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: ‘Shelter Me’ by Late Nite Tuff Guy

Oh honey, are you kidding me? Late Nite Tuff Guy comes out with a free download to thank people for their support, and surely there are not many better ways to have ended 2014 with. All your Christmas presents be damned, who doesn’t want this lounge tearjerker of Sade turned into this melancholic, heart-broken disco track to dance your sorrows away to? LNTG gets the vibe right from the get go, especially when that hit of piano comes in at about 30 seconds (the end of the track will see that smooth jazz saxophone sound of the original come in as well). So you’re dancing now (not too fast, mind you, this is not that kind of dancefloor killer), on the beat, on the percussion, and so forth, and then, at one point, she comes in. Sade, with her smooth voice and lovelorny singing that "you’ve shed a shadow on my life, shed a shadow on my love, took the shelter out of my life, took the shelter of a lie". And when she then sings she could "see it in your restless eyes (the truth that I was hiding and you could not disguise)", LNTG slides that beat underneath to support her exclamation, and that works so well. He does that a number of times to perfection, having this slight change in his sounds to aid Sade’s singing, which enhances the emotional punch of this track. And, at one point, she will pathetically admit that I wish you could shelter me, and then that saxophone comes in from the original 1988 track, and that’s the ball game.

‘Same Town, Same Story’ by Interpol (The Field remix)

I’m not going to lie, I just haven’t been on the return-to-form bandwagon that some have been riding concerning Interpol last year. I loved their first two, I think ‘Pioneer To The Falls’ was the most fab thing they’ve ever done, and everything after that track was just downhill for me. The last album, to my ears, didn’t have the peace, the moments of quiet, the spaciness of that debut of theirs that I fell so in love with. Enter The Field though, Mr. Loop knows how to create his minimal, Scandinavian beat that he then expertely rides into oblivion. Here, too, you’ve just got this rhythm line, sounding a bit like a heavily distorted bass sound, which gets help from some light percussion elements and a tingly piano to contrast the heavy vibe with the light. Somewhere in the middle of the mix you have Paul Banks' vocals, which do fit (and provide some of) the melancholic vibe of this atmospheric behemoth. Don’t expect them to be the focal point though, as the vocals kind of are entrapped somewhere in between the layers that The Field expertedly both keeps sounding the same, yet deviates from slighlty. He is always so in control and patient. At the five minute mark, for instance, he keeps he main elements, but adds this kind of military drum percussion and that does shake the track up, but because the main sounds are still there you do get that hypnotic vibe The Field always brings to the table. So if you were disappointed with the Interpol album just like I was, then be comforted that this sounds more like The Field doing his thing, aided by some Interpol elements that do fit the cold Scandinavian air.

‘Noth’ by HNNY

HNNY always knows how to get some of that funk and some of that more contemporary R&B vibe in there. Here, no different, it’s already playing that funk from the get go with that beat, and that secondary sound is awesomely fun. Just before the minute mark you get the first female yelp in the vocals, and he always knows which vocals to use. They’re nice and soulful, and even get some room to strut their stuff as HNNY dials down the beat for a minute. And thus we can hear her sing that "Nothing can keep me, keep me from youuuuu", after which he slides the beat back in (along with some additional percussion). It’s a 3:18 snippet of a thingy, so cannot enjoy it too long, but the repeated beat and secondary sound are just lovely, along with the repetition of the resilient/pathethic/however-you-want-to interpret it line she sings over and over, making it stronger/less believable with each utterance. So how do you like your one-sided 12” releases, eh?

‘Oil’ by CFCF

If you like your atmospheric pieces, CFCF is definitely one guy doing it right in my opinion. He has just got this knack for finding the right sounds to go together, and here the start is pretty immediate, with some momentum building sounds that promise more to come. He builds on that for a good while before he adds the beat at about 1:15, which immediately makes it this thing suitable for the dancefloor. And even though the big, bad bass is heavily throbbing away, there’s still so much atmosphere there which keeps on taking the cake until about 2:30, after which he switches it up again, ditching the main sound and adding some more traditional beat sounds to go with a beautiful little bit of piano that does keep that whole vibe intact. The whole track is layered, littered with switch-ups, and constantly there are instruments there that make this one stand out above the fray. It are all those semi-classical components combined with that heavy base layer that makes this one so intriguing to listen to.

‘The Boy Who Thought it Was A Good Idea To Cry” by Johan Agebjorn feat. Shally Shapiro

How about that one for a title, eh? Agebjorn and Shapiro are no strangers to each other, and usually they collaborate on the italo-disco sounds Shapiro is known for. Not on this one though, with Agebjorn going all cinematic on us with this beautiful piece of work. It's just one of those things that manages to conjure up all these visual images as if soundtracking a montage in a film or something. Definitely high on atmospherics, though obviously you shouldn’t be expecting the dancey Shapiro & Agebjorn stuff. Shapiro does make an appearance though, but she sounds more ghostly/angelic than ever, with her whispery vocals doing some ah-haaaa lines over the layers of piano that Agebjorn has filled the track with (though not to worry, there are some strings and a bass as well). Don’t go in here with the wrong expectations, but if you know about Agebjorn’s upcoming album Notes and are intrigued by the style he’s going for, this is well worth the listen.

‘Dare Me’ by Gorillaz (Rayko Dirty Discoteca Edit)

My goodness, I do remember dancing to this in the indie disco in my teenage years (might be smuggling a year or two there, but whatever). The original by the Gorillaz that is, not this Rayko edit, which makes this dancefloor-ready for the dance crowd, as opposed to the gangly indie kids who are more professed at jumping (don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of how your body works later on lovies!). It still keeps that “daring” aspect of the original, that energetic punch that made so many people fall in love with it in the first place. Naturally Rayko also plays around with the stripping away of layers, the beat, and what not, to really make use of all that dancefloor expertise he has. Just listen to from about 2:30 to like the three minute mark, and everything that happens in between there before he slides it back to the main sound at the latter end of that spectrum. It’s just one of those amazingly fun things that makes you jump up in recognition when it’s played, but that keeps the vibe of the disco/house set going so you can keep moving your body whilst singing along with this cheeky little bugger.

