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: ‘Higher Lovin’ by Rocco Raimundo feat. Stee Downes

No sign of a beat at the start, though after fifteen seconds we get some percussion in to get the rhythm going. At the thirty second mark we get both beat and bass, though the piano and all sorts of auxiliary sounds make sure to keep this one grounded. Stee Downes then comes in with the vocals, and I do always love that voice. It has this nice mix of rhythm and soul, singing about Higher Lovin’’ over lush instrumentals, definitely going for the love side of the House dancefloor instead of the lust. Just before the third minute mark they dial it down a bit, then the first batch of instrumentals comes back in, after which the rhythm side of it all returns. As said, the feel is that of hoping for love whilst doing a little dance, with a nice bassline that, combined with the fairly light set of instrumentals Rocco Raimundo uses, sets the tone and feel for this one. Apparently one of the remixes that is being done for this one is by Yam Who?, who are also quality as well, so not a shabby package to be had here, I reckon.

‘Big Black Coat’ by Junior Boys

A while ago Junior Boys released a cover, indicating that the synth-pop band was doing a Rip van Winkle and returning to the fray. The rhythm of this one indicates that they are not just returning where they’ve left off, putting on an almost dub-like beat and a dark, brooding atmosphere to go with the light vocals. Even those vocals have a sense of desperation to them, underscored by the jittery synth and the more deeper sounds. Just before the three minute mark they do get in some catchy club vibes though, and at the 3:40 mark the atmospheric synth is accompanied by a proper beat. More synth layers are added as the narration is put on the backburner for a while, as the pace and the franticness is dialled up and up, with the last four minutes definitely giving people a chance to dance a bit, even if the overlying feel is one of dark and deep minds more than of festivities. It is as if the almost romantic, yearning-for-love feel that an album like Begone Dull Care had has been experienced and turned bitter, leaving the question out there that if love is not the answer, what is? A question that might throw any mind into a frenzy every now and then. The lads are also going to be touring Europe in 2016, so loads to look forward to I reckon.

‘Darkstar’ by Morgan Geist

Morgan Geist is back making music under his own name, veering from the emotive house music of Storm Queen to a more tech heavy dance approach with ‘Darkstar’, part of a new EP called Megaprojects One. Geist always knows how to add some flavor even to a more minimal beat and percussion combo, like with the sound that comes in around the minute mark. From there on he keeps building, a floating synth, extra percussion, and just after the two minute mark he takes on the actual beat sound as well, adding some oomph to it. Thirty seconds later he slides that sound into a new feel altogether, and he mixes it up so nicely. At some points there’s the more minimal tech approach, which he then infuses with some extra sounds for more warmth and feel.  In the mean time, obviously, he makes sure that everything aids (definitely not detracts) from the dancefloor experience, putting this in the Berlin clubs after midnight. Just look at that bass note he puts in there in the last minute, for instance. Small touches like that, eh? Geist is one of those experienced guys out there knowing how to deliver, showing that with this one yet again.

‘Loud Places’ by Jamie XX (Mike Simonetti’s Dark Places Remix)

Obviously mister Jamie XX is a popular brand nowadays, and add to that the vocals of Romy and you already have a combo that will especially appease the popular dance public. Add Mike Simonetti though, and you get a boy like me excited as well. Simonetti is one of those guys of the Italians Do It Better label, doing everything from moody instrumentals to Whitney Houston edits. I love how that beat is in the mix, it  just takes care of that momentum. Add to that the juxtaposition of the almost military step percussion and Romy’s dreamy vocals, and you’ve got an ace first part of the track. After a short moment of just Romy’s vocals, Simonetti dives into the darker realms of the dance scene, keeping the percussion, but adding some of those deep, wobbly sounds in there to keep it all well below surface levels. Dark places indeed, Mr. Simonetti. So here, definitely, his qualities on the moody side of the spectrum come to the fore. Free download, by the way, for those not minding sliding in some of that deep house hypnosis.

