Cycotiks Starter Snapback

K.W. Crest Starter Snapback

D.A. Pinnacle Snapback

Cartoon Crest Snapback

Black Dog Trucker Hat

Мишка Summer 2012 Snapbacks Available Now!

Welcome back to preview town folks, where we’re continuing on down the line to one of my most favoritest categories, the Snapback! We took a look at our small run of New Era Fitteds already, but if you were wondering where all that extra hat creation energy went, well here’s your answer. We’ve got a bodacious bounty of hats for you this season, so many that we couldn’t even fit them all into this one preview. You’ll have to go into our online store – where they’re available for purchase right now! – to see them all.

Let’s take a closer look at a smattering of choices right now. I would say favorites, except they’re all my favorites. To go along with our Cycotiks B-Ball Jersey, we’ve got the Cycotiks Starter Snapback. Nothing says swaggery outfit like aesthetic unity folks. This snapback features a nylon crown to make it stand out from the pack. Then we’ve got takes on two of our classic icons, the Keep Watch Crest and the Death Adder, here presented (in multiple color ways) with pinstripes and in the D.A. Pinnacle design, with bold wraparound text. A while back we introduced the Cartoon Keep Watch character, that cute little devil, and you know he’s making an appearance this season on a simple and summery snapback. Finally we have the Black Dog design, which in addition to being featured on that handsome trucker hat, will be a part of other items as well.

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

Lust For Youth – Growing Seeds (2012) [Avant!] // Grade: B+

Lust for Youth is part of the true new wave of post-industrial minimal synth music. Until recently, L4Y was a two-piece, but is now just Hannes Norrvide’s creative output. LFY have a long string of previous releases on labels such as Posh Isolation and NNA Tapes including a split 7″ in January 2011 with post-punks Blessure Grave kicking out a Misfits cover.

The new Lust for Youth LP, Growing Seeds (on AVANT! Records, Italy), shows the sound’s progression into a bit cleaner sonic territory than last summer’s Solar Flare. Not that it’s easy to get, there are layers of thick synth and the sound of underground grinders surrounding the militant lo-fi EBM and single off-time echo vox. Although Lust for Youth is receiving much attention, it seems the music remains coy and aloof. Just to reach in, it’s all very cloudy in there. Lines of sound and crunching mids obscuring those lines shaking under splitting highs and that single vocal echo like a dream of comfort lost from your teen years. The glue or maybe I should say cement of the sound is the pop melancholia melodies that trace the lines around your eyes and add a safe humanity to the otherwise atmospheric waves of noise riding bareback on a flatbed of kicks and militant love snares hissing like percussive snakes.

You’re going to listen to this and embrace the familiarity because it’s a glimmer of comfort, but the deeper you go into the sound, as your earbulbs expand and grip the dark, you’ll realize that you know nothing here. It’s just an avant garde game of cold war chess treading lost in a world turned accurate.

About 16 years after he first arrived on the scene with Company Flow, El-P completes some sort of weird circle by appearing live on national television last night, performing track “Stay Down” on Letterman. I’m sure there’s some sort of lesson to be learned here about how the underground, when good enough, will always rise or something but mainly I’m just stoked to see El-P get the chance to let America know how dope he is.

The guy is having a basically flawless week, with the very well received release of his collaborative album R.A.P. Music with Killer Mike a couple days ago, and the the impending release of his seriously excellent Cancer For Cure next Tuesday. Is it possible that he’s actually just getting started now? That would be crazy, and awesome. Career arcs can be so very unpredictable. Once you get that enthused Paul Schaeffer cosign though… who knows what the future holds.

Maybe it’s because many of the internet’s favorite shows (Community, Parks & Rec, Fringe, etc.) were up for cancellation, but whatever the reason the pilot pickup process has seemed much more transparent this year than ever before, from the obvious picks (The Mindy Project, The Following), suprising snubs (The Corrections, Rebounding, Super Fun Night), and interesting gambles (The Neighbors, Hannibal, Last Resort).

