More music from Mishka
July 5, 2012 11:50 AM   Subscribe

You might have seen the hours of music from Bloglin last year, but Мишка ("Mishka," or "bear cub" in Russian) has another treasure trove of music: free albums, anthologies, and mixtapes on Bandcamp. They started a bit slow with a single mixtape in 2009 from Ninjasonik, and 2010 wasn't too active. But in 2011 they had 9 releases, and already 14 in 2012, the newest being the debut album from 19-year-old nu-disco producer Cream Dream. A handy rundown of the releases to date below the fold.

First, a note: Mishka is fond of nudity in their banners, so if you aren't blocking ads, consider MishkaNYC links NSFW. Bandcamp links are visually fine, but there's a good chance you'll hear some swearing.

Hip-hop mixtapes/albums

September 2010: Right Now is an album produced by Aaron Clevenger, aka AC Slater, with vocals by Dell “o8o” Harris (former frontman of Thunderkatz).

February 2011: Lincoln Way Nights: Intelligent Trunk Music is a mixtape/album from NYC resident Stalley repping his hometown of Cleveland, featuring production by Rashad.

May 2011: Car Keys & Rabbit's Feet is a album/mixtape from the LA four-man crew The '87 Stick Up Kids, boisterous and diverse, "consistent with the band’s upbeat and thunderous style".

August 2011: 808s & Dark Grapes II by Main Attrakionz is the sequel to their original 808s & Dark Grapes mixtape. Pitchfork has a great write-up on the California "DIY hip-hop" duo and 8&DG2.

September 2011: Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire first released a no-budget video for The Song That Never Ends (Part 2), hyping his debut mixtape Lost In Translation, which featured production by El-P. eXquire has 20 other videos on his YouTube account, if this is your kind of NY rap.

December 2011: Mishka continued to support the Das Racist crew, with one of their guest members Lakutis' release I'm In the Forest EP.

February 2012: BBU, short for Bin Laden Blowin’ Up, "are products of the 80s and Reaganomics, just like Bin Laden was" (their own description). Or it could stand for Black, Brown and Ugly, and they make "revolutionary juke music" (again, their own description). Mishka teamed up with Mad Decent to put together the bell hooks mixtape, mixed by DJ Benzi. Audible Treats has a run-down of the mixtape.

March 2012: Children of the Night are a young crew from NY, a part of the larger World's Fair group. Queens... Revisited is their mixtape for Mishka.

April 2012: Victor Vazquez, aka Kool A.D., is one third of Das Racist. He released a disjointed mixtape that was titled in reference to a seminal work of modern African literature. His follow-up tape, simply titled "51", was regarded more highly.

May 15: The Toothy Wavy EP is a weird collaboration, between Isaiah Toothtaker, incarcerated rapper Mike B whose lines are recorded from phone conversations, and production by The Hood Internet.

June 2012: Lil B is prolific, so much that Mishka put together four anthologies of his work in June, each with 20 tracks, and each focused on one face of B. Faces of Lil B Vol. 1: Based God The Star, in which we see "the fun loving Lil B that comes the closest to making pop music (but is still weird as fuck)." Vol. 2: Based God Is Eternal, which focuses on the spacier side of Lil B, the "soothing and expansive" tracks, and early tracks from when he rapped over (nearly) ambient soundscapes. Vol. 3: Based God Struggles are his songs about struggles in the hood. The fourth and final volume is titled Based God Is Gorgeous, covering Lil B's "Pretty Boy Music" phase.

Party Mixes of Mayhem

November 2010: Australian art punk group The Death Set threw together a party mix called Artificially Sweetend, available on Soundcloud as a single long track, or on Bandcamp as 43 tracks.

December 2011: The Hood Internet are a Chicago duo known for their mashup mixtapes, and Mishka released their debut "album," a self-titled compilation of 14 tracks, including original remixes and production.

Electronic Somethings

January 2012: Cameron Reed, aka Babe Rainbow, released a couple EPs, first the Shaved EP (with a creepy video for the title track: Vimeo, YouTube), then Endless Paths. Both EPs are streaming on Bandcamp, available to purchase elsewhere. Pitchfork has a good summary on Babe Rainbow's background and self-titled "surf-step" style (summary: "it's difficult to imagine surfing to Reed's more ominous tones"). Mishka got involved, and got the track "Greed" from the Endless Paths remixed 6 times, and included the instrumental for good measure.

