Tony Fast and Tom LaMarche recently rolled into the Lone Star state to visit me. We hit up ditches, parks and street while Tony filmed clips on his cellphone. He then chopped them up into this clip which he’s calling “Get Me a Damn Beer,” after the drunken rantings of a homeless man. These guys are my best friends and it was a blast having them around!

Emalkay - Eclipse (2011) [Dub Police] // Grade: A-

Martin Knowles, better known as Emalkay, always knows how to produce soundsystem-specific smashers with undeniable rhythm, tension, melody and of course earth shattering sub bass. With such incredible bangers as “Explicit,” “My Story” and everyone’s favorite “When I Look At You,” Knowles has proven he knows how to maintain the momentum and energy of a proper dubstep party without exhausting a listener. Given his excellent track record, it was exciting to finally hear his creative vision in album form with the release of his debut LP Eclipse.

To do justice to this record, grab yourself a sub woofer. What separates Emalkay from your generic, beer-commercial-esque dubstep wobblers is his crisp sonic landscape. When you hear his dub (and I mean dub) influenced sub basslines in the proper environment, you’ll immediately notice the difference between Emalkay’s music and the rest of the pack. Again, listening to this album with good speakers is highly recommended, as you’ll be able to appreciate the full spectrum of sound he’s able to wield. The album kicks off with his latest anthem, “Fabrication.” When bass drops and the subs are right, your hands will immediately go up in the air. “Fabrication” has such a unique bounce that unfortunately a lot of current producers lack, so when you hear a track like this with such momentum on a big system…it really stands out. It makes you want to hear the entire track (imagine that!) and ride out the groove rather than anxiously awaiting the next bass drop 30 seconds later.

Immediately following “Fabrication” is my favorite track on the album: “Crusaders.” Knowles’ roots in jungle shine through on this track, yet sounds current, modern and fresh, not recycled. With it in-your-face low end and screeching guitar ambient sounds, “Crusaders” is riddim you’ll be begging to hear in the club throughout the year.

Eclipse continues to grow on me, and has proven to be one of the better dubstep albums to date. In order for a release to be considered an album—rather than a collection of club tracks—it has to have an overall arch and attitude. The moment that sealed the deal for me while listening to this record that made me say “okay, this is a good album” was how “Flesh & Bone”–another great menacing assault of snares and filthy bass—seamlessly transitions into the wall-of-sound epic “The World.”

Eclipse is worth owning on wax. These tracks are great representations of the best elements of dubstep and what makes lasting anthems rather than flash-in-the-pan Beatport bangers: tension, rhythm, suspense, release, and of course lush sub bass. We’re past the question “will dubstep ever be pop?” It already is and is part of our modern culture. “Eclipse” is a great example of staying true to dubstep’s diverse roots of dub, doing justice to its tradition while still moving the sound further.

Ride me with! We have ourselves a rootin’ tootin’ motherfucking pull list to spit about. This is Near Mint Condition, the weekly column where us of the nerd predilection spout off the comic books we’re snagging tomorrow.

After a hiatus last week in which I graded final exams, wrote my own bullshit papers, and generally wept at the Sky Gods for forging such an unfavorable existence, I’m stoked to be back. There is a good goddamn backlog of comics I haven’t gotten to, and I’m using the semester break to tear gleefully into the ass of my Stack’o'Funnies. I’m coming for you, Detective Comics, Cowboy Ninja Viking Vol. 2, Black Hole, and hopefully others.

But this week, let’s gab about this week.

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Butcher Baker: The Righteous Maker #3.
I enjoy Butcher Baker more on a theoretical level right now more than I do as actual entertainment. Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston seem keen on examining what happens when we’re done deconstructing the comic book. Alright, it’s a stretch, but fucking bare with me. After years of picking apart and ferreting out the various tropes, Casey pens a Baker who is cognizant of his own era pasting, and not certain of what to do next. Baker is The Comedian if said dude had something of an awareness of the emptiness within, and maybe kinda sorta wanted to get more out of existence.

