Brand new video from Portland’s Soft Metals. “Voices” is off of the duo’s icy and addictive full-length debut out now on Captured Tracks. Love these guys, their new record and the fact that this video features a gal (Anna Ryon) in fishnets, garters and a vintage Nirvana tee.

I was about to pack it in for the day when I came upon this trailer for the upcoming HBO Original documentary, George Harrison: Living In The Material World. I’ve always been a John guy, but after that I’m for sure a George guy. Sometimes it’s tied. Sometimes I’m a guy for both of them. I mean, some of George’s solo stuff? Man! Wooee! That’s some good music.

Anyway, this trailer is awesome and makes the documentary, directed by Scorsese himself, looks incredible. Check out part one of the documentary on October 5, at 9pm, and then part two the following night, 10/26, again at 9pm.

And while you’re at it check out the underrated Harrison classic, “Deep Blue,” originally released as a B-side to “Bangladesh,” and later included on the 2006 repressing of Living in the Material World.

It’s kind of appropriate that A$AP Rocky & Main Attrakionz. would drop a song called “UGK,” (appropriately featuring a UGK sample) since dudes are basically the kings of the underground in hip hop right now as far as I’m concerned. But that’s not gonna be for too much longer given that Hot 97 been playing “Pesos” on the regular lately and the rest of the hip hop loving world starts waking up to both artists.

I’m sure most of you bloglin regulars have heard (and loved) their first collaboration, “Take 1” from our recently released 808s & Dark Grapes II, but “UGK”  (produced by Cashflow) is actually an even older track between them dating back to the start of this year. “UGK” was at one point meant to make it’s way to 808s II but unfortunately all of the production sessions had been lost rendering the track unmixable and unmasterable for the release. It was recently leaked to the world courtesy of Ballers Eve NYC and you’ll have to make due with it as is, which truthfully is still pretty awesome.

Main Attrakionz “U.G.K.” Featuring ASAP Rocky (prod. by Cashflow) by Ballers Eve

What a night. Fresh off his fantastic new album Thee Physical (click to stream) Travis Egedy brought the cosmic, one-man Pictureplane rave to the latest installment of Check Yo Ponytail 2. Support was handled by Warp Record’s gloom-beat bringer Babe Rainbow, New York’s Javelin,  SF draggers oOoOO and newcomers Hollogramz.  Z-Trip, Andy San Dimas, Jessieslife and more showed up to hang.

In related CYP news, the LA event recently announced plans to tour the madness to 10 lucky cities this fall. Pictureplane, Death Set, Spank Rock and more included. Info here.

Check out the huge gallery of photos below, all courtesy of yours truly.

(more…)

Azari & III – S/T (2011) [Loose Lips] // Grade: B+

For the casual dance fan, it is easy to mistake the debut album by Azari & III as retro fare. Surely, with titles like “Tunnel Vision” and “Lost in Time” this Toronto production unit is comfortable looking back to the days of the Music Box and Club Zanzibar for inspiration. Honestly the bulk of the music on this album would fit quite nicely into a set by Tenaglia or Frankie Knuckles, even if it was still 1989. Consisting of quite a number of vocal anthems and a few slow burners, the album basks in the nostalgia of that era, when dance music a still fresh and developing with every record played.

Still, one cannot forget that for the past thirty years, people in every major city in the world have been dancing to music that sounds exactly like this. Deep house never went anywhere, it just kind of fades out of the limelight only to come back in fashion every half a decade or so. With the success of artists like The Weeknd, we are seeing a return to club music made for pleasure. Gone are the days of
DFA experimentation and flirtations with the darker side of the dancefloor. Even in the mainstream, the trend is turning towards Euro
NRG and lyrics that speak of abandoning one’s daily struggles for the fantasy of night.

Azari & III fit right in, and they do it well. Drum programming is crucial to house music; with a strict four to the floor tempo, variations and nuances are what makes or breaks a record. It is obvious that Azari & III know what they are doing. With high hats suspended in just the right amount of delay, a perfect little double tap and that booming (but not overused) bass, the quartet prevails in making timeless dance music. These are the sounds that made Kevin Saunderson’s pop project Inner City and groups like Raze so timeless.

It is not an album without its faults though. Azari & III are best at making happy club tunes. When they try their hand at grittier sounds,
like the Moroder-esque “Manhooker” and the Prince inspired “Manic” they come up just a little short. The group should have trusted their instincts and stuck with what works, as the result makes the album sound just a little uneven, not eclectic as was intended. These are small complaints though, the fact is Azari & III are a welcome addition to the pantheon of artists making classic house music. I expect that a few of these records will be played out for a long time.

Close your eyes and travel back, far back, all the way to the turn of the millennium, brah. A period when brands like Maple, Shorty’s, Blind, and Birdhouse ruled the asphalt with lots of cartoony drug references and suggestive animation. The late ’90s and early ’00s were a visually off-kilter era for skateboard graphics, an anything goes sort of era.

Dudes like Natas Kaupas and Jim Thiebaud were before my time, so I won’t be including any of those famously provocative old-skool graphics, gramps. No, my focus here is narrowed in on the saucy, sultry, and steamy anime broads of Hook-Ups skateboards. These Japanese-style chickadees in their flirty poses were elevated to an iconic level amongst skaters and we, Мишка, don’t plan on breaking off our fling with these girls anytime soon.

Started by Jeremy Klein, an asiaphile and early rider for World Industries and later Birdhouse, Hook-Ups began from an old Industries graphic called “Dream Girl”. A simple portrait of a brunette in a futuristic get-up, under it written in Kanji are the words ‘Dream Girl’. After that there was no stopping Klein as he released hundreds of designs, featuring slightly different women in both work and play wear.

These females loved to role-play, something I always cherished about them. To this day, collectors will pay ungodly prices to own original boards that have been out of print since their collapse, but they can’t hide it from us, we know what wood these monied dilettantes are really shredding.

—–

5. Agent 347

I spy cameltoe! The buxom secret agent has the look down pat but don’t get any ideas because this bitch is packing serious heat. A spicy, red jumper hugs her hourglass figure tightly, emphasizing her most valuable assets, as you look down the barrel of her big, hard magnum. By the way she wields that weapon, it’s fair to say she can handle even the largest of pieces.

Agent 347 appeared a few times over the years in varying jumpsuits and hair color.

—–

4. Evil Nun

Convents need more nuns like this. Religious wars would cease and a unified denomination might take form in praise of these badass ‘sisters’. In all seriousness, the world would be a better place if these vixens didn’t look like they had been preserved in ashes for 1000 years, dusted off, and propped up. The Evil Nun is flipping shit on it’s ear with a blast of bawdy blasphemy.

Whiskey, smokes, the finger, and a mean upskirt reminds us that even the prudish of women have a wild side. The fires of hell are no match for the heat this girl is giving off.

(more…)

The title of this kind of threw you for a loop, huh? Sorry about that but I imagine George Lucas is going for a similar effect.

No movie series in history has been as continually altered as the Star Wars franchise. That’s not news. What is news, kind of, is that George Lucas will once again re-release the Star Wars saga, this time fit for Blu-ray. That really isn’t news either, as it should just be expected that with each successful advancement in technology will come a re-release of Star Wars. With a handful of deleted scenes (which is really the bizarre part of these continual re-releases, if you ask me. I mean, where do all these deleted scenes keep coming from? Just how many scenes did old George delete?) and minor fixes, the most significant change comes in the form of a new, CGI Yoda in Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Check out the video above for the new Yoda from the upcoming Blu-ray release compared to the old, cross-eyed puppet Yoda from the original ’99 release.

