The Weekly Froth! - 20160624
- 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: ‘Rise’ by Herb Alpert (Late Nite Tuff Guy Remix)
It’s been a while since Late Nite Tuff Guy uploaded something to his SoundCloud, and his first in months is a remix of Jazz great Herb Alpert. LNTG is really good at delivering a smooth disco ride, and here, too, he sets the rhythm immediately, giving you that delicious dancing feel. He throws in a little riff, and at 1:20 he dials it down a bit to get the piano and the jazzy horns in. Then the percussion, to come back to the bass and the riff again for those on the dancefloor. The next segment sees those melancholic horns again, conjuring up the image of Bogart and Bergman saying goodbye at the airport. It’s a lovely mixture of a smooth disco ride with the rhythm, and the jazzy sounds of Herb Alpert giving you all the mood and vibe you want for a lovelorn night of disco dancing.
‘Just A Lover’ by Hayden James
Hayden James doesn’t waste any time, immediately coming in with the vocals, the beat, percussion, and bass. The vocals are nice and deep, fitting for this kind of sound. The rhythm sounds, too, are relatively deep, though at about the 50 second mark he adds some lighter sounds to shift. Just before the 1:30 mark he strips the real deep sounds, even adds some piano, before bringing those rhythm instruments back (though having put the brakes on the pace a tad compared to the beginning). The vocals let you know that You were temporary, you were just a lover (just a prop to occupy your time?). It’s a nice, catchy tune that takes the deep road with the rhythm, at the end switching it up and finishing it all off on some higher piano notes.
‘Thrills’ by JMII (John Talabot’s Early Edit)
John Talabot gets the pace going from the start, using the beat to provide the steadiness of a dance track before adding a relatively deep sound on top of it to balance the lighter sounds he had already put in before and the one coming in after. About ten seconds before the two minute mark he changes the track up, even adding some warped vocals (which say a whole lot of nothing) on top of this synth heavy part. Obviously, one expects him to return to the deep rhythms of before, though he does take his sweet time to build up the suspense. The drop comes at the three minute mark, though he keeps the sounds of the previous part as well, making sure that it’s a completely new chapter in the track. It’s another quality tune by the man, exactly the kind of thing one has come to expect from his hand.
‘Boipeba’ by Joakim
Joakim starts this one with a bit of percussion, adds some sounds of the sea, but above all keeps the feel exotic, also by the choice of instruments. A bass beat is added just after the minute mark, sliding underneath the sounds he introduced some moments before. There are some ethereal sounds in the background, which kind of get juxtaposed (if not replaced) by a slow, deeper rhythm sound that is put in. Joakim is going for a lovely deep cut here, providing us with a hypnotic, slow rhythm but also plenty of mood to keep this one on your mind. After some thunder, he moves to a deep beat again, adding a sort of military drum to move it a bit more to the old school house vibe. Then he adds that slow, deep bass sound again, just to let you know you’re not out of the woods yet. It’s a lovely, deep mood piece that shows the ear Joakim has, being able to compose a thing like this.
‘Phreeky’ by Eli Escobar feat. Vanessa Daou & Nomi Ruiz
Eli Escobar knows how to get the most out of his tracks, surrounding himself with Vanessa Daou and Nomi Ruiz for this up tempo house cracker. It’s got the beat going, the percussion on top, and then he yells out that he needs a Phreek as the track stays true to its house vibe. Then he slides more to the disco side of the equation with the piano and bass, introduced by a female voice saying Aaaaah, come on (le phreek). After a moment without he puts the beat back in, and at 2:12 he ups the pace again, adding some soulful vocals to the whole proceeding as well. Just before the three minute mark we get a du-du-du-du line from the female vocals, first without anything else, and then the percussion steps in to get dat rhythm right. The track is really easy on the ear, and I love the different segments and the transitions to them. He keeps the pace up high, making sure there’s no one there regretting bringing their dancing shoes.
‘Tresor’ by Flavien Berger (Paradis Shuffle Mix)
I always love Paradis’ stuff, here starting it off with some jazz horns in tranquility, with the synths providing a subtle backdrop for them to shine on. Then, after about forty seconds, they add a sharp beat, a little piano riff, and then the spoken word. It is a voice with some gravitas in it, though in a foreign language you can have me believe anything I suppose. In the mean time, underneath, some dancefloor elements come in, before transitioning to a rather trippy synth track. Even with the trippier moments there are still the tranquil synth sounds that add a bit of sanity to it to balance it all out. And then, at about the halfway mark, the horns again, this time on top of the trippier sounds, but because of that providing it with perhaps a more important function. And I do love that combination, giving you the Paradis feel with a bit of an edge this time around.
