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: ‘Casualty’ by Pional

First we hear sirens, the sounds of the urban city, and then a drum to dictate the pace. And, almost church like singing, but not necessarily the angelic kind. We get more percussion sounds, going slightly tribal even, to intersperse that with both the vocals and some synth play. Then, in the background, more piano and synth sounds, though the rhythm is all percussion based. The vocals are singing Welcome to the paradise, before Pional again finds that balance between the darker rhythm sounds and the more heavenly atmospherics. I love the layering of the vocals, that definitely adