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The Weekly Froth!

  • Published in Columns

 

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: ‘Gold Rush’ by Miguel Campbell feat. Benjamin Diamond

This one gets the '80s R&B and club vibe going with that beat, the moanin’ and groanin’, and the synthesizer action. When the vocals come in the song really gets smooth, super catchy with the beat and the bass sound. So this one really makes sure to get it on. The vocals sing that they are In trouble, for, apparently, they’ve got a Crush again. At for example the 2:20 mark Miguel Campbell removes the percussion, getting piano and vocal performances only, after which the funky beat comes in again. Benjamin Diamond sings that It’s such a rush, really feeling the loving there I reckon. Late in the track you also hear a little bit of a riff in there, not up front, but just underneath the smooth top layers to just get a bit of that guitar action in. It’s a super smooth and catchy ride, and part of the new Miguel Campbell album that will be released, well, today I suppose.

 

‘By Your Side’ by NTEIBINT feat.

This one starts with some percussion, but soon the lush synths come in. At about the 25 second mark it settles down with a slower tempo beat, the synths slightly more to the background, and the detached vocals that become more rhythmic at what I assume is the chorus. They sing they’re Holding on, just for tonight. The combo between the rhythmic delivery and the percussion is pretty sweet, and the way it’s all mixed gives a nice hazy vibe. At certain moments NTEIBINT puts a break in, like at about 2:50, after which he first builds it up with vocals and synths before adding the actual percussion (though there is a slow, far away beat to be found in those moments as well). At about 3:30 the percussion, rhythm vocals, and nifty bassline return for a bit of that R&B vibe of rubbin’ and luvin’. A nice mellow groover to get sweet with your lover to.

 

‘Uptown Celebration’ by P-SOL

Gil Scott-Heron is one of those guys that always inspires people to do something, and here P-Sol take on some of his music to make a celebratory groover. The bassline works together with the percussion to lay down the ground layer, with the high pitched synths making sure that there’s some pace here and that the track, in tone, indeed has a somewhat celebratory feel to it. At about the 1:35 mark we get some nice, quick firing percussion there as well, with still the deep bass tones in to keep the balance right. When they’re  finally there they ride that sound for a while, until they strip most sounds and give the vocals a moment there. Slowly but surely the reinforcements come in, and when we hear the high synth sound we know the beat and bass aren’t too far away to get back to the main groove of this track. This is one side of a 2-part double-header by P-Sol doing the Gil Scott-Heron thing, which was released late last month.

 

‘The Lady In My Life’ by Alan Mooney

Alan Mooney puts on the breaks with this slow burner of a song. The bass sound is nice and lazy, and slowly more sounds attach themselves to that huffin’ and puffin’ train that is moving over the mountains of Switzerland at a benign pace. In the mean time there is percussion, there are vocals, and there are some other auxiliary sounds as well, though the big beat comes in at 1:35. And it gives time, but time doesn’t go fast around here. At about the 2:20 mark Mooney gets that beat out of there, though another percussion elements soon comes in to make sure that it does keep trotting forward until the beat comes back at about 3:10. In the mean time the vocals are chopped up, giving us one line at a time, with those lines being repeated and coming back seemingly randomly. It is especially the yearn of the female voice that stays with us. At about the five minute mark Mooney plays around a bit with the guitar, and when the vocals come in a bit louder that is the cue for the beat to start rearing its head again. A super sweet super slow burner, that is all about the vibe.

 

‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ by Captain & Tennille (Sleazy McQueen edit)

Sleazy McQueen leaves no moment untouched to get the percussion and beat in to turn this old Captain & Tennillle track into something for the club. At the thirty second mark we, for the first time, hear a semblance of vocals to go along with the guitar and, some seconds later, the bass. McQueen has, for the first minute, really deconstructed this one. But after the minute mark we get the bass, the piano, and also the vocals that we know so well. Singing, obviously, that Love, love will keep us together (until it’s going to tear us apart again, but that’s a story for another day). McQueen kind of mixes and matches the bass and the piano with the vocals, making sure it sounds nothing like the original, but still has all those characteristic elements of said song. Add to that a bucketload of auxiliary sounds and some extra percussion, and you’ve got a fun romp significantly removed to not be a smack-on-a-beat-and-there-it-is edit. And still with enough of the vocals, which is perhaps always the thing people can cling most to, and which is welcome if only to deliver the message that, Yes, love keeps us together. Add to that a bass that, especially in the second part of the track, grooves it forward, and you’ve got a nice and quirky little edit of a super classic track that, if not done right, always has the danger of cliche lurking there.

 

 ‘Love Is The Answer’ by Bob Sinclar & Dimitri From Paris feat. Byron Stingily (Club edit)

Lets get those funky drums rolling, along with a nice, steady beat. Soon enough though the piano and horns come in to turn those disco vibes on, with after the thirty second point it having all the marks of one of those fun, soulful funky tunes with all them all singing that Love is the answer. At the minute mark the main vocalist gets his turn, singing his stuff on top of the bass and drum combo as he sings that he Comes to one conclusion, which is the cue for the choir to come in to sing that, yes, Love is the answer (and don’t ya forget it!). In the mean time the lads make sure the pace is kept high, and the morale too, with the good vibes running all over on this dancefloor certainty. It’s just got all the hallmarks for that, with the rhythm delivering at breakneck speed, with the soulful vocals, and all the disco goodness with the horns and piano. There is the big stop at the 3:45 point, with first just the vocals, then a bit of guitar to mix with the piano, and then there’s a drum and piano combo where the piano is allowed to strut its stuff, first rhythmically, and then as a solo when the bass takes over the rhythm. After that, the horns, and the vocals, and we’re banging it all out again. Just one of those edits that can light up a club with its feel good demeanour and the pace to pull it all off.

 

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The Weekly Froth!

  • Published in Columns

 

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.

 

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