while I am alone or with friends or with family I have been spending a lot of my time watching videos and movies. at first they were lots of different kinds but over time I have honed my selections down and only make perfect ones and because of that this installment’s theme is:

mr. jackie chan and the pursuit of greatness

how when I was a small child I was on a soccer team and a mouse in the play Cinderella and jackie chan was a Chinese Opera star learning how to do backflips and headstand push ups and already walking on the road to becoming the perfect entertainer: very different paths, easy to tell why one of us is a superstar and the other one is me. when I am raising a child I will adjust accordingly.

the very excellent movie drunken master: !

how in drunken master after there’s the part where jackie chan makes fun of his teacher then beats him up and steals his hat, this girl’s mom beats him up: an important reminder of the power of moms and how you have to treat girls good because who knows what kind of mom they’ve got

how the guy who voiced over jackie’s part feels when he watches drunken master over and over again alone by himself in his empty house:ashamed and impotent and full of sorrow. he is probably an okay guy, but for a second he was the voice of a legend, and a normal life is less than nothing after that. I feel for him and wish for his own sad sake he had never been born.

the part in drunken master where his dad makes him squat with bowls of water balanced on him with weights on his arms over a red hot poker that will go up his butt if he messes up: that sucks and I am glad that wasn’t my dad, but maybe if that was my dad I would also be able to do backflips and defend the defenseless, so maybe I actually do wish that that was my dad.

the t shirt that all of the football players at my school had that said pain is weakness leaving your body: they were mostly shlubs, but maybe it is the truth anyway. i have lived a very gentle life and it is true that i am soft.

the man jackie chan: the perfect entertainer and human

the movie police story: !
the movie police story 2: !!
the movie supercop (police story 3): !!!

rumble in the bronx: a psychedelic childhood nightmare fantasy about what foreigner children might think gangs and New York are like. also, perfect and a triumph.

how rumble in the Bronx is not a video game: an international failure.

the video game in my brain called Jackie Chan! Where you are not a character, you are the actual Jackie Chan and you wander through the streets fixing problems and making everything exciting: the world is not ready because how could you walk back out onto the street after you have felt like jackie? the answer is you could not and my beautiful dream will never be real for the sanity of us all.

the blooper reel of rumble in the bronx: the best that modern action cinema has to offer.

how in the blooper reel of rumble in the Bronx after he jumps off of the parking garage and lands on the fire escape he wiggles around and raises his arms because he’s really actually proud and happy because jumping from a building to a different building is a thing that makes him full of joy: !!!

the song kung fu by ash which is in this blooper reel and also the movie angus: if you have never heard it, then later you do hear it, it probably brings the same feelings into your brain and heart as the ones you had when you first figured out how to read or won a baseball game or figured out long division because it is the soundtrack of aspiration and realizing achievement.

rush hour: very good, very funny.

rush hour 2: !!!!!!!!!!!! transcendent! A beautiful merging of cultures that I don’t know if our global artists have been (or will be ever????) able to top.

the title of the movie Dragons Forever: the words for the feeling that I have while I am watching the master jump off of things and wishing it for myself for ever in the next realm.

my list of greatest pop culture icons in the history of ever that I thought a lot about this week:

Jackie Chan
Elvis Presley
Bruce Lee
George Washington/Abraham Lincoln

Review of list:
very honest list. sometimes it is hard to admit that you have an addiction, but after you have done that it is time to embrace it and let it make you stronger, then transcend and maybe be an icon yourself? maybe this boy and jackie chan can one day be mentioned by all of the young and beautiful awestruck people in the same sentence as boys who believed enough in themselves and the power of kung fu to make this universe a better and more perfect universe.

Music is used (see also: needed) for many reasons. Cruising through side streets, seducing your prey, weeping. When the sun goes in hiding and the stars come alive, music is used to fall asleep. Bedtime lullabies that kickstart dreams. 90% of my iTunes playlists are either sleepscapes or hip-hop flavors of the month.

