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The Weekly Froth! - 20160401

  • Published in Columns

Tim Zawada

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: ‘To Be Free’ Tim Zawada edit

Love that on-the-low-down Chicago bass that this one starts off with, like we’re riding the inner city streets ready for whatever the night brings. Then, the jazz saxophones, which come in after a bass and percussion combo laying down the rhythm. That combination comes back, before ditching the percussion and returning to the sounds that it all started out with. Then, at 1:45, the vocals, singing that We are the one, and that, yes, We’re going far. Then, the clear singular male voice, singing We gotta get away from here, before the bass lets us flow down the river that takes us once more. This time, after the three minute mark, the bass gets the guitar and the saxophone to go along, before diving into the hazy vocals again, thinking about flying away before there’s a little growl in the male voice, insisting they’re going to spread their wings. I mean, that bass, by golly, it’s so sexy, and then with all the helping elements like the sax, guitar, percussion, and then with the vocals coming in time and again; a lovely rhythm piece to get it on to here.

 

‘VV Violence’ by Jessy Lanza

Jessy Lanza starts this off with some sass, saying that she May say it to your face, but it doesn’t mean a thing (just so you know, hon). She keeps up with the rhythmic vocals, singing that You don’t even talk to me, this all the while there’s some quick firing percussion going on helped out by, around the 45 second mark, a deep, bass like thing. At the minute mark the thing moves to the electro-pop side of it all, upping the tempo, going up a pitch in the vocals, and doing the thing you can dance to before dialling it back with the slow bass sound. Later in the track there is a more dance interlude, where the focus moves to rhythm and beats, though later on the vocals do make their entry again. It is a nice combination of pop, more experimental electro, and dance, giving it an edgy but catchy feel that fits the Jeremy Greenspan produced album that she put out.

 

‘Beau Sovereign’ by Leon Vynehall

Leon Vynehall has someone whispering in our ear about Our love, which clearly is doing something or another to this person. In the mean time the percussion and, a bit later, the actual beat come in there, kicking this deep house tune by Mr. Vynehall into gear. Then we also get the synth in, providing us with some of that house vibed goodness for the dancefloor. Apparently, our love is all that she wants, putting the sex there where it belongs (namely, in House music). At the two minute mark the synths really start to build up, making no mistake that you should be jackin’ it up on this one. There are some nifty synth shifts in there, from the old house hands to some more atmospheric sounds for the track to slow it down to. However, there are always the drum and beat for the midnight people who want to dance, giving them all plenty of opportunity to do so on this nice deep house track with some vintage elements to take us way back down the alley once more.

 

‘Star Tripper’ by Breakbot

That’s as close to entering space as you can get really (without risking copyright infringement, that is), with Breakbot starting this one out the way you expect Star Tours in Disney to start out (or at least, to treat you to as the waiting room music). Surely, the first minute is more about the start of a cinematic space adventure than that it is about slow burning space disco, which with the drums and rhythm sounds it veers closer to the rest of the track. And it takes until the 2:40 mark to really get the catchy in, with the bass and sans the synthesizers that basically spell out Up, up, and away. One thing cannot be denied though, that they don’t know how to put theme in their music, and when they say ‘Star Tripper’, dear me, they mean it, giving this a nice, slow space burner to do some shuffling to underneath the starts at night.

 

‘Keep Moving On’ by Satin Jackets feat. IsaacO

This one starts by laying down the atmosphere, with the high pitched “ooooh-hoo-ooohs” mixed with the deeper, soulful vocals announcing that They will keep moving on. Those vocals are accompanied by the piano first, before slowly but surely other sounds start to arrive. It takes a while before we get to drum sounds of this, and when they do, they are idiosyncratic as opposed to a steady beat line. It helps the head nodding on this low-paced track, giving us the heartache and the yearning through the vocals and the piano, with the drums adding to the solemness. The high pitched backing vocals keep singing the title line, as the singular drum and all the accompanying atmospheric sounds ride this one to a fitting close.

 

‘Starr-Let’ Dr. Packer rework (Preview)

There comes the disco and funk, courtesy of The Brooklyn, Bronx & Queens Band, who’s track ‘Starlet’ is reworked by Dr. Packer. From the start, there’s this amazing disco tempo that just has dancefloor written all over it. There’s a nice bass in the back there, providing the rhythm along with the drums, and you’ve got a plethora of vocals. Especially in the verses the bass and the vocals are the starlets (…) of the show, and of course it is all about love and dance and taking a chance. Just one of those funky disco reworks with plenty of good vibes, and all kinds of pace to make sure the dancefloor stays packed. At about 3:20 that pace is dialled down for a moment, though you can already hear it gear up again, though that’s asking a bit much for a preview. Though, before it fades out you hear the guitar riff again, all the rhythm elements being back, so you know they will be at it even after sundown. 

 

 

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