****Chinese*Whispers******

It's Gonna Be Tonight

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:43:00 -0400

That’s right. This is happening. I’ve talked a lot of shit over the past few weeks, threatening to set aside this and riff about that. No more talk. I’m done bullshittin with y’all. To quote my man Kevin Hart: It’s about. To go. DOWN.

Why I abandoned perhaps the greatest collaborative writing space I’ve ever inhabited this side of OnHoops I’m not exactly sure. Yeah, life got in the way. I work a lot, I travel a lot and, when I’m done, I gotta have my Pops. It’s just that lately I’m finding that I’m listening to a lot of Luther during those vegged out chow sessions, and I don’t know what it means. But I sure as hell know where I can talk about it.

The aforeposted song in particular has had a knack of worming its way to the top of the playlist every time I reach for the refridgerator, enough times to make me wonder whether my PC might be trying to tell me something. You know, other than “Stop fondling me!” So I’ve spent the last couple days sifting through the Vandross discography for answers. You know what I found? Some really good shyte. The live sessions in particular. Mercury must have an empty tub of hair product for every time I’ve ranted and railed against the alfresco listening experience. I guess it’s because in a perfect world all experiences would be as transcendent as this one. (Or when we all trooped to see the Dan a few summers back, at the height of the Yacht Rock craze.) All performers would be as game as Luther who, in his croonversations with band and audience, makes Sinatra’s stage-speech sound like a Brando impersonation. He’s trying to stump his backup singers, he’s making fun of his weight and turning all Cosby while cracking about his own talent. He is owning the moment. Who wouldn’t want to be a witness to that?

And that got me thinking: maybe it’s time to reconsider my position on the live show. No, Luther Vandross isn’t walking through that door. (Friday would have been his 60th birthday. Sad.) Lord knows, you’d probably see and hear him coming if he were. (And then once he’s in—BOOM!—he grabs ya.) But even a 10th of that stage presence would be enough to blow my doors off. So it’s settled: I’m going to consume more raw music, and what better time than the summer to start my beat-ox. I’ll be home over Bastille Day for my best friend’s wedding. We should catch a show.

~ Filibuster Rhymes

RIP Blue Bomber, Chicken Run, Not Guilty y'all got to feel me!

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:13:08 -0400

Unfortunately the lovely people at Universal wouldn’t let me embed the song I originally wanted to, so this will have to do. When Obama won the election I rocked this song, when I try to exercise I rock this song, when my pleasure bucket is filled to the brim with pride I rock this song. But I digress.

Today is probably the last day I’ll rock a Saab, and I want to give a shot out to the blue bomber. That was it’s theme song from back when I used to hold down the block. The following takes place after the sale of car and before a King Cobra was opened, now let me get my Eggers on from Aka’s perspective:

The FCK and I stood outside on this balmy uneventful August evening. There were no crickets and barely any birds, it’s the first time I’d noticed this since I’d been back and it made me sad and a little depressed, kind of like discovering the bad section of a college town. The FCK was excited having just sold an oversized foam rubber cowboy hat to what appeared to be an overenthusiastic Latin man, he made five dollars.

Wind: Stagnant

Trees: Thirsty

Aka and the FCK: Hungry

Alright I’ll stop, so we decided to make tonight a fried chicken and 40 night. So we pick up the fried chicken and park the car and we see a man jogging, which happens sometime. We get out of the car and this man is jogging in place, talking to the man in the car behind us. We only hear the tail end of conversation, but the jogger thanks him for his support and proclaims that he’s still fighting for his innocence, that man was none other than our neighbor and former Governor Rod Blagojevich. So aka suggested the the Jay-Z-R.Kelly collabo, but it didn’t happen so I had to go with some of the beautiful tortured sould of Donnie Hathaway.

—The French Cuff Kid

Smooth Breaks AKA My High School Edumacation

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:13:00 -0400

Peshay - Pacific

In the brief span of our last dalliance a lot has gone down. The Financialocalypse has caught up to my ass, puffy tacos were discovered & dark and stormy evenings developed in a weather system isolated to northside of the Chi. In the wake of these events I have been left ponder. So like our fair blog I’ve taken a break while I ride out the turbulent times as smoothly as possible.

