break you can see the rest of the sketches I did for Negative Dad. Enjoy and make an effort to get Negative Dad #1 when it hits the place where the stands used to be. I’m not gonna explain all the characters though. You’ll just have to wait and see the book.

(more…)

Xander Harris – Urban Gothic (2011) [Not Not Fun] // Grade: B+

I know we ruffled a few feathers when we started inventing genre names last year with Grave Wave, but I wanna do it again. So how do you feel about this… Carpenterscape or what about Goblingaze? Between Gatekeeper, Umberto, Oneohtrix Point Never, Zombie Zombie and now Xander Harris (no not the Buffy character) there’s no longer any shortage of bands crafting soundtracks to 1980′s post-apocalyptic or zombie infested horror films that just never existed. And the ones I listed are just the top of the iceberg… scour some drone and experimental tape forums and you’ll no doubt stumble onto a few more  crawling out of their bedrooms at a staggering pace.

Xander Harris’ Urban Gothic is clearly a nod to the sprawling synth soundtracks popularized in 70s and 80s horror, action and sci-fi flicks, but it’s actually meant to be a companion piece to Brian Keene’s book of the same name. So if that ever get’s turned into a film. Boom… soundtrack already penned!

The snippets of dialog dispersed throughout some of the songs were all based on things that are heinous, in the vein of the book.  Some of it (like the live exorcism I sampled) of course isn’t in there but I wanted to add to over all creep out feeling over the novel.

I’ve never read Urban Gothic or anything of Keene’s (though I suspect Hateball probably has), I do know he’s a beloved horror author credited with helping spur the recent zombie resurgence. A quick Google search reveals that Urban Gothic (the book) deals with a group of friends who’s car breaks down in a dangerous inner-city neighborhood. Seeking refuge they’re soon terrorized by subterranean abominations. Look I know I’m going out on a limb by not having actually read the book, but from the synopisis, this scores that sort of thing to a T. It’s got those hard driving synth compositions that Carpenter used on both Assault on Precint 13 and Escape From NY which make you think and feel like you’re trapped in some gritty, seedy and dangerous urban environment. Couple that with some more sinister and symphonic Goblin-esque compositions and wham! How can you not think of weird, creepy abomination coming after you in the dark?

While I can eat this sort of stuff up all day and ask for seconds, my favorite part of Urban Gothic is when Harris will veer his compositions into harder EBM at times. While most Urban Gothic features those touches, It’s both “When the Hammer Starts To Swing” and “I Want More Than Just Blood” that veer into some really great Cyberpunk/Industrial territory. Maybe that’s the part of the book where the heroes get all h4x0r on the subterranean ghoulies? I don’t fuckin’ know but it all works as  a seamless listen.

So why would you listen to this instead of throwing on some Fulci, Goblin or Carpenter scores? Cause you’ve heard those how many times now? Plus scratches that same itch and you can totally just make up you’re own horror movie to it in your head.

It’s about to get real S!CK up in this motherfucker! I’m a fan of all our party lineups, but I must say that this one is shaping up to be particularly awesome. It’s like a dream y’all. But real! And it’s all going down this Friday night at everyone’s favorite party haüs, Santos Party House. There’s gonna be DJ’s. There’s gonna be live performances. There’s gonna be drinking. Copious drinking. And, most importantly, cute goth chicks.

Where to begin on this. Lemme drop a big ol’ truth bomb on you: oOoOO is gonna be DJ’ing. Boom! The winner of our coveted Best EP of 2010 will be there, manning the haunted tables. What’s that you say? You want more? Well how do you feel about White Ring? KA-BLOW! They threw it down in LA a few weeks ago, and I’m damn sure they’ll do it again. And to round out the DJ lineup, we have one of my personal favorites, Light Asylum, fresh off a recent gig at MSG. C-c-c-c-c-combo breaker!

Did I mention the live performances? Cuz I’m about to. 5 groups. 5! Nike7up will be there. He’s been called the satanic Girl Talk (by me. just now.) and is primed and ready to sample your face right off your skull. The always superb BL§§D ØU† will make an appearance, hopefully playing tracks from the great 3MPIR3 §†Å†3. Prince Terrence and his motley crew will be there to get downright emotional and shizz as Hussle Club. Now would be a great time to pick up their Loose Tights EP here.

M△S▴C△RA, who will also be performing as part of next week’s AMDISCS In-Store at 350 Broadway, will give you a little taste of what’s to come. That lineup will be rounded out by Butterclock, officially making S!CK almost unbelievable awesome. The Santos resident DJ’s will be… well, in residence, along with a bunch o’ fun hosts and stuff. If all that doesn’t make you want to come out and party, then you just ain’t the partying type. See you there!

Friday April 22nd, 9pm
Santos Party House
96 Lafayette St.
Manhattan, NY
18+/$13 Presale/$20 Door

Matt Spencer is a beast. One of the true rippers in the fixed freestyle world. His riding and even film-making is unique and inspiring to watch. If there’s one kid out there who I love to watch ride as much as our homie Tom LaMarche, it’s Matt. Check out his newest edit in which he throws it down proper!