May 2012: Mishka paired EPs from the married couple from Columbus, Ohio, Funerals and a producer from Mexico, Ritualz, titled Hypermotion B and Hypermotion X, respectively. Where Ritualz is "gothic trance," Funerals makes "deep midnight techno" with sounds of the early 90s and samples ripped from 50s nuclear propaganda.

June 2012: Carrie Wilds has a more traditional musical background, singing with her school chorus, then attending a youth opera camp at the age of eleven. She moved from Florida to New York, where she worked with a variety of producers. Her self-titled mixtape showcases her voice over the music of other folks. Blogin has a bit more info, and links to her video featuring Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire.


Grave Wave/ Neo-Goth/ Witch House/ Dark Post Rock

November 2010: The Guide to Grave Wave is a 3 disc set with 35 tracks: disc 1, disc 2, and disc 3

January 2011: Texas-based //TENSE// makes Industrial/EBM, "born with dreams of resurrecting the forgotten Wax Trax! sound". Available on limited edition 7" vinyl, and a video (on Vimeo and YouTube. The Bandcamp release extended the release with additional remixes.

April 2011: Hussle Club's Loose Tights was Mishka's 3rd 7" release, keeping in their Grave Wave sound. The single was accompanied by a video (Vimeo, YouTube) of the A-side. The b-side is a cover of The Cult's song She Sells Sanctuary (YT video). The Bandcamp EP is expanded with 7 diverse remixes of the title track.

July 2011: Witch house mastermind Mater Suspiria Vision (previously) teamed up with Mishka to release a limited 7" single and a video, which was expanded Seduction of the Armageddon Witches EP, featuring 5 distinctly non-witchy remixes of the B-side track.

January 2012: The next limited 7" and video from the post-rock side of Mishka is a split from C V L T S and Virgin Spirit. And this time, instead of including the original tracks, the Bandcamp release is Time Debt/Bathed In White Remixed EP, without the original cuts. Less dark, more hypnotic.
posted by filthy light thief (12 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
Yet another fantastic rabbit hole post flt. Thank you.
posted by schyler523 at 1:35 PM on July 5, 2012


Wow, what an awesome post. This is how you do a record label FPP.

(One minor typo quibble: Toothtaker did ToothyWavy with Max B, not Mike B.
posted by broadway bill at 3:13 PM on July 5, 2012


Thanks to both of you.

Google knew what I was looking for, as the linked article is on Max B, not Mike B.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:37 PM on July 5, 2012


Amazing post. I've been aware of Mishka since the Hood Internet release, but never had time to sort through their stuff properly. This is really handy. Thanks FLT!
posted by Magnakai at 5:26 PM on July 5, 2012


This is a freaking great post. I've been enjoying bell hooks a lot, so I'm eager to dive into the rest of this. And I had no idea that Kool A.D. had a second mixtape. It looks like he raps a lot more on it? He was always my favorite of the two DR rappers so I'm pretty thrilled about that.

Didn't Mishka originally release Sit Down, Man, too?
posted by valrus at 8:28 PM on July 5, 2012


valrus, yes.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 PM on July 5, 2012


Mishka also did an excellent remix of The Glitch Mob - available for download on their website. Described elsewhere as "100% pure scrunchface"
posted by Nauip at 9:27 PM on July 5, 2012


...erm: The Glitch Mob's album "Drink the Sea - Part II", to clarify.
posted by Nauip at 9:28 PM on July 5, 2012


808s & Dark Grapes II has probably the best production I have heard on a rap album since Hell Hath No Fury
posted by moift at 11:44 PM on July 5, 2012


nice!

I followed the blog(lin) for a while, but I found it was difficult to seperate the snark and the music. Thanks for doing it for me!
posted by jonbro at 2:46 AM on July 6, 2012


with a creepy video for the title track

Yep, it's creepy! I kind of liked the inevitability of it all, you knew where it was heading.. and there it went. Good track though.
posted by dubold at 9:15 AM on July 6, 2012


The Zombie Rave Special Edition is pure genius
posted by 13twelve at 12:24 PM on July 6, 2012


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