Happy Bastille Day!

Sacre bleu, it's Bastille Day, and your favorite Enfants Terribles almost accidentally let the day pass with nary a nod to our French namesakes. We couldn't let that happen, now could we? Now, my last visit to France consisted of me getting in a screaming match with the customs guy at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, but what can you do? Nice remains perhaps my favorite European city, and who doesn't love a good croissant now and again? Don't even get me started on fries.

In celebration of le quatorze juillet, we've put together a little mix of Frenchified tunes for your listening enjoyment. As His Royal Badness once said, "That's French. See?"

Just don't ask me what any of the songs mean. While Madame Farina will be aghast, my four years of high school French did not stick so well. i'm pretty sure i remember how to say "Your mom sleeps with my dog," though.

mp3: Les Debris, Ils Sont Blancs (Phil Lee from The Mighty King of Love)

mp3: Les Yeux Ouverts (Dream A Little Dream Of Me) (Emilie-Claire Barlow from The Very Thought of You)

mp3: Belleville Rendez-Vous (French Version) (The Triplets Of Belleville from The Triplets Of Belleville Soundtrack)

mp3: En Melody (Serge Gainsbourg from Histoire De Melody Nelson)

mp3: Sympathique (Pink Martini from Sympathique)

mp3: C'est Moi (Robert Goulet from Camelot Original Broadway Recording)

mp3: Comme des Enfants (Coeur De Pirate from Coeur De Pirate)

mp3: La Mer (Kevin Kline from French Kiss Soundtrack)

mp3: Comic Strip (Brigitte Bardot from Best of Bardot)

mp3: L'Un Part L'Autre Reste (Charlotte Gainsbourg from L'Un Part L'Autre Reste)

mp3: Can't Change Me (French Version) (Chris Cornell from Euphoria Morning French Release)

mp3: Transmitting Live from Mars (De La Soul from 3 Feet High and Rising)

mp3: French Taunting (French Guard from Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Last Second Tickets and Sympathetic Music

Guess who got last second tickets to see Stevie Wonder tonight? Expect a review tomorrow. Stevie definitely is one of the greatest artists of our times, and he's definitely on my list of "Artists You Must See Before You (Or They) Kick The Bucket." Certainly a nice surprise to start my day, but it means i can't spend hours making you kids the Greatest Mix You Ever Will Hear About Rectal Microbicides or anything. You'll just have to take a couple of mp3s and deal with it.

So here's a track by Stevie, and De La Soul using it as excellent sample material.

mp3: Hey Love (Stevie Wonder from Down to Earth)

mp3: Talkin' 'Bout Hey Love (De La Soul from De La Soul is Dead)

i'm sorry, but i just can't do a Stevie post and NOT embed the funkiest Sesame Street jam of all times.

Oh, and for my wonderful co-conspirator and her friend Lightning Girl, this man feels your pain.

mp3: Nine Inch Nails (Ridley Bent from Buckles & Boots)

Blunted Mixtape Love of the Soul

Looks like LET experienced a bit of a surge visitor-wise last week, so if you're a newbie, welcome to the laugh fest. Leave your pants at the door, grab some dip and a professional party assistant will be with you shortly. In the meantime, don't put your mouth on that. Seriously. Freak.

Now, i could ascribe last week's jump to the Oscillations piece, or perhaps the return of fan fave Free Music Friday. i'm guessing, however, that a bunch of you damn stoner kids found The Greatest 420 Mix You Will Ever Hear Today, Part the First and Part the Second. Can you believe it? Potheads, here in our midst. Cheeba monkeys hanging out with the likes of you and me. Bong boys and ganja girls doing Buddah knows what in the more poorly lit corners. Well, you know what i have to say to that? MY PEOPLE!!! How ya' been? Welcome home, dear friends.

And on that note, our first mixtape, Smokin Blunts Effectively, comes from appropriately acronymed SBE. Comprised of the dope duo (see how i did that?) Gainstaville and Killa Cali, you've got to give anyone props who can put together nearly 45 minutes of tracks devoted to the reefer. Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, the two actually manage to continuously spit new and different angles at the subject. Who says smoking herb makes one slow? Ass hats, that's who. Sure, you've probably got to be a fan of the subject in the first place, but assuming you are, you won't be bored, and you should be entertained. If nothing else, you'll learn about more strains of indica and sativa than you'll typically find at the Cannabis Cup. Which is nice.

mp3: Pass the Dutchie (SBE from Smokin Blunts Effectively)

mp3: Twist that Green (SBE from Smokin Blunts Effectively)