Because I am a firm believer in the importance of music that floats you down the proper roads of Sleepy Town, I have listed my ten favorite albums to fall asleep to. Perhaps these are not the best lullabies ever. After all, where is Rubber Soul? Where is Kid A? Most of these albums are post-2000, get over it. Regardless, these are the ten albums that are really doing it for me right now. Send me your sleep suggestions below, please. I am always looking for a new dream.

Blind Pilot – 3 Rounds and a Sound (2008)

In 2008, the west coast acoustic duo released their debut album, a heartfelt poem of love songs, nostalgia, and confessions. Occasional horns and violins, the album is almost entirely done with an acoustic guitar and drowsy percussion. Kings of Convenience, I see you. 3 Rounds is a beautiful sleep companion.

“Look me in the mouth, I got nothing in my smile. I’ve been waiting for, you’re just my style.” If you have not heard this, get on it. Unfortunately, their follow-up, 2011′s We Are the Tide, was no where near as great as 3 Rounds and a Sound. Luckily, the playability of “Paint or Pollen” is on par with Friendzone’s “I Miss Y’all.”

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Blue Sky Black Death – Noir + Violet (2011)

Seattle instrumentalists Blue Sky Black Death (no need for an introduction on the Bloglin) released Noir in 2011. It was a blissed-out dream coaster through trunk shaking grooves and cinematic backdrops. The duo decided to slow down the show, dump purple buckets on all that they saw, and release Noir + Violet, a leaning swerve party perfect for bedtime.

“Farewell to the Former World” kills car speakers. “Sleeping Children Are Still Flying” screwed up is quite the spectacle, quite possibly my favorite thing by BSBD. Be on the look-out for their instrumental tape dropping any day.

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Washed Out – Within and Without (2011)

Chillwave. Beachtronica. Dream pop. Electric aquarium. Call it what you like, I trust you. Washed Out’s 2011 debut album is a sonic masterpiece, through the enchanting sounds of an apartment genius, painting the seas with plenty of plugged-in toys. Fall asleep within electricity, daydreaming for a midnight dive, when the work is over and the stars are aligned.

Need more conviction? Clams Casino remixed one of the tracks on the album (“Amor Fati”). This is what Chaz Bundick drives to. “You hide away where no one can see, and only you can set you free.” According to my friend Whitni, this album has the sexiest artwork of all time. Shout-out to all of Rihanna’s album covers.

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Ludovico Einaudi and Ballake Sissoko – Diario Mali (2003)

In 2003, Italian Ludovico Einaudi and Malian Ballaké Sissoko linked up for some worldly classical tracks, tossing you into an elegant deck of black and white photographs, European family portraits and Africa dances. Einaudi on piano and Sissoko on kora. This is all I know about the album. I have no idea how it made its way on my computer.

I have a few other albums by Einaudi (my favorite being Una Mattina), but I have nothing else by Sissoka. If you need a something to accompany this album, let me gecommend Ali and Toumani (Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté saying goodnight). Regardless, Diario Mali is perfect for closed eyes. “Niger Blues” and French love titles, grab this now.

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Yann Tiersen – Tabarly (2008)

Most people know Yann Tiersen as the composer of the Amelie soundtrack, dabbling from piano to xylophone to violin to guitar. The multi-instrumentalist also has numerous studio albums (check Rue des Cascades), including his two most recent albums (Dust Lane and Skyline) that dive deep into the post-rock/avant-garde world.

Tabarly, one of his lesser known albums, is the soundtrack to a documentary about a French sailor that I have never seen. It’s almost exclusively piano. I enjoy drifting off at night and forming my own aquatic movie within the fifteen tracks.

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John Frusciante – The Will to Death (2004)

One of the numerous times Frusciante took a break from the Chili Peppers before parting entirely, he announced that he would release six albums in six months. While all albums are enjoyable (Curtains, I see you), The Will to Death is his strongest and most mellow.

Full of abstract phrases like, “Lean in to walk, we dreamed up tonight,” and, “There’s riddles in the shadows.” This is a great album for imagination, doing homework, dozing off during the Witching Hour, or singing falsetto in the shower.