From reading the always-brilliant comments on the Youtube clip of the new, Blu-ray Yoda, it’s become apparent that many fans are annoyed by Lucas’ continuous updates of the classic series. I don’t know what people expect, though. There’s a lot of, “Lucas will never stop raping that franchise and it’s fanbase…” For sure, dude. If there’s new technology, and new formats through which enjoy movies, it makes total sense to update the films.

I get people wanting him to leave the films alone for sheer sake of them being an encapsulation of a moment in time and a marker of technological capabilities. I get that. I still don’t care enough to agree with that line of thought, but I get it. There are also fans, however, that want him to leave the films alone because they don’t want to have to buy the updated ones. Well, let me clarify for these fans that they do not have to buy the rereleases. That’s one of the best parts about having free will, actually.

In that sense, whether he releases new versions of the film or not is irrelevant. If you own a copy you are happy with, then there: you’re good. Don’t buy a new one. If a new one comes out, and you’re not satisfied with your copy, then you’re in luck! There’s a new one that just came out! Problem solved. Now let the man rake in a fortune in peace.

As rebel forces continue their revolution in Libya and the rebels’ flag is raised in Tripoli, the most striking revelation in the hunt for Gaddafi is that he jerked off to pictures of former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

During the ransacking of Gadaffi’s Bab al-Azizia compound, rebels found a photo album filled with pictures of Mrs. Rice, or as Gaddafi like to call her, “Leezza.” She visited Gaddafi in 2008 and the two enjoyed a late night dinner together. Gaddafi must have been SO awkward and sweaty as he pined over lovely Leezza!

Rebels also found an impossibly fresh golden mermaid couch – probably covered in matted cum.

via TheDailyWhat

Jim Carrey must have really loved The Help. It ain’t the #1 movies the country for no reason yo! Anyway, I know he’s just professing what so many others feel when they see Emma Stone, but it’s still unexpected, probably has something to do with a new movie (although he’s got jack shit in the works on IMDB) and just incredibly creepy. Especially the whole quivering chin bit.

I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but, you know, smart and kindhearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you, and we would have chubby little freckled faced kids. We’d laugh all day long and go camping and play Yahtzee and tell ghost stories by the fire. And the sex?

Everyday for the rest of your life, you would thank God that I was the appropriate age for you. But I’m not. I’m 49. I have lines on my face, sometimes a little grey in my beard, and it takes me a little longer to pee than it used to. Those are the only discernable signs of aging that I can find so far. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how I felt. You’re pretty special, and I wish you continued success and artistic fulfillment, but most of all, I wish you love and contentment. That’s all.

I love you. I do.

Who knows, maybe it’ll work and they’ll be bangin’ before you know it? BTW, The video won’t embed so you’ll have to click the image to watch it; or just go to his site.

Male Bonding – Endless Now (2011) [Sub-Pop] // Grade: C

Slacker is a word one might attribute to the sound of London’s laid-back, fuzzy britpop group Male Bonding. But let not their languid energy be mistaken for carelessness, their second album Endless Now is charmingly disengaged and simply enjoyable, constructing by-the-book songs. A pastiche of catchy ballads passed through the rusted strainer of alt-rock 20 years prior, the album paces along but doesn’t arrive at any point forward or backward from where it began, it just hangs limitlessly in saccharine mediocrity.

Recorded at the same church-studio-thing in Woodstock, NY as Dinosaur Jr.’s Where You Been and produced under the watchful eye of John Angello, whose work with Thurston Moore and Kurt Vile in addition to Dino Jr. definitely trickles down into the value and style of this release, Endless Now balances clarity and reverberation, channeling the spirit of ’93 quite lazily I might add. The record stacks anthems on top of one another in disorganized bliss. Guitar licks and daydream hooks are the glue that keep Male Bonding…well…bonded.

Out on Sub-Pop, one of the many larger indie labels that took a hit in the riots a couple weeks ago, this album is neither here nor there and something you might hear droning on through portable speakers in your local, vintage store. Power chords? You got it.