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: ‘Good Lovin’’ by PillowTalk

Love how PillowTalk starts this one of with those lovely vocals, this duet asking each other "to keep on loving me", as both he and she "really really need you baby". In the mean time PillowTalk gets a slow grooving bass sound in, on top of a bit of percussion. But it’s especially the bass providing the groove, leading the loving vocals to the right place. There’s also a smattering of keys there, providing the right atmosphere, adding some of that love duetting vibe right in there. The vocals, by the way, are Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, so these are none to shabby obviously, with PillowTalk really getting the warmth and the slow soul working, with a bit of that love jazz feel as well. If you weren’t feeling the love of 2016 yet, hopefully this helps out a bit, with Terrell ending the track by repeating that "life is so wonderful, with you here in my arms".

‘Get On Down’ by Martin Hayes

Obviously, when you name your track ‘Get On Down’, you’d better make sure that we can get on down. And from the start, a bucketload of all kinds of percussion, including some Latin vibed ones, wash over the dancefloor to get your hips a-shaking. At the one minute mark the percussion slides to the background a bit as we get some guitar and horn work for the dirty and the disco. At about the 2:15 mark we get even more of all that jazz, letting the air in and, at one point, even the vocals, as they shortly appear at 2:50 before the track walks back to the dirty funk feel with the sax giving it some air of respectability as the rest of the instruments drag it down and low to the underground club. Before the four minute mark though, it moves its way to the glitterbox dancefloor, with the disco prevailing for a minute. And that combination, of a bit of down and dirty, and a bit of chic, le freak, that makes it such a surprising listen and an EP worth watching when it will be released first thing next month.

‘One For The Money’ by The Whispers (Pied Piper Full Blooded Disco Regroove)

How about that boogie for the start, eh? Add some horns in there as well, a little drums to make sure there’s a bit of a rhythm backbone there, and some organ too, and we’re off to the races with this regroove of an old The Whispers tune. And they make sure to add everything, including a bit of screeching guitar as well, but they also know how to keep that thing rolling, with the bass doing the groundwork so that everything else can live off of it. This including a big break for the horn section at about 1:20, giving you a bit of that funk before the vocals come in, telling you to "get on down". The organ keeps delivering, the guitar does its little riff in there, and the Pied Piper makes sure that all that boogie keeps on leading you to the dancefloor with all the holiness from all those other instruments. The vocals are old school, with the main vocalist doing the whole church thing as the rest of the band makes sure to get in a word edgewise as well. And how about all of that for close to nine minutes, eh? Though at about the 4:40 mark they do bring it down for a minute, just letting the rhythm section go at it for a moment, with only a bit of the keys on top of it. Soon enough though, the party gets blazing again, and it is just one of those things to get that disco dancefloor working.

‘The Queen On Her Throne’ by JKriv

JKriv gets the beat down in there as the classic sounds of this sublime track fill the void alongside of it. Soon the percussion sounds come in as well, helping out in the rhythm department, as he dials down the other sounds just before the minute mark to get the bass in (and some other instruments too). The harsh beat has faded to the background a bit, with the percussion and bass providing a warmer canvas on top of which JKriv builds his empire with the sounds of the original tune, coming to fullness around 1:45 where he does everything except adding those triple vocals. Obviously, at 2:20, here comes the main vocalist, admitting that, yes, you are his Darling darling baby, and JKriv first adds a little instrumental piece in there, not getting quite to the chorus just yet. And he shows restraint, going through a few more rounds of the Darlin’ darlin’ bit, after which he first throws in a nice bit of percussion with a nice, deep tom drum sound, adding to the funky feel of the track. Lighter sounds soon arrive, working up towards, yes, the chorus, with the vocals upping the ante. This before the beat gets stripped, with the main vocals now getting the room for themselves. At the six minute mark, we get the boys in the back as well, adding their ooooh-hoo lines to the whole proceedings. Just a lovely rework, with plenty of vocal goodness, a nice funky and smooth rhythm line, and enough subtle variation to have some 8 minute long dancing fun.

