Just Myles Covers “Twice” (Little Dragon)

http://www.vimeo.com/17163029

Hisson1083 with X-Factor | St. Nick’s Pub | 10.21.10

http://www.vimeo.com/16917235

Really?

One Sentence Album Reviews by Terrence “Hot Foot” Lathan

“If Heaven and Eden were combined this would be the soundtrack.”

“So much soul in a little piece of plastic.”

“A unique vision painted over a canvas of eclectic samples.”

Stuff We Could’ve Shot

Francis + The Lights “Darling, It’s Alright”

A single take live performance, edited with light.

On Unofficial Marketing…The Black Keys

Oh you musicians and your clever anti-marketing ploys.

What I downloaded today:

Well really yesterday…but that wasn’t as captivating a title.
I guess this title is only as captivating as you value my taste in music…
Pfft whatever.

Just download this and thank me later.

JP.

And introducing…The Transparent

Welcome to The Transparent.
A brand new video series crafted by Omari Soulfinger.
We’re very excited to bring this to you. It’s been a long time in the making.
This particular clip is footage from the first volume of videos that will also be featured in the Our Image Film Festival this year.

Recently we caught up with Soulfinger (it wasn’t hard he can’t run that fast).
Here’s what he had to say about the forthcoming series.

Soulfinger: Kurt Vonnegut once said “Be careful what you pretend to be… because you are what you pretend to be.” Yeah so uh…”The Transparent” it’s like a big ol mixing bowl of sketches, reenactments, music videos, interviews, social experiments, and performance art that stir stir… I say stir up the questions, opinions and theories behind the lack of sincerity and candor of these times. Why do we feel obligated to people’s birthday parties that we don’t really know or like? Why are we forced to lie when our boss asks “So what do you think?”… What is the socially acceptable time limit for falling in love? … “Why do I wear clothes I hate 5 days a week, just to buy clothes I like to wear for only 2 days a week?… ‘Cos lets face it, we all have a minimum of 2 identities. The “who” we are and the “who” society has decided we should be. (He pauses to take a bite of a fish sandwich) Kna saying?…It’s delicious, ingredients feature a fresh cast of award winning friends and whoever responded back to me on Craigslist. A smorgesboard of local musical beings and madness. Real Righteous and all that…
—

Be sure to keep checking back for new content and updates.
For more info on Soulfinger check out

I’m Just Sayin… Mariah Carey

Of Mariah and Mermaids

In the 90s, few things were bigger than Disney movies. Of these movies, none was better than the Little Mermaid (except the Lion King…Africans always hold it down). Ariel is a flighty songstress with aspirations of being a regular human. She willfully traded her voice for a pair of legs, and a real chance of love with Prince Eric.

The only thing bigger in the 1990s than the Little Mermaid? Mariah Carey. Mariah’s music played the soundtrack to our childhood lives. All of our mothers jammed “Vision of Love” like there was no tomorrow. Everybody has sung “Hero” at least once during elementary assemblies . Mariah got even more fly when she re-discovered her black side.

Why am I talking about the Little Mermaid and Mariah? Follow me, here. Because I’m convinced they’re the same person! Yeah I said it. Mariah IS the Little Mermaid. Let’s look at the similarities:

1. Like Mariah, Ariel can sang her [wild donkey] off.
2. They’re both crazy. Mariah babbles and strips in public, while Ariel combs her hair with forks (WTF?).
3. History tells us that mermaids were created by seamen (getcha mind out the gutter) who mistook swimming dolphins for long-haired, scantily-clad, women-fish. Ironically, Mariah specializes in singing high notes that sound a lot like the noise Flipper makes. And we all know Mariah has a particular penchant for bare midriffs and mermaid-weave.
4. Both of them apparently sold their voices for a great pair of legs.

So this begs the question….if Mariah is Ariel, does that make Christina Aguilera the same person as Ursula? I mean, isn’t it odd how Mariah’s voice slowly dissipated in the late-90s right as Christina started to get her shine? In fact, I’m convinced that Mariah’s recent proclivity towards whisper-singing and constant hand-flailing is a desperate attempt to distract us from the fact her voice that disappeared faster than D’Angelo’s abs.

Disagree if you want, but why else do you think Mariah voice drifted off to whatever purgatory is holding Lauryn’s sanity??

I mean…I’m just sayin’
B.Dienye

The Greatest Band You’ll Never Hear…Again. Part I

In a refurbished rowhouse in Houston’s Third Ward, I was privy to one of the most amazing musical experiences of my life, and this was just a rehearsal.

In September of 2008, a few days after Hurricane Ike had ripped through the Gulf Coast, I received a phone call from my friend Justin.
me: What’s up man?
Justin: I’m starting a band.
me: Huh?
Justin: I’m starting a band.
me: Oh cool. With who?
Justin: Fran, Carlos, Denis and his brother Abel.
me: …….yes!!

Justin is one of those frustratingly talented friends whose creations leave you both happy and tormented. Happy because of the quality, tormented because of the lapses in between. Since I met him I knew he was supposed to do something special, important.
I’d seen him through two production crews, Underground Station (with Carlos) & Neon Collars (with Denis) and some forays an MC. All of which I thought had amazing potential and promise. But something was always amiss. There were elements or a vibe that was not completely there. The band made sense. It felt like a natural progression, the evolution of his previous bodies of work.

And then there’s Fran. Her talent is undeniable. There’s so much passion and pain and confusion and hope and sorrow and yearning in that voice. It’s humanity, weaved and sewn into notes and melodies. And it escapes from her body with such an intense yearning. It’s as if her words are messages from another world sent to save you from some impending, steadily approaching doom; light amidst so much darkness. This is coupled with this uncanny, yet natural way of making you fall in love with her. Her presence instantly puts you at ease yet demands your attention, or better yet you eagerly offer it.

A collaboration between these two spirits potentially possessed a power that was truly world changing, if only individual worlds, if only one at a time. Just the thought of it had formed synapses in my brain that redefined possibility and reshaped my own potential. This is why I knew it would work. This is why I was excited about it.

Actually, I was more than just excited. I remember feeling a sense of relief. What they were committing to do was important; it were as if it proved something. That something was possible. That purposes and passions will align and seek others of their kind, a confirmation long awaited and much desired.

After what I was told was a very exciting meeting and introduction, Justin Lewis, Franchelle Lucas, Carlos Conway, Denis and Abel Cisneros formed Neon Collars, the band.

For the next 2 months I waited, painstakingly, to hear just a snippet of anything they had produced. I would drive by the rehearsal space, call random band members during rehearsal time, offer to cater, but to no avail. When I was finally invited to witness, it was much more than I ever knew to expect. In a refurbished rowhouse in Houston’s Third Ward, I was privy to one of the most amazing musical experiences of my life, and this was just a rehearsal.

At this point in time they were preparing for their first gig, The Project Row Houses Fall Festival. This is a community festival that often serves as a platform to showcase the art of Project Row Houses‘ friends and community partners, that happens in the Third Ward Community of Houston, TX.

The buzz about the band had circulated quickly throughout the community, as we were all familiar fans of the individual members’ solo efforts, so this was the majority of the audience. While we were all in ecstatic joy and excitement with the first notes, the experience became ethereal when these sounds became present in the eardrums and the spirits of unsuspecting people passing by in the neighborhood. It was as if the songs possessed a gravity that they couldn’t escape.
For the next 30 minutes we all were exposed to a world we had never experienced before.

It was rough, organic, unpolished and beautiful. It was the music of purposes aligned for a moment in time. I loved it because it was proof that diligence and passion and faith truly do produce sweet fruit.

Listen.