‘Victim’ by Dinamo Azari

Dinamo Azari was one part of the producing duo calling themselves Azari & III. That project has died, but that hasn’t stopped Azari from teaming up with the two vocalists they enlisted back then to help out on this track off of his debut album. Those vocalists complement each other so well, the higher, soul pitched vocals of Starving-Yet-Full and the rhythmic, deep sounds of Fritz Helder, not to mention how fun they were when doing that stage thing they do. The Azari & III album was a mixture between some darker cuts and more all-out House live-it-up fests, and this is definitely more towards the darker side of the line. The percussion provides the rhythm, and there’s a nice bass there to help out. First we hear SYF sing, but the growling Helder soon comes in as well, talking us through the fact he isn’t our bitch. Just before the two minute mark he dials it all down for a short while, and I love the restraint with which he comes back, putting the atmosphere first there. Loved the live shows that Azari & III always put up, thought that album was a mixed bag (some of those songs though!), so curious to see what this album is going to end up like.

‘Bad Blood’ by Nao

Nao definitely has the vocals to make one dream away whilst walking the midnight city. Here, it is put on display in superb manner early on, with just some simmering synths to accompany them. They provide a nice background, and are never in the way of them. At the 45 second mark you get the electronical percussion sounds, getting that dubby beat going, and Nao turns it up a notch to make sure she is audible and that the emotion is put in there as well. She sings that you choose not to remember, making her believe that it is the bad, bad blood. at the 2:50 mark some of the instrumentals are stripped away, leaving only the drums and the vocals, though soon some of them return and she turns it up a notch for one last time. First single off of the debut album, and with people like Nao and Kelela out there representing, this kind of sparse, electronic music with that urban, midnight vibe is in good hands. Both of their vocals, in any case, are a delight.

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: ‘I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler’ by YACHT

Seriously, that title alone makes this one worth talking about, because that is just friggin’ awesome. Not only that, it’s probably exactly what every semi-nerdish person is thinking at this very moment, because who hadn’t expected the future to be cooler? At least give us that hooverboard man! Google Glass is too 1984 (never mind all the curfews-following-protests and stuff), but the hoverboard is the epitome of futuristic playfulness! Anyway, YACHT, I love YACHT. Not only for their witticisms (there’s an English grad in that band after all), and not only for the fact that there’s an actual ideology-- or at the very least, workplace ethos-- behind it, but also because they know how to create a catchy tune. First Claire sings the title of the track, layered with a bit of roboticism. And then the tune start, with the kickdrum, with the bass, with loads of auxiliary sounds like that catchy piano line that starts at around the fifty second mark. They attack the chorus pretty niftily, dialling it slightly back for the verses. There is a little break with some handclaps around the two minute mark, then they go at it again, and then they bring it down to just a synth line and the vocals, before going all out to the finish line again. Love the double vocal layers, the catchiness, and just this whole track is wickedly fun, to be honest.

‘Stranger In A Room’ by Jamie XX feat. Oliver Sim (Pional’s Room Version)

Last week this column featured a Pional remix that he did together with John Talabot, and this week we’ve got a track where lonesome he takes on Jamie XX’s track ‘Stranger In A Room’, featuring Oliver Sim on vocals. Love the piano at the start, leave it to Pional to herald that instrument, and the drums give it some backbone. A floating synthline is underneath it all, being a constant in the background. Soon the vocals come in, slightly detached. At about 1:14 Pional slows the pace down for a moment, going with a non-rhythm bass sound. I love the atmosphere of the tune, it is slightly dark, moody, but for instance that guitar that comes in at 2:16, or the sudden relative clarity of the vocals: just some things that then suddenly come above the fray and give you a little jolt to the body. The ending, pretty nifty, with a slow guitar sound over the more trippy percussion. Another power offering by Pional.



