The T-Shirt. Man, oh man. We owe a lot to the wonder that is the graphic-tee here at Мишка. From our very first run release to our upcoming Fall collection, the graphic-tee has always been an essential part to Мишка.
Now, T-World 7, the foremost T-shirt journal in the world is producing a documentary that explores the importance of the simple tee to culture and to many different brands. The trailer features interviews with such streetwear luminaries as Jeff Staple, Ray Mate and our very own co-owner, Greg Rivera! Dig on the trailer, and be sure to lookout for the full documentary coming soon!
Yeah, yeah this may be old news to some of you but a shoutout to my buddy Alex for turning me onto this, CAT SCANNING! Yeah fuck your planking or hatting or whatever everyone is doing….this is the real deal. Just put your cat on a scanner and DONE, you rule. I’m gonna do one later but I wanted to get you all started.
Waiting sucks when there’s no incentive. Nobody told me: “wait 12 years to release your first album, it’ll be worth it because Odd Nosdam is gonna master it.” If someone had told me that I would have told them that it’s cruel to make shit up and fuck with someone who is clearly having an existential dilemma in art. Back in 2000 when I first started making my own beats and recording my own raps Anticon, and cLOUDDEAD in particular, were milestones in my sonic landscape. I used to put out these hastily thrown together CD-Rs that, while containing entirely brilliant moments, weren’t really sufficient enough statements to be considered albums. I sent every one to Anticon. When they came on tour to Florida I used to burn them CDs — not of my music, but of cool shit I was listening to at the moment because I figured if they were on the road they would need some new tunes. I caught Them and Sole at a festival in France once, and immediately rushed over afterwards to smoke weed with them. I once ate Sole’s wife’s leftover nachos while getting a ride in a van that one of the goons from Grand Buffet was driving. These dudes were everything I wanted to be in music.
Of course I grew out of the phase where I idolized them, but they forever shaped the way I understand making music. When I first started out I bought an SP-202 because I knew that’s what Nosdam was using originally. I’d go on to study Classical Hindustani, American Minimalism, and John Cage in great detail, and a generalized survey of world music to a lesser degree. I took a lot of time to explore what I would consider to be the majority of the archived possibilities in sound known to a common citizen of the United States of America. In 2005 I decided that I would stop recording raps because I felt I had nothing to offer. I wasn’t gonna make mainstream Nelly-sounding stuff and I didn’t wanna sound like Anticon. This incredibly expansive in-between hybridization that has developed in the last few years was missing from 2005. So, I wound up exploring instrumental music, action-based composition, and field-recording. I was still kicking freestyles at every chance, but my recorded output shifted dramatically, and had very little to do with hip hop. There was nowhere left for me to go, so I left to explore the vast expanses of musical possibility.
Of course, I eventually found myself back making hip hop. I tried running from it, but I couldn’t. And even in 2009 it was obvious that the tides were turning, and people were ready for a different kind of hip hop. The space that I fit into now, it didn’t exist until now. So, it’s not like this record took 12 years to make. I mean it did, but I haven’t been working on these songs on here for 12 years. I only worked on the songs themselves for about 2 months tops. Probably 6 weeks, but those 6 weeks couldn’t have taken place even 2 years ago. I think this is the kind of rap environment I’ve been waiting for. So, yeah it took a long time, but that’s mostly irrelevant.
And obviously, having Dave’s stamp of approval is a big deal. The last hand to touch this record–and really the only outside hand–was Dave’s. Who better to stitch up my sound then a dude whose sound helped to define mine? I’m not gonna say a word about these cheesy typical rapper stories of “chase your dreams,” because that would imply that I didn’t have what I had. And I did. It was just a matter of being patient more so than effective. Check it out at my Bandcamp. And peep the badges; Dope Drums cause my drums dope; Real Talk cause my raps real; and Rad Reef is the label.
Just keep checkin because Western Tink keeps gettin down for real. Beautiful Lou makes a cameo too. If you weren’t fortunate enough to catch dudes last week they opened for Dead Prez in Austin. I’m honestly hypnotized by Tink’s music. He’s got a very compelling way of doin’ it. Man, just watch when dude is world-tourin’ we’re gonna be over here sayin “Yep, we knew the boy when he had his first show!”
So here we finally have the trailer to Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary. I feel like this movie has been in development since I was LITTLE…which usually makes me a little nervous about projects like this. But here we have director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) working with Johnny Depp who is again portraying HST. Speaking of Johnny Depp, what happened to THAT guy?! Hopefully this film will end his losing streak.
The trailer seems pretty solid but it is kind of hard to tell…i’m gonna try to not get too pumped. I know from the novel that this is not as WACKY of a story as Fear and Loathing as it is much earlier in time and lacks most of the drug use.
Amber Heard looks like she needs the business that’s for sure.
Some things are better left untouched. The campy horror/comedy, Fright Night, is one of them. The film, originally released in 1985, centers around a coming true of childhood fears, the notion that a vampire could be living right next door to you, observing you and your loved ones with the intention of turning your family into a midnight snack. A fun, solid plot with plenty of room for cheap gags, cheesy dialogue, and off-the-wall character types, Fright Night became a definitive ’80s spooktacular and edged itself into the bloodsucking hall of fame.
In 2011, the curse of the remake strikes again and Fright Night is it’s helpless, sanguine victim. Say goodbye to most of what you loved about the forerunner and welcome in loads of barely lit shots, a cheap sense of pop-cultural self-awareness (i.e. references to Twilight), and digitally enhanced graphics in place of character development. You may be asking yourself what happened to the most freakishly unforgettable cast member, ‘Evil Ed’?
He’s been replaced with a nasally Christopher Mintz-Plasse playing ‘Ed’, a dumbed-down version of the spiky-haired spazz whose speech pattern and sarcasm literally stole the show once upon a time. Here’s a little known factoid — Stephen Geoffreys, the first Evil Ed, went from playing Fright Night’s lovable, high-school headcase to acting in gay porn films, over 25 titles that is. Many have debated this, as he pumps dudes under an adult pen-name and has aged quite a bit leaving some fans to question the likeness but I digress.
So we’ve got Anton Yelchin playing the slightly naive, do-good, Charlie Brewster, and Colin Farrell as his fanged nemesis, Jerry “The Vampire” Dandridge. Throw in a few damsels for distressing and a celebrity with an affinity for the occult and you’ve got yourself a tried and true money-maker to be exhumed and exploited. As you can see, I had some problems warming up to this one and a lot of it had to do with how serious the movie took itself.
Part of what made the initial Fright Night so enjoyable was the balance between teen comedy and supernatural scares that translated more as an on-screen whoopie cushion than a harsh act of violence. Instead, director Craig Gillespie, of Mr. Woodcock notoriety, made it his duty to swap “moments” for CG flashiness and barely visible, due to the abuse of low-lighting, bite and fight scenes.
Following closely the same storyline as it’s predecessor with a few minor alterations. Average kid, Brewster, gets a new neighbor, a charming, suave, and, in this case, buff vampire named Jerry. Of course, his allegiance to darkness isn’t realized until Ed, a childhood friend shunned because of his awkward and pestilent manner, disappears, in addition to many others gone missing since the move-in.His girlfriend and mother believe Charlie Brewster has lost his mind, a paranoid nut that believes his only hope of surviving the coming days with his family intact is to arm himself with crosses, holy water, and wooden stakes but only after recruiting the help of the reluctant T.V. host, Peter Vincent, from the paranormal program, Fright Night.
That’s really all you need to know. My suggestion — If you haven’t, or even have, watched the first one, see it and skip this one. I literally cringed listening to mucusy McLovin say “You’re so cool, Brewster.” Hey, shit, I almost forgot, Hollywood will be butchering another classic come September 16th, uh-huh I’m talkin’ bout Straw Dogs. That will probably make this remake look like ’78s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Oh well, I’ve come to accept nothing is sacred anymore but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
The name of UK dance maven Doorly‘s record label, Pigeonhole This! is a big eff-you to people who would attempt to do exactly that with his sound. Techno and electro, drum’n'bass and dubstep, hip hop and indie – Doorly does it all. Scratching and splicing his way through high energy dance sets, he’s been described as “an old school block party DJ using new school technology.”
His unique style has earned the globetrotting party starter residencies every where from the UK to Ibiza at seminal clubs and dance nights Ibiza Rocks, Wax:On, Metropolis and Reclaim The Dance Floor. Where he’s played is nearly as impressive as who he’s played alongside, a list that includes Groove Armada, Chase and Status, Kissy Sell Out, Tiga, Fake Blood, Skream, Pendulum, Boys Noize, Erol Alkan, Diplo, Proxy, Scratch Perverts, Benga, Grooverider, Sinden and Soulwax.
If you’ve never seen Doorly live, then you’ve definitely heard one of his earthquaking remixes. Doorly has used the same anything-goes approach on his remixes of tracks by Basement Jaxx, The Prodigy, Calvin Harris, Groove Armada, Kanye West, Marina & The Diamonds and MSTRKRFT; if you’ve heard a dubstep remix of these artists and more, it was probably Doorly’s creation. His remix of Dizzee Rascal’s “Bonkers” accentuates the wobbling bass, bringing the grime superstar back to the club.
Doorly captures the spirit of his live sets in his own productions. Last year’s “Toys/Horsestep” went from bass-heavy house to galloping dubstep, and his Pigeonhole This! EPs have branched out even further. His latest, released this month, goes from grime (“She’s Got Moves”) to vocal house (“Your Love”), adding in bits of jump-up rave throughout. Doorly refuses to be pigeonholed, and dance music fans are better for it.
Fuck. I can’t believe that 20 years ago today Pearl Jam dropped Ten. I remember using my birthday money to buy it shortly after it’s release from The Wiz. It was actually the last CD I got in a long box, which I proudly disassembled and taped onto my bedroom wall as a makeshift poster. I listened to it non-stop for the whole year reading the liner notes until they were burned into my memory.
I really wanted to give you all an earful on how well Ten has aged; How criminally under-respected it is; That it saddens me in how often it gets cited in regards to spawning something awful like Creed rather than being lauded as one of the greatest pure rock albums of the past quarter century. I really did. But you know what? Tom Breihan over at Stereogum really said it so much better than I could. As someone who was hitting adolescence upon it’s release, he put Ten’s legacy into the proper respect it deserves, especially alongside Nevermind (which will turn 20 a month from now). Go read their tribute, watch some videos, but most of all go and listen to the album again.
Liking (or worse, loving) Pearl Jam and Ten won’t bolster your scene cred, but that won’t ever stop it from being a great American rock album. Oh and Jeff Ament still looks like a total tool 20 years later.
In the past two weeks I have posted some very sexy ladies and I wanted to tease you with their SFW pics here. Check out Lexie Karlsen on a couch above, Calamity in a hall behind a glass door, Athena Fatale with this huge marble wall and Courtney Cruz with a red wig. And you can of course check them in their birthday suits over on Stagg Street.