As always, there’s a few shows that look alright and maybe even good, and then there’s a lot of stuff that looks like shit. Just big, steamy piles o’ turds. Welcome back to network TV folks! I’ve sifted through all this matter in order to bring you the trailers for shows I will be watching in the fall and, quality depending, maybe be re-upping on The Bloglin. And won’t that be so much fun. Let’s take a gander. I was going to break it down by network, but there weren’t even enough good pickups to justify that. Pessimism becomes me.

DRAMAS:

The Following (FOX) // Created by Kevin Williamson

Okay first two little disclaimers. I know a lot of this will seem skewed to my more genre taste, but honestly networks just went with a lot of weird genre pickups this season. After the success of American Horror Story (as well as network’s still on the hunt for the next 24, not to mention the next LOST) the execs finally realized maybe people don’t want as many hospital dramas and multi-camera sitcoms. Second, these trailers that get put together for the shows all suck, always. Because they can only pull from one episode, but they have to make it seem like it’s for the whole series, and they also try to pack this whole arc in and… it’s terrible. So you gotta try to look past the nature of the trailer and see the potential.

I think there’s potential in Kevin Williamson’s so stupid it just might work horror series about an incarcerated serial killer (James Purefoy) who leads a cult of murderous fans and copycats. There is a surprisingly large amount of people (especially women) who communicate (and even marry) serial killers, so I guess this vaguely makes sense, but hey, it’s Kevin Bacon fighting a cult. Of serial killers. On TV. It’s a cult of serial killers. Who cut out people’s eyes. Network television.

Last Resort (ABC) // Created by Shawn Ryan

Here’s another show with a concept so specific and ridiculous, I imagine it has to be really good, because based on production value this looks expensive as shit, so ABC must have really high expectations. Coming from Shield creator Shawn Ryan, it certainly has pedigree. A nuclear submarine captained by Andre Braugher and crewed by Scott Speedman refuses to blow up Pakistan so the US Government tries to sink them and so they seize an idyllic island, seceding from the country and becoming the world’s smallest nuclear nation. Mmmmkay.

Andre Braugher can never be a bad thing, especially when he’s looking all surly and firing nukes at the eastern seaboard (seriously, what the fuck is going on in this show?) but I can’t help but have no idea what this show will be like. Even if it does have a deep mythology, there has to be some level of serialization, and I’m very curious to see how the “plots of the week” take shape. Submarine misadventures? Hawaii Five-0 style tropical policing? Everyone getting radiation poisoning? Andre Braugher cashing his paychecks?

Revolution (NBC) // Created by J.J. Abrams & Eric Kripke

Hey look, it’s Jericho, except this time it’s produced by JJ and the guy who created Supernatural. It’s another high concept, big budget piece that NBC really must have faith in because they are (as always) floundering and need a big old hit. This looks like it has the set design to attract an audience, but does it have a real star to hold them?

Billy Burke looks pretty cool fucking people up with a sword, and Giancarlo Esposito is an immense talent, but the main girl isn’t really grabbing me yet. Still, the two creators are smart enough that I’m sure we’ll see some really interesting interpretations and ramifications of a world without electricity, some really deep (probably frustrating) mythology, a heady mix of old west and futurism (but not, unfortunately, in a Brisco County Jr. way) and I can’t stress this enough: badass sword fight.

COMEDIES:

Ben And Kate (FOX) // Created by Dana Fox

Slim, slim pickings here folks, but let’s start with the best. The trailer for single-camera sibling oriented comedy Ben & Kate (formerly Ben Fox is My Manny, and a vehicle for SNL’s Abby Elliot who was booted as production began) has a script that was repeatedly called the strongest of any comedy, and the addition of Oscar winner (still funny) Nat Faxon to the mix, as well as the always funny Lucy Punch makes me optimistic.

This actually plays much more like a movie trailer than one for a series, but considering the odd ways the medium of television has been evolving as of late, I’d say that’s probably a good thing. Plus, you can see how this gets serialized really easily. Things I’m not enjoying? The little girl from We Bought A Zoo. Sorry. That’s an annoying child.

The Mindy Project (FOX) // Created by Mindy Kaling

This one might collapse under the weight of its own expectations and messy, protracted path to reality, but if people can just chill out and try to appreciate this show for the quirky, light, star-centric half hour comedy it most assuredly is then I think it will be a pretty fun ride. Kaling can come off as slightly grating at times, but she actually looks very likable in this trailer. I’m back on her team.

It may not be exactly X-Rated either, but there is some talk of the Fass-penis (topical) as well as getting shitfaced and arrested after falling in a pool, so this isn’t just going to be some bland bullshit. I hope. I also really like the bit about the Springsteen concert- err… show.

The Neighbors (ABC) // Created by Dan Fogelman

Okay so this one doesn’t look good at all. I just had to include it because… just watch that trailer up there. How in the holy hell did this get ordered? How fast will this get cancelled. So fast. I really can’t wrap my head around how not good this looks. How are you supposed to look at those effects every week and also be able to engage in the world of the show?

Before seeing this I actually didn’t mind the idea for this series, but the execution looks absolutely piss poor. I thought the “aliens” thing was supposed to be more of a mystery, but no it’s way out in the open, looking like it was done in MS-Paint and everything. This looks worse than What Planet Are Your From. Please America: don’t watch the neighbors. Don’t do this to sci-fi.

There comes a time in every aging, hedonistic skate-punk’s life when he has to put down the bong and put things into perspective. For some the transition to adulthood goes fairly smoothly with limited demons to shrug off, but for others it may take a few tries and you might not land where you expected. Such is the case with Fullerton, CA semi-pro skater Josh “Skreech” Sandoval – the subject of Tristan Patterson‘s beautifully melancholic punk-rock documentary Dragonslayer.

Years ago a crippling depression caused Sandoval to take a hiatus from the skateboarding world. He lost his sponsors and is homeless – crashing in different friends’ apartments and in tents on their lawns. He’s self-destructive – he admits that – and is rarely seen onscreen sober. But he seems more than content living this way; floating around, only slightly bothered by the fact that he’s a father to a six-month-old boy. it’s not that he’s a bad person and is consciously not being there for his son, I got the hint that the mother didn’t want Skreech around. Maybe she’s afraid of the contact high.

We follow Skreech and his tight-lipped true love Leslie around Orange County, Copenhagen, and Portland, OR as they pursue no concrete goal other than to exist. And get high, or course. Along the way Skreech competes in a few skate competitions – placing in 3rd or 4th.

He eats shit a lot and often throws up in between runs, but it’s obvious there’s nothing he’d rather do in the world. Interviews with his friends and Leslie are scarce and no real light is shed on Skreech’s past, but the film is so deeply intimate that any outside opinion of him would feel like an obstruction.

There’s no standard narrative running through the film. Patterson goes for an impressionistic approach that remains affectionate throughout. The shots are beautiful and show a huge amount of promise for Patterson as a filmmaker. The serene shots of empty, abandoned homes and pools make Skreech look like a skateboard warrior in the post-apocalyptic economic crisis.

There’s a remarkable scene at a drive-in with Skreech and Leslie that looks pulled right out of a Cassevetes film. The ending is bittersweet – a smirk tattooed on the face of adulthood. There’s no bullshit sentiment – just an honest, intimate portrait of Skreech and the ugly, fire-breathing, shit-throwing world he inhabits. Dragonslayer is now available on Netflix Watch Instantly. This is the second film released by Drag City. Their first was Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers.

It’s approaching midnight and I sipping liberally from a recently-cracked open two-liter of Pepsi Max. This can only mean a few things. Diablo 3 has launched, my semester is over, and I may very well be dead by the time you read this. Slouched over all fucking South Korean internet cafe Starcraft stylee. Should I continue sucking wind into the meatier part of this Wednesday, I shall be snagging some comic books. These are the ones I’m digging on. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tolerate my stupidity and then augment my list with the titles you’re going to procure for an exorbitant sum. Especially if I don’t list your little binky title. I’m willing to riff on anything should you suggest it.

Don’t know what’s dropping? Hit up ComicList.

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Dancer #1
I had been eyeballing Dancer since before I ran an interview with Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson over at my mothership. Writer Nathan Edmonson had been entertaining me with his totally 24: Modern Black Ops (I’m being reductive and possibly insulting) jam The Activity. But when Stephenson was all “this dude is an up and coming Titan”, well fuck. I’m there. In addition, Nic Klein’s artwork seems pretty fucking gorgeous. If I was capable of reproducing the sort of discourse those literate in the way of comic art do, I’d say something like “his line work is excellent!” or “the paneling sequencing truly is…” but I can’t. I’m a dunce. You know that already. It looks really neat! The blood stains are kind of cool! I will buy this!