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Hindi Zahra – Handmade (2010)

French-Moroccan beaut Hindi Zahra dropped her debut album, Handmade, a few years ago, and I am still enjoying it when the moon is out. Full of soulful verses that would make Norah Jones jealous, her lines are perfect for drifting away. “Beautiful stranger, don’t wanna know you’re name. Beautiful stranger, just wanna take your hand.”

This album sounds like being on a deserted beach, finding a boat, and burning the boat to stay warm. No Jack Johnson. Foreign dreams of ballroom swings and bon fires. Beautiful Tango. If you are craving more Zahra, she has a couple great EP’s and is featured on Blundetto’s funky, funky, funky Bad Bad Things.

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Moby – Wait For Me (2009)

I have heard so many people tell me that Moby has done nothing worthwhile since Play, and I shake my head like a spastic. 18 was a piano-driven car commercial. Hotel’s second disc was perfect for ambient meditation. Sure, Last Night and Destroyed were not my favorites, but Wait For Me, which is sandwiched between two weak albums, is outstanding. Quiet, reflective, sleepy Moby. Scream pilots and pale horses.

Recorded with his closest friends, all of the guests are virtually unknown, making the album even more intimate. “Put me by the window, let me see outside. Looking at the places where all my family died.” Also, if you need more, check the David Lynch directed video for “Shot in the Back of the Head” as well as his ambient version of the album. Don’t sleep on Moby, fall asleep to Moby.

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Gillian Welch – Soul Journey (2003)

Nick Flynn, poet and author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, visited my English class in 2009. I asked him what he listened to when he wrote his memoir. He told me a great deal of Okkervil River and Múm, adding that he found himself listening to Gillian Welch’s “Look at Miss Ohio” on repeat for weeks. Goodness gracious, if that isn’t a great song.

Blind Pilot, who are also on this list, do a great cover as well. Welch delivers a wonderful country/folk/americana/awesome album full of twang, whisky, and yesterday’s stories. “Here comes the freight train.” David Rawlings produced the entirety of Welch’s fourth album, as he always does, and it is their strongest work together. “I’m gonna drive to Atlanta and live out this fantasy, runnin’ around with the rag top down.” Big Boi is jealous he didn’t write that first.

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Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska (1982)

Bruce deserves to have the only album on this list pre-2000. Nebraska, the Boss’s sixth studio album, is his quietest and most raw. Home recorded on cassette tapes, Springsteen originally considered the tracks to be demos for the E Street Band to enhance (known by fans as the unheard Electric Nebraska). Instead, his bandmates and labelmates said that they loved the personal atmospheres of the album.

Harmonica, guitar, and the Boss telling stories about hard-working Americans. Bob Dylan listens to this before he goes to bed. The National knows this whole album by heart. “Well, I went out and I jumped in my car, then I hit the lights. Well, I must have done 110 through Michigan County that night.” Sleep tight.

The first time I heard Danny Brown was in 2008. I was on a big Black Milk kick at the time, and Danny made an appearance on Elzhi’s debut spectacle, The Preface. While the best part of that album is the back-and-forth lyrical slaughter between Elzhi and Royce on “Motown 25,” my favorite line on the album will always be Danny Brown’s: “I fire up the blunt and it tastes like gumbo, hit the trees hard like George in the Jungle.”

Like most people, it took me a while to fully enjoy Mr. Hybrid. The high pitch shrills came off as obnoxious, the lines overwhelmingly vulgar. But also, like most people, I found myself repeating the lines, listening more and more, quoting favorite lines to friends at bars, disgusting most of the unfamiliar ladies. It is 2013 and it goes without saying that Danny Brown is the man. One of my favorite rappers and definitely my favorite hip-hop personality. His upcoming album Old is receiving a great deal of buzz, with expected beats from Skywlkr and Purity Ring. So, to keep my toes from wiggling so much, I have been diving into the Danny Brown discography. All of it. From his 2003 debut tape with Dopehead and Chip$ under the moniker Rese’vor Dogs to his most recent EP drop with Bruiser Brigade. Did you know that he did an album with Tony Yayo called Hawaiian Snow? Oh boy. With all the releases, Danny has created an enjoyable fifteen album lunar trip through the mind of a lyrical madman. 191 songs, damn near one gig. This is not including the many, many features he has, only solo work. So hold your girl close, Danny’s coming to town. Get familiar. (more…)

Deeper within the dimly lit valleys of the online underground, Mishka’s okkulty siblings have compiled a cavalcade of releases from the year past. This gathering represents some of the dark electronic music which has inspired and held a special place for our caliginous family. Inputs from Nove Mura, Bram E Geiben, Mike Textbeak, Press Gang and SINS have helped us to assemble what we believe is a deserving listing in Mishka’s most loved darkness for the year. It is simply 20 of the finest in their craft, put in mystical order – neither ascending nor descending.

If you’ve been following any of our other lists, you already know that anything we released, we’ve excluded from this list. It’s only fair! NO reason patting ourselves on the back instead of shining some light on some truly deserving releases from this past year. Also if a release made it to our master Top 50 albums of 2012 list, well then it was excluded from mention here. If you’re looking for any of the following… Men In Brurka (46), White Car (42), Vatican Shadow (39), Mushy (28) and Outlands (22), head over there.

This list was contributed to by Nove Mura, Theeway Peoplestare, Press Gang, SINS, and Texture. and Mike Textbeak. It was put together by Nove MUra and Theeway Peoplestare.

Best of 2012: Our 20 Fave Dark & Otherworldy Releases

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The releases we put out on Мишка Records are bands/artists that excite us as music listeners/nerds. We put out music that satisfies the never ending hunger for new sounds. If you don’t know that hunger, you’ve probably never spent hours, lost deep in a Youtube hole watching dudes rap in a language you don’t speak. I envy your efficient use of Youtube. We’re coming off a 2011 where we put out records by, then new and now familiar, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Main Attrakionz, Stalley and Lakutis—just to mention the rap releases. For 2012, we attempted to bring you more new artists that’ll become favorites in the coming months.

Here we have all of the rap/hip hop albums we put out in the last year. As usual our output reflects various styles and moods—because, you know, we’re sophisticated and diverse type listeners. There’s pretty much something here for everyone from the classic NYC rap of Meyhem Lauren to the knowledge raps of BBU wrapped in party production. But you don’t have to take our word for it…

2012 In Review: Мишка Hip Hop Releases

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See any good movies this year? I did. But I feel like for the first time in a long time I left theaters feeling more bored than excited. And I’m easily excitable too. There were some heated debates this year (as “heated” as blog commenting can get) concerned with the death of cinema. Some blowhard from “The New Republic” started it all with some pompous thinkpiece about how he can’t go to parties in Manhattan anymore where critics stand around sipping cocktails and adjusting their monocles while they tear down the new Bergman. I think his argument had more to do with how blogging killed criticism or something like that. Because cinema aint dead, chump. You’re just going to shitty movies.

This year some rookie auteurs stepped up and delivered some true masterpieces of genre filmmaking. The majority of them come from foreign lands where genre films aren’t considered gutter cinema and the drinking age is lower. There are some homegrown boys that made the cut though, including one indie director who turned out the cinematic equivalent of an M80 in the toilet of found footage. Some veteran autuers showed up too, pretty much making this the year of the auteur in my book.

Some notes on this year’s list: this is the first time it’s not a collaborative effort between Crook, Destroyer, Milk, and myself. This list is all me, so you can be sure it’s the most accurate best of list the Bloglin has ever published. A few of the films are foreign, meaning if you look them up on IMDB they’ll say 2011. But they weren’t released in the U.S. until 2012, so shutup. Also, I didn’t get to see Michael Haneke’s Amour or Zero Dark Thirty yet. I’m only one man, dammit. (more…)

Here we have the best 20 rap albums of the year 2012 A.D. This year wasn’t the best for big releases with a lot of money behind them — looking at you Cruel Summer, God Forgives I Don’t, Based on a T.R.U. Story — but there were more than a few really strong releases from independent rappers and weirdoes that you wouldn’t immediately think are actually “rappers.” Fire up your engines about which albums we missed or ranked wrong. As well, if someone doesn’t claim that hip hop is dead or dying because XXX wasn’t included on the list, hip hop may in fact be dead. Talking shit on forums/comment sections—the 5th element of hip hop.

One note about the list, we explicitly did not include any Hip Hop releases that were listed on the general Best of list. This includes SpaceGhostPurrp’s Chronicles of (50), Main Attrakionz’s Bossalinis & Fooliyones (48), Amber London’s 1994 EP (43), Heems’ Nehru Jackets (37), Action Bronson & Party Supplies’ Blue Chips (29), Haleek Maul’s Oxyconteen EP (25), DJ Sexplay’s Enter the Jeep (23), El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure (13), Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music (7), Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City (5), Lil Ugly Mane’s Mista Thug Isolation (2), and Le1f’s Dark York (1). So before you get salty at us and scream “Yo werz Kendrick!?!?,” make sure you head over to that list first.

We also excluded anything we put out, to keep the list “honest.” We’ll have a wrap-up list of our own releases dropping shortly though, which may be akin to self reporting your own dick size — but if rap has taught us anything, it’s ok to do that.

Best of the Bloglin 2012: The Top 20 Rap Albums

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In 2012, Green Ova Music released a cavalry of hip-hop. Everything from cloud rap to trap to dreamy instrumentals to closed eye mumbles, it was damn near impossible to keep up with everything (shout-out to Lil’ B being the only artist with more releases). After much debate and numerous listens, I have compiled the best Green Ova releases on my radar in 2012, plus a mix that needs mentioning. If I missed one, let me know. Some are loosely based, fuck with me. (more…)

This is it people, the pinnacle of human musical achievement, in our last year as a species. According to dead Mayans and crazy dudes on Fulton Street that dress like sultans—the world is over. These are the last bits or human music to make it out into space before our whole planet goes the way of Krypton.

On our list we have the 50 best albums of the last year. A bunch of the music you cried, partied, and got laid to through the year. More importantly, there’s bound to be music you somehow missed through the year, that might give you comfort through the long wintery apocalypse those dudes from Apocalypto told us was coming.

Maybe you wanna go out with some on the nose doom laden riffs—we got that. Perhaps you having an end of the world party and need some ass shaking anthems—those are on deck too. We’ve got every mood, genre, and possible style covered. The only thing not on the list are albums/mixtapes we put out; because, our journalistic integrity is widely known to be unfuckwithable. So run through the list, add anything we missed in the comments, shoutout your your favorites, and find new music to take you through the end of days.

A few notes on our list this year. We opted to just include LPs and EPs together in formulating our top 50 releases for the year. We also excluded every single release we personally put out. (So please artists we released don’t send us angry emails and tweets!!!) It just wouldn’t have been fair, especially considering they’d have made up like half the list! Jokes. Well sorta not, ’cause in all seriousness we’re pretty proud of the albums we got out to the world and will be doing a look back on them in the coming weeks. But for now we wanted to give you our 50 favorites that we just had nothing at all to do with. And with that said here.we.go… well here we go after the jump that is.

Best of the Bloglin 2012: The Top 50 Albums

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Much like Obi-Wan in the last of the prequels of which we do not speak, Hudson Mohawk and Lunice are all about the high ground. The dynamic duo’s five track collaborative TNGHT EP drops today, and in celebration, a uniquely mixed version of “Higher Ground” got the visual treatment courtesy of Dominic Flannigan & Peter Marsden. I’m not sure what bridges, traffic, live shots, abacuses and dripping paint cups have to do with one another, but they’re all shot pretty damn well, and provide an eye-catching backdrop to the utterly menacing horns that are the real source of attention. TNGHT is out now through Warp and LuckyMe Records.