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: ‘Dusk’ by Mighty Mouse

Half a month or so ago, Mighty Mouse released this stomper called ‘Dusk’, which from the get go sounds like a club track begging to be danced to. The move from the generic comes after about thirty seconds, and after another half a minute the sound gets expanded yet again with, amongst others, a buzzing bass, but also loads of lighter sounds, moving it away from this “club” feel for good (though dancing people might still want to do on this one, as it is definitely designed for that). There is still this little bit of dirty in there, especially when the main synth sound is stripped away, then you can still hear a bit of that gritty industrial back in there as well. At the three minute mark Mighty Mouse opens the sound up a bit more, and the female vocals are yet another thing used to juxtapose the grittier parts in the track. I love the pace and the forward-moving momentum on this one. Plus how it looks in SoundCloud, that’s quite funny I find.

‘Wallflower’ by Maribou State (Lane 8 remix)

Yeah, I must honestly admit that I haven’t been listening to a lot of Maribou State, but I am enjoying Lane 8’s output, who has recently released a pretty nifty album. On that album there’s a range of nice, electronical music, enlisting help from people like Lulu James and Matthew Dear, for instance. This remix wouldn’t be a weird fit for the album. There’s a sort of dancefloor sensibility, especially with the build-up just before the two minute mark and the kick & quick-paced synth combo just after. But there’s also a certain restraint, a certain lightness as well, which one can recognize from on the album. At the start they make sure the drums are there, which are juxtaposed by the synth that is floating around to put some atmosphere in it. Those drums tend to disappear on occassion, especially when the vocals are there to fill that void, but they are there when they need to be to keep the pace up and the track moving forward. So there is something to dance to, but with the same kind of feel for melody and a certain lightness that Lane 8 also managed to put on his LP (which, if you haven’t yet, is well worth the listen).

‘RVLTN’ by Pineapple Pop (Bit Funk remix)

This one comes rearing out of the gates, immediately going for it with that bassy beat. After about half a minute he tones it down for a second, coming back with a catchy, summery synth line. He builds on that sound by adding some other synths and a tropical percussion sound, and when that heavy hitting instrument from the start comes back now it doesn’t take over, but instead merges with the more tropical party sound that Bit Funk put in there a bit earlier. So suddenly, it sounds more festive. Just after the two minute mark he dials it down again, putting the rhythmic synth front and center, though a few seconds later he throws the percussion back in to get back to that party vibe. And that’s the main thing about this remix, this sense of having a fun party somewhere, they certainly succeed in evoking that feel. So if you are throwing an after-summer summer party, then this is one that might do well in the rotation, with those typical percussion that lay down the mood for this one. Certainly puts the Pineapple in Pineapple Pop.

'Younger Than Me' - Craig Bratley (K Edit)

This one starts with a club beat, as we’re getting our acid house hats on to get down and dirty to. Love the percussion that comes in at the 48 second mark, and at the minute mark we hear some vocals for the first time, accompanied by a bubbly, drug-fuelled synth sound. At 1:30 this one slides back to focus on the beat again, though that sound quickly gets some help from the vocals, the synth, and at about 2:05 there’s a dark synth sound added to give some extra beef to this one. At one point the beat is stripped away, even to the point the track runs on the holding of a key and the echoes of the vocals. Naturally, though, after a while the dirty house gets back in there, with the hypnotic and drug infused feel of the underground club. If you want some of that deep stuff you can close your eyes and just dance to, then this is a lovely new addition to all that that’s already out there to get cracking to. Free download as well by the way, so what’s stopping ya?

‘Sunny Bigler’ by Leon Sweets (Sleazy McQueen remix)

How about some of that disco percussion at the start, I always really like that. In the background we already hear some vocals, which will inch closer and closer to the fore, even after there are some additional drums introduced which are not shy in terms of volume and punch. After the minute mark there’s also a bass that comes in, and then we get some male vocals to help along the rhythm section of percussion, drums, and bass. At the two minute mark some of those African influences are put more up front, and all that rhythm makes dancing pretty easy. The vocals are lovely, both the female and male vocals fit pretty well on top of the rhythm and beat that’s going on, and leave it to Sleazy McQueen to make one smooth ride out of it. The vocals get plenty of room to shine, even the brief spoken word vocals around the four minute mark, which he strips all the instrumentals for. After that, the rhythm is put back in, this time with a different bass, and the vocals are allowed to shine again. Smooth rhythm and vocals make this one to a dance to whilst savoring the enjoyment.

‘Right My File’ by Dimitri From Brooklyn

How about starting with some in-yr-face vocals, including some call-and-response with the girls in the back? At the forty second mark some instruments come in, and after a minute you get the full monty, with the piano and all, from the well-known ‘Relight My Fire’ (though, unfortunately, not the Take That version. Now THAT would’ve been something!). Dimitri From Brooklyn is firing on all cylinders, going full throttle, pedal-to-the-metal for this disco tune, wanting to ensure dancefloor mayhem. So you’ve got the bass in the background to keep this one going forward, but it’s especially the clarity and the punchiness of the vocals and the instruments like the piano and horns (and flippin’ all, really) that makes this one hgh-nrgy and just all out going for it. There’s also a bit of church in there, especially at that bit around 3:30 with primarily the female vocals, just the timing of vocals and instruments, that’s well done. If you don’t know the song, it’s all about relighting her fire, as Your love is my only desire. At about the six minute mark you also get a bit of a twist, suddenly going for rhythm over bombast, which is a nice change of pace. Dimitri from Wherever really is king, queen, and ruler of all in terms of party disco remixes, and proves that once again here. If your primary concern is partying until-you-can’t-party-no-more, this is one to blast through the speakers.