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Winter Soldier #5
Winter Soldier is pretty much everything I ever wanted out of Eddie Brubaker and Butch Guice. A sexy Cold War Is Still Going On spy thriller featuring latex hotties and technological wizardry at every bend. More than that, Guice is out of his fucking skull-flap when it comes to this comic. You flip a page and you’re going to run into a layout that blows your butt hole through your tits. How does that even work? Fuck you. The Pepsi Max tells me it makes perfect sense. It would never lie to me. This title is oozing fun. I mean Sweet Christ in the first four issues we’ve gotten ourselves a Giant Fucking Ape for Bucky to punch, Victor Von Doom, and enough Black Widow ass shots to carry your spank bank over until Avengers 2 drops.

More Big 2: There’s also that Avengers vs. X-Men explosion-scenario dropping its fourth issue this week. It’s the first Marvel event I’ve skipped in years, and it feels good. The sludge is dripping out of my aorta and I’m breathing a bit better. You’re still down with it? More power to you. Couple that with Neal Adams’ The First X-Men and you have two Marvel status quo ticklers that I simply cannot give a shit about.  Think I don’t dig Events at all? Incorrect: I’m stoked for the Lemire/Snyder Heavy Feral Thunder upcoming epic Rotworld.

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100 Months (Hardcover)
These days I’m willing to recklessly roll the dice based on recommendations from people whose taste seems far superior to mine. Like Douglas Wolk. I hadn’t heard of 100 Months or its creator John Hicklenton until today. That hasn’t stopped me from firing up the AMAZON-INSTABUY-MACHINE and acquiring my own genuine copy of this graphic novel. The premise is excellent; the circumstances surrounding the title unbelievable. According to Wolk, after Hicklenton was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis “he wrote and drew this environmentalist graphic novel about a war between Satan’s daughter and an evil capitalist god, which is apparently all full-page images.” Goddamn! That idea alone that has me sold. Now it gets a bit darker, more bonkers. The day after Hicklenton finished the title he punched out at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.

Tremendous.

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Saga #3 [Pick of the Week-Month-Whatever]
It isn’t enough that Saga brings me to my knees every month. What should also be appreciated is that this jewel, this gem, this diamond-encrusted butt plug designed to rub maliciously against my geek prostate until I coil over in delight is that it is actually coming out every month. My sympathy for those not buying this title is only met by my disdain for them. As someone who can’t afford everything dope on the docket, I understand. As someone who is pretty sure this is the best title going, I am confused. This month the title’s main characters Marko and Alana are encountering the Horrors, who look like a pack of bloodied ethereal kid-monsters. Dollars to donuts? They’re going to help them.

More Image Swag: I feel like a complete ass-clown Image Donkey, but there’s a litany of titles dropping from My Favorite Publisher (yeah I said it) this week: Hell Yeah #3, Danger Club #2, and Manhattan Projects #3. Not to mention my good friend Johnny Hotsauce informing me I need to get into the Glory game. So much Image. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

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That’s what I’m sweating this week. What are you checking out?

Simian Mobile Disco – Unpatterns (2012) [Wichita] // Grade: C+

Unpatterns is both better than I thought it would be and yet still not quite good enough to shake that nagging doubt about Simian Mobile Disco’s continued existence. I think back to “We Are Your Friends”, which will always be their signature track even if it wasn’t even truly them and yet still hangs heavy over every subsequent release. Much like their partners on that track, Justice, their first album Attack Decay Sustain Release, while by no means a perfect album, is an important one, or at least a noticeable signpost in the world’s collective re-embrace of hearty electronic dance music.

Also much like Justice, there was a certain feeling after those releases that they had done their work, so to speak, broken through some sort of wall preventing the country writ large from accepting synthesizers, house beats, and techno-chopped vocal samples, but as far as their actual music (especially outside of their signature release) we could kind of take it or leave it. Such is the danger of becoming a symbol. As such, their 2009 album Temporary Pleasure was largely forgettable, and I must admit I was surprised Unpatterns ever even came to be. Luckily for Simian Mobile Disco, it does an admirable enough job setting your head nodding, but beyond that it’s largely unexciting.

Strangely free of vocal samples (long a hallmark of Ford & Shaw’s work) Unpatterns is suited for the club much more than the rest of their ouvre. Everything sounds nice: Simian Mobile Disco knows their way around a sound and the production is nothing if not impeccable. But if the title and cover art are meant to represent some sort of break from convention, the boys are sorely misjudging their work. Unpatterns is essentially a lowest-common-denominator entry into a genre they helped refine in the first place.

Ethelwulf is back again this time with English producer Voduz. Apparently the two have an EP in the works, and this is the first we get to hear of it. Ethelwulf really strikes me as a wild card amongst the Raiders.

It’s still pretty impossible to know what you’re gonna get from dude, apparently he’s just got a very deep bag of styles, and he’s gonna keep reaching into it and pulling out something different each time.

Bass Fueled Mischief is returning to New York, and your experience of this Thursday will never be the same! Or, it won’t be the same as it would have been had you not gone to Bass Fueled Mischief. Or something. I was never good with time paradoxes. Nevertheless, Drom on Ave A is gonna get packed with the full spectrum of bass culture. I swear, it says it right there on the flyer.

Distance from Chestplate and Cluekid from Bullfrog Beats will be headlining and lining up their subs right with your head, ready to spit vibrations that’ll crack your knuckles for you. They’ll be backed up by Hellfire Machina, Bakir, and Max Mischief, and host MC Posi-D. Tickets are only $15 if you grab’em in advance, so clear out your schedule and get ready for Thursday night!

Thursday May 17th, 2012, 10PM-2AM
Drom
85 Avenue A
New York, NY
21+/$15 Adv Tix/$20 @ Door

Wasn’t White Noise a horror movie about ghosts and stuff? I think I watched it on mute via the SyFy channel once. I don’t think it was very good. Whatever that movie’s deal was, There is nothing horrific  about “White Noi$e,” the awesome result of Albuquerque’s Bk Beats and Detroit’s Rob Mansel a.k.a Black Noi$e working together. ”White Noi$e” is beautiful and ambient, but not completely. There are drums that sound kind of like a civil war marching beat and there’s a driving harpsichord (well, maybe it’s not a harpsichord, but that’s what it sounds like to me…) part that comes in at a couple points keeping things grounded.

The song is like the sound of a journey where someone took the scenic route, but is still on a mission. I feel like this could be a soundtrack for a journey where you’re observing the world around you, but you’ve got places to go, people to see, days to save…This collab is also really cool because I can’t tell who did what on this beat. There is no one part of it where I think “Oh! That’s BK Beats’ drums!” or “Oh, that’s Black Noi$e on the bass!” It blends together seamlessly.

I’m sure this has been floating around the internet for a while now. There’s no way something this good could remain hidden (although there was that woman who customized her Barbie & Ken dolls with accurata genitalia and pubic hair. Still wish I had bought one of those actually…). Jim Lego is a Quebecois portrait photographer/nightmare creator who has blessed the world wide web with some of the strangest photography I’ve seen in a long, long time.

At first I was like “holy shit, I can’t believe people payed for this” but then very quickly changed my tone to “holy shit, I would pay so much for this.” I graduate from college this Friday. Jim Lego, if you’re still out there, please, please come document this occasion. Y’know, I never really understood what people were talking about when they said photographs could steal part of your soul. Until now. Check out the site for more. So much more.

Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (2012) [Rough Trade] // Grade: B-

Maybe I’m a weenie for arriving late to the party (or perhaps I should just follow Jack White’s recommendations more fastidiously) but I actually hadn’t heard of the Alabama Shakes, a Southern rock band who presumably never met a double whiskey with a side of heartbreak that they didn’t like, when footage of their performance on Letterman started making the rounds on the internet. Talk show performances are a strange art, to be sure, but everyone knows the marker for a good one is when the host genuinely seems elated afterwards, temporarily reminded that the fact that he does these every day doesn’t make them all the same.

After Alabama Shakes, and especially singer Brittany Howard, absolutely tore through single “Hold On” Dave seemed positively shellshocked. So was I. So I was excited to see that their debut, Boys & Girls, started with that same track. Then I was confused and dismayed to find that, while I had seen this exact same piece of music performed with a thunderclap of verve and raw power to spare, here it was anemic, inert, muddled, and lacking in soul. I honestly don’t know exactly what the fuck went wrong in about half of the recording and/or mastering sessions for Boys & Girls, but Alabama Shakes better change up their team with purpose.

Especially on its front half, the album is stuck in a bizarrely low gear, forcing Howard to tone down her caterwauling pipes and leaving her sounding like the mediocre singer that she most definitely is not. Look to the torrential breakdown of “I Ain’t The Same” or “Rise To The Sun” – where here voice is noticeably more front and center in the mix (consistency in mix is almost entirely absent here, making for a weird listen) for proof of her heroic abilities. The band too is needlessly neutered, only coming out to play at the very ends of tracks. The whole affair is a little more than confusing. Especially since I feel they can do so much better.

Well, not really, but we can all pretend right? Especially since the first trailer for his new movie, The We and The I, shows the movie is after a more realistic (albeit freewheeling) style free of the psychedelic whimsy of Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine, or the big budget weirdness of the (very underrated, really) Green Hornet. Set entirely (or so it seems) on a bus taking teenage kids home after the last day of school looks quite good.

I seem to remember this movie having a time travel element at some point (Gondry has been talking about it since what seems like 2008 or 2009) but I guess that has gone by the wayside. Good riddance it seems to me, as I’m enjoying the unfettered feel of this thing. Also, thanks Michel for including a shot of an old woman getting faux ejaculated on in your trailer. Do you homie!

Beverly Cleary (Born 1916)

Vs.

Judy Blume (Born 1938)

Wassup haters time for Battle Old Women Writers up in this bitch, shit’s about to get real violent! Beverly Cleary’s over 90 years old but she still wields an Ostrogoth mace like it’s nobody’s business. Shit, just the other day I saw her cleave a hog’s head in twain and then cure its hock into bacon with her mind rays all whilst dictating a story where Beezus learns a lesson about gumption in the face of adversity. The woman is clearly hard as rock.

Then there’s Judy Blume who’s got some sort of Dorian Gray thing happening. Seriously, look up some pictures of her and you’ll see she’s looked exactly the same since the early 80s. See that picture above? Yeah, she’s in her 70s. Are you there Judy, it’s me Whole Milk and I’m in love with you, please sign my buttcheek so I can tattoo it on. Because it’s real. Both of these women should get a Caldecott Medal for kicking ass and taking names, but you know how this game works. The Choice Is Yours…

Much like the Wonder Twins or Voltron, good things only get better when you bring them together. Over the past few months, we’ve been slowly but steadily dropping tracks and videos from the highly anticipated album Toothy Wavy, and its finally here.

Toothy Wavy is a collaborative project between Machina Muerte head Isaiah Toothtaker, incarcerated rapper Max B, and production duo The Hood Internet. Toothy Wavy brings together all three artists’ unique styles, ending up with something you’ve never quite heard before.

Toothtaker, in addition to rapping on the tracks and providing hooks, also helmed most of the videos (of which there was one for each track), while The Hood Internet handled all of the beats, and Max B recorded his verses through the prison phone line.

The whole project is a lesson in collaboration through difficult borders, and the result is nothing short of awesome. That’s the extra special cover art above, designed by Doze. For more goodies, there’s also the Free Max B Toothy Wavy t-shirt, which is available on our site right now. So download the album now, and always remember: Free Max B!

Any sort of dissatisfaction I expressed regarding this show in the first Re-up, I officially rescind. This show is insane. This week’s episode, “And The Winner Is…” is insane. It practically blows every fight scene from the original series out of the water. I N S A N E. At this point in the series, the pro-bending tournament that has been so prominently featured – an element of the series that I previously criticized – has reached the finals. It’s Korra’s team, the Fire Ferrets, against the Wolf Bats, led by the pompous, ugly, super-Anime-y, Tahno. The episode kicks off with Korra and her team training for the finals, at which point series antagonist Amon takes to the radio threatening “severe consequences” if the finals are not cancelled. They are not, of course.

