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: ‘When Did I Stop Loving You’ by Marvin Gaye (Valique edit)

Valique gets into that looping action for the start, though after half a minute he gets that bass going for some rhythm and funk, really getting that dancefloor feel working. At the 1:20 mark we get the vocals in, again doing the looping thing, letting the same line with the same instrumental parts doing their thing. Then, the bass again, and with a lovely vocal coming in, super soulful, super old school. Then those horns as well, at 2:20, which team up nicely with the layered vocals that are asking When did you stop loving me, when did I stop loving you. When there’s no vocals, there’s at least the bass to keep you occupied, giving it a nice, deep balance to the higher pitched Marvin Gaye voice. The track certainly has some heartache in it, as in, genuine heartache, with Gaye creating this track just after his divorce. From accusatory to self-reflective to just plain old sadness, the beauty of this edit is that Valique does manage to keep all that, but give it some of that extra lets-dance-the-blues-away kind of goodness. That’s what those edits are all about, no?

‘Hot Hot (Give it All You Got)' by Debbie Jacobs (Evil Smarty & SanFranDisko edit)

SanFranDisko and EvilSmarty start this edit off with that nice little guitar riff aided by the rhythm of that punchy drum that they keep behind it. At the 30 second mark you get a nice little bass in there as well, and one of the main things all the elements achieve is that it just sounds like there’s a party going on in here. At the minute mark the strings arrive, a bit later the horns get there as well, and soon enough Debbie Jacobs and her girls come in with, first, some  background vocals, but just before the two minute mark she herself enters the stage to do her disco thang. Still the guitar riff and the drums form the main backbone elements, with the strings and horns adding all that disco flavor. The lads play around with pace and tempo a bit, though the main thing is that they keep the core elements running, and they savor all the disco goodness that comes with it. At 3:50 they, for a short moment, bring it down a notch, going with primarily the early sounds of the guitar and drum, but mere seconds later it’s the strings and Debbie Jacobs that enter the equation again. Just a nice disco edit with a nifty little riff to give it just that tad bit extra.

‘Take It Slow’ by Luxxury

The SoundCloud tag says “slow burner”, and boy, is that evident at the start. Just has that slow groove that it gets going, with the percussion, that lovely little guitar riff that comes in, and the aerial vocals singing their little lines. At about 1:30, that slow burning vibe has taken a back seat though, with a new guitar riff, the bass, and a punchier beat giving it a bit more tempo and adding so much meat to the bones that this real slow groove feel from the start has subsided a bit. Not to say that the middle part isn’t enjoyable in its own right, with all these elements in the mid-pace range helping out the still floating vocals singing that you should be Taking it slow. At the four minute mark most rhythm elements are either stripped out or moved to the background, and instead you get a bit of that saxophone going on, with a nifty bassline moving it into the burn-n-crawl realm again. Soon, though, that is all build on and build up again, ending with a catchy little guitar riff to help you dance through the final minute.

‘I Love You More’ by Rene And Angela (Pools edit)

A short edit from Pools gives you a little bit of that Rene & Angela thing, primarily based on that deep bass sound, giving you that step-step-step action. Then the vocals come in, singing that, gosh, I love you, with Pools doing the old chop-n-go trick on them, looping and cutting the same parts, which primarily is noticeable with the vocals. The vocals come out lovely though, the bass sound gives it that nice little rhythm to do a bit of dancing to, and it gives a modern slant to that old soul duet. So if you don’t mind your tracks at radio edit length, this might be a nice snippet to be listening to.

‘Little Lies’ by Fleetwood Mac (Jean-Claude Gavri touch-up)

Never a bad moment to dial up that Fleetwood Mac love affair a bit, and Jean Claude Gavri starts this one off nice and understated with some lovely sounds, first rhythmic, than that floating sound we kind of remember from the original. Just so we know where we are heading. It takes a while for it to really dive headlong into it, having the patience to wait it out until about the 1:30 mark, when a big old 80s pop drum comes in to signal the arrival of the actual song, including the vocals, singing that she Couldn’t find a way, settling For one day to believe in you. And then, the chorus, including the lovely instrumentation, and the drums to also keep the song as a little dancefloor thing and to make sure it’s got pace enough to keep it moving forward in that context. No more broken hearts, she sings, saying that We’re better off apart, before heading back to the chorus. Jean Claude Gavri knows how to handle an edit like this, putting loads of that goodness in of the original (it ain’t called a touch-up for nothing, ya know), but still in such a way that you and y’all can keep it going on the dancefloor.

‘Crime Cutz’ by Holy Ghost!

The lads of Holy Ghost! are back in action with some new material, starting hauntingly enough, though soon getting back to their synthesizers doing their catchy thing. With that said, it definitely sounds like a departure from their more disco oriented Dynamics sound, which was super slick and smooth. This has parts of that clean disco-pop sound, like at about the two minute mark, but the guys also add the warpy and the immediate in there, with the vocals in the verses talky and almost anxious, though more traditional in the chorus. The lads know their ways around their instruments, and they’re trying to not only get the song out of there, but also the feel and vibe. As evident, for instance, with the interlude at about the four minute mark. Though, after the interlude, they do still come back to the catchy, to the dancey, but with a bit more grit than their super polished previous LP (which I loved, by the way). It’s intriguing for sure, and a definite teaser to see what that new EP is going to sound like, which we have to wait for until the 29th of April. Unfortunately no embed here, but you can click here to still hear the brand spanking new Holy Ghost!.

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: ‘The Future’ by Patman (V’s Further Into)

Lets get some bass in, though not before we have the guitar and beat combo first. After that though, you can already hear it for a moment as the pace picks up on the beat and the vocals do their oh-ho-oh-ho. At the minute mark, there it is, in all it’s dancing glory, that bass that works together with the guitar and the percussion to get the people do the ditty. Then the vocals come in, singing that they have seen the Future and it will work! That’s good news (though bad if you consider it is a famous quotation from Lincoln Steffens on the early Soviet society). That all doesn’t matter, we are in Gotham now boy! After the chorus the bass comes back in full glory to get all y’all dancing once more, after which Prince does his singing thing again, which in combination with his guitar thing, and Valique’s ear for the catchy dancefloor stuff, eventually results in a nice, funky groove to get your booty shaking to.

‘Don’t You Want My Love’ by Debbie Jacobs (Alkalino remix)

Alkalino starts with the percussion, though it is the sharp guitar that steals the show early on. That guitar leads the way, with a nice rhythm combo of bass and percussion to follow. Soon enough it goes fast paced and high energy, with a super speedy drum and bass as the canvas to get the handclaps on and, at 1:30, those beautiful disco sounds that are so characteristic for the genre. At 1:45 we get the horns in too, which is always a good sign, and now it is just waiting for those strong, female vocals, which come in just before the two minute mark, singing Don’t you want, my love?. And now, who wouldn’t want your love, baby? After the vocal bit Alkalino dives right back into the bass and beat high energy, making sure the dancefloor has all it can handle. At about 3:10 the vocals return to, again, ask if you don’t want her love in all its basking disco glory, and after this set of vocals it seems as the song speeds up even more, also courtesy of the horns that come in full throttle. And rest assured, Alkalino won’t let up throughout this seven minute affair, giving you that crazy dancefloor goodness from way back when in this Debbie Jacobs edit. And now, who doesn’t want a slice of that lovin’, eh?

‘Ringtone’ by YACHT (Joe Goddard remix)

YACHT just started their European tour, and I was lucky enough to be there when they kicked it off with a set including this track off of their new (ace) album. Joe Goddard gets a nice bassy synth rolling, taking that as the backbone to this one. At 1:20 we actually get a little ringtone there, joining the playfulness of YACHT. At about the 1:35 mark we get a slightly paced up, rhythmic vocal, still accompanied by that bassy backbone. At 2:10 that sound is deleted, instead going for a beat as the vocals change. Instead of the rock-out in the original now we still have those vocals, but with simply a drum that morphs into that bass sound again as the track gets back to the dancey verse. Joe Goddard is from Hot Chip, so he knows how to get the catchy going, and with YACHT you’ve got some excellent material to work with, because those smart, cheeky people over there also know how to get the fun and the catchy into their songs (along with some contemplations on the future and that sort of stuff). Goddard keeps it rolling throughout the track, making it a nice fit for a bit of that dirty dancing in a disco set.

‘Petals’ by Bibio

Bibio starts this short track out with some piano, looping that sound to build upon it. Soon the vocals come in, singing achingly about teary eyes, knowing that it would kill you. The vocals sound nice and removed, working together sweetly with the piano and assorted instruments. The light piano is juxtaposed nicely with some deeper piano tones, and throughout the track Bibio weaves some sounds in and out to colour it all in. You know it’ll hurt you, he sings, and the petals that turn to mush, they Still disappoint you. He’s got such a good ear for what works together, and listening to this it all fits and it all just works together to create a whole, in unity. Even the vocal delivery just matches the whole instrument thing perfectly. Apparently a teaser for a new album coming next year. Then again, how early is next year? Geez, time eh, how fast did you want that to pass? But I guess that’s kind of a theme in this song too.

‘Give It All’ by Foals (Lindstrom remix)

Put on your dancing shoes, because Lindstrom is one of those guys that you can send for a message. He knows how to get that momentum going, that loop in place, and to ride it out until your legs can’t ride it no more. He starts with a nice, full sound, adding some fast paced synths in there at one point to juxtapose the lazier sound that’s already there. Add some piano to colour it in even more, and at 1:30 there’s this nice little moment that says, All right, let’s rock. It also is a cue for the vocals to come in, though only in a whoo-hoo capacity. In the mean time the drum is still laying down the pace, the synth still gives the illusion of a faster tempo, and the little piano in there makes sure it isn’t all about the gung-ho. A bass synth then enters, giving the drums some help in the rhythm department, and then Lindstrom brings in the colour again with some piano and guitar. And this is how he does it people, getting the hypnosis upon you with this fabulous build-up full with sounds and fury, all signifying oh so much when on the dancefloor, though it is hard to pinpoint what exactly. Rest assured, he doesn’t keep that up for the entire eight minutes, bringing it back slightly just before the 4:30 mark, bringing all the rhythm sounds to a halt in favor of some vocal work on top of some keys. They ask you to give him something he has never seen, which Lindstrom apparently reads as bringing some new instruments in to offer up some new options for this fella. At the 5:40 mark he gets the beat back, this time in companionship of the vocals, and as they reach their climax he gets the bass sound in there as well to ride it all the way out. Lovely dance stuff again from one of those guys who, like the mailman, always delivers.

‘Cruel Mistress’ by Crazy P (Hot Toddy Retro mix)

Hot Toddy gets the retro on with a sturdy beat and some retro synth sounds on this lush Crazy P track from his album, which was released earlier this year. Hot Toddy gets some of that Italo Disco in with those synthesizers, on top of which those beautiful, lovelorn vocals come in, contrasting the relative aggressiveness of the synths and beat nicely. And they sing that Every time she talks, and every time she sings, she wants to hear you (she’s losing her head, ya know?). Those more dreamy vocals are such a lovely contrast to the old school synth sounds Hot Toddy throws in there, which he combines with some percussion, some deeper synth sounds, but the thing that leads this is the good use of the vocals. Not drowning them out, but placing them on the right spots, and he knows how to bring in a bit of piano on occasion to help them out (which he does with some other sounds as well). After the vocals Hot Toddy keeps that piano coming, bringing them more to the fore and into the spotlight until he starts to work towards the end, when he goes for the Italo synths and the backing vocals. Apparently this is part of a Remix album based on Crazy P’s Walk Dance Sing Talk album. And, on the grounds of this, it’ll might just be well worth the spin.