‘Christmas Will Break Your Heart’ by LCD Soundsystem

First we hear some festive sounds with the bells, but soon James Murphy starts telling you that Christmas will break your heart, with a sad sod arrangement in the back as Murphy is complaining that "your body is getting old". The composition has some piano, some drums, and slowly and slowly more and more things are added, with at one point even the background choir joining Murphy, who, despite everything, admits that he will be "coming home to you". Like a New York, I Love You, this track is a slow tale of woe, where the inner voices and emotions battle from quiet desperation to quiet love. At the end, the anxiety comes out, with the instruments building up a little wall in the background as Murphy yelps out What if you’re done?, screaming it out in the crescendo, before the track settles down again with the snow bells and a slow, clean drum. Obviously, this was the start of what since has become a little comeback announcement of the band that, for a certain group of people, did probably define a certain era a bit. And it’s good to see that they come with these Seasonal greetings, without feeling the pressure to come back with the next hit, dance, anxiety fuelled tune right of the bat. We just like to get new stuff from this expert band, so pretty chuffed to have them back as far as I’m concerned.

‘Under A Silious Moonright’ by David Bowie (Dimitri From Tokyo remix)

Dimitri From Tokyo, years ago, got grooving with this funk track by Bowie in his Nile Rodgers period. Dimitri adds loads of percussion, but makes sure that guitar riff gets the whole spotlight at the minute mark, and he knows to ride the bass after that. Sure, Bowie’s vocals, too, are brought to the fore as the weapon they are, with the horns complementing the moments the vocals are silent. And at 1:50, the chorus, where the main rhythm is still there even though some things are stripped away to make sure that Bowie can sing that his love For you, will break my heart in two. And as he sings Trembles like a flooooo-wer, all the other instruments are, literally, being turned down, before that funky rhythm gets back in there with the percussion, the bass, and the horns providing plenty of atmosphere to help out the vocals. Dimitri From Tokyo goes a bit club with it, before Bowie gets a bit jazz with it as the horns come in, and then the funk can be found underneath it again. It’s just one of those things I’ve got on vinyl that just shows the far reaching hand of Bowie. From his Ziggy Stardust glam rock to the cold Berlin sounds to the whole Fame thing and the Nile Rodgers stuff to, eventually, his very last new album; he was just one of those artists that did so much, and with that, inspired so many. And, luckily, we’ll be able to love and listen to his records, the sounds he inspired, and even the dancefloor edits for eternity and beyond.

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:  ‘Two Brothers’ by Hanni El Khatib (Holy Ghost! remix)

Slap that bass, baby! How about that one to get this on the road, eh? Add to that some synths and some '80s soundtrack sounds to big it all up, and you are off to the races with this one. High paced disco for those long summer nights where you can use that extra jolt of hgh nrgy. To make it even more disco-ish you get some horns in too, and there’s also a nice bit of piano to go on top of the beat to keep this one going. A little while after, the vocals come in for the first time, telling us that our brothers, mothers, and children love us, and crazy uncle Randall down in the basement probably loves us a little bit too. More horns after the first run of vocals, and you can never go wrong with those. Then you get this nice little build-up with primarily beat, synths, and vocals, with a dash of guitar thrown in there for good measure, after which around 3:50 the bass takes off with the loot and makes a grooving dash for it. These lads know how to make a catchy, groovy tune, with this one sounding especially disco compared to some of their other work (blame it on the horns and the way they use some of the synths). Again, lovely high paced, and sure to get the people dancing as if on a cocktail of a couple of energy drinks and some lovin’.