In tough moments I find myself tripping back to a time when Freddie Prince Jr. was the shit and the Millennium was to be feared. During my high school years, like Mercury I too found myself hungering for music from across the pond. I was a musical Anglophile only my love didn’t align me to fuzzy guitars. Cold lovely mechanical Drum & Bass was my calling. Metalheadz, Grooverider, Roni Size, Photek, etc. were the shit to me. Hell I even bought Mixmag and Jockey Slut for the exclusives mixes. I dreamed about mythical place called Ibiza though I had no clue where the fuck it was. DNB was my gateway drug to the whole of Electronica (except Moby) and for a time I was Fatboy Slim’s Funk Soul Brother.

Well eventually 2001 happened. Freddie Prince Jr. and his lot fell the fuck off and I broadened my palette. But occasionally I still go back to the old jams. So here is some Peshay, my favorite Metalhead, whose cuts felt like the came straight out of late 90’s Namco game. Now if you don’t mind me I gotta use my stimulus\unemployment dolo to get to a lil Balearic island where I can roll on.

-
He’s All That AKA Can’t Catcha Break

Pick up the Pace, aye?

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:43:34 -0400

More Today Than Yesterday - Charles Earland

Interesting choice of phrase, that. They are words I found myself screaming often whilst matriculating my way north up I-95 this morning. And none of my breath made a bit of difference. The traffic still snarled and snarled as I seethed and seethed. But then this number came up on the XM radio. Now, I know we’ve already spent a bit of space giving this epic Spiral Staircase jam it’s well-deserved due. But whereas that one is all pop and pep, this one is all breeze, jazz and light. (Oh, and long as well—so long, in fact, you’ll lose track of time. But in a good way.) As it played, I could feel my jaw relaxing, my veins receding, my anger abating. And wouldn’t you know the traffic was soon easing up too?

Did I make it to where I was going on time? No. But it’s the first time in a while that I can remember where being very, very late felt so very, very right.

Yours in Smoothitude,

~ Filibuster Rhymes

Video

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:56:17 -0400

Breaks

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:53:00 -0400

We all need breaks. Summertime just begs for breaks to be taken. Some need breaks from school. Some need breaks from the NBA season. (SEAson!) Some need breaks from the city. Fili sounds like he’s needing a break from planet Earth. I need breaks to jam to. And this cut from Layfayette Afro-Rock Band has ‘em in spades (I really don’t know what that means but… it has ‘em).

Check the list of songs that have sampled from Hihache. Impressive - like a Mortal Kombat finishing move. Each song could and very likely might end up on this blog at some point. Well, only if we pick up the pace. But I’ve got no problem with taken breaks.

Been Sooo Long

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:00 -0400

I’ll even italicize and hyperlink for reinforced effect: it’s been so long, lads. Too long, if I’m honest. Much has gone on and little has been said about it—but that’s alright. A world gone wrong shouldn’t keep us from our busy summers. Still, even though I’ve (improbably) seen all of you in the last two weeks—and was even gifted by one of you (you know who you are…FCK…) yet another epic mix CD that will take me a good 2 1/2 years to fully listen to—I miss your wayward thoughts on music terribly. So in the spirit of those good times, an attempt to break the silence and a nod to recent events, I have posted what I have posted in hopes that it might provoke a little of that chatter that I miss so dearly. Well, that and the more event apropos version of this Po-Po classic is unembeddable. Well, that and the Erin Andrews peep hole youtubage had been scrubbed from the interwebs by decree.

Anyway, as you weren’t!

~ Filibuster Rhymes

Deuce AKA The Goals Spain Didn't Get

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:47:00 -0400

We’ve been gone for a minute but with the US’s upset victory over #1 ranked Spanish team well it just had to be done. Clint Dempsey aka Deuce and The FCK’s favorite rapper Big Hawk (RIP) get it in on this 2006 World Cup Classic.

Ricky Rubio Ain’t Shit AKA Landon Donovan Sucks

Relaxing on the Axis of the Wheel of Life

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:11:40 -0400

The weekend is nigh, lads, which means one and only one thing: I will either be texting or receiving slivers of lyric from Lush Life, our reigning party anthem. And I think we can all agree that it is in this, the iteration birthed by Johns Coltrane and Hartman, that the anthem is truly at its most regal. Whether buzzing or flailingly drunk, happy or withdrawn, bored or being pursued by an army of Fonzi clones, the damn song just flat-out fits the mood.

