AyGeeTee – Thread (Motion Sickness of Time Travel Remix)

DJ Chose – Moved On

Nguzunguzu – Euro Mini Promo Mix

Jarvis Cocker, king of perfectly-timed musical scoffs and public pranker of Michael Jackson, is apparently doing pretty well for his age. Check out the evidence in this video of Pulp reuniting last night at Le Bikini in Toulouse, France. It was their first show since 2002, as well as the first in a string of a load of performances they’ve got coming up. Unfortunately, none are in the USA, which is bunk.

At least my fellow Americans and I can content ourselves with this amazing performance of “Do You Remember the First Time,” which they opened with last night. It could just be the lighting or the strategically-placed sunglasses masking the ugly truth, but Cocker looks good swaggering around that stage, despite a lyrical fuck-up or two. Also, his voice is basically unchanged from how it sounded when this song came out in 1994. Take that, ?uestlove.

One of our favorite dudes, DJ Franki Chan, founder of the Check Yo’ Ponytail parties that we at Мишка hold so dear as well as LA-based lifestyle brand IHEARTCOMIX, just debuted his new mixtape, and it’s sick as hell. It’s called This Summer Nites and it’s chock full of sticky sounds perfect for – what else? – sweaty summer evenings spent out on the town or relaxing with friends.

This Summer Nites is smooth as hell, much like the man himself, and promises to keep you up until dawn with standout tracks from Azari & III and Lifelike, dueling back-to-back “All Night” tracks, and even an Aretha Franklin remix. What could be sultrier than that? Bump it on your deck, roof or porch with a cold beer in your hand at sunset and a bunch of guests impressed at your taste by your side. For those of you who want the specifics, we’ve also got the tracklist after the jump.

Franki Chan – This Summer Nites Mixtape by Franki Chan

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There’s been a lot of recent excitement over Terence Malick’s newest film, Tree of Life. It’s the first since 2005′s beautiful but extremely oversimplified and pat retelling of the Pocohontas story, The New World, and it looks like it’ll explore themes in keeping with Malick’s oeuvre on the whole – expect a visually-staggering film centered around the connection between humanity and nature, which is the most important thing to ever exist to anyone and everyone, etc. etc. preachy etc.

Fox Searchlight, which is the studio distributing Tree of Life, also seems intent on furthering the idea of keeping things all-natural, based on this tweet below. LA stoners, can you go see Tree of Life and report back on how totally pretty it was?

Mark McGuire – A Young Person’s Guide To Mark McGuire (2011) [Editions Mego] // Grade: A-

If you follow, or even frequent, the works of Mark McGuire, you’d know that he is a tireless and ingenious musician, constantly impressing listeners with his multitude of talents and ability to construct some of the most immersive experimental compositions ever recorded. As a member of the psychedelic three-piece, Emeralds, McGuire provided, for himself, an expansive musical platform while playing alongside friend and fellow electronic wizard Steve Hauschildt.

From there, he performed under a variety of different aliases such as Skyramps, Sun Watcher, and People’s Parties ultimately deciding to use his given name. Never faltering to progress his style and hone his instrumentation, the 24 year-old has pumped out countless tapes, CD-Rs, and LPs as a solo artist over the past four years.

A Young Person’s Guide To Mark McGuire is a two-disc compilation, showcasing some of McGuire’s previously released, personal favorite tracks among others that have been nearly impossible to find, let alone hear, as they were published in such limited quantities. The retrospective album highlights sonic milestones in the artist’s career and speaks to his intense appreciation for his listeners, with the goal of the album release being to make accessible a portion of his discography that had previously been contained solely by collectors and merch-hounds.

AYPGTMM can be likened to an ancient, esoteric encyclopedia of dusty rarities, within each volume, or song, shines a personality and history that, once uncovered, whispers stories, imagining tales of wonder. Clocking in at about two and a half hours, this otic novel renders a full-scope of McGuire’s craftsmanship and inborn talent. Misty guitar plucking and reverberated, glassy drones give birth to burning ambient stars. The notation reinforces and builds upon itself, ultimately conceiving a melodic constellation of sound.

Editions Mego, having worked with and released material from artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never and Kevin Drumm as well as making available McGuire’s previous album Living With Yourself, provides an affordable, essential, and downright beautiful double-disc anthology of some of Mark McGuire’s most momentous and hard-to-find treatments. The sleeve and inner jackets are outfitted with art provided by the god-like Stephen O’Malley and packaged with a sweet mini-poster insert of Mark in all his ginger glory. Don’t miss out on this one, its a perfect introduction as well as a fine collectible piece for the avid enthusiast.

Man oh man, sometimes you come upon something, in this case a comic,  and just think “how could I have not known about this before? How could I have even considered myself a fan of the medium?” That’s how I feel about Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder. I honestly hadn’t heard anything about it until Caffeine Powered posted about the release of Finder Library Part 1 (via Dark Horse), the first collection of the comic, which has been independently published since 1996.

Finder Library 1 collects four arcs of the story, Sin-Eater Part 1 & 2, King Of The Cats, and Talisman. You must read it immediately. I got it on Amazon for $13, and it’s over 600 pages, so it’s a complete bargain. Finder takes place in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy world so unique and wholly realized you can’t help but be wrapped up in it. Much like watching Star Wars, or reading Lord Of The Rings, each time I picked up Finder I really felt like I wan entering another place. A funny, whip-smart, beautiful real world. Fuck, Finder is brilliant.

For the most part, it’s centered around Jaeger Ayers, a Finder (think Native American tracker. Sort of.) and his experiences in the domed city of Anvard, and the wastelands surrounding it. Anvard is a massive latticework of buildings, almost entirely filling the magically-propertied dome that encases it. Layer upon layer of city, so massive that most people are only really aware of the section they live it. The population is stratified into clans, who’s individual traits and societies are not only fully thought out by McNeil (from their history to their economics) but also gleefully imaginative and interesting.

Whether it be the Llaveracs, a clan of flaxen haired women (who might not actually all be women) obsessed with youth and art, or the stern mustachioed Medawars, who are in charge of medicine and military and enhance their perception with the application of psychotropic face paint designs,the Nyima, who look like lions and are at war with the tribal Ascians. Jaeger is an outsider who belongs to no clan and restlessly bounces from place to place, life to life. Sin Eater, my favorite arc, involves his interactions with the Grosvenors, a family of half Llaverac, half Medawars.

All of the stories are fascinating, visual and content wise, especially with their world building. But Sin-Eater was also emotionally wrenching, with characters that were so well thought out and realized that they reminded me how utterly fantastic comics can be. In case you can’t already tell, I’m pretty head over heels for this book. The whirlwind story of Jaeger, mentally unstable militiamen patriarch Brigham, schizoid trauma survivor Emma, AI Oracles, and countless other fantastic character’s is pretty much perfect. Buy Finder. Read Finder. Love Finder.

In January of 2010, a few kids in Milwaukee organized the first major fixed freestyle competition and the entire scene showed up. Mind you, this is the dead of fucking winter in the midwest. Not exactly the peachiest time to hang out. But people came from all over. Fast forward to a year and MidWest Mayhem is taking place again. In the time that’s passed, the sport has imploded upon itself, even citing Red Bull as a new supporter.

It’s kinda nuts to see it all take place. This weekend, the same organizers are throwing MidWest Mayhem 2 and I’m walking out my front door to head to Milwaukee as I type this out. If you’re in MKE, make sure you hit up the 4 Seasons Skate Park on Saturday. It’ll be a good time!

Saturday May 28th, 5-8pm
4 Seasons Skate Park
200 N. 25th St
Milwaukee, WI

CVLT Nation Now Available Online!

Man do we even carry Мишка on our online shop anymore? Look at all those other brands up in the bitch nowadays! Well we’re adding another new and incredible brand to our stable of evil and it’s CVLT Nation. The “nation” is the brainchild of former Rockers NYC Honcho Sean Reveron and holy fuck are they going to give Actual Pain a run for the crown of evilest Streetwear brand on the planet. It’ll be like Lucifer vs. Hades! But CVLT Nation is more than just a brand, they’re a great online blog and rescourse for all the darker aspects of music, fashion and art. Kinda like The Blogln, ‘cept we post reviews on Lady Gaga and piss our readers off.

CVLT Nation is an online magazine focused on the darker side of life. We cover music, art, fashion or film that relates to the heavy metal or punk rock subcultures. Our bloggers come from all around the world, and help to bring a global perspective to the CVLT community. CVLT Nation is a platform for underground music, both bands with labels and without. We are always open to suggestions and comments, because this site is written by and for the heads. We also accept demo submissions for review, just click the “submit a demo” link under CVLT.

We also run a clothing brand that features hand-drawn artwork by artists from around the world. Each season we find new artists to work with, and we strive to make our clothing as unique and authentic as possible. Everything in our line is made in the USA.

So up right now online and in-store are a bunch of seriously sinister tees and tanktops along with a six panel snapback. These aren’t gonna last long and we don’t have very many of them available in the first place. So all of our wicked children, grab your pitchforks and boxes of blue/black hair dye because it’s time to embrace the newest member in our axis of evil.

