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: ‘Shadow’ by Chromatics

Gosh, Chromatics, I love that sound, you know? That cinematic, midnight feel that it’s got, this dreamy, lovelorn vibe it always manages to exhume; it’s pretty awesome. And here, too, you’ve got the beat laying the groundwork, the beautiful, removed vocals that come in, with the atmospheric synths making sure the Chromatics sound is there and ready to go. Something like the transition at 1:50, that’s pretty awesome, and Johnny Jewel and company always manage to find all the right instruments to not only make a pretty song, but make that pretty song fit their brand so tight whilst not being so repetitive it doesn’t pack that emotional punch anymore. In the meantime the song fades away as she sings For the last time, increasingly more removed and pathetically, to the point that you feel that somehow Bogart and Bergman found each other again, ever briefly, knowing they soon have to depart for a second time. Here’s looking at you, kid.

‘Moving On’ by Serge Gamesbourg

Apparently an old edit of his, never released, but his birthday gift to us is putting this one out there as a free download. After the obligatory talking he soon gets the pace going with a nice little riff on top of the drums. Vocals are already audible, but slightly back in the mix, though they get some room to play as he strips almost everything except the vocals and the piano. Naturally, then he starts building the sound back up and up, with the sound becoming more and more festive, and at the three minute mark he lets ‘r rip, with potential dancing mayhem ensuing. From that point on he just keeps on pounding with this disco & house dancefloor monster, never letting up the pace, and just adding a bit of nifty guitar work here, a moment of primarily drum and bass there, basically until you just can’t dance no more.

‘Three Way Situation’ by Nadie La Fonde (Al Kent remix)

Like the percussion at the start, especially in combination with that guitar when that comes in. Nadie la Fonde reassures us that, Baby, I know, as the synths then take over from the vocals. When the vocals come back, apparently, what she knows is that You belong to another, so maybe not that reassuring. At about 2:20 Al Kent lets it boil down to just the percussion for a minute, returning with the other instruments after a while. Around the three minute mark he lets her do that disco thing with the vocals, pouring her heart out as she decides that maybe what is best is to just Let it go. After that vocal round there’s a real nifty shift back to the instrumentals, that’s a lovely moment right there. He ends it with a good, old-fashioned fade out, with the Baby I know’s getting less and less confident of themselves as the song is being closed out.

‘Swing That Body’ by Jacques Renault feat. Luke Jenner

First we’ve got some of that woodwork percussion, the unique yelp of Luke Jenner (formerly of The Rapture), and more percussion follows with a bassy synth line in there, followed by a lil’ something something of that guitar. The percussion keeps the rhythm alive, and the synths make sure there’s some melody in there, a lovely one starting at 1:10. In the mean time you have those ever anxious vocals of Luke Jenner singing that you have to Swing that body (Don’t you wanna?) as Jacques Renault is throwing all kinds of dancefloor loveliness at you, including a sweet change-up not long after the two minute mark. Mr. Renault is one of my favorite DJs, and this song is on his first full-length album he’s putting out, for which he has enlisted loads of friends to make something really special out of it. You can stream the whole album on his SoundCloud, so give it a whirl if you take a shining to this one.

‘United 707’ by Wolfram (Radio Edit)

I really liked that Wolfram album that came out a couple of years ago, and it’s good to see the guy back in the fold with a DFA release, which just happens to be one of my favorite labels. This radio edit already shows us what we can expect, with the beat, but also the combination between the melancholic atmospheric synth and the bassy rhythm synth, soon getting some help from some snares and other drum stuff to keep it moving a bit. Around 1:10 we suddenly get a military barrage of percussion, after which the track slides back into its catchy rhythm. At 2:10 that rhythm synth gets the room for itself for just a moment, but soon the military percussion rides in again, after which it sweetly transitions back to all that’s rhythm again. Good to see Wolfram back in action, and I wouldn’t mind at all if this was a prelude to an album from this guy.

‘Holding Back (My Love)’ by Tensnake (Tiger & Woods remix)

Mix Tensnake with the looping louie’s Tiger & Woods, and you just know you are in for a modern sounding dancing treat. After thirty seconds they already make sure we’ve got the bass up and running, and when after a minute in the synths enter, then it’s all good for the dancefloor, especially if you sprinkle in some percussion action to boot. What Tiger & Woods do better than anyone else is taking this part of a track, loop it, and then change it up a bit, then loop it again. So you’ve got this amazing repetition that doesn’t get repetitive, which is pretty awesome and generates amazing momentum. The vocals also come in, singing that they were Holding back my love, which after a three minute period dives into a little part where they’ve stripped the beat and rely on the synth, along with some percussion, for the rhythm. They stretch that nicely, constantly adding a little element, or tinkering with the existing ones, before going for the punch again just before the five minute mark. A minute later they return to that bass again for the main sound, which they then help out with the vocals and extra percussion. It is a nine minute affair, and golly, both parties know how to do that, this being a prime example yet again.