Every mood, that is, save for the harried, headbanging one—and wouldn’t you know now we have a rendition for that. I heard this track a couple months back while slaving away at the tablet and was instantly enthralled—though, fair warning: it’s a way better track for wheeling around London in an AMG Black than contextualizing the Connecticut dynasty inside your lonely suite at the St. Louis Renaissance. (Overall the album is solid, especially the “Game of Love” track; since it’s unavailable, make due with this equally classic N-Cole/Esco collabo.) After three plays of the aforeposted, believe you will be looking for trouble.

Just be sure to text us when you have.

~ Filibuster Rhymes

BONUS POST: Mash-Up Session - Cookin Soul

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:28:00 -0400

This is meant to break up the flow. Figure this will be a musical filler post cuss it’s just cool. I will do this from time to time until I get some street beef.

Anyway I think you guys will dig this.

Stack Mo Cheese AKA Guapo Slim

Damn Smooth AKA Going back to Cali

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:39:00 -0400

I gotta respect the smoothness and dark sarcasm of that last post. Mercury, if you change I hope its only for the better.

Every few months I get this uneasy feeling. I sit in my cube and I ponder what life would have been like if I had stayed out west after graduation. Now the hyphy movement was in vogue during my time there and I still got respect for it. Yadadamean?! But no song ever evokes the feeling of lazy college days and some abstract state like this one. And I barely lived in Los Angeles.

So I play this song every few months when I try to scheme for a way back. But like the chorus ends… I don’t think so.

Notes from the song:

I think I’d be a bigger LL fan if his evolution had gone this more this way.
Saxaphones solo’s really need to make a comeback. Saxaphone clowns even more.
The song basically ends with LL stealing a bottle of wine. Now that’s game.
If I were to have a show on Food Network the tagline is definitely “Takin em to spots they never before hung”

——-

Notes from the video:

Why did undercleavage (NSFW) ever fall out of favor?
I really think this style of dancing should come back.
The upskirt shots still get blurred when this video comes on MTV jams network
I think I’ve been to the spot where they are playing black jack… fantastic tacos

—-

Double Bonus. Colin Quinn and It’s Always Sunny In Philly made parodies.

Kobe Fly’n AKA Rafer Ballson

Steely Dan - Glamour Profession

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:12:47 -0400

Steely Dan - Glamour Profession

Fiction, set to rhythm

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:44:43 -0400

If, in a few weeks, I come back to post this video, then you know I’ve changed.

But you know I won’t change, right?

Tell me I won’t change.

— Mercury’s Mustache

Kashmere Stage Band - Super Bad

Thu, 21 May 2009 20:49:00 -0400

Kashmere Stage Band - Super Bad

Some Pep in My Step

Thu, 21 May 2009 20:44:00 -0400

So Fili wants some live funk to accent his NBA viewing? Sign me up. I’m getting a little tired of those played out stadium hits myself. And why does live music accompanying live sport have to stop at college? I remember our high school pep band being far more entertaining than the action on the court. Granted it was more this than this or (so help me God I can’t believe I found) this, but it got the crowd going more than the auditory assult of Top 40 snippits you get at most arenas.

And, much like college marching bands, I can see the stadium bands being a point of pride for the fans. Like I could take comfort in knowing that even though the Pistons flamed out in the playoffs and the Iverson trade was a bust, at least our horn section brought the fire.

But if Commissioner Fili does get his druthers, I think Houston will have the band to beat if this high school outfit The Kashmere Stage Band is any indication of the musical chops being taught in Texas public schools. In the 60s and 70s, band leader Conrad O. Johnson let his students loose on the funk and soul records popular at the time instead of forcing them through dumbed down version of “Sing, Sing, Sing.” And he even got them into the studio to press the results. And now I blog it to you.

Each one, teach one

Dr. Zeus

Get the Funk out of my Face?

Wed, 20 May 2009 13:52:00 -0400

I’ll admit, I’ve been in a bit of one—but rest assured, it’s the good kind. And that’s in spite of the bushel of reasons the world keeps handing me to go emo. It started with this, then this, then—because irony makes the world go round—this. (Oh, and then there was this, but I’ll save that rant for another forum.)