Мишка
350 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY
718-388-1725
—
Мишка LA
1547 Echo Park Ave
Los Angeles, CA
213-536-4234

You need to become acquainted with Star Magazine, AKA my bible. No, this isn’t the idiotic rag that you can find in any local nail salon or gynecologist’s office. The title first belonged to a magazine dedicated to teenage groupie life in 1973. Just five issues were published before they were forced to fold due to public shock and dissent, but they provide enough content to change a life forever. They feature articles teaching you how to sleep with Marc Bolan and trick your parents out of punishment, fiction pieces with names like “Chain Gang High School,” and quizzes that beg the all-important question “How Far Out Are You?” If you follow the advice put forth in Star, chances are you’re about as far out as you can go without drowning in a sea of platform heels and glittery eyeshadow.

Archivist Ryan Richardson has collected and posted each of the five issues in full on his website, and it makes for an incredibly in-depth sociological look at the way loose teenage girls acted during the dawning of the age of Aquarius. (Can you tell I’m trying to pass off my love for teen-skankitude as a social science?)

They were dedicated to teaching girls the way of the fox, which was just about the highest compliment to give or receive in the days of Star, as seen in this excerpt from an article about the perfect boyfriend: “SUPERFOX is that groovy dude who is the perfect match for your far-out personal style. He is your Main Squeezzzzzze! This is the man who will put a little more glide in your stride, and let you fall out to a happening in your sizzle pants with a few extra dips in your hips. Know where I’m coming from? I bet you do!” I mean, sizzle pants. Are you devoted to this magazine yet?

Their hard-hitting explorations of groupie life are unbelievable as well. They provide illuminating tips that are meant to help high school girls sleep with musicians like Alice Cooper and the Rolling Stones, like which hotel lobbies to hang around at night. “Even if a guy is 120 years old you have to be kissie with him ’cause he might make good connections for you,” says one groupie in the fifth issue. No wonder the parents of America wanted this magazine dead.

Another of my favorite articles is called “The Evil She-Fox: Will She Ruin Your Life?” It’s all about whether your entire existence is going to be ruined because a girl is prettier than you, which is a constant problem in my own personal life. The answer? “Don’t envy the She-Fox’s good looks. She may be sexy, but true foxiness is not only what you look like. It’s what you are. Ask any guy that’s got it together.” Whoa, personality is more important than looks? Thanks for the originality and insight, Star.

Never before or since has there been a magazine so overt in its obsession with fucking rock stars and breaking dress codes. Is it possible that teenage girls were sluttier in the 1970s then they are now? If Star is any indication, the answer looks like yes.

Planningtorock - W (2011) [DFA] //Grade: B+

When DFA Records came out with “House of Jealous Lovers” in 2001 it was obvious exactly what they were about. Unashamed to be revivalists, the record label flooded the stores and dancefloors with a savage stream of late 70’s-early 80’s inspired no wave street funk. In the past decade decade, the label has grown into a full blown cottage industry; creating new movements from the tattered remains of past movements. From Italo-Disco to Krautrock, it seems like no genre has ever been safe from DFA’s own brand of revitalization.

Oddly enough, while this seems capitalistic and exploitative, most everything released on the label is quite good. Despite the fact that it sometimes reads as a bit of a gimmick, DFA’s retro savvy stable is always interesting and has created an aesthetic of its own by now.  Planningtorock’s sophomore LP, W fits in with the label’s catalog nicely. This is modern Art-Prog at its best. Rather than concentrate on the visuals of acts like Klaus Nomi and Skafish, Janine Roston has instead concentrated on the ambiance and philosophy. Using pitched down vocals in the fashion of Fever Ray and computer altered imagery, Roston builds a performance piece about androgyny that succeeds where mainstream artists like Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga have failed. This isn’t schtick or artifice, W reads like a full blown conceptual piece. It is thought provoking, deep and pretentious. And it is rather good.

It makes sense, having worked both with Performance Art based Mt. Sims and Karin Dreijer Andersson. This album almost sounds like an amalgamation of the two. The opener “Doorway” could almost be mistaken for a Fever Ray outtake, but by the second track Roston starts to find her own voice. Somewhere between Ghost Drone and the baroque cabaret of Antony and the Johnsons is where Planningtorock’s music sits.  Perhaps the best track, “The Breaks” rests on slowed up trap beats that push the song forward and acts as the chassis for Roston’s dragged up and ethereal vocals.

It is nice to see an album that reads as both conceptual and contemporary.  So much of what comes out now, despite originality and creativity, seems like fast fashion.  W sounds like a perfect indication that modern music is maturing and starting to develop credibility.