That Casey goes about this examination with a meta-fictional tinge combined with vulgarity turned up to unlimited power is just a neat little tweak. Make no mistake about the Man Behind the Madness – he’s more than creating Cosmic Waif Things with both tits and a galactic cock. Though there’s that too.

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FF #4.
Oh shit! It’s finally the War of the Four fucking Cities! Hickman has been rubbing his slimy tip against us FF fanatics for a while now, motherfuckin’ edging the whole storyline that Il Futuro Franklin and Valerie and Grampy Richards are trying to prevent. We recently got the drop on the douchebags behind the forthcoming war – Reeds from other dimensions. Three of them cold motherfuckers looking to throw the deuces up on our dimension and get back home.

War of the Cities part one! G’damn I’m excited. Sure I don’t really remember what’s going on. Hickman’s FF is dense like woah. Morrison-esque, even. Throw in the fact that his FF is crossing over with his S.H.I.E.L.D. and all of a sudden I see a good case for some sort of Keystone Guide Decrypting device that Marvel could be selling alongside it.

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Strange Adventures. [Boner of the Week!]
I fucking love anthologies. It’s why I enjoyed the copies of Marvel’s Strange Tales that I got my greasy phalanges on. It’s also why this is the title I’m sweating the most this week. Vertigo is dropping a one-shot sci-fi anthology on our asses, and we should all gape with glee. In the pages of this sexy romp are contributions from no less than Jeff Lemire, Peter Milligan, Paul Cornell, and a preview of the forthcoming Spaceman, from the 100 Bullets team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.

I’ll be the first to admit that I can, on occasion, not have my ass entirely whipped by anthologies of this assort. There’s some clunkers in the midst, but the concept alone always sells me. Short stories my talented and eclectic creators, typically unhinged from the constraints they’re usually cast into.

(more…)

So long, Viserys. I’m glad to see that in the end you finally got that crown you were constantly whining about. You have to admit though, Viserys went from being a total prick when we first met him to just plain pathetic right before they pour gold all over his head. I wouldn’t call it tragic, but he’s been told since he was five years old that the he would be king – a “dragon.” Watching a crowd chant the name of his sister’s unborn prince – Rhaego – was his tipping point. Ah, well. The crowning scene was beautifully brutal nonetheless.

Daenerys’ transformation into the confident Dothraki khaleesi was swift but totally believable. She’s reached a happy medium with Khal Drogo and with the whole Dothraki culture as well. She understands how things work, but she’s still not afraid to speak up when she spots an injustice. A ride-or-die chick till the end, Daeny’s eating of the horse heart was as sexy as it was uncomfortable. She wasn’t harmed when handling the burning dragon egg…hmm.

Our favorite cheeky imp found a strange champion in the Eyrie. Bronn, a sellsword Catelyn picked up on the way to the Eyrie, acts as Tyrion’s proxy and takes on one of Lysa’s well-armored men in a trial-by-combat. That fight made up for the somewhat clumsy one Jaimie and Ned engaged in at Kings Landing. It was great and the final kick over the edge by Bronn was fantastic. When Lysa bitches that Bronn did not fight with honor, he nods to the whole in the floor and replies, “No. He did.” SO GANGSTA!

Speaking of great lines: “There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing to say it to the Death: Not today.” Syrio Forel is more than fancy feet and an afro – he’s providing serious life skills to Arya because shit’s about to hit the fan and the Seven Kingdoms are becoming increasingly less safe for even royal blood.

We’re at the point now in Thrones – THEE point. Everything is set up: Rob is off hunting, the girls are going to go back to Winterfell, Catelyn has lost control of the Tyrion situation, Viserys is dead. Let the *ahem* games begin. (Sorry, couldn’t help it)

NOTE: I understand that the next episode was already available to you rich folk who actually subscribe to HBO. For those who don’t, there are plenty of quality torrents of it online. Even though I’ve seen it, the re-up will be posted next week, like normal.

Nathan Williams of Wavves

John and Jupiter of HEALTH

Congorock

Мишка Summer 2011 Collection Now Available!

We’ve endured the winter of our collective discontent. As the bitterly cold and snow filled months encroached upon our precious springtime, we waited for that wonderful day when we’d be able to throw on the SPF and turn our frowns upside down. Alas, it never really came. Our skin remained translucent, guys’ beards full and shaggy, tank tops drawer (we all have those, right?) untouched. Well we at Мишка say fuck that noise! We’ve teased you but now we’re putting our foot down: Summer is here goddamnit!

The weather today is hot for one reason and one reason only: the release of our Summer 2011 lookbook shot by Caesar Sebastian in Los Angeles! We’ve got tons of new summer clothing, along with some of our favorite musicians to model it. Between Nathan Wavves‘s existence on the whole, as well as our new Drug Rug Shorts as seen on Congorock, get ready for some serious heavy-lidded relaxation vibes in the pages of our new Lookbook. We’re not necessarily promoting your use of a certain green herb, but our clothes sure as hell are!

Diplo

Nadastrom

Pictureplane

Because we like to keep it OG, there’s plenty of eye-popping new Keep Watch tanks and bright new color combination. You’ll even be able to pick up some brand new madras shirts, as you can see on Pictureplane. The boys from HEALTH look classic and cool in new denim, t-shirt and tank designs, as do 12th Planet and Tearist. If you want to keep it light while keeping it classy, look at The ’87 Stick Up Kids, Nadastrom and The Glitch Mob showing off more awesome summer shirt designs, including gingham and polo styles (as well as their lady-killing smiles all around). Trad motherfucker!

Finally, please observe how good Diplo looks in our new tie-dye Sugar Skull Mop T-Shirt, all drenched in sunlight and not giving a fuck. That just might be the essence of summer captured neatly in one picture. Everything pictured is available in-store and online now, so get to shopping. It’s hot as hell in the city, so get your sweaty tuchus’ on down to our shops or online for some new duds. It’s everything you want. Light. Refreshing. Мишка.

View the Entire Мишка Summer 2011 Lookbook by Caesar Sebastian (Click Here)

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

AC/DC - Highway to Hell (1979)

Vs.

AC/DC – Back In Black (1980)

Taking it back to albums this week. 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…

Remember playing the Oregon Trail as a kid? And how your crew of settlers would be killed off by disease, starvation, and other causes brought on by the brutality of the unforgiving landscape? Minimalist director Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy) brings that dusty nightmare to life in her new film Meek’s Cutoff. There’s no grand, sweeping shots of the desert accompanied by a booming score that pushes the pioneers forward. They don’t find enjoyment in singing campfire songs at night. All hope is drained from the families as the harsh reality of being lost in the desert increasingly sinks in.

Meek’s Cutoff tells the story of three pioneer families struggling to maintain hope, sanity, and their lives on the Oregon desert in 1845. Their guide, Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), a man hidden behind a huge, dusty beard and hat – a man who claims to know the desert like the back of his hand – is blindly leading them towards where he thinks the Cascade Mountains, and water, are. The wagon train includes Emily (Michelle Williams), her husband Solomon (Will Patton), and Thomas (Paul Dano). Their wagons are filled with the bare bones essentials like pots, clothes, and a small birdcage. As their distrust of Meek increases the group begrudgingly decides to capture a Native American and force him to lead them to water.

The Native, played by real Native American actor and stuntman Rod Rondeaux, is presented in a manner that’s to be applauded. Reichardt doesn’t use menacing close-ups or ominous war-cries to introduce him. He’s a quiet Indian – he keeps to himself and usually only opens his mouth to pray. But is he actually leading them to water or an ambush? Since the film is essentially told through the perspective of Michelle Williams, we’re never given insight into the Indian’s intentions. It’s a great portrayal of an enslaved Indian. He’s not a savage. He just doesn’t get these people and their silly hats.

As the mistrust in Meek and faith in the Indian increase, the camp slowly becomes divided. Meek insists that following the Indian will lead them to death, while Emily – whose unwavering, verbal distrust of Meek has made her the camp’s pseudo leader – wishes that Meek wold just shutup and gallop off. Michelle Williams gives a strong performance as Emily with limited dialogue. Her face is just so damn tough. But no matter how tough they think they are, Reichardt never lets her characters forget that it’s the desert who’s boss. No matter who’s leading who, it’s the landscape that’s calling the shots.

To increase the sense of oppression, Reichardt shot in the 1:1.33 screen ratio – the pre-widescreen ratio of many classic westerns. It encloses the pioneers even more in the landscape and makes them look even more helpless. This means that when you see it in theaters – and you should – if it’s projected correctly it won’t be in widescreen. It’s a different kind of movie watching experience – in both the ratio on screen and in the story’s content.

Reichardt, whose previous films have been set in the Pacific Northwest, has created an unconventional masterpiece of the western genre. It’s a journey of heroism set against an honest and bleak landscape. My only criticism is that despite all of this honesty and realism, all of the characters are reserved to the point of lacking any kind of emotion. You can tell there’s something boiling under the surface of each of them, but we’re never given enough emotion to feel connected to them at all. Despite this, it’s still a worthwhile experience and definitely get out to see it in theaters.

Go here for a list of theaters and dates.

Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys (2011) [Atlantic/Barsuk] // Grade: D

Ben Gibbard and Co. have got the marketing of, what is considered, stirring indie tracks down to a science. I have never really been able to get into this band although I can remember seeing the spine for their 2003 album, Transatlanticism on almost everyone’s CD rack. Yes, teen angst and Death Cab for Cutie have always gone hand in hand skipping through a field of self-identity struggles and superfluous relationships.

Well it’s been about three years since their last album dropped and now with a dose of coyness and ‘professionalism’, the band has released one of their most tame works to date. Their album Codes and Keys is an arrangement of technically well-crafted songs that amount to only a one-dimensional pleasantness after listening to them feel sorry for themselves in every track. The Seattle-based group decorates catchy guitar hooks over sleepy drumming and signature glitchy bleeps. Tired, echoed harmonization on tracks like “Some Boys” make for indie-pop hits that will soon be heard in dorm rooms all over the country. “Unobstructed Views” is a somber tune lead in by the slow melody of a piano continuing into more whiney Grammy bait including an acoustic song, I’m shocked.

Death Cab For Cutie has entered adulthood and with this so-called maturity comes a sterile fragility that ensures no risks are taken and everything sounds like it has been given the stamp of pre-approval by the label exec. They are the Kenny G of indie rock and this shit just bored me tears.

A brand spankin’ Depeche Mode video?!? Fuck yes! This past week the Synthpop legends got the remix treatment by the Norwegian production team Stargate for their single “Personal Jesus” and with it a bone-chilling, black and white account of a wrongfully executed woman accused of witchcraft by the church.

The video was directed by Patrick Daughters, who has also shot videos for bands such as No Age, Bright Eyes, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well as having worked on previous Depeche videos. The on-screen accompaniment weaves a mournful story of superstition and condemnation that enriches the lighter dance beats and eternally depressing vocals adding complexity to the track. Her martyred soul ascends over the angry mob as the club mix marches forth. The woman levitates over the hypocritical religious followers with the video reaching its peak as water is called upon them, scalding and boiling their own self-righteous skin.

The song can be found on their remix compilation album Remixes 2: 81–11. Listen to Depeche Mode, burn ‘Christians’ with their own holy water.

Takashi Miike, a director known for his lust for brutality and mind-numbing storylines, has become the newest member of the Video Game Adapters guild. The exclusive club features such prominent figures as Uwe Boll and Paul W.S. Anderson. Miike’s next film will be taken from the courtroom Nintendo DS game series, Ace Attorney which after being imported to the U.S. became Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

The game, developed by Capcom, puts you in the shoes of a defense attorney who must investigate certain situations requiring you to then build a case for your client using evidence and cross-examination to sway the judge and jury. Sounds like fun, huh? I bet we will see a whole new breed of cyber-lawyers that passed the Bar Exam after beating all five installments of this title.

Anyhow, I have faith Takashi will find some way to incorporate extreme violence into even the most mundane Matlock situations. Keeping my fingers crossed for a gavel through the eyesocket or a lawbook decapitation.