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’m A Cliche edit service 44 by Marcello Giordani

Can I just say that I love that cheeky synth sound at the start? That’s just awesome, just like those first additions to the song are at about 30 seconds in, those are lovely too. A minute in, again, he manages to throw a great synth line out there. In the mean time, in the background, you do have the percussion line going along with a rhythmic synth, but these are so secondary to all the loveliness that is up front you hardly hear them. Not to say they’re not needed though, always good to have a backbone for the dancing, but all those synthlines, these atmospheric sounds, and just that whole Italian flavor: it’s just there in all it’s awesomeness. It’s basically a master class in how to use synths, that’s all I’ve got to say about it. And who doesn't like a good master class that’s fun for the dancefloor to boot?

‘The Who’s Who Of Who Cares’ by Museum Of Love

Museum of Love is a band from the DFA roster, and that is pretty evident. It’s got the catchy that most on the label have, but it also has a certain aloofness as well. The synths and those talky vocals examplify want I want to describe pretty well, though at about 1:40 you get the horns in there, which kind of break through that magnificently. Those horns do give it kind of a jazzy vibe, which does give it a slightly different feel compared to the other bands that are working these sounds. At about the four minute mark that jazzy vibe kind of takes over from the more calculated, clinical synth driven first part, kind of making this track a cross between labelmates The Juan MacLean and ‘Golden Years’ Bowie I would say. It’s a lovely track, and with the album out now it’s well worth a listen I’d say.

‘Two Bodies’ by Flight Facilities feat. Emma Louise (HNNY remix)

These two names together, that can only mean something good is about to happen. Flight Facilities have made some deliciously catchy synth-pop tracks in recent years, and HNNY really knows how to get in some R&B flavors and how to work repetition and patience. So, in essence, these are guys that know how to create tunes, and they have different qualities. Combine them together, and apparently, you get this. It starts with some African drums, and then it slides into this chilled out synth vibe that HNNY uses to build up this track. So that’s the patience right there. After about a minute the dreamy vocals of Emma Louise come in, and HNNY keeps the sound behind her chilled out, which fits nicely. My guess would be that the original track went more for the dancey, and you can still hear the catchy qualities and the more pop-ness in there, but that’s been overtaken by the overall vibe. There are some nice drops in here, where the rhythm synths and the drums are stripped away, and you get some atmospheric synths supporting the dreamy vocals of Emma Louise. After the first drop the track comes back in with a bit more focus on the rhythm to make sure that people know that they should be dancing to this. And after the second drop, HNNY does this again, but even more so. So you get a catchy tune, with a bit of a chilled out vibe, but with the percussion still giving you that boogie feeling. Add some dreamy vocals to it, et voila, a very nice track indeed.

‘Water Come Down’ by Rosie Lowe (Pional remix)

This one starts out with just the vocals, which work nicely in unison. After that you get a little piano, but slowly a slow, deep beat comes in that already indicates that those vocals will get some body underneath to buff the track up a bit. After that slow beat you both get a light piano as well as a synth line in there, with Rosie Lowe’s vocals coming in shortly after. It is more of an atmospheric piece than anything else, a bit of electro experimental that works really well. Pional uses the combination of different synth and piano sounds to perfection, and together with the other elements he manages to craft an intriguing piece which has a slight air of mystique to it, also thanks to the (multiple layers of) vocals. Pional ends it with a bit of punch, working the asymmetrical beats and with the final beat being a quite deep and forceful one. A piece not so much for the dancefloor, but definitely one to have a listen to and be captivated by.

‘I Love Video’ by New Paradise (Gilbert Cohen & Vidal Benjamin edit)

This one starts out in such a way that just screams Dancing to me. It wastes no time with like, say, slowly introducing the track, it just starts out with all the pace it has and then hopes you get swept along by it. As a matter of fact, the pace seems to steady a bit with the introduction of some of the other sounds, which kind of tone down the illusion of full-on-speed. This includes all the disco vibes they throw in there, but also the talky vocals that you get. In the mean time, sure, the backbone of the track still keeps chugging along so it definitely doesn’t come to a grinding halt or anything. I like that slow down just after the two minute mark, with the track going back to its roots thanks to a very happy sounding little sound. Which, arguably, might sound too peppy for some, but I kind of like it in this kind of track. In the second part of the song you get the actual singing vocals, pleading to save the video, and this argument is given an extra boost by the horns that they manage to get in there. So if you either love video, or you just love dancing on happy sounding disco tunes, this might just do the trick for you.

‘How About It’ by MDMC (JMMSTR Italo Edit)

There’s no time that’s a bad time for an all-out '80s edit, and not many tracks sound more Eighties than this song by the Dutch group MDMC. Add to that Jam Master’s italo synths, giving you just enough of that ol’ school Moroder flavour, and you’ll be expecting Falkor to swoop by any time soon. All the 80s vibe not withstanding, it also is just a fun, catchy edit that works to do some dancing to. The synths are catchy, and he throws in enough variety to keep the dancefloor going. The fun also comes from the talky vocals, which are just so fun and retro that it just adds an element of having a blast on the dancefloor. As said, in the mean time, the synths keep on coming, but there’s also plenty of other stuff going on, like for instance that little guitar that you can hear in there pretty well. If you’re not allergic to the 80s and don’t mind some played up corny, this should be a fun 7 1/2 minutes for you. Free download as well, by the way.