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: ‘Higher Lovin’ by Rocco Raimundo feat. Stee Downes

No sign of a beat at the start, though after fifteen seconds we get some percussion in to get the rhythm going. At the thirty second mark we get both beat and bass, though the piano and all sorts of auxiliary sounds make sure to keep this one grounded. Stee Downes then comes in with the vocals, and I do always love that voice. It has this nice mix of rhythm and soul, singing about Higher Lovin’’ over lush instrumentals, definitely going for the love side of the House dancefloor instead of the lust. Just before the third minute mark they dial it down a bit, then the first batch of instrumentals comes back in, after which the rhythm side of it all returns. As said, the feel is that of hoping for love whilst doing a little dance, with a nice bassline that, combined with the fairly light set of instrumentals Rocco Raimundo uses, sets the tone and feel for this one. Apparently one of the remixes that is being done for this one is by Yam Who?, who are also quality as well, so not a shabby package to be had here, I reckon.

‘Big Black Coat’ by Junior Boys

A while ago Junior Boys released a cover, indicating that the synth-pop band was doing a Rip van Winkle and returning to the fray. The rhythm of this one indicates that they are not just returning where they’ve left off, putting on an almost dub-like beat and a dark, brooding atmosphere to go with the light vocals. Even those vocals have a sense of desperation to them, underscored by the jittery synth and the more deeper sounds. Just before the three minute mark they do get in some catchy club vibes though, and at the 3:40 mark the atmospheric synth is accompanied by a proper beat. More synth layers are added as the narration is put on the backburner for a while, as the pace and the franticness is dialled up and up, with the last four minutes definitely giving people a chance to dance a bit, even if the overlying feel is one of dark and deep minds more than of festivities. It is as if the almost romantic, yearning-for-love feel that an album like Begone Dull Care had has been experienced and turned bitter, leaving the question out there that if love is not the answer, what is? A question that might throw any mind into a frenzy every now and then. The lads are also going to be touring Europe in 2016, so loads to look forward to I reckon.

‘Darkstar’ by Morgan Geist

Morgan Geist is back making music under his own name, veering from the emotive house music of Storm Queen to a more tech heavy dance approach with ‘Darkstar’, part of a new EP called Megaprojects One. Geist always knows how to add some flavor even to a more minimal beat and percussion combo, like with the sound that comes in around the minute mark. From there on he keeps building, a floating synth, extra percussion, and just after the two minute mark he takes on the actual beat sound as well, adding some oomph to it. Thirty seconds later he slides that sound into a new feel altogether, and he mixes it up so nicely. At some points there’s the more minimal tech approach, which he then infuses with some extra sounds for more warmth and feel.  In the mean time, obviously, he makes sure that everything aids (definitely not detracts) from the dancefloor experience, putting this in the Berlin clubs after midnight. Just look at that bass note he puts in there in the last minute, for instance. Small touches like that, eh? Geist is one of those experienced guys out there knowing how to deliver, showing that with this one yet again.

‘Loud Places’ by Jamie XX (Mike Simonetti’s Dark Places Remix)

Obviously mister Jamie XX is a popular brand nowadays, and add to that the vocals of Romy and you already have a combo that will especially appease the popular dance public. Add Mike Simonetti though, and you get a boy like me excited as well. Simonetti is one of those guys of the Italians Do It Better label, doing everything from moody instrumentals to Whitney Houston edits. I love how that beat is in the mix, it  just takes care of that momentum. Add to that the juxtaposition of the almost military step percussion and Romy’s dreamy vocals, and you’ve got an ace first part of the track. After a short moment of just Romy’s vocals, Simonetti dives into the darker realms of the dance scene, keeping the percussion, but adding some of those deep, wobbly sounds in there to keep it all well below surface levels. Dark places indeed, Mr. Simonetti. So here, definitely, his qualities on the moody side of the spectrum come to the fore. Free download, by the way, for those not minding sliding in some of that deep house hypnosis.

‘Victim’ by Dinamo Azari

Dinamo Azari was one part of the producing duo calling themselves Azari & III. That project has died, but that hasn’t stopped Azari from teaming up with the two vocalists they enlisted back then to help out on this track off of his debut album. Those vocalists complement each other so well, the higher, soul pitched vocals of Starving-Yet-Full and the rhythmic, deep sounds of Fritz Helder, not to mention how fun they were when doing that stage thing they do. The Azari & III album was a mixture between some darker cuts and more all-out House live-it-up fests, and this is definitely more towards the darker side of the line. The percussion provides the rhythm, and there’s a nice bass there to help out. First we hear SYF sing, but the growling Helder soon comes in as well, talking us through the fact he isn’t our bitch. Just before the two minute mark he dials it all down for a short while, and I love the restraint with which he comes back, putting the atmosphere first there. Loved the live shows that Azari & III always put up, thought that album was a mixed bag (some of those songs though!), so curious to see what this album is going to end up like.

‘Bad Blood’ by Nao

Nao definitely has the vocals to make one dream away whilst walking the midnight city. Here, it is put on display in superb manner early on, with just some simmering synths to accompany them. They provide a nice background, and are never in the way of them. At the 45 second mark you get the electronical percussion sounds, getting that dubby beat going, and Nao turns it up a notch to make sure she is audible and that the emotion is put in there as well. She sings that you choose not to remember, making her believe that it is the bad, bad blood. at the 2:50 mark some of the instrumentals are stripped away, leaving only the drums and the vocals, though soon some of them return and she turns it up a notch for one last time. First single off of the debut album, and with people like Nao and Kelela out there representing, this kind of sparse, electronic music with that urban, midnight vibe is in good hands. Both of their vocals, in any case, are a delight.

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: ‘Calling Card’ by The Galleria

Morgan Geist knows how to mix danceability with some emotive vocals, and here he does so as The Galleria, which takes it’s cue more from '80s pop than the house or disco music that he has emulated as part of his other monikers. So here you’ve got some iconic synthesizer sounds, using the ticks, bleeps, and percussion hits well alongside the throwback sounds that one remembers from radios or discotheques past. Jessy Lanza is on vocal duties, putting in some emotion with her rhythmic delivery. At about four minutes in we get this bell solo (!), which then is followed by a more bass-synth line as he goes for an instrumental passage for the dancefloor, with Lanza doing some “oh-ho, yeah”s to get some sexy in there as well to end the track. I love a lot of Geist’s stuff (those Storm Queen singles are especially superb), and he knows how to mix dance with the vocal outings he gets from his leading men and women. This is more on the catchy and pop side, a nice supplement to his oeuvre I reckon.

‘Escape’ by Zimmer feat. Emilie Adams

Emilie Adams wastes no time entering the scene here, immediately putting her dreamy, far-off stamp on this undoubtedly catchy track by Zimmer (because, you know, that’s just what he does). So no wonder that you get this elegant beat and synth combo after just a few moments, which he halts at about the forty second mark to go just piano to help out his singer here for a moment. Just for that extra emotional touch. Soon the percussion elements come back in, with the guy obviously working his way back to, in this case, a new beat. And the occassional touch of horns, which is always a good addition (they’re horns, what do you want from me?). Again, he takes his foot off the pedal for a moment, but that beat is quick to come back, though this time it seems he combines the two different ones he’s already used to give us the full monty that he has been leading up to the whole track. It’s a track of his new, upcoming EP, one that will be an enjoyable listen no doubt.

‘The Formula’ by Eli Escobar

Eli Escobar seems to have recently put his whole album Up All Night on his soundcloud, so if you missed listening to it on release, here’s a way to preview it no strings attached. This track, ‘The Formula’, starts with some of those club sounds. Far away music, people talking, and other assorted sounds associated with a night out. The music, though, creeps to the front of the mix with a nice bit of piano house arriving first, with a soft percussion line still being a bit shy and taking a back seat at the start. The vocals then really come in again, repeating the line I’ve got something for you, which in the club can only mean one thing, really, can’t it? In the mean time the piano has been integrated into the more percussion based rhythm sounds, with a jazzy saxophone putting this in a smoking bar in NY before it takes you to town a short while later when the rhythm takes you out and wants to do some serious dancing with you. Doesn’t mean the saxophone can’t be there, cause by this point everyone wants to join the party in this catchy little number. Loads of atmosphere, super smooth, and loads of fun: if you’re working at home and you’re looking for something to stream to get your energy up a bit, his soundcloud is where it’s at.

‘Lucia’ by Ishinohana (John Talabot Sunset edit)

John Talabot is the master of atmosphere combined with deep beats, and here, from the get go, he shows you why. He starts with a nice, deep, bit African sounding percussion. Some extra hand percussion comes in, soon being combined with these lovely secondary sounds to really give you the feeling you’re watching the sun set over the plains and all that jazz. He adds a little bass sound in there too, and a lighter rhythmic percussion, though it is that guitar that really puts this one in the place where it needs to be. He is super in terms of building his tracks up, and here, too, the subtle transitions, the subtle changes in volume, the subtraction or addition of certain sounds; it’s all done with an expert ear. At 2:50, for instance, there’s little left in terms of rhythm sounds, but just over the three minute mark they come back in without overpowering the main instrument at all. Keeps you out there in sunglasses riding around the out-of-town roads, just because it feels like that’s what you gotta do listening to this one.

‘Fear the Night’ by Luke Million feat. Jesse Davidson

I’m more prone to fear mornings than nights, to be honest, but Luke Million certainly gets those italo synths blasting as if they’re doing a sci-fi soundtrack with the hero vs. baddies sequence coming up. Jesse Davidson puts in a rhythmic vocal turn, saying that You’ve got the right, to fear the night, a line followed by a nice, bordering-on-cheesy piano line from Million, with the synths and beat combo still hammering this one onto the dancefloor. At about the second minute mark Million comes with a new synth line, which is pretty catchy and awesome, as Davidson mentions that You’ve said that you’d never be unfaithful to me (Ha! We all know that was a lie!), so there’s a bit of an emotional thingy going on, which we dance away on the synths and cheesy-piano-chorus, turning it up a bit with a sort of male back-up choir near the end. As always, dancing the blues away on a catchy-little-tune like this one beats out dancing the blues away on a tearjerkingly-serious-affair, so don’t mind if I do it right here, right now.

‘You Got the Love’ by Candi Staton (Dr. Packer rework)

The bass gets this one rolling out of the gates, with some percussion and synths helping out after the initial few seconds. These sounds become more prominent as this one closes in on the coming of the vocals, which we all know at one point or another will arrive with a vengeance. First we get a few rounds of building up the instrumental structure of the track, with Dr. Packer adding sound for sound before dialling it all down a bit for some muted bass and vocals. Which he is wise enough to turn up quickly again, as he knows that, now we’ve heard it, we want it. It’s one of those tunes that everyone who has ever been on a dancefloor knows, with that big, all-out vocal turn by Candi Staton, exclaiming that Your love is real, and she does feel sometimes like putting her hands up in the air in praise of that. In the mean time the bass keeps rolling to provide that base for dancing, and at that point you just have to make sure you’re not in her way, because she is barreling through this ode to true love. Some subdued horns and a dash of piano can be heard as well, and this is just one of those feel good edits you can throw out there for just about every crowd. As, Lord knows, we all need a bit of that Staton real love every once in a while.