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: ‘Cost To Love’ by Rare Cuts

Lovely slow burning start here, getting into that looping business a bit, increasing it in volume slightly, setting the rhythm and pace immediately by repetition. And so they loop their way forward, sometimes hinting at changing it up, but then settling back down a bit again. That is, up until the 1:20 mark, where we get those lovely disco strings and sounds that also put some atmosphere in there. And, after two minutes, we get the vocals, those lovely ol’ disco vocals full of love yearning and the heart burning. Then the girls in the back start to help out a bit with the chorus, singing Rising, rising close to love, then adding that, oh boy, how that is costing her. In the mean time the loops are still churning as wheels to drive this one forward, with the disco strings and the old vocals giving it its heart. Lovely slow burner this one right here.

‘Love Train’ by PillowTalk & Soul Clap feat. Greg Paulus & Crew Love

The people of PillowTalk and Soul Clap get the party  started in here, first with a clear beat and some percussion help, and after that you get a nice little bass sound in there. That deeper sound gets juxtaposed by a nifty bit of piano playing, as in the mean time the percussion still gives it all the rhythm you need. After the minute mark we get the vocals, announcing that they Wake up every morning (ehrm…), but obviously in a specific sort of way. At the 1:40 mark the piano gets back as they hit the chorus, saying that they’re Riding on that love train, love train. So spreading the good vibes there, and the piano certainly helps with that. Shortly after, a moment of mostly just vocals, and then the bass comes back in to ride along with the percussion and beat, waiting for the vocals to come back in again. At the three minute mark we get some Caribbean horns in there to vary it up a bit, even more giving the feel that we’re there to party and love. There’s some nice interplay with deep and lighter sounds, there’s plenty of rhythm, and the vocals and piano finish it off nicely. Just a good vibes tune to get dancing to.

‘Little Bird’ by Annie Lennox (Du Tonc Rework)

Du Tonc gets it on the road with the deep sounds, getting the deep beat in which then gets juxtaposed with a slightly lighter woodwork percussion sound. The synths start to arrive, followed by a rapid-firing percussion sound, which pace gets juxtaposed by a deeper, mellower synth sound which brings some calmness to the proceedings. The beat and quick percussion then gets hold back a bit by some of the sounds on the foreground, including a slower, deep synth sound to move it a bit more into the pop realm. Shortly after, Annie Lennox walks in, singing that she wishes she was a little bird and could fly. After that Du Tonc gets into dance mode a bit, getting the electronics in there, but soon the more atmospheric, calmer sounds arrive back in to juxtapose all of that. Around the 3:45 mark Lennox gets back, and with her some more of those non-dance sounds. So there is a definite mix going on here of the beat, the rapid fire percussion—  in short all those dance sounds— with Lennox and the original song’s sounds on top of it all to get a little bit of both world’s goodness in there.

‘Keep The Fire Burning’ by Gwen McCrae (Joey Negro Feed The Flame remix)

Joey Negro put out an album that showcases some of his edits, like his versions of tunes by Grace Jones, Patti LaBelle, Thelma Houston and also including this old tune by Gwen McCrae. First he makes sure he gets the dancefloor going, but soon he gets the naughty in there by immediately entering McCrae asking you if You can feel it (and, oehmmm, it feels so good). Then she starts giving us some instructions on how to move to all of this, as Joey keeps the rhythm going in the back, only stopping for a moment when the girls in the back sing to us that we need to Keep the fire burning. After that demand the bass starts riding his ol’ horsey, and Gwen McRae starts singing on top of some of the original sounds, like a nifty little guitar riff. McRae sings that You need to give it all you got, and she certainly does, doing the works here as the disco strings calm us down in the mean time. It is just one of those ace disco edits giving you that dancing with the big love and big vocals that go with it. The SoundCloud is just a snippet, the entire track running over six minutes, so that means plenty to work with in that discotheque.