Secondly, but not secondary, you noobs will learn that i eschew hyperbole with the white hot intensity of a thousand joints. That said, i stumbled upon the single greatest DJ-tastic De La Soul mix of all times. So This is De La Heaven, Part One by DJ Platurn plays source material from some of your fave Soul track samples. And DJ Platurn obviously is no rookie on the wheels of steel, as he cuts things up like a stoned ninja*. My only "complaint" is that it's one continuous hour-long track, but that's just nitpicky, so i've got to give this one two thumbs up, four stars, ten out of ten, and a partridge in a pear tree.

mp3: So This is De La Heaven, Part One by DJ Platurn

Did i mention that i saw De La Soul at the 15th Annual Cannabis Cup? And thus, it all comes back to footwear.

*Ed note: And with that, i should be at the top of the google pages for "gratuitous marijuana references." Thanks for playing along, kids.

It's Covered: Hall & Oates

You're right, today's "It's Covered" is a bit of a departure from the norm. Sort of like your latest love interest. Boo yah!

While we normally discuss a single cover song, right now i'm going to wax rhapsodic about a band that's seemingly being covered by everyone. That's right, it appears that 2010 is the Year of the HallenOates. And i'm not the only one noticing, as our good friend at Berkeley Place recently has opined the same.

In the past few months alone, the world has been given full Darryl Hall and John Oates tribute albums by such indie stalwarts as The Bird and the Bee and such, um, freakazoids as Koot Hoomi. Now, B&B's CD is wonderfully named (Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1) and is pretty much a straight cover affair, doing little to add to the originals. That being said, these faithful versions definitely are listenable. KH, on the other hand, takes an entirely different track. With their The Dark Side of Hall & Oates, in addition to sporting one of the best album covers of the year, the band "have chosen to re-imagine the music as it might exist in an alternate universe--replete with off-kilter harmonies, psychedelic swirl, minor-key digressions, and the occasional spot of Tuvan throat-singing; all recorded with cheap instruments on an old-school Tascam 488 analog tape recorder." Quite frankly, if that's not enough to spark your interest, well, you, sir/madam, are a fool.

Then i started thinking about it and quickly realized i had cover versions of various other H&O tracks from all over the place. Looking for a Quebecois version by an all 80s gypsy jazz cover band? Got it. How about a reinterpretation of the De La Soul track sampling the hell out of one of their biggest hits? You know we do, buddy. Hell, i'll even through in the original, just 'cuz i'm that type of guy. (Yes, the pudding is delicious, and a gajillion non-refundable LET Bonus Points (tm) to whoever gets that reference, good for nothing but white suburban street cred.) You know, i'm even going to throw the remix out there, too. Lords of Light, i am good to you people. i also had that Nina Simone track prior to BP's posting, but since i've already taken the trouble to link you over there, it would seem like cheating to do it here, too. We still need to fill your female fix, you say? Joan Osborne to the rescue, kids. How about an acoustic-y, bongo-y take from an album with a cover featuring large, albeit poorly covered, boobs? Uh hunh. Thanks, Ginger Rose. Too much blue eyed soul? Brian McKnight has our back. i don't really have a set-up for Mike Oldfield, but i do have the cover.

Quite frankly, that's enough for now, as i's got shit to do.

Ed. Note and Correction: It was brought to my attention by one of our readers, the possibly honorable Brett, that "Family Man" was written by Mike Oldfield, NOT the HallenOates Beast, so while it's still technically covered, i had it reversed. So, yeah, there you have it. While it's not exactly incriminating pictures of an ex-gf, the gesture still is appreciated. Doesn't sharing make us all feel good?

mp3: Private Eyes (The Bird and the Bee from Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates)

mp3: Kiss On My List (Koot Hoomi from The Dark Side of Hall & Oates)

mp3: Maneater (The Lost Fingers from Live In Brossard (CBC Radio 2) )

mp3: Say No Go (The Kickdrums f/ Esso & Chaundon) (Mick Boogie & Terry Urban from LE DA SOUL: 20 Years of De La Soul)

mp3: Say No Go (De La Soul from Three Feet High and Rising)

mp3: Say No Go (New Keys Vocal) (De La Soul from Three Feet High and Rising)

mp3: Sara Smile (Joan Osborne from Breakfast in Bed)

mp3: Kiss On My List (Ginger Rose from You'll Love It In the Morning)

mp3: I Can't Go for That (Brian McKnight from Brian McKnight)

mp3: Family Man (Mike Oldfield from The Best of Mike Oldfield: Elements)

The Greatest "All" Mix You Will Ever Hear, As Relates To Some Daffy Blogger Forgetting To Read Your Email

As some of you fine musicians and assumed inebriated readers who stop by to muck about LET might already know, i've got an apology to make. It seems that the main LET mailbox has gone unattended for some time, resulting in a slew of emails not having been read and/or responded to in a timely matter. i thought i set up the defaults to send copies of everything that went there to my personal email addy, but clearly messed up that endeavor. A handful of folks already have received personal emails, and the rest of you were probably wondering what Cyclo-flo' had that you didn't. Mia culpa.