So how have I been managing, you ask? (Or maybe you didn’t? There I go assuming y’all was raised right…) With a little of this, loads of this, and heaps of these lads. So the Anglophile goes antipodean, Zeus might be thinking—but you wanted world music. Where’s Australia if it’s not from the world? These guys might not sing, but they can vamp just as good as they want.

So good, in fact, that it brings to mind an idea I’ve kept simmering on the back burner for a while now—an idea that usually reaches full boil whenever my attention turns to a different kind of beat. If I owned a pro team—any pro team, really—I’d do away with the requisite sound FX non-sense and just hire me a house band, like the late-night guys do (excepting the Scot). They’d have to be versatile, but most importantly they’d have to be funky. I mean, picture yourself for a moment in the stands inside your favorite basketball gym. The visitors have been introduced, and the lights have been lowered. The PA guy starts stirring the pot, you’re on your feet, the pyrotechnics thunder—and this starts playing. Fuck if that place wouldn’t be packed every night.

I mean, my pulse quickens just thinking about it. (I think I may even be drooling a bit, too.) But then again, that’s exactly what a good kinda funk will do to you.

Incense and Peppermints,

~ Filibuster Rhymes

Hiram! Toots!

Sun, 17 May 2009 06:18:52 -0400

Embedding disabled by request! Bastards!

David Sanborn’s hair looks like a wig Will Forte would wear at about 12:56 on a Sunday morning. Just sayin’.

— MM !

Local Hero

Sat, 16 May 2009 09:05:50 -0400

I love this movie.

I love that movie.

For three days I felt horrible about not wishing a certain top face the credit he deserved for making it another year, for fear of ‘aving anyone expect the same warm hold for me.

I love this song. I love this movie. Knopler’s a Red by way of the Scots but … damn, what a lovely song. Love it. Love it. Love the movie. Love the hope.

And, no, there’s no Terry Williams playing drums. But that’s OK. John Illsley is there. The whole ringin’ tone is there. I love this song.

FCK? Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Love ya, mang.

This is for Dr. Zeus AKA where the F*ck is Dr. Zeus

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:06:00 -0400

I’m dropping soundbombs everyday until someone post. The first one is dedicated to the good doc.

Yes I’ve been watching Yacht Rock. Tomorrow it will be you Filibuster.

Judas Shuttlesworth AKA Kevin Garnot (I still hate Skip Bayless)

Take it back aka The System

Tue, 05 May 2009 11:03:00 -0400

The System - You Are In My System

I have nothing against Chromeo. They make fun music. If I were single and chilling in Williamsburg with a certain grifter I’m sure awesome times would ensue. But if she said I like them for the same reason the FCK did, please believe said person would not have been loaned any money by me. She may have also had a hammer thrown at her ass.

/Rant

But my problem with people that casually attracted Chromeo is that they don’t want to invest in the classics or stay with their horse. I’m sure if you put on Chromeo right now they would call that shit a throwback. They imagine retro pop music some high level joke treat it as something ironic. I like having fun with my music but Irony can only go so far. They basically have decided they will rediscover the 80s and early 90s and improve upon it.

Fuck them

/End Rant

So lets be about it and invest in the foundations of this movement. Chromeo makes some good music. Blending synthpop, 80’s R&B, and fun sensiblities is pretty hard to fuck up. Electro and synthpop works because if its good it is instantly dancible. It also reminds us of the future that never was. I’m going to with another two-man synth group. The System. The original article. The Godfathers of this movement right here. The Synth Kings.

Hanmā Burosu aka The Agro Negro

Double Bonus Robert Palmer Covers

******Chinese***Whispers******

It's Gonna Be Tonight

RIP Blue Bomber, Chicken Run, Not Guilty y'all got to feel me!

Smooth Breaks AKA My High School Edumacation

Pick up the Pace, aye?

Video

Breaks

Been Sooo Long

Deuce AKA The Goals Spain Didn't Get

Relaxing on the Axis of the Wheel of Life

BONUS POST: Mash-Up Session - Cookin Soul

Damn Smooth AKA Going back to Cali

Steely Dan - Glamour Profession

Fiction, set to rhythm

Kashmere Stage Band - Super Bad

Some Pep in My Step

Get the Funk out of my Face?

Hiram! Toots!

Local Hero

This is for Dr. Zeus AKA where the F*ck is Dr. Zeus

Take it back aka The System

****Chinese*Whispers******