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.

This seems to be a good moment to look back at some of the tracks that were on some of my favorite albums of the year 2015!

Track of the Week: ‘Cruel Mistress’ by Crazy P

It starts off with a nice beat and some ace keywork, and then the smokey, lovelorn vocals come in, and I’m sold. A lovely disco turn from stalwarts Crazy P, and I’m not only talking about this track. The whole album is built to dance, with great vocals from Danielle Moore. And here she sings that Every time I talk, every time I walk, and every time I sing, I want to hear you. In the mean time the drums and bass keep the rhythm going, the synth adds another layer and some flavor, and then when the chorus comes in they get to a piano, a nifty little riff, and a barebones beat, on top of which the vocals yearn for love, singing that they are losing their head. As said, the whole album is wicked with top turns all around the corner, showing that they haven’t lost their touch at all. Au contrair, I would say. [Unfortunately the file

‘I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler’ by YACHT

YACHT is always immensely fun, live perhaps even more so. But also on album, like they showcase again on last year’s 'I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler'. It’s an observation as to where the world is heading, railing against some of the things that are happening, both politically as well as socially, from drones to the whole data collection bonanza. But, not in a lecturing, finger-wagging way, but one with plenty of fun wordplay and, perhaps more importantly, plenty of catchiness in the music to do some dancing to. The verses have a nice rhythm to them to shake your hips to, and the chorus picks it up a notch as they sing that, geez, I thought the future would be cooler. There’s a serious element in the message, but it’s bubble-wrapped in having fun, and that’s a killer combination as far as I’m concerned.

‘Call It Love (If You Want To)’ by George FitzGerald feat. Lawrence Hart

George FitzGerald starts this one off with an almost ‘Chinatown’ synth start, with soon the beat coming in to move this one forward. Then Lawrence Hart arrives with his deep, moody vocals, singing that If you want to call it off, then you can call it off, as the synths are upped in intensity before, at about the 1:13 mark, a deeper bassy synth takes over, bolstering the rhythm section as we are dancing the blues away. Extra drums at 1:45 help out in the depth department, joining the vocals. At 2:15 there’s a short stop and stare before first the synths come in, then the cymbals, finally the Chinatown start, before the whole shebang comes back in to get the dancing going again on top of the vocals. Just a fabulous debut album from the guy.

‘Huarache Lights’ by Hot Chip

Maybe I’m not the best Hot Chip fan out there, because I do think this album might just be their best, an opinion I’m sure many don’t agree with. But as far as catchy tunes are concerned, there’s a boatload of them here. Usually with a bit of fun and tongue-in-cheek added in there, and also touching upon some of the themes of the modern world that might be worth thinking and talking about. But, mostly, it’s about tunes, and as said, there’s just so much fun in this package for me. On ‘Huarache Lights’ they, at one point, get to the chorus, where they sing Replace us with the things that do the job better, with the vocals at one point being swapped out for a more robotic voice, which is just a nice touch. There’s also some soul singing in there, but there’s especially tuneage in there, with lovely drums, catchy rhythms, and plenty going on music wise to hang your hat to. The album title alone, Why Make Sense?, is both throwback as well as applicable to the album’s feel as a whole.

‘Too Much Is Never Enough’ by Bob Moses

On the Domino label Bob Moses churned out his debut album, and that album is just a wicked combination of atmosphere and a bit of a dance feel with the beat always there to provide some rhythm and backbone. Here, too, there’s plenty of percussion to form the canvas on which Bob Moses paints his story, both with words and atmospheric sounds, singing You lost it all before, you feel the blame, whilst the synths then come in to sing their own melancholy song. At 2:07 the pace gets ramped up a bit for the chorus, with the vocals, too, showing a bit less restraint the way they do in the moody verses, pointing out that Too much is never enough, for me. After that he slides into an instrumental interlude, during which the beat moves slowly to the front as it keeps an eye on the pacing while the synth and guitar make sure the feel of the song stays strong. The album is full with those niftily crafted songs, a well done debut for sure.

‘Call It Off’ by Shamir

In terms of fun, Shamir’s album (and live show) definitely is one not to miss out on. This track gets the beat going on top of a nice wobbly synth riff, with Shamir’s high-pitched vocals singing that It’s time to call it off, adding that This time, it’s not my fault. The track is a nice, super catchy marriage between pop, disco, and house, adding some fun also in the clip, where they get some muppetry puppetry going on. Live, like the songs, it’s all colourful, fun, and ready to party, even with a slight apathetic delivery at times, which I kind of dig personally. Another debut, this one also encapsulating a certain youthful energy that helps enjoying this one even more.

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: ‘Full Circle’ by George FitzGerald ft. Boxed In (Bonobo remix)

I must say that I’ve really been liking that George FitzGerald album that he released this year. Definitely one I’ve been returning to quite regularly. Bonobo is taking one of the tracks on that album on, first keeping it slow and on the downlow, and at about the fifty second mark adding a bit of percussion, and twenty seconds after that you get the rhyhtm synths as well. The actual beat arrives at about 1:25. I love the piano that accompanies whenever the vocals come in, which sound a bit dreamy and removed, and a bit sad as well, as he sings about what, to me, sounds like the end of a relationship. Just after the three minute mark Bonobo dials it down for a moment, at one point having just the vocals and the piano there. Slowly he starts adding things back in (percussion is first to return), with the beat back as it inches to the four minute mark. Nice remix, in keeping with the tone of the original, but with some extra drums and things to make it slightly longer and add a dash of oomph to it.

‘Off World Lover’ by Hot Natured

I like the contrast between the deeper bass sound and Ali Love’s vocals, which are higher pitched. In the mean time there’s also a beat doing the rounds and some space sounds, as Ali Love is asking you to tell him When you’re coming home. The space sounds, I guess, fitting if one looks at the title. There’s a nice, catchy swagger to this one, keeping the midst between a house tune and a synth-pop song. Around the 2:30 mark you get a little intermezzo where the synths are allowed to do the work, with the beat keeping it moving forward at the same pace. After that the vocals move back in again. Even near the end they don’t phone it in, with at 4:10 (which is a mere 15 seconds before the end) you see them doing a slight change-up before they fade the song out. Again a catchy, danceable outing by Hot Nature, with a nice, yearning vocal effort by Love.


‘Midnight On Rainbow Road’ by Leon Vynehall

Does it date me as growing up in the Nineties when I say that the title primarily reminds me of Mario Kart more than anything else? The highway sounds start this one (I believe it are like cars roaring past), with some heavy, deep synths adding to the atmosphere, with a Blade Runner kind of horn-synth helping out as well. The percussion slides into the track at about 1:40, as the synths seem to turn more and more to jazz for inspiration. At 2:20 we get some more rhythm in there, though it are still the atmosphere synths that reign supreme to get the vibes onto the dancefloor. At 4:10 additional atmospheric sounds are introduced, as the percussion is there, though this one is more about setting up the feel that you want out there than to already get the crowd turning into dancing maniacs (maniacs, oh-oh-oh). Nice atmospheric piece by Leon Vynehall, definitely getting the midnight vibe for this one. It’s been released on a compilation by Gerd Janson called Musik for Autobahns, if you’re interested.

‘Letter’ by Jaakko Eino Kalevi

Jaakko Eino Kalevi takes it on himself to promote the apparently legendary Finnish band Kukka (or, perhaps, the band Kukka, legends for Finns). I like the mix of the darker, deeper tones with the lighter synth and the female vocals doing a mystic aaaaaaahhh line. On top of that the male vocals come in, in a fairly low key. Around the minute mark there’s a big atmospheric synth coming in, layering the tune like a fog coming up. In the mean time, apparently what the Finnish band did is putting on their worst clothes, but that definitely isn’t the darkest thought that is being purged in this song, which is definitely moving towards the edge of the sane and living. In the mean time the mulitple synths work in unison perfectly, adding higher pitched ones to alleviate the deeper sounds. Definitely high on atmosphere this one.

‘Fool’ by Rayko

Freddie Mercury had been suffering the effects of HIV Aids for a while before eventually succumbing to it, making the amount of songs recorded after the Innuendo sessions scarce. One of those, though, is ‘You Don’t Feel Me’, which appeared on the Made In Heaven album that Queen put out in 1995. This one starts with the vocals, a bit of guitar, and some piano, with a little rhythm ditty underneath. After thirty seconds in Rayko turns it up a notch, perhaps slightly abruptly so with the snares, though when the bass sound comes in it starts to fall in its place. Especially with the vocals going Naaa-nah-nah-nah-naaa, and then with the guitar in there, that bit is pretty awesome, and from that point on it’s all good as Freddie Mercury sings You don’t fool me, those pretty eyes, that sexy smile. In the mean time Rayko knows when to subtract and add some rhythm sounds, playing around with pace and momentum a bit, all to make sure that the dancefloor can do their best little dance on Mercury’s forever golden vocals. That piano, how that cuts in at, for example, 4:18, that’s pretty cool, and Rayko keeps work like that up for about eight minutes long (with piano, guitar, vocal layers, etc.). And, lets face it, who doesn’t want to dance to some late Queen?



‘Because You’ by Bosq feat. Danielle Moore

This one starts out with a bit of that tropical percussion going on (or is that the sleeve of the YouTube clip tainting my ears there?). Count on Danielle Moore to turn into a good vocal outing, she is prime material as far as I’m concerned. You’ve got the vocals helping out the rhythm going pam-pam-pa-da-dam before the actual vocals coming in. There’s some layering going on there, with one layer singing “because you”, with the other layer answering the call-out. In the mean time the percussion isn’t doing it alone in terms of the instrumental rhythm department, with both a synth and bass doing their thing. They are definitely there to support the vocals though, with all else seemingly slightly further back in the mix. At about 2:40 they dial it down a notch, with the deep rhythm elements stripped out, just going for the synth line and some handclap/fingersnap like sounds (oddly enough I thought it was somewhere in between, maybe hitting a woodwork perc or something). It’s a light sounding, fun tropical tune from Bosqb, so if you’re looking for that, look no further.