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The Weekly Froth! - 20161007

  • Published in Columns

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: ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by Midnight Magic

Midnight Magic get things going with the bass, followed by Tiffany Roth singing "I gotta feeling coming on", accompanied by some percussion and a steady kick. The bass comes in with a vengeance just after the minute mark, as her feeling is Coming on stroooong. At 1:40 the first verse comes in, with the vocals being put through some echo. Just after the two minute mark the vocals get a minute of rest, and the horns get subbed in. The vocals come back though, and around 4:00 they briefly are allowed to give it a whirl without the rhythm section, though all of that comes back in again for that final punch. Midnight Magic always manage to sound as if disco is just the funnest thing in the world (which it is, obviously, but still), giving you all that goodness of a day out in that gay bar of town. A new album is coming out next month, and this single has, amongst others, a remix by one of my favs Jacques Renault. Even with winter coming, it’s going to be hard to be a sour puss now, eh?

 

‘Negative Space’ by Axel Frankel

Let’s get the '80s synth and pop out, as Holy Ghost!’s Axel Frankel takes a stab at that solo. And he goes for a catchy, synth filled pop tune with a steady drum, some guitar riffing in there, and some double vocals to give you even more of that chorus vibe. At 2:40 there’s a moment where he focuses more on the drum and vocal combo, after which he quickly moves the guitar riff back in to lead the way back to the chorus. In which he sings, Why can’t you choose, why can’t you lose?, with at the end of the chorus the synths coming back in with Axel Frankel singing that It’s the negative space. If you’d ask me to point out the differences between Holy Ghost! and this solo effort, it, to me, feels like Holy Ghost! is slightly more disco & dance and slightly less 80s and Pop, though you can hear similarities in both. Not that I mind, Holy Ghost!, to me, is criminally underrated, and to get one of those guys making more catchy tunes is something I’m all for.

‘Space Echo’ by Daniel Avery

Taken from his recent outing in the DJ Kicks series comes this one, starting all dark and broody, focussing purely on the atmospherical sounds. The broiling underneath, and the somewhat ominous synth floating on top of that, certainly set the mood here. Though, at points, there’s also a lighter synth, one that really starts to come through at about 1:45. As there’s always light, even in the darkest of tunnels. It’s an ambient piece, there to get hypnotised by, and for that Avery does a stellar job. A brooding cut off of !K7's latest instalment of a series that gives you all different angles from the DJ booth, this being one of them.

 

‘Waiting’ by Nils Bech

Nils Bech starts this one with all kinds of avant-garde sounds, after which there’s a boom, followed by a rather scary synth, as if Don Giovanni’s father will soon descend the staircase. Instead, there come his vocals, which do move to the classically trained sound, reminding me of The Irrepressibles who had an amazing album out a few years ago. At the two minute mark though, there comes the contrast, with a hard hitting beat and, ehrm, barking sounds? And then, the operatic vocals again, moving, at one point, upwards and upwards, helped out by the synths to combat the evil machinery that are the drums (drums-ex-machine?). Released on the DFA label, which is nearly always a guarantee for something at least interesting, here combining the impressive and trained vocal work of Bech with the punchy percussion.

‘Mad’ by Solange feat. Lil Wayne

Solange released a surprise album last week, announcing that she’ll be at the table when company comes next go around. This track starts with a nice R&B vibe, dictated by the drums, and helped out by the extra vocals as she goes about the first verse. Then Lil Wayne comes in, providing the rapping male vocals to juxtapose the honey sweet sound that Solange puts on display for this track, though as she tells you that she’s Got a lot to be mad about the message trumps the vocal calm. Lil Wayne, in the mean time, ends all his rounds with that you’ve got to Let it go (yet, not so much in the Disney sense). It’s a worthy display by Solange, with a super nice vocal sound that is super easy on the ear, yet not sparing anything lyrically. The instrumentals are led by the tone of the vocals, making sure they fit each other perfectly. I saw her live in a little club years ago, which was pretty ace, her going for that retro vibe and singing the ‘Losing You’ stuff to the delight of all. Can’t wait to see her again touring this one.

‘Dance’ by D Gerrad & Jean-Claude Gavri Trans Atlantic Workout

How about that galloping start on this son of a tune, eh? That just gets you in the right mood from the get go. Then, for the first time, the girls sing Dance, with the track giving you some extra rhythm so that you know it, quite indeed, is gonna give you that work out. At the 50 second mark, the guitar riff comes in, so clean and pristine it just shivers ye timbers. In the mean time the lads keep adding singular rhythm elements one by one, until just before the two minute mark when the other instruments come in as well. At 2:45 there is a full stop in terms of the rhythm section, just hearing the girls telling you to dance before the galloping thrust comes in and we’re off to the races again. It’s really a seven minute long build up-strip-and-build up, with the heavenly momentum that just goes with that territory. Really, how can one not do what the title says one should be doing on this one?

 

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