‘Rock Steady’ by The Whispers (JKriv edit)

I’m not one to say no to a good seven minutes of disco. JKriv starts out with the beat to get this edit of The Whispers ‘Rock Steady’ on the road. Soon enough, you get some of that bass guitar in, along with the vocals, after which more and more of the original sounds enter the vincinity. And just after the minute mark you get the full back-to-the-disco vibe, with the beat sliding down to the background to get the full The Whispers experience going. Which means some Steady rocking all night long (rocking ‘till the break of dawn). JKriv makes sure to herald the stars of the show here, giving it this lovely slower-to-mid disco pace where the vocals keep going and going. Until the four minute mark that is, when you get some piano solo first, and then a little bit more emphasis on the bass. Soon after though, you get those soulful vocals in there again, talking about how he almost gave up on courting her, before they started to rock, steady! A lovely edit that keeps all of that old school magic right there in the spotlight.

‘Another Way’ by Crooked Colours (Mickey Kojak’s Soundtrack edition)

I love the drums that this one has, gives it some punch from the get go I reckon. Add some dreamy vocals to that, a dash of those space sounds, and you have quite the beginning for this Soundtrack edition. After a couple of seconds in Mickey Kojak dials down the drums for a bit, to bring them back later along with some additional synths firing their sounds off to help them out. I love the added synths around the two minute mark, they give it this nice, little touch that I really like. This carefree line of sound that floats its way in between the heavier weaponry. At the three minute mark it’s a moment of vocals-and-synth only to calm everyone the fuck down for a moment or so, after which you get the drums back, but not before you have this lovely dramatic, theatrical moment of vocals in there, which does kind of gets me smiling. The combination of all these things makes it definitely worthwhile to have a listen to, I’d reckon.

‘Make It Easy’ by Ben Browning

Ben Browning wants us to feel good this summer, and with ‘Make It Easy’ he sure keeps it light and fresh like a nice, cool salad you’re enjoying at the beach to secure yourself that bathing suit/speedo figure. Where Cut Copy - the band he is in - tends to veer towards the all-out dance side of synth-pop these days, this one slides into the jammy, lets-have-fun-together end of it all. He advises to "Make no money, make it easy" (how, exactly, that makes it easy is up for debate), and obviously there is a nifty bassline hidden down there somewhere to keep this one moving forward, along with plenty of auxiliary sounds, most eye-catching of which the guitar riffs that he has put in. This one is the first single off of his debut album called Turns, which will be in shops this summer.

‘All U Writers’ by !!!

Again with the bass, wow, that one immediately lays down the rules of the land I’d say. Nic Offer comes in with a deeeep voice to get that nightclub dirty out there, which gets juxtaposed by that light-pitched synth sound that they float around. Later on we get some more singing vocals, which are decidedly higher pitched, though the bass still keeps it on the down low and grooving forward. There are some nifty auxiliary sounds thrown in there, though none more lovely than the guitar stand-off that starts just before the three minute mark. In the mean time, the heavily worked vocals keep on coming at you from all sides, and at the 3:40 mark you get the bass back in to do some of that down-to-the-ground dancing to. I loved the most recent !!! album quite a bit, and this again is just a great track to be shaking some hips on, with Offer leading it from right up front, no doubt.

‘Heard It’ by Marvin Gaye (Late Nite Tuff Guy edit)

You know you need this in your life, don’t you? Starts out with a flurry of, ehrm, strings? On top of which, soon enough, you get that soulful voice of Marvin Gaye (which, soon enough, you’ll get in stereo, no less). After the initial, theatrical start LNTG gets the groove on with some bass and percussion, some original sounds, and some new, auxiliary sounds to help out as well. And, of course, quite a bit of Marvin Gaye and his backing gals singing that, yes, I’ve heard it through the grapevine (that no longer you will be mine). Love the use of that guitar just before the two minute mark, and about half an hour later you get some of those strings from the start reappearing again. LNTG does a good job pacing this, not going full party mode, but he knows when to take it down a notch for a moment to let this catch its breath before hitting the run+sprint button again. Not that this is fast paced, mind you, it’s got a nice little groove to it, led by that bass. Gaye can be heard a plenty, so fans definitely don’t need to feel short-changed here.