‘Disappointing’ by John Grant feat. Tracey Thorn

John Grant already went fairly electronic with his quite awesome previous album, veering away from the more singer-songwriter territory of his first solo endeavour. After his Hercules And Love Affair stint it should come as no surprise that this new single really starts rubbing its shoulders with the disco. The electro synth lines give it this bass-y catchiness, with new instruments popping up every now and again. In the mean time John Grant puts on his low voice for the verse, where he names all kinds of things that are Disappointing, compared to you. I like the theatrics of the backing vocals doing a sort of shubby-do-waa near the end of the chorus. The second verse Grant gets some help from Tracey Thorn, who helps him come up with stuff that don’t quite cut it if you put it next to love (or, at least, him). In the chorus they kind of dial the pace back a bit, though they keep a kickdrum behind it all to make sure you can still do a little dance whilst the tune keeps plodding forward. At about three quarters of the way through there is a little instrumental interlude, capped off by a moment of just vocals before it reaches its end. Which it does with a sound that is pretty uplifting, they managed to choose the instruments well to convey that feel. Saw them two years ago in the pouring rain at Primavera Sound in Barcelona (No no, look here, it says it’s not going to rain, so we can leave our raingear at home...), and looking forward to seeing him this Autumn when there’s actually a roof over my head.

‘City’ by Stuart McCallum

Stuart McCallum is gearing up for an album release, of which this is the title track. The start is really electronical, with a simmering synth, a bit of echo on the vocals it seems, bit after about thirty seconds you get the soulful voice and a nice slice of guitar to pierce through this atmosphere of a more industrial (nay, city) vibe that the instruments build behind that. At 1:20 he goes ghostly, having just the vocals at first doing some ooooh, after which you briefly here a soft guitar, before it goes into a sort of dub-steppy drum rhythm. In the mean time McCallum is singing that He fell in love with that city, after which you get a sort of jazz guitar solo, which is pretty wicked. And that makes it the intriguing listen that it is, the theme of it that is enhanced by the more electronical drums and instruments, but the humaneness of the soulful vocals and the jazzy guitar sound that walks right through all that. Album will be released on the 28th of August, if this tickled your fancy.

‘Lost In A Dream’ by Eagles And Butterflies (Larse remix)

Larse knows how to make a good deep house tune for the dancefloor, and here too he starts with a nice bit of rhythm with the percussion and beat setting the pace. At about the fifty second mark he sets the tone in terms of atmosphere, before combining that with the returning beat again after a couple of seconds. At the 1:20 mark he slides in a nice, reasonably paced synth line, which becomes more prominent in the upcoming parts. At 2:30 he starts to sneak in the piano, which will become an actual piano bit when he dials out the synth line. Which is neat, as he already introduced the replacement earlier, and when it comes it’s a smoother transition. At the halfway point he again subtly changes things up, in with some new stuff and out with some old stuff, but the core stays within this realm to help the track keep its continuity, which is no bad thing for the dancefloor. Before the five minute mark he turns down the beat and most of the percussion, starting with basically just a synth before building it up with, as the last addition, the beat coming back at the six minute mark (like, exactly). Another awesome instrumental house tune by Larse, who knows how to get those people down by the underpass dancing.

‘You Can Shine’ by Andy Butler feat. Richard Kennedy (The Carry Nation Remix)


Last month an EP of sorts was released where three people took on Andy Butler’s solo effort ‘Can You Shine’, which has Richard Kennedy on vocals. This is The Carry Nation’s takes on the tune, who starts it out with a bit of that bongo percussion to get that rhythm and jackin’ vibe going. Then the beat comes in, and even more African based percussion come out of the woodworks to get all y’all doing whatever you do on that rhythm thing. Just after the minute mark there comes a bit of Berlin in there too, a bit of that industrial synth, before Richard Kennedy comes in with those crystal clear house vocals that sing that He makes me special. The synth, in the mean time, is doing that bass thing to really get that House vibe going on, with this one transmorphing into an old school House tune with the soulful vocals, all those jackin’ rhythms, and this tale of love that fell apart, with house music and the dancing as the saviour. That change-up at about 4:20, that’s sweet, that’s some bass sound dancefloor goodness right there. Which, incidentally, starts an instrumental house-a-thon with some lovely change-ups to keep the dancing crowd going, and it’s only after 1 1/2 minute that the vocals come back in (though, from the back of the mix). Basically it’s just an 8 1/2 minute long party for all the freaks and geeks who like that House sound.