‘Girl On The Wire’ by Tweaks

Tweaks is gearing up to release their EP later this month, and with ‘Girl On The Wire’ they give another sample of their nocturnal sound (they’re even denoting the time there, 4 in the morning, there you go). First you get the more dreamy vocals, though that switches to a more immediate voice demanding to know, Girl, why are you keeping me up. There are some nifty sounds to help out there, a pretty sweet (what I believe to be a) guitar riff, and the drums have this nice, soft and deep sound. I love the layering of the vocals, that’s pretty nice right there, and the lighter sounds pierce through the blanket of the night nicely, to make it not too much of anything the same. If you like this kind of late-night-under-the-city-lights sound, that EP coming out might be worth giving a spin.

‘No More Talking’ by Tiger & Woods

I pretty much love the looping business that Tiger & Woods have set up, and they start this one out by looping a bit of that bass action that actually reminded me a bit of that ol’ The Jones Girls tune. It’s super funky, has got a bit of attitude to it, and Tiger & Woods give it this more modern, mechanical slant for that Berlin dancefloor. They also bring back the old times though, not only with that rhythmic thrust, but also when the old school disco vocals come in. These vocals are of the feminine variety, not one of those strong powerhouse kind of things, and that juxtaposes the looping of the beat and bass action nicely. The vocals, by the way, also being looped, with one line being repeated over and over (and over and on top of each other as well), after which that punchy bass comes in to set the dancefloor alight again. Tiger & Woods are so good at doing that, and I, for one, am glad they’re back in action again with this burner of a tune.

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: ‘Fight’ by Nicolas Jaar

It’s always brilliant to hear from the talented Nicolas Jaar, and if you didn’t manage to get in a listen on that first album of his, definitely still worth your while. Here he starts with a piano that, to me for some reason, indicates something not quite right (maybe it’s the contrastive aggressiveness of that last note he hits, or the industrial and increasingly more distorted sounds that float underneath the piano). At 2:10 he starts using his voice, trying to get through, and even when all the instrumentals are stripped away, they still they can’t quite manage to convey what is on their mind, settling for a rhythm role as the bass-functioning synth sound drags it all along with it. Constantly he goes from a relatively clean rhythm sound (albeit already slightly menacing) to something more distorted, to the weird, the flailing, until at one point it arrives at a point of nothingness, which is then picked up again by, first time around, the vocals, and second time around, the vocals preceded by footsteps of him, Him, or anyone coming. Then it settles for the nocturnal peace again, in this case with the voice finally able to utter some words, namely Select your fight. This song is, again, quite the construction, so expertedly put together to tell a story through sounds and soundscapes that one could almost put it in a museum by itself or to go with some video installation of something (of urban unrest, perhaps, or one of the other ideas floating in my mind at this point). Definitely up there with Circlesquare’s ‘Fight Sounds’ in terms of evoking a hazed and dazed night of disobedience out under the city lights.

‘Rockets’ by VYD (Xinobi remix)

Och, that percussion to go with that simmering synth sound, how lovely. Just that woodwork sound is amazing to bring the rhythm in there a bit as well. The atmosphere is expanded by the almost ghostly vocals at the start (which then normalize a bit, as they almost go at it spoken-word), and a sort of trombone sound which is just perfect for here. The vocals, in the mean time, sing that they dance alone Far away from you. After which, perfectly timed, a beat comes in to underscore that dancing. More percussion is added to help the rhythm a bit, though the trombone and the new female vocals make sure the atmosphere is still put in there. In the mean time the male vocalist seems to lose it, almost panting and heavily breathing as he sings No questions baby, as the beat is slid back in to dance on his demise, which is further expanded on by the haunting synth sound, followed by a lovely clear rhythm piano line to round it all off. Love how he strips the beat about one and a half minute before stoppage time, that’s a beautiful moment, and then he brings in the beat and percussion again to get it to the end. Definitely a beautiful remix from Xinobi, who knows how to deliver some quality.

‘Sisters’ by Tweaks

Tweaks released their first single ‘Sisters’ not too long ago, going for the nocturnal with the melancholic piano and the deep, male vocals singing on top of the sparse keys. That sole piano gets more and more help, first adding more orchestral sounds to it, then coming in with the drums for the extra oomph, eventually settling for a little military drum roll to stay as the vocals return. Those vocals tell us to Love your sisters, after which a nice little piano squeaks through in between the different drum and percussion sounds. At 2:30 they dial it back down, amongst some heavy breathing, laying down the percussion for a few seconds to just give the vocals and piano some focus, though soon the drum sounds are back. At about 3:10 we get some haunty female vocals doing a sort of opera ghost-from-the-lake kind of thing, which fits the tone of the track I’d think. Not too shabby a debut I reckon, hitting the nighttime vibe with ease.

‘Dig It (It’s Time)' Young Pulse edit

This one sure starts with a pulsing (ha!) rhythm, getting the drums and beat in early, and after a few seconds they go for the wobbly bass sound. They go a-glitchin’ a bit, doing a little sample over and over with very clear cuts in between, letting us know that we’re rolling the same thing for a while. After a bit of guitar the vocals come in, giving us the whole disco works, which is added to by the horns that also enter the scene. That little bass that gets it on at 2:10 to move it forward underneath the vocals is quite lovely, and the female vocalist sure works for it, as they are singing if it Isn’t time, time, time, time, to change your mind, come to me. At about the 3:20 Young Pulse lets the rhythm do their thing a bit, to which he adds first a guitar, later some other instruments to (including the bass making its comeback). I love the old school disco works of the girls in the back basically telling the tale, and with the main vocalist really going at it. It’s a lovely, funky edit of the 1982 Kasso song, with the clear sampling at start and finish giving it a bit of a modern slant as well.

‘Killer’ by Beato Cozzi (Magic Feet remix)

There’s a hard hitting drum that makes up the first thirty seconds or so, with after that the bass taking over and giving it this slow burning house feel. The grainy sounds give it this modern, industrial touch which is then juxtaposed by a clear piano, almost veering to the disco side of it all. At about 1:45 the clear piano changes its sound, and it gets some help from some tropical percussion, with the distorted electro sounds still running in the back until they aren’t anymore, as  at one point it is just the bass and a singular beat. This soon gets the clear piano added to it, giving it this uplifting rhythm sound that nicely balances the track out. Drums indicate the upcoming change-up, with some extra instruments (including the electro sounds as well as the tropical percussion) there to lend a hand. It’s a nice track where the balance between the modern grittiness versus the clear dancefloor sounds in terms of the piano is just about right, with the bass leading this one to its eventual end.

‘White Horse’ by Shit Hot Soundsystem (rework)

I’m sorry, but whenever I happen to come across a rework of this ol’ tune I just have to post it. Shit Hot Soundsystem ride the cowbell for this one, getting the funky dirtiness of it quite right. After the minute mark they punch it up a bit, and at 1:18 you get that beautiful sound of the original, indicating that, Yes, this is that tune, and Yes, lets get this party on, with all the rhythm sounds doing their thing for the dancefloor. They ride and expand that little horsey (ha!) for a while, and at 2:20 you get the vocals, delivering us the line that If you want to ride, don’t ride the white horse. In the mean time there’s still the drums, percussion, and bass to keep this one going for the dancefloor, with at 3:20 the guys taking a break from the vocals, focussing on that disco&funk dance sound for a moment. Then the lads of Laid Back come back in to warn about riding that white horse, with at 4:20 them returning to that iconic sound of this track. After that some echo laden vocals bring us to the next bit of the track, singing that Riiide, the white pony. It’s just a lovely, up-tempo, funky remix existing to let any disco dancer get down ‘n dirty to. And a free download of 9 1/2 minutes at that!