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: ‘Good To See You’ by Walter Jackson (Marvin & Guy Disco DeLuxe edit)

This one starts with a deep bass sound, and the track kind of teases you the first couple of go arounds, as you expect it to burst out, but instead Marvin & Guy go for the slow build-up. Sure, at one point there’s a bit of percussion, and some other secondary sounds, but the bass, thats where it is at for a loooong time on this one. After the two minute mark though, there he comes, the strong vocals of mister Walter Jackson, and Marvin & Guy do a tremendous job to get all those sounds really out and into the spotlight. From the newfound horns to the backing vocals, and surely including those Jackson vocals, which are lovely deep and soulful. And I guess that’s what you get when you do that slow build-up, focussing purely on that deep bass sound. Then when you add the trumpets, the vocals, and all those other things ripped from the original 7” probably, those just jump out at you, which creates this amazing effect. And when the message is as positive as Good to see you my friend, then how can one resist this edit?

‘Let’s Make Love Tonight’ Sleazy McQueen edit

Sleazy McQueen knows how to make a disco edit, he has proven that many a times. The fun starts at about twenty seconds in with the bass that he throws in there, which will get people to put their dancing shoes on. Love the short stints of horns (horns & bass, THE combination, of course), and he lets those horns loose after about 1:20, where they fully start complementing the sound that has ballooned to a sizeable number of instruments by now. Sleazy McQueen throws a few changes in there, like at 1:50, and around 2:10 he pulls down the volume to let the vocals walk down the aisle uninterrupted. Those vocals, obviously, offer to Make love tonight, underneath the disco lights, and what else were you planning to do at the discotheque anyway, eh? Sleazy McQueen, as said, just knows how to do this. How to keep that base chugging along in various incarnations, and then just for a brief spell add some horns, for a brief spell add some guitars, for a brief spell add whatever. And all these sounds make sure that the song A) keeps moving along, B) has enough variation, and C) has plenty of those sexy disco vibes. Lets make love tonight indeed.

‘True Indeed’ by Son Of Sound

Son of Sound takes this into the house realm with the beat and that layer of synth that he has laid down on top of it. Half a minute in he adds some percussion to bolster the rhythm section, which always assures a few extra people dancing no doubt. He has the looping going, and at the end of a run he pulls away the percussion, which is like the cue for a new layer to come in. Which, the second time this happens, is a voice talking about how fucking amazing it is that someone gained sooo many Twitter followers in so little time, and I’m pretty sure that there’s no sincerity in that at all as “none of that shit matters”. In the mean time the track is going on with some lovely house sounds, which certainly are enticing to dance to. Love the flow of the thing, Son of Sound just have the rhythm section working with the beats and percussion and even the synth adding to that. Ready for the club, this is.

‘San Salvador’ by Azoto (Jam Master re-edit)

Get that Latin groove on, because this one starts with the percussion to be shaking those hips too. After about half a minute of that the bass comes in, and just before the minute mark you get those old school disco sounds to communicate to the audience that, yessir, it’s disco time. After a brief stretch of horns you get the high pitched vocals coming in, which get a bit of help in the chorus from the girls at the back when the ode to San Salvador gets started. Not only vocally the references are there, but that guitar just after the chorus (and many more instruments in there as well) sure transport you to the place in question. The vocals are really high paced, with the beat luckily restraining the song just a tad. And occassionally that beat gets a bit of a rest and is relieved by the bass on rhythm duties. It is a fast paced, fun, party song daring you to resist trying (and failing, in my case probably) to bust out some sexy latin dance moves.

‘Spring’ by Kai Alce (KZR reprise)

Get ready for this one and its near ten minute running time, and it certainly builds this one up slowly to get you in the right state of mind. Steadily it gets there though, especially when it adds that little bass line in there to add a consistent base sound for a while, then you know that at one point it is going to pull that one through and get you dancing. Just before the two minute mark, you get an extra percussion sound that whispers in your ear what is coming, and just after the two minute mark the beat is put in to get it all going. Still with some easy-street guitar on top of it, giving it this jazzy vibe. Like the guys having a go at jamming it. You’ve got the beat now forming a steady base sound, and on top of that you get those jamming sounds instead of just another batch of loops of another batch of instruments.  And that’s the lure of this track, really. That guitar that keeps on playing right on top of the dancing sounds, that bass that weaves itself in and out in all kinds of variations, and then some on-and-off extra percussion as well. It gives it this kind of free flowing vibe you’d expect to encounter in some hip, smoke-filled bar off of main street. Free download, by the way.

‘Ritual Union’ by Little Dragon (Yam Who? remix)

Little Dragon is already an album along, one that has some ace tracks on it of its own (‘Killing Me’ is a personal fav). Here we have the, in my opinion, best track of that album before, and Yam Who? decided to put on their SoundCloud their entire 9 minute mix of this one. In all its glory. It’s got this lovely dreamy vibe (those violins certainly help for that one!), and naturally there’s that lovely, lovely voice singing about those ritual unions, and how they’ve got her in trouble again. In the mean time the track is driven forward by this lovely, deep beat that is in a lovely lower-to-mid range, just pacey enough to keep this one going, but also not fast enough to steal the show from all these atmospheric things that make this remix into a complete gem. It’s got the dreamy, melancholic vibe of the original track down pat, but it has turned it into a nine minute groover instead of a 3 minute (synth) pop song. At about 4:40 there’s the drop of the rhythm section, with just the vocals and, first, the keys, and then, the violins. After that Yam Who? puts in a nice rhythm synth to go along with the beat, changing the sound up a tad and making it just a bit more catchy and dancey as well. Definitely the second half of the track has a bit more punch to it. Surely worthy of a listen, I reckon, especially if, like me, you completely loved the original to begin with.