When it comes to Star Wars they could make a Star Wars home rectal exam kit and I would want it. So naturally wanting to get my hands on the new limited Star Wars “Darth Vader” USB Flash Drive was a must. Thankfully Mimoco heard my call, and sent me both versions of the new Darth Vader, which was super cool seeing as there is a 1 in 6 chance of landing Version 2.

Version 1 is from Episode 3 Revenge of The Sith and it’s of the younger (Hayden Christensen) Anakin.
Version 2 is from Episode 6 Return of The Jedi and it’s of the older, grizzled (Sebastian Shaw) Anakin.

If Darth Vader isn’t your thing, Mimoco has over 20 Different Star Wars characters to choose from. Everyone from Boba Fett to R2D2. All Mimoco USB Flash Drives are compatible with Mac or PC and come with 4GB

I only need 1 USB Key and being that I like my Vader old school, I’m keeping the Version 2. That means the Version 1 Vader is up for grabs to the first person to hit me up with the answer to this question.

In Star Wars lore which character assumed control of the Death Star II as his new body just before it was destroyed on the Attack Run in Return of the Jedi?

Email the correct answer to bloglin@mishkanyc.com.

We have a winner! Congrats to Eugene Holowacz! the correct answer was IG-88A (or we would have accepted just IG-88)

This one is for all the long hot summer days that you spend doing nothing but sitting stuck to your couch aimlessly getting high, when the days seem like they will never end and the nights are stifling with no escape from the heat. Grimy, fuzzed out summer tunes that churn all the sludge up from the bottom of the gutter and spill them out on to the street, no so unlike that mystery juice that pours out of garbage trucks as the race down the city streets.

This month’s Keep watch comes courtesy of another Croydon, London alumni – Plastician brings us this month’s mix – a compilation of his favorite Dubstep and Grime tracks from the past year. Hits from the likes of Rusko, Skream and Crissy Criss, along with many others makes this month’s Dubstep-heavy installment the perfect part mix for the start of spring. Enjoy.

Plastician has been rocking the UK underground for 8 years now and has been seen all over Europe as well as North America. His recent induction into a BBC Radio 1 slot really is a testament to his popularity in the scene, complimented by his ongoing Rinse FM show at 11pm on Monday evenings and his infamous May Mixes (new one dropping soon). Plastician still finds the time to run his own label Terrorythm Recordings and just released his new album “Beg to Differ.”

Keep Watch Vol. VIII: Plastician by Мишка Bloglin

My good friend Nick James has been fucking with me for a few weeks now saying he was making a comic about me.

I didn’t believe him until I got an email this morning…

Check out the 3-part comic here at his site.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Мишка presents Nick Catchdubs & Mr. Ducker – Radio Friendly Unit Shifter ’09 by Мишка Bloglin

Someone has taken their love of sequels one step too far…

When Nick Catchdubs and I were putting together the first volume of our alt mixtape Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, it quickly became obvious that one volume wouldn’t be enough. So here we are now, back to entertain you with more super deluxe hits, under-appreciated album cuts and the utter weirdness that passed for major label singles in the 1990s. (And yes, we know “Wave of Mutilation” came out in ‘89, but honestly, in what decade did you start fucking with Doolittle?). From Seattle fuzz to Judgement Night gems, we present all the angst and nonsense of the alternative nation as seamlessly mixed party music, with plenty of movie samples and in-jokes thrown in for good measure.

Our gracious patrons at Mishka say they love what we’ve done, and we hope you feel the same. As for what we set aside for RFUS III… All we’ll say is that we still haven’t even used anything by Nirvana that wasn’t on Incesticide.
- Mr. Ducker

That’s right it’s back… Radio Friendly Unit Shifter… ’09!!! Get excited! The tracklist is in the comments and the mix is also currently streaming on our Doombox!

I know a lot of you have asked us to re-up the original RFUS ever since Zshare decided to fritz the fuck out.  Well for those of you who never got the original here you go, the original… Radio Friendly Unit Shifter

Topps is putting out a new Star Wars Galaxy trading card series and they invited Mishka to draw on the back of blank trading cards shaped like Darth Vader and Stormtrooper helmets.  Mishka sent the cards back to Topps where they are being randomly inserted into packs of Star Wars Galaxy cards.

