The Weekly Froth! - 20160226

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the Week:‘Work It Alright’ by Pontchartrain

On the ever classy Whiskey Disco label we get Pontchartrain doing a bit of their magic, first slowly setting the mood, but then surely adding more rhythm in with some extra percussion. Just before the minute mark the bass walks in, becoming ever more prominent along with the aforementioned instrument group. And they’re working together when the third main component comes in, the vocals, male, deep, and soul. And they’re singing that they "love you baby" (you go gurrrl), after which the song gets down to it with that sexy bass groove. At the 3:30 mark they dial down on the rhythm a bit, leaving the bass in there, but adding a bit of a guitar riff, giving you a bit of those extras, after which they slowly work back by adding some percussion again. And by re-entering those vocals, singing You better watch, watch where you go, as the guitar starts ripping it up, giving you that blues right there. After that, the bass and drums come in again, giving you that main groove for another go around. Just a killer of a track by a label whose vinyl I happily play to get into that dancing mood.

‘Love Apparel’ by Lorenzo Dada (Axel Boman remix)

This one starts with a bit of rhythm and a bit of glitch, soon coming up first with some work on the keys, and then, to contrast, the steady beat. Around the minute mark you also get some of the vocals in, super calm. Then a little bass sound, not for the rhythm, but for the vibe, a deep sound contrasting the keys. And so you have some higher pitched, more frantic elements, mixed with the bass, beat, and vocals, giving you that steady, calm, know-where-the-beat-is feel. At about 2:45 the latter group gets dialled down for a moment, with first the vocals returning in their moodiness. Then, the beat again, giving you the deep house feel of Axel Boman, with smatterings of light via the keys. One of those steady house cuts where the interplay between some of the contrasts give you the hypnotic as well as the touch you need to make it work.

‘WCWLT’ by Timmy Thomas (FLUSH edit)

FLUSH is another alias for Aeroplane, and for this one he gets the percussion going before diving into the original sounds of ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’, giving it a dancefloor tom-tom feel to give this ol’ disco classic just a little bit of a different twang. At 1:40, the bass after the familiar transition, and then the vocals, pleading to know, boy, Why can’t we live together (Tell me why, tell me why, tell me why). By this time the percussion is still there, but is now part of the bigger rhythm part, with some of the old classic sounds bringing you the vibes of yore for the nostalgia bit. The synth line you can hear around the 3:10 mark, that is a nice touch that gives it a bit of that sense of pace, and when the instrumental solo starts FLUSH makes sure to also get the bass back in for all you dancers to hold on to. So plenty of percussion and bass for rhythm, a bit of that dancefloor feel, and naturally plenty of room for the Timmy Thomas bits. Just another nice edit for this classic disco cut.

‘Nobody Else’ by Jarreau Vandal feat. Brasstracks & Niya Wells (Pat Lok remix)

How about some of that drug hazed night vibe at the start, doing the slow burn. That slow burn quickly gets contrasted by those fast talking vocals, at one point singing, nay, imploring you Give me your love. Then, just before the minute mark, the synth and the beat for riff and rhythm, giving backbone to the pop feel that the combination with the singing brings out. At 1:50, the major slow-mo, bringing it all the way down before working it back up first, and then bringing in that beat and synth again second. And all that keeps working as she sings that she wants you to know that you’re the only one she’s dreaming of. There are some nifty transitions here, going from very nu-electronical to old school sounds, like some jazzy vibes, or the piano at the very end. Lots going on in this nice Pat Lok remix.

 ‘I’ve Got To Dance’ by The Destinations (Debonair Rework)

Debonair starts no punches pulled, going club with The Destinations, a '70s disco group. The beat here, though, hits hard over the cymbal action, only later putting the disco and funk feel in. Slowly but surely elements of that time come back, culminating to its peak at about the 1:30 mark, by which time it’s full throttle. At 1:50 that is combined with the pace and, a few seconds later, the vocals, telling us to “dance” and doing so numerous times. Debonair makes sure to keep up the pace, so people who are willing should have no trouble. Around the 2:50 mark we get another change-up in which the tempo surely doesn’t drop, really working that thing right there. Before 4:40 they remove the beat for a minute, but they come back with some of that bass to keep it all afloat. Up-tempo dancing, with enough disco infused sounds to bring us back to our disco destinations (…).

 ‘Crazy’ by Seal (Rayko Crazy Rework)

Rayko takes on the main hit of Australia’s The Voice judge Seal, going with the riff predominantly, and then the bass for a bit of that rhythm. After the 1:10 mark we get atmospheric synths and extra percussion, and the next change-up sees the entrance of the vocals. First the verse, and obviously working towards the well-known chorus. Leading up to that, Rayko strips the rhythm sounds first to have the focus on the vocals as Seal sings that We’re never going to survive, unless we get a little crazy. And then, not the pounce, but a bassy synth sound, followed and helped out by a bit of a beat. He rides that one for a short while, before returning to the more subdued dancing nature of earlier. To bring the edit to an end he goes to the soulful vocals again, letting them fade out to signal the finish. Rayko has a nice little slow tempo song going on here, just doing that edit thing he does so well.