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.

This seems to be a good moment to look back at some of the tracks that, at the start of 2015, rocked the Casbah.

Track of the Week: ‘Shelter Me’ by Sade (Late Nite Tuff Guy remix)

Sure, this was posted late December last year, but around the Holidays, so 2014 was about all but shut down by that time, eh? So I think we can still count this one for 2015, and anyway, do I really need reasons to post a super nice, super lush edit of a classic Sade track? Late Nite Tuff Guy knows what to do with it, keeping it soft and smooth, with a bit of percussion to help the tender beat out, but it are the synth sounds that lay down the mood of this one. And something like at 1:55, the transition to the bass, that’s lovely. Then some more percussion again, and soon, those impeccable vocals come in, with LNTG knowing that these are the star and giving them plenty of room. They say that they could see it in Your restless eyes, the truth that she was hiding and you could not disguise. LNTG knows when to add the piano in, appearing at all the right moments, as she is coming to the understanding that she needs A miracle to make you stay. A slow groover with exactly the right pace, mood, and amount of heartbreak. And when she yearningly says she wishes that You could shelter me, and LNTG brings in the horns, that’s the ball game folks.

‘The Man Inside Me’ by Thodoris Triantafillou feat. Nomi Ruiz

This track by Thodoris Triantafillou combines a strong back beat, atmospheric sounds, and the ever longing vocals of Nomi Ruiz. After the first batch of vocals you get a nifty synth sound, and when Ruiz goes to a higher pitch we see Triantafillou follow suit with sounds to match that. At one point the vocals get doubled near the end, providing even extra punch as she sings she is Left alone to fight another storm, not being sure why she still loves you. The track is off of an album that came out in January of this year, and it manages to superbly marry those vocals and melancholic lyrics with sounds that both keep this one moving forward, but also add to the feel of the track. Lovely song from the Greek and the former singer of Hercules and Love Affair.

‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton (Todd Terje remix)

The thing the world was waiting for probably. One of the more gut wrenching country tracks of mainstay Dolly Parton gets the makeover treatment by the disco king Todd Terje to produce a lovely dancefloor killer. Everyone can now finally dance to the country guitar and the desperate vocals of Parton as she sings, nay, pleads, Jolene, please don’t take my man (and only just because you can, girl! What the heck!). The percussion underneath provides the dance rhythm, and the guitar is the thing that gives it both its vibe, its recognisable sound, and it helps along with the pacing as well. At the 2:30 mark the drums make way for a minute as, for the first time, the vocals come in, after which a happy, slappy bass starts to run along with the track. The combination is just magical, with Parton crooning that He talks about you in his sleep, whilst in the mean time the track keeping the dancing going.

‘Just Give Me Joy’ by Elvin Tibideaux

Way at the start of the year one of my favorite House labels, Let’s Play House, released this doozy by Elvin Tibideaux, who lets the bass get it on and who keeps the pace nice and high. After the minute mark we get a little guitar strumming as well in the background as, in the mean time, the speed is still up and away. At the 1:50 mark there’s a bit of room for a breather, but you know that, soon enough, it is going to come back in its full glory. One of those dancefloor speed freaks with deceptive depth with all the sounds that help out underneath the surface. And, you know, the bass, you gotta slap it people, and that certainly is what Tibideaux does here. Before the 3:30 mark it again takes it down a notch, but after that, Oh glory, there come the vocals! And the guitar is a bit more up front. The vocals are screaming it out, yelling that she needs You!, saying a minute later that she gets what she wants (and If I don’t get it, I don’t want it! You tell them girl). In the mean time the bass keeps this one rolling, only taking it down a minute when she insists that you Stay right there. LPH definitely a label you want to keep an eye on if you love this kind of thing (and who doesn’t, really, now).

‘Be Love’ by Natty Fensie (The Supermen Lovers remix)

In March The Supermen Lovers posted their edit of Natty Fensie’s ‘Be Love’, giving it the cheeky dancefloor treatment. It just has this lovely Lets have fun vibe written all over its face, with a lovely pace gotten through a variety of percussion and bass in most stretches, and in some there’s a little piano and guitar going on. Natty Fensie, in the mean time, is telling you to Give it, and the Supermen Lovers do, at 3:20 by going all out on the synth for example, with the bass providing the boogie underneath. It’s just a lovely fun romp, with enough pace to get down and flirty to on the dancefloor. And, at the end, even giving you a little surprise with some of that cosmic jivin’ guitar as it slows it down for its final minute or so.

‘All U Writers’ by !!!

!!! released an amazingly fun dance album with loads of catchy tunes to get all your dancing moves out, and this bass heavy little number they released at the very start of April, already laying down the groundwork for what was to come. The vocals turn deep at first, but then go up a notch as also the female vocals come in. The bass, meanwhile, is still doing all that ridin’, with some guitar strumming getting in there for good measure. And, at about 2:45, it is that guitar that gets a bit of working room before the bass comes back in to claim its domain and to get all the dancers dancing again. First, though, some vocals, some working up to the inevitable fall, and then, at 3:40, there it is, for all y’all to get that boogie on again. Nice and deep in terms of sound, yet surprisingly upbeat and fun in terms of feel, just one slice of the joy !!! brought with their latest LP outing.

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: ‘Stop’ by Nicholas feat. Madafi Pierre

Nicholas knows how to do a bit of that house thing, and here he gets the rhythm going with a nice, dulled out beat, a slightly less dulled-out synth, and then a clear sounding percussion; all to get the Detroit on. Then you get these lovely senses-being-dulled vocals, pleading to Stop stop stop playing with my heart. Nicholas turns the cymbals on to give the track a bit of a kick, and they really light up the Christmas tree because it is a pretty clear sound compared to the beat. The vocals also do some spoken word, which is a nice bit of variety, and it always lends this bit of gravitas I find. It really says, All right, listen up, let me tell you something. He dials down the sound a bit around the three minute mark, obviously coming back in with all the rhythm & house sounds shortly after to get the dancing going again. If you, for instance, just look at the sounds at 4:22, this delicious combination of that beat, the more up-front percussion, and this auxiliary sound that so delicately weaves its way through the two rhythm aspects. Then, shortly after, the spoken word again, then the singing comes back, and you’ve got the cymbals delivering the punch again. It’s a super nice bit of house music from the man who has so consistently been churning these out in the past few years.

‘Why’ by Tim K & Honey Dijon feat. Nomi Ruiz

A team consisting of Tim K, Honey Dijon and vocalist Nomi Ruiz take on the old Nile Rodgers track ‘Why’. So you know there’s a little guitar riff in there, along with some almost Jamaica influenced percussion. After about a minute in the vocals come in, first with a la-di-da-di-da, then wondering Why does your love hurt so much, a lyric which fits right in the Ruiz oeuvre. At 1:40 the percussion stops for a moment, and then it’s just a piano and vocals combo, which brings in a nice bit of variety. I like how one of the instruments basically doubles Ruiz’ her vocal line of la-di-da-di-da, and everything does seem to gel really well. It’s got a nice, laidback atmosphere to it through all the wondering of the way love works (and other assorted mysteries of life). As the track draws to its close you get a bit where the bass gets a moment in the spotlight, which is a nice way to draw this one to its ending. Lovely cover from this team of musicians.

‘Talk System’ by Jacques Renault

I’m a complete sucker for Jacques Renault’s dancing tunes, so always looking forward to new work from this guy. The synths come in at about the thirty second mark, the vocals say a thing or two, and in the mean time you just feel he’s building up to the beat, which comes in just after a minute with a kind of military step rhythm. There are like three different layers of rhythm at work there, which is pretty awesome. The speedier, lighter one, the more bass-like sound, and just a regular ol’ beat to take time. Just before the three minute mark he dials most of that down, letting the vocals go on for a slight bit before all that rhythm goodness comes back in again. Which gets an additional kick around 3:28 to make sure that all those lovely dancers get this little jolt of energy again to keep on working it. Renault just knows how to keep that house feel in there, later on the track going for a prolonged stop of the rhythm sounds to then dial it back up one more time with that little bit more pazazz, ending it with that military step percussion. Just some of that good ol’ house music, y’all.

‘Heartbreak Reputation’ by Zimmer ft. Polina

Zimmer is readying his new release, the EP Coming Of Age, which will be out later this month. I love how he starts with those vocals, so dreamy and sweet, and then you slowly get the synths under there. Though it is the percussion element that dictates the (slow) pace at first, which nicely complements the vocals. The synths build and build though, and after about a minute you get the beat & synth combo for a slow synth-pop jam, accompanied by the vocals. After basically a vocal-led chorus the synths come in with a nice hop in their step, with a positive, feel-good vibe, which gets some extra flavour from the aaaaahhh-ing female voice which is a nice bit of extra to have in there. One of those summerday tracks, which is good listening in the heatwave that is happening as I’m writing this one at the moment. Maybe going to see him in a couple of weeks when he’s playing Buiten Westen in Amsterdam, something which I hope will fit in our rigerous schedule of dancing, shimmying, and all-out working it.

‘Coule’Ba’ by Analog Players Society (JKriv version)

JKriv takes on the Analog Players Society’s ‘Coule’Ba’, throwing in some of his strutting guitar play in there to go with all the percussion, beat, and African vocals they’ve already got going there. As well as a nice bass synth to add some of that boogie rhythm to it all. The vocals, though obviously not understanding a word of it, have a nice immediacy to the delivery, and I like how JKriv sometimes stops the proceedings for a bit of that guitar riff goodness, to then slide it back to the boogie again. Which sees the addition of some new instruments in the second go around, including a piano and some less identifiable sounds. Throughout the whole song the immediate vocals put a stamp on things, and the percussion and assorted accompaniments that weave in and out make sure there’s a little boogie there as well. As always, JKriv manages to mesh everything together nicely, so it is all sounding nice and smooth, bringing this little boogie-of-a-tune together nicely.

‘Is This It’ by Kenny Loggins (KB’s SChrebergarten Edit)

This time it is Kim Brown’s turn to get some of that lovely old stuff out there on the dancefloor, bringing the classic Kenny Loggins’ song ‘This Is It’ to a discotheque near you. She carefully builds up to the beat, which jumps in there at about thirty seconds with a nice, soft percussion vibe to it. On top of that there’s the original sound on loop, with just after a minute another one of those sounds which is used as a tease, as she doesn’t quite go to vocals just yet, instead turning back to the rhythm aspects to let all of them people dance some more. And she is in no hurry to get there, too, even doing a bit of playing around with that guitar riff before she turns to Loggins at 2:30. Now that she’s there though, she lets him go at it, with the vocals clear and up front in the mix, doing the whole first verse before she goes back to the guitar loop and rhythm beat combo to dance to. And it is like the chocolate equivalent of the dancefloor, just nice and tasty and filled with a flavor everyone knows. Plus, there are just some of those guys like Loggins, like Michael McDonald, that are just shoe-ins for a disco treatment like this. McDonald who, by the way, rears his head a bit later for the ultimate recognition moment when the chorus is used. The kind of thing I always love, and done in a nice, patient, catchy manner, but with the cheesy chorus pay-off at the end with Loggins doing the works. Which, for me, is a good thing, just to make that clear. Who doesn’t like a repeat of the chorus after having been patient for a good five minutes or so?