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: ‘Lies’ by Kasper Bjorke feat. Nomi Ruiz

When Kasper Bjorke is on, he is ON! He’s always had these amazing singles on his albums, which he usually mixed with a B-side full of deep house tracks. This time it seems to sway more towards the vocal electronical side of things, with guest bits by, amongst others, Tobias Buch, Sisy Ey, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, and the former Hercules And Love Affair singer Nomi Ruiz. The lovelorn Ruiz is perfect here as she, in the opening bits, paints a scene of broken bottles and broken glass, and asks“what do you want me to do?”. Bjorke’s synth & percussion combo is perfect here, he’s just got this amazing talent to keep it both dancey whilst putting in loads of atmosphere. Here, too, even though most of the sounds are pretty light it still has this air of melancholia, which is perfectly capped off by Ruiz and her narration of love, lust, but certainly not unrivalled happiness. Bjorke works those vocals to perfection, and adds the auxiliary sounds at the exact right times, not to mention the switch-ups like at 2:29, which he has a knack for doing them right. That album is streaming on soundcloud in its entirety as I’m typing this (and has been for a while), and it is definitely a worthwhile listen. And, dare I say it, perhaps the man’s best album yet. And you bet I have that last LP of his on vinyl too!

‘Beats Of Love’ by The Supermen Lovers (altered version)

How about that for coming out of the gates eh? Not holding back in this '80s do-over, with the funk coming in after 20 seconds with that nifty little guitar and that bass doing the groundwork. The vocals come in at about the 50 second mark, and they are delightfully theatrical in delivery. Love the synth that comes in at the exact moment he sings the title of the track for the first time. Totally fits. Love how that guitar comes in now and again, but also how easily The Supermen Lovers just leave it for a moment to focus on something else. The track stays funky and catchy, and totally worth dancing to. It still has that '80s cabaret kind of tinge, that overly theatrical, but I like that. Again, that guitar that comes in at about 3:25, just lovely bit of funky they throw in there. After the guitar gets some burn, they let the track explode again, to just as easily pull some sounds again to come back with the vocals. That’s what I really like here, the way they just play with pace and loudness. Add to that the theatrics and the funk, and you’ve got a killer track as far as I’m concerned.

‘I Believe’ by Bicep and Hammer

Bicep and Hammer start out with some factory sounds (or whatever) on this one, and they keep that up for an annoyingly long time. But after about thirty seconds you get a glimpse of the real sounds that are going to make this one, and twenty seconds later you get the percussion and some vocal work. Add to that a deep bass sound and an increasingly soulful voice, and this track is finally getting somewhere (and that they leave that annoying start sound in, I can forgive them for that). Just love the slow drawl that the bass dictates, and how that is juxtaposed by the soulful vocals just going at it. After about two minutes you get an atmospheric, light synth sound that gives a bit of a counterweight to the bass. That synth also gives it something hypnotic and dreamy, which is nice and which works well with the vocals. The synths also round the track off, one which I like for it’s vibe and the mixture of that voice, the bass, and that synth sound that adds to it from about halfway on.

‘Left Hand Free’ by alt-J (Lido remix)

I like the vocal start of this one, that gives it a nice and funny vibe. Especially when it then slides into this slow piano & whistling combo with the vocals before those dubby beats come in. Again, then, the shooting-you-down-bang-bang with the altered vocals hastily talking you through it come in, which makes the contrast even bigger when the actual singing vocals enter. And that’s what they play with so lovely here, just the contrast between the talking-vocals and the actual singing ones, the piano with the big drums and beats, and the soft and the loud. I just like the creative variety here, on the one hand with this anything goes feel, but on the other hand all the things so calculatedly contrasting each other. Also, during the stretches of one kind of sound, all the instruments and vocals in that stretch fit that specific stretch very well. And that makes it an intriguing listen, though admittedly for some it might be too much, too all over.

‘Running’ by Cassian feat. Cleopold

This one gets going with a synth and beat combo, and after about fifteen seconds the party is on when the drums come in. First though, he retreats the drum to introduce the vocals, but soon you already hear percussion coming back in underneath the vocals, which then get banging again with those tropical vibed synths. At the two minute mark most things get stripped away, with the beat, a minimal synth, and whoo-hooing vocals remaining. Slowly Cassian adds some more sounds, like a bit of horns, before letting the vocals return, from which point on they’re clearly working towards the moment the beat and synths come in again. It’s a fun and catchy track, which get a certain light heartedness from the tropical sounding synths, though that belies the lyrics a bit I feel, with the narrator singing that he’s been Running, all night. Catchy synth tune though, this one, ending it all with a bit of beat and drums.

‘Have Some Fun’ by Tosca (FaltyDL remix)

The title already says it, doesn’t it? Even though this one does start in a lovely, smokey-jazz club kind of way. Which is fun, and even when the catchy elements come in with the drums and bass, it still feels you’re at some jam session at a club with some guys on stage that are all smiling as they try to create something a bit catchy-yet-understated for the cocktail wives to do some dancing to. Obviously, at one point, the track becomes a bit too complex to keep that scenario up, with all kinds of production trickery going on. Though at about 2:40 there’s this moment of bliss where that suddenly is all turned down to get back into that classical mode of the song again, and that’s just wonderful right there. That moment alone makes this track worth those five minutes of your life.