Jon V, Lamour Supreme, Mikhail, Greg, Kate, Royce, Sarah, Mike Jones, Josh, and some other guy in a baseball hat all showed up to the Mishka office on Sunday.  We ate burritos and avoided conversation.  It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

Jon V did super confident inky drawings of Star Wars characters.  Lamour drew zombies and acid nightmares.  Greg drew a whole bunch of abstract stuff.  Mikhail did a few Mishka bears.   I don’t know if I can or can’t show the cards so I won’t.  Buy some packs of the cards to try to score one of the things we drew.

Pack it up!

Dark Days II: A Halloween Mix by My Pal the Crook

Halloween is a mere few days away and for a third year in a row I present you Dark Days II, another dark & melancholy mix to celebrate the occasion.

Nothing says like Halloween like a soundtrack to a seance!

Like the past two mixes this one sticks mostly to Goth, Darkwave, Cold Wave and some Industrial/EBM in trying to replicate a frosty night, wolves a howling, rusty gates a rattling and where you constantly have to look over your shoulder.

We still occasionally get emails for the tracklists from the previous Halloween mixes, so all of you closet goths get out a pen and paper and jot it down off the doombox! And those of you who may have missed it and enjoy this Dark Days II mix, be sure to grab a download of Star Eyes 7H3 H4X0R M1X for us from earlier in the year!

Indiana’s Flufftronix has been gracious enough to create a brand new Doombox mix for your Listening pleasure!

For the past 2 years Flufftronix has slowly but surely turning Bloomington, Indiana from a once sleepy city into a burgeoning dance capital. You wouldn’t usual see the likes of DJ Assault, Krames, Flosstradamus, Scottie B, Lauren Flax, Franki Chan, Todosantos, Willy Joy, and Philadelphyinz heading out to the middle of Indiana on a semi-regular basis unless there was something truly awesome bubbling!

Head over to our Doombox now to get a taste!

Or Download it Here!

The famous Mix CD series is back! Musical Murdah Vol 2: The Dark Issue! From the Stockholm native Selecta Seb-One. This is how Seb-One explains the mix in his own words:

This is mainly a hip hop & grime mix for the people who like dark and relatively slow beats. I’ve tried to capture a certain dark mood through the whole mix but it varies a little bit in other aspects. The first half is more hard hitting, bass driven and energetic with a lot of electro elements while the other half is more emotional and inspiring but yet powerful.

The Dark Issue is now up for listening on the Doombox and is available for sale at the Mishka Pop-Up Shop. For optimal listening, listen to the mix at night! And look out for more forthcoming volumes from Seb-One!

Take a step back into the ever mutating late 80′s/early 90′s hardcore punk scene. Inside a world full of bands, genres and sub-genres that often seem overlooked by the hard thrashing youth of today. Enter the world of Powerviolence!

What is Powerviolence and how did this genre of ultra brutal hardcore come about? Powerviolence was a reactionary musical movement spawned in the late 80′s/early 90′s on the West Coast which attempted to end all humanity through their sonic onslaught. The originators took cues from from such ripping 80′s thrash acts as Siege, Deep Wound, Neos, D.R.I., Antidote, Raw Power, Rip Cord, C.O.C., Septic Death, and yes, strangely enough in some cases French prog-rockers Magma and even The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Characterized by ultra short songs with tempos that could start slower than death’s dirge and in a matter of seconds blast into a sickening frenzy of light-speed guitars and drums accompanied with “Cookie Monster” vocals. When all was said and done, you had just experienced 20 seconds of the most brutal music of your life.

Bands like Infest, No Comment, Cyclops, Pissed Happy Children, Neanderthal, Crossed Out, Man Is The Bastard, Spazz and Capitalist Casualties were the early cornerstones and originators of the movement, while Chris Dodge’s, Slap A Ham Records was the flagship label putting put records for the aforementioned outfits. As time passed more bands and labels emerged… Plutocracy, Dystopia, Lack of Interest, Despise You, Crom, Excrutiating Terror, Stapled Shut, Iaborher, Cattlepress, Assuck, Dropdead, Dissassociate, etc, etc.

By no means is this a definitive document of Powerviolence. This compilation, taken from original vinyl sources merely attempts to showcase a small portion of where Powerviolence began and how it quickly morphed and spread across this sickening country. Showcased here is only a small taste of where it started, where the music went, and what it became before eventually dying out in the late 90s.

Tracklist in the comments, enjoy!