The finals get underway. Security is beefed up, with the chief of police, Lin Beifong (Toph’s daughter), insisting that the armor of the police is immune to the chi-blocking of the Equalists. As the fighting progresses it is made clear that the refs have been paid off in favor of the Wolf Bats. Tahno is oozing with self-admiration and pride at which point it becomes all too obvious that Amon is going to show up and rob him of his bending. That happens. Once the Wolf Bats win, a slew of Equalists emerge from the audience and use special gloves to chi-block the police, Lin, and Tenzin. Korra, Mako, and Bolin are similarly blocked and then tied up, as Amon quickly disarms Tahno and his crew, a scene that proves to be as dark as anything from the original series. Amon then makes a big speech criticizing the audience for celebrating a team that has used bending techniques that defied the regulations, and paid off the judges (which was most likely Amon’s doing), as champions. Then, in a moment with severe fundementalist undertones, proceeds to announce his plan to cleanse the world of the impurity that is bending.

Amon and his team then begin to exit the bending stadium into a big war-blimp, as Korra breaks free from her ties, regains her banding, and finally becomes cool. With Lin’s help, Korra is propelled out of the stadium and onto the roof where she takes out a bunch of Equalists. It’s a quality fight, though Amon escapes. An element of this show that is sure to provide some quality storytelling in the coming weeks is the flashback. Introduced two episodes ago, Korra is beginning to experience flashbacks of her previous life, that being Aang’s adulthood. In the first flash we are given glimpses of Sokka, Toph, and Aang, all fully grow, along with a mysterious pair of eyes. This week’s flash built on what appears to be a courtroom scene, and additionally showed a bearded Aang in the Avatar state.

Now halfway through the season, the show is picking up as Republic City is engulfed in a state of war. And though the pro-bending plot line was admittedly a great set-up for bender/Equalist war, now that it’s over there should be generally less filler. The show is definitely shaping up to be as captivating as the original though, and the darker tone is a welcome one. Kind-Of-Spoiler-In-The-Sense-That-It’s-Just-A-Theory-But-I’m-Probably-Right Alert: To further develop my theory from last week’s Re-up, I suspect that Amon is not using bending to remove people’s powers, but rather a deep chi-block. This, I suspect, will lead to a similarly deep chi-unblock at the end of the series, resulting in everyone gaining bending abilities. Huzzah!

Girl Unit – Club Rez EP (2012) [Night Slugs] // Grade: A-

The absolute smartest thing about Club Rez is that its not “Wut” and it’s not trying to be. To be perfectly honest, “Wut” is one of those tracks that will define Girl Unit’s career whether he likes it or not and pretty much regardless of his future output. It was just that good, so there’s really nothing more to do than put it up on the shelf, admire it, and move on. Club Rez is moving on. Club Rez is tactful, different, exploratory, and basically a debut. This is post “Wut” Girl Unit. Because if you’ve already put yourself at the top in one particular sound, then the only person to beat is yourself. And where’s the fun in that?

Just the inclusion of the “(Club Mix)” affix on opener “Ensemble” is a sly and funny move. Because as readily danceable – or at least move your body in stunned ecstasy – as “Wut” was, it wasn’t quite a club track. And really, neither is “Ensemble”. It may masquerade itself with a pulsing wobble-bass rhythm, but it’s far too self-consciously funky to drive a dance floor. Or at least not a populated one. “Ensemble” is actually quite disco indebted, and I think Tony Manero could do something with it. Follow-up “Cake Boss” (couldn’t stop thinking about that show btw) is the EP’s weakest track, going for a kind of vague industrial sound that never congeals into something more that calculated insistence.

“Plaza” meanwhile noodles off into blissfully improvisational places, laying down a digestible breakbeat that Girl Unit can fiddle around with euphoric synths over, building up multiple crescendos that don’t so much explode as congeal into a general sense of “wow, this all sounds so nice.” “Double Take” is out of the Night Slugs box, and is probably the most hip-hop indebted track in their ouvre. It needs verses, stat. Finally there’s the one-two punch of “Rezday” and “Club Rez”, the two strongest tracks of the album, one a punishing exercise in pleasure center taxation, laying sputtering drum machine over montage synths, and the final closing track working off a future-muzak melody that’s immensely enjoyable and draws me back to the bizarre spa-like setting depicted on the cover. In case you can’t tell, I really liked Club Rez. It didn’t melt my face off like “Wut” did. But, sometimes, I like my face to still be attached at the end of the day.