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: ‘Satisfy’ by Bicep (John Talabot remix)

You know two things when Talabot does a remix, it will be nice and deep, and it will have plenty of atmosphere. He starts with the latter, getting the rain to pour down on whomever is listening to this one. After he’s got the water in your brain he gives you the beat, which is, as expected, pretty deep and lovely. The synth provides a lovely counterpoint to that, and together they soon have you hypnotized. Just before the two minute mark he mixes it up a bit, adding some muscle (...) to it to give it a bit more bass for the dancefloor. In the mean time he’s not forgetting the details though, still bringing you all the little bells and whistles to make sure there’s always enough atmosphere for you to understand that this still is mister John Talabot you are listening to. Take that lovely sound just after the three minute mark for instance, which just cuts through all the dancefloor sounds like a knife through warm butter. At about 3:30 he gives you the ol’ stare down, building up to the re-introduction of the beat. But, again, not in any ordinary way. He’s got the synth wavering, ready to go, but in the mean time he almost gives you this cinematic interlude with plenty of vibes and images, just so that after a mintue your body will start to automatically dance again when the bass comes back in. It’s Talabot, what more can you say? It’s deep, it’s hypnotic, but it still has plenty of vibe to go around. And there’s nine minutes of it to boot!

‘Take Shelter’ by Years And Years (Onra remix)

Years and Years is fronted by Olly Alexander, someone who surely has a fabulous voice. So no wonder that’s the thing Onra focuses on and runs away with. Basically, the whole first minute is a showcase of the vocals, with only a piano that manages to squeeze out a bit of that attention. After that you get some percussion beats and a synth line, but the vocals are still out and up front. The original is a relatively fast paced pop track, especially compared to this remix, where the beat slows it down, which is emphasized by a deep, lazy synth sound that arrives around 2:30. I love the comeback of the piano at around 3:10, that’s nicely done, and this one as a whole certainly gives you a totally different kind of angle than the original track. Years and Years doing some touring this Autumn, so if you fancy the voice (which also featured on a fairly recent The Magician track), pop in and have a look.

‘Calling Out’ by Midnight Magic (Bell Towers remix)

Midnight Magic is readying a second album I believe, so they are dusting off some old tracks and they’re putting them out there again. This is a Bell Towers remix of ‘Calling Out’, a cut off of their lovely What The Eyes Can’t See EP that was released a few years ago (and was a free download, I believe at the time). That first sound you hear, that’s the main asset this remix gives you, putting that one underneath a lot of the original stuff to provide you with the Bell Towers signature. It gives it a sort of clubby vibe, which the lovelornly sung original does not really have. “Calling Out to you, I am”, she sings, as the vocals are left behind for some clubby electro sounds. Which doesn’t mean they are cutting the vocals out, not at all, they are still allowed to shine, which I would consider a very wise move. I would be lying if I’d say that I’d prefer this to the original, but the more mechanical sounds of Bell Towers do provide a different background for the vocals, making for a nice contrast. The last couple of minutes they kind of ditch Midnight Magic and they run with their own thing aimed at the dancefloor, really indicating a clear break from the disco sound of the original.

‘One More Day’ by Sven Weisemann

If you kind of know Sven Weisemann you know he’s kind of an all-around guy. He’s got his DJ stuff going on, but he also likes to veer into the more classical side of the whole music business, and this is a good example of that. Not short on atmosphere this one, as one has come to expect from him. He’s just one of those guys whose got an ear for music and who can seamlessly weave sounds in and out of a song at the exact right time. It’s like the piano version of something like Nicolas Jaar this, the kind of music you put on after midnight as you’re walking around through all the city lights. All the different sounds, from the piano to the voice (no real vocals though) to all the sound effects, they blend together perfectly to create this beautiful atmosphere. It goes from slightly melancholic and dark to, at around 3:30, the opening of the heavens and the seeing of the light (whether that is a good or bad thing I’m still debating, as it can be an epiphany or the putting-your-troubles-at-ease-forever kind of thing). And as everyone who reads this column faithfully could’ve guessed, he had me at the horn sounds.

‘Sun Down’ by Tricky feat. Tirzah

Tricky is one of those guys whose name will be forever linked to the Trip Hop hype, and here he teams up with Tirzah who provides some actual singing to this track. With Tricky doing the talking, of course. I just love how this track works, when those strong instrumentals come in and when they disappear into the background. They definitely give the track something ominous, something immediate. And that vibe definitely seems to fit with the lyrics, with Tricky saying that she makes him “run round” and asking “where is the fun now”. Just a prime example of how music and story can really enhance each other, even when, at one point, the music pierces through Tirzah’s vocals, presumably out of anger and frustration. New album coming later this month.

‘Sunrise in Paradise’ by Satin Jackets

There’s already that sole drumkick that helps the piano move along, but after twenty seconds you get the full rhythm in, which after another twenty seconds gets some help from the synth to keep ‘r moving. Slowly but surely more instruments are introduced until about 1:15, when all the drum sounds get stripped for a moment as a lead up to some brief vocals. Soon, the percussion comes back again, not scaring the vocals away, and the track really gets into its feel good groove. It is the kind of soft disco track I would play at the end of a set in summer time. You know, sun already rising again, at no point during the night was there any cold whatsoever, and you are trying to get everyone going home in a good mood. The piano certainly helps with that, as in the middle of the track that takes over from the beat for a moment before, obviously, the latter comes back again to give everyone the opportunity to do some more dancing. It’s just got this happy-go-lucky vibe to it, where you breathe in the fresh summer air and are like, Yeah, this was another good day. After having typed all this, I certainly see why they named the track like they did. Not too fast paced this one, not too much of a floorbanger or something, but a gentle kiss into that ol’ goodnight. With the percussion at the end having a bit more kick to it than at the start to make sure everyone can put their last bits of energy in.