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: B-Side - Zulu (MPJT edit)

I just love the groove this one starts with! Are you kidding me with all those separate elements. You’ve got the kick, but also the quick wood percussion, the bass sound and synth sound combo, and it just immediately has me hooked. Just before the minute mark another percussion element is added (or two, an extra one a little later), and the two men keep the rhythm high. At the second minute mark you’ve got talking vocals coming in, preaching about one thing or another with a bit of anger. At 3:30 there’s a bit of a change up, breaking up the groove for a minute, just to let it return after about twenty seconds with some more of that bass. When the vocals come in next they do so with an added round of cymbals to add a light sound to the percussion, which can be heard raging in the background. It’s pretty frantic back there, which, when the vocals subside, is dialled back in favor of a cleaner sound. I mean, these guys, let me tell ya, they just know how to do these things. Marc Pinol and John Talabot are experts in this field, and in this remix it shows again. The full-blown change-ups, the subtle alterations, and the mixing and matching of all those percussion elements to keep the rhythm on the go: it is all so fluent, and it certainly works like a madman. Even near the end, at about 6:30, they give the people just another little punch to get themselves in motion again. There’s just so much to love, I mean, really.

‘Gravity’s Angel’ by Laurie Anderson (Bottin Edit)

I love the slight space vibe that Bottin adds to that bass sound which he uses as the canvas for Laurie Anderson to croon over. And crooning it kind of is, with a surpising fragility to it. In the mean time Bottin adds a little bass line, though not as a continuous rhythm element. For that he uses that bass sound plus some synths. At 1:40 Bottin breaks it open with some drums and percussion, which then also form the rhythm elements during the singing, where previously there wasn’t one. So that’s how he adds a bit of pace to it. In the mean time some male vocals come in to help the female vocals out as Bottin adds more and more extra sounds that definitely help to cement the almost alienated feel, which heightens the almost in-the-spotlight loneliness of the singing. Though later she goes for the spoken word, which blends into the sounds quite perfectly. That moment at about 4:07, when she returns to singing, is completely in tune with the change-up in the sound as well. So really cleverly created this, with the kind of vocals that are on display here giving it this bit of extra uniqueness that’s always welcome.

‘Disco Fix’ by YSE Saint Laur’Ant

No points for knowing what this name is a punt on (unless you literally know nothing about fashion. Or pop culture. Or cultural memory. Or, well, life). YSE is not concerned about the pace with this one, just bringing you a cheeky bit of disco and soul, but old school, to do some slow twisting to. Primarily on the little bass line, that sounds more '50s than '70s NY. The vocals, especially, have that jazz club call & response thing with the band behind her going on, which give it this sense of fun. She is singing that you need to play that disco beat (which, ironically, is totally absent here), because she needs to get that disco fix. And if not, she is going to scream (she’s that kind of gal). It has this lovely lounge bass going on that primarily takes care of the rhythm, with some percussion in the back to help it out. The vocals, the backing band dynamic, and just how it leisurely trods on makes this an ideal download for some happy summer walks.

‘Bounce’ by Waze & Odyssey

How about some party house from the fellas of Waze & Odyssey eh? They get right into it with this one. They get the kick going, the little bass, the jittery synth line, and once in a while you get a soulfule male voice doing a “yeahhh-ehh-ehh” to just kick the house vibe up a notch. At the one minute mark they get the rhythm parts out, just having the synth there, which later gets some percussion help, primarily from the cymbals. At the two minute mark it gets the beat and bass back there for the dancefloor crowd to dance to. It uses the male voice nicely, not really to sing, but it gives you a good point to add a new instrument in there for instance. At one such point Waze & Odyssey use it as a cue to get some female vocals in there who, on repeat, say “bounce” whilst Waze & Odyssey slowly build the track down a bit. Obviously to come back with a vengeance at about 4:25. A good dancefloor track to keep the party a-rockin’.

‘Grit’ by Kasper Bjorke (Bryan Kessler remix)

Bryan Kessler is just a pitch away from starting this like a slasher B-movie (though the horse galloping in the background helps steer it away from that as well, to be fair, or does that only make it more Victorian Jack-the-Ripper like?). One thing is for sure though, it is a pretty deep&dark take on the Kasper Bjorke song, which is reinforced by all the atmospheric synths that enter the scene. Kessler takes his sweet time to get to the beat in this one, but after a complete break at the two minute mark he puts it in, adding a bass-y synth a bit later on. Still it is pretty deep, those rhythm elements don’t take away from that vibe. I love that sound that comes in at abou 3:02 or something, which unfortunately doesn’t stay for very long, just to come back at 3:38 as the main sound on top of the beat. That, too, gives it this immediacy, as if you are trying to run away from the Hack-n-Slash murderer on the loose somewhere (on horseback, probably). The whole of Kasper Bjorke’s After Forever album gets the remix treatment, with this one getting the deep and grind one. That original album, by the way, has some beautiful tracks on there, with my favorite being ‘Lies’, so if you haven’t had the chance to listen to that one, be sure to give it a whirl.

‘The Owner’ by NTEIBINT feat. Stella (Anoraak remix)

Love the claps at the start, that ‘s a good combination with the synths. The percussion comes in around the twenty second mark, and the piano that comes in at about thirty is absolutely lovely. All the rhythm and synth elements keep the pace up, and because Anoraak strips some down it seemingly lowers its speed when the nice, deep female vocals come in. Though halfway the vocal part the bass comes in to give it a bit of bounce. And slowly but surely more instruments come in again, and when the vocals subside a lovely, slightly aggressive piano enters to give it some punch before the vocals come back with a bit more emotion than before. It is quite amazing how all these layers work together and how smoothly they are being woven in and out of the line-up, with the vocals forming the anchor to an otherwise fairly fast paced affair. Around 3:40 he starts a patient break, where he strips most elements except for the vocals and one synthesizer, but slowly he starts piecing everything back together again, with around 4:50 putting it all in again for one more go around. Pretty nifty stuff again from Anoraak.

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.