The good news is the problem has been resolved. The better news is that we now have a rather large backlog of stuff to share. It appears we have a little bit of everything waiting to be checked out--the tip of the iceberg alone shows indie rock, DJ/beat scene mixes, remixes, acoustic tracks, and a little something from my personal favorite local DC-area artist. Sadly, it appears we're still waiting on additional Nigerian hip-hop offerings, but we can all hope, right?

Just to be on the safe side, if you sent in something recently (like the last three months or so recently), you might want to resend. i'm not saying that implied and outright promises of sex and drugs will help us to write about your rock 'n roll, but Black Dynamite knows it won't hurt.

To make amends, since it's all my fault that this happened, it's only fair to give you The Greatest "All" Mix You Will Ever Hear, As Relates To Some Daffy Blogger Forgetting To Read Your Email

mp3: All Apologies (Nirvana Cover by Ben Gibbard from some 2007 Live Show in NY)

mp3: All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem Cover by Franz Ferdinand from All My Friends maxi-single)

mp3: All My Friends (Broken Social Scene from a live KCRW performance on 11.08.05)

mp3: All Good (De La Soul from Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump)

mp3: All Consolation (White Denim from Fits)

mp3: All Better Now (Earl Greyhound from Soft Targets)

mp3: All For U (RJD2 from Magnificent City Instrumentals)

mp3: All Your Love (Buddy Guy from DJ Play My Blues)

mp3: All That Jizz (Killer Mike from Frisky Dingo)

mp3: All You Men Are All Alike ( Madeline Kahn from Young Frankenstein)

More Free Mixtape Love

i hope to get another post up later today, but i'm totally blown away by what i'd call some rather glaring omissions from some of the "Top 10 Mixtapes" lists i've been seeing. i'm pretty sure it's my self-appointed duty to do what i can to enlighten the masses, no? As always, props to those that helped me find this stuff in the first place.

Heads noddin' and bobbin' shout out to the incomparable Berkeley Place for heppin' LET to "LE DA SOUL: 20 Years of De La Soul" from GetRightMusic.com. i've professed my love for those D.A.I.S.Y. lovers here before, so imagine my delight finding a mixtape of some up and comers rapping over De La beats. Very, very nice.

And, of course, yet another tip of the kangol to Passion of the Weiss for introducing LET to both Danny! and Flying Lotus. i've already waxed rhapsodic on Danny!, so let me take a moment or two to do the same for Flying Lotus. The fool is a space-age DJ that sounds years ahead of the game. When he gave away those Lil' Wayne remixes earlier this year, i figured he'd done enough to keep the masses happy, but then he goes and releases a 10-year retrospective mixed by the Gaslamp Killer. Sweet Bippy, this is some incredible stuff.

(Ed. note: i hope LET readers are checking out those aforementioned blogs with undying loyalty, so my apologies to those that are and see some repetition of topics. However, it's always good tuneage, so don't be so damn pushy.)

mp3: Pease Porridge (Mick Boogie & Terry Urban ft. Phife Dawg from LE DA SOUL: 20 Years of De La Soul)

mp3: Fa Fa Fa (Danny! from Where is Danny?)

mp3: Robo Tussin (Flying Lotus ft. Lil' Wayne)

mp3: A Decade of Flying Lotus (Flying Lotus remixed by Gaslamp Killer)

The Greatest Inappropriate for a Workplace Xmas Party Mix You Will Ever Hear

So today's mix theme is hysterectomies.

Actually, i am totally fucking with you. A hysterectomy mix. Jebus, can you imagine? Yipes.

i do, however, have a mix in mind. Here it is, nearly halfway through December, and i haven't put together one Christmas Mix for you cats. (Yes, i do say Christmas--not Holiday or Seasonal. Look, i'm about as agnostic as they come, but if the early Christians went to all that trouble to rip off the pagans in their efforts to destroy the older religion, well then, by gum, it's their damn holiday, and they get to call the shots. Fair is fair, after all. And co-opting is for the birds.)

After much prodding, my lazy ass got around to making an Xmas Mix for the Missus' office party. The only "rule" i was given was to keep it clean enough for the post-party clean-up. i thought i did a pretty good job, with only one "maybe not" song on there. Of course, the mix consequently was played in front of some Veep, who then admonished the Missus, who then let me know what was what.

Note to readers: As kick ass a song as it is, Fairytale of New York by the Pogues apparently isn't "appropriate for a workplace environment." Go figure.

It is with the above in mind that i bring to you The Greatest Inappropriate for a Workplace Xmas Party Mix You Will Ever Hear. My stars and garters, you are some lucky bastards.

mp3: Clark Griswold's Christmas Wish (Chevy Chase from Christmas Vacation)

What better way to kick things off than this heartfelt wish for the true meaning of Christmas.

mp3: Evergreen (MC Chris from Eating's Not Cheating)

I could have gone with a couple of different tracks by my personal favorite pint-sized rapper, but this one seemed to work best. Sure, he's talking about, you know, the reefer, but he's Christmas-ed it up by using Xmas foliage as a metaphor. Which was nice of him.

mp3: Give the Jew Girls Toys (Sarah Silverman from Jesus is Magic)

i'll be honest, i didn't care for many of the songs on this otherwise hilarious CD, but what's not to love about a Hebron sister's plea for her share of the Xmas loot? Plus, it encompasses my favorite part of religion--quaint dismissal of all other religions. Gods bless us, everyone!

mp3: Don't Eat the Yellow Snow (Frank Zappa from Apostrophe ('))

Not technically Christmas specific, but it's certainly winter-y enough to make the list. Plus, everyone needs a bit more Zappa in their daily diet. Anyway, some people find this song to be gross. Personally, i think it's just good advice.

mp3: Nicholas Was... (Neil Gaiman from Warning: Contains Language)

i've probably mentioned it before, but Neil is one of my top three favorite current writers. There's nothing particularly "inappropriate" about this spoken word piece at all. But it is kind of creepy as hell. You certainly wouldn't want to play this at any party with young kids present, though, i'm pretty sure of that.

mp3: Santa Claus is Smoking Reefer (Squirrel Nut Zippers from Sold Out)

This is actually a "hidden" track on the album. Why do bands do that? It's not hidden at all, jack, you're just making me sit through some indeterminate period of silence before the pay-off. Pretty selfish if you ask me, dog. Just saying. Anyway, even though it's kind of old-timey jazz, most employers don't like pot tracks. Bastards.

mp3: A Pimp's Christmas Song (Snoop Dogg from Christmas in the Dogghouse)

Dude, it's a Christmas song by Snoop Dogg. Do the math.

mp3: Mrs. Claus' Kimono (Drive-By Truckers from The Fine Print)

An elf's plan to bang Santa's Old Lady. Monkey bless the U.S. of A.

mp3: Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa (De La Soul from De La Soul is Dead)

You'd think this would have everything an office Xmas track would need--rape, incest and murder. Well, i guess that depends entirely on where you work. i could have gone with the Roots cover here, as it's arguably an even creepier version, but i'm down with De La. What can i say?

mp3: Fairytale of New York (The Pogues from If I Should Fall From Grace From God)

i'm fairly confident this was the verse that didn't sit well with the Veep:

You're a bum

You're a punk

You're an old slut on junk

Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed

You scumbag, you maggot

You cheap lousy faggot

Happy Christmas your arse

I pray God it's our last

i fucking love my Mc Brethern.

Fast Break Breakfast Raps

On-going LET favorite Passion of the Weiss did it again recently, introducing yours truly to a damn fine MC by the name of Danny! In a kush addled haze, I distinctly recall him posing the question, "Who else rhymes about breakfast?" I took that clearly rhetorical musing, of course, as a direct challenge to put together a brief mini-mix of rap songs specifically about the alleged "most important meal of the day."

Of course, upon re-reading the post just now, there obviously is no such question posed, rhetorically or otherwise. But I still have a mini-mix of breakfast raps here, so you're gonna take 'em, and you're gonna like 'em. Along with real food, it's part of a well balanced meal. Or something like that.

To get things started, we're going with the original culprit in this whole thing, Danny! As Passion sagely points out, any song with the lyrics “fuck rhyming about a broad, rhyming about a necklace, rhyming about some sex, I’m rhyming about my breakfast” obviously deserves to kick things off. Next in the line-up is an older jam I've dug for years, "Milky Cereal" by Ladies Love Cool James himself. For those of you old enough to have been around, do you remember when LL did his unplugged performance on MTV? To this day, the one thing that sticks out most in my mind is the screamingly blatant deodorant pits the guy was sporting. As I attempt to return from that tangential line of stream of consciousness, I'll point out that LL uses the names of various cereals as euphemisms for what essentially is one of his trademark sex raps. Following that, Biz Markie does what Biz Markie does over a smooth beat by the always excellent DJ Yoda. Afterwards is the track that drove me coo coo for Cocoa Puffs for both Murs and DJ Z-Trip. This track is as much about watching 80s cartoons as it is about breakfast, but that simply makes it that much more awesome and amazing, right? I possibly should have stopped there, but I found I simply couldn't, so sue me. "Bitties in the BK Lounge" by De La Soul really only opens with a line or two about breakfast before going on to describe an encounter with less than helpful BK workers. Wait for the second half, though, when the argument starts between the manager and Shoshana. That's comedy gold right there, kids. And that, I would hope, should be enough to fill you up for now.

mp3: Scrambled Eggs (Danny! from Dream, Extinguished)

mp3: Milky Cereal (LL Cool J from Mama Said Knock You Out)

mp3: Breakfast Cereal (DJ Yoda ft. Biz Markie from The Amazing Adventures of DJ Yoda)

mp3: Breakfast Club (DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs and Supernatural from Shifting Gears)

mp3: Bitties in the BK Lounge (De La Soul from De La Soul Is Dead)

Live Review: De La Soul, 9:30 Club, 8-11-09

The ultimate trio of the most pseudonymed act in hip hop today just blew through DC to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their seminal debut, Three Feet High and Rising. I didn't realize this when I bought the ticket, I simply have loved their music since I first heard the trippy "Me, Myself and I" and knew I had to go. In today's era of everything from hardcore gangsta to underground acts like The Living Legends, this might not sound like that big a deal, but De La truly was one of the first rap acts that went against the conventional sound of the day. Sure, they were sampling bands like Parliament/Funkadelic, but here were three kids preaching peace and potholes over the Turtles and a French language instructional loop. They eschewed gold medallions for black leather necklaces. Oh yeah, and they were instrumental in the Native Tongues, which you might have heard of, seeing as it helped launch a little band called A Tribe Called Quest. And while this is all excellent, it still came as a shock to me when I realized I first caught De La live when they were originally promoting 3 Feet. While one might go to shows to feel nostalgic, one does not go simply to feel old.

Fortunately, this issue quickly dissipated once DLS took the stage and fucking rocked the place out. The show opened when P.A. Pasemaster Mase (aka Maseo aka Plug Three aka Baby Huey) took the stage and introduced the crowd to his latest protegee, Billy Ray. While it may have taken two of his four or so songs to get the crowd on his side, I'd say he did eventually win them over. Of course, then Posdnuos (Mercenary aka Plug Wonder Why aka Plug One and Trugoy the Dove aka Dave aka Plug Two (see what I mean?) took the stage and the crowd went wild. Backed by the Rhythm Roots All-Stars, this honestly was the best damn hip hop show I've seen in quite a while. The boys were loose, funky and obviously having a blast. While the show ran heavily on Three Feet tracks (Eye Know, Jenifa Taught Me, Buddy, and others), they also dropped knowledge from Buhloone Mindstate (I Am I Be), The Grind Date (Rock Co.Kane Flow) and Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (Oooh). While the lyrics remained largely the same as the originals, I was impressed that certain lines had been altered and updated to reflect the times. While the RRAS were great, it wasn't until the final encore when each member was introduced and given a solo that the crowd found out just how scary talented those cats are. (Note to self: See them again. Quickly and often). Also during the encore, Plug Two gave a little history of hip-hop lesson and the band launched into some Run DMC to the room's delight. Plug One also received a little ribbing and a lot of love as the band had two attractive young ladies bring out two birthday cakes to celebrate the MC's 40th birthday.

Perhaps the most "interesting" thing of all I noticed during the concert was the fact that it was the most diverse crowd I've seen at any show at the 9:30 Club (or maybe anywhere). You had some middle aged Old Skoolers getting funky alongside of white suburban teenagers, with pretty much any and every shade of the spectrum in between bobbing their heads along to the rhymes. This is not only testament to the band's wide ranging fan base, but also a sign that if you're a great band that can rock the mic, people will clamor to hear you play.

Clearly, De La Soul is not dead.

mp3: I Am I Be

mp3: Rock Co.Kane Flow