I was searching around on the internet today when I stumbled upon one of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen. Krispy Kreme and Moneymaker Mike’s video “Hater’s Wanna Be Me” popped on my facebook feed and I just about died laughing.

Every single line this kids raps is highly quotable and me and my friends will for sure watch too many times.

His country accent and the way he raps is hilarious and this guy has a funny sense of humor saying things like,”Everybody gets scared when I front flip”, and “I could beat every single person in jail”.I definitely can’t wait til Krispy drops a mixtape.

I’m not even sure if the kid is serious or not but all I know is he’s funny a hell and cant wait til they drop another video. Thank you youtube for putting me on this interweb gem!!! Tosh.0 here they come.

Hi there Mopsters, today I’d like to discuss the Sweet Science. My father loves the Sweet Science. I don’t recall really seeing my father watch boxing in the past few years, or him ever stepping into a boxing ring for that matter, but he certainly loves the Sweet Science. This one is for you dad. The Sweet Science.

Meet Zachary ‘ZUNGRY’ Ochoa. Very much like many of you, he’s a young man who not only grew up in the Southside of Williamsburg, but is a loyal Мишка fan and loves the brand because “it resembles someone who doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about them and shows creativity in art and the urban culture”. That’s a damn fine interpretation of our brand and pretty accurate assessment of what we’re all about. Growing up in the Southside when it was a lot rougher, Ochoa was forced into situations at an early age that pushed him into fighting. His father showed him how to throw a punch at age 10, but it was his mother’s tough love that landed him in a boxing gym at the age of 13. He’s been hooked on the Sweet Science ever since.

At the age of 14, Zachary ‘ZUNGRY’ Ochoa was named New York State Junior Olympic Champion at 115lbs, EXB Champion 115lbs, & Florida State Platinum Gloves Champion at 119lbs. At age 15, he won Best Knockout in the Junior Olympics, and by the age of 16, he was once again NY State Junior Olympic Champion, at 138lbs, United States North East Regional Champion, New York State LIB Champion, and by 17 he was the NY State Metropolitan Champion at 132lbs.

Pretty impressive for a young Mishkateer wouldn’t you say? After dominating in the Amateur boxing scene, he decided to finish high school (STAY IN SCHOOL KIDS) and began preparing for the next move, professional rankings. He had his first Pro fight in September of 2011 and not only defeated an opponent that boasted a 90 fight record as an amateur, but won Best Knockout of The Night. He also abstains from alcohol and drug use, and stays focused on his passion, boxing. STRAIGHT EDGE YO I SUPPORT THAT FULLY.

Hey West Coast friends, are you ready to party down in a gothic sort of way? Check Yo Ponytail 2 rides again tomorrow night, taking over the Echoplex for one of LA’s best shindigs. Franki Chan and the rest of the CYP2 Crew really went all out this time, assembling a lineup of female fronted dark/goth acts with enough raw power to cause a cataclysm in the City of Angels.

I know it’s probably hot, but it’s still early enough that you can break out your skinny black jeans, leather books, and fingerless studded gloves to go brutalize the night with headlines Light Asylum, who’s recently recently self titled album is a thing of beauty. Frightening beauty. I’ve seen Shannon Funchess do her thing live before and… yeah, you don’t wanna miss this.

Not to be outdone, there’ll also be a performance from Chelsea Wolfe, who’s Apokalypsis album from later last year was a doom-folk (trust me) sucker punch straight to the jaw of Baal. The waifish girl wields an axe like its nobodies business, swirling together sinister walls of sound that come straight from R’lyeh.

But wait, there’s more! LA based duo Tearist will be bringing the glum ruckus, as well as Violet Tremors, PLUS the Slow Motion DJ’s (who you may know as the Killing Spree DJ’s). Now that’s what I call a lineup.

Tuesday May 15th, 2012, 9PM
Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
18+/$12 Tix Here