For the last month or so I have found myself listening to a lot of Chic, and Chic-produced musics. “Chic?!?!?!??” will say the cooligans, “Aren’t they spangly disco nonsense what only gets played at Christmas parties and such and such and such??!?!?”
Well, yes and no. And no again. Because if there was an award doled out for Most Overlooked Clever Buggers In Music, well, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic would… probably be overlooked for it. So I’m going to do my own wee bit to try and explain why the pair deserve at least a dozen props from listeners of music all over this dumb old world.
Did you ever have one of these things when you were A Young?
I did. I specifically asked Santa for one, I seem to remember. I needed to assert myself against the haters (i.e., my mischievouslittle brother), see. So when I got it I printed out labels with “Stuart’s desk” and “Stuart’s Boba Fett” and slapped them on my things.
You can laugh, but nobody had the nerve to steal that desk. I’m pretty sure my brother still got Boba Fett though.
This clever short video, “Lyrical Spread”, makes rather better use of a Dymo (other labelmakers are available), and it’s all kinds of mesmerising. Soundtracked by the hooky, cricket-fixated “Batter, Rapper And The Mad Hatter” by some UK hip-hoppists called 9 Chameleons, it features dollops of lyrics printed out and spread like budda all over a nice English afternoon tea. Yummers!
This came via Radar Music Videos, who showcase cameraloads of talented viditors on the reglear (and offer commissions for filmmakers to pitch for).
They’ve also done some tray bong full-length mixes which will appeal to anyone who likes a splash of disco on their dance music. I’ve been listening to this Essential Mix for the last two months or so now!!!!!!!!?
At the end of September their debut album “takes off”, and expectations are that it will be “plane” brilliant.
*pauses for audience laughter*
As if that weren’t good enough, they’ve roped my favourite electrofunk overdue-an-albumers Chromeo to remix their new single “Superstar”. Here it is:
Don’t you dig that “This is a preview” line? Here’s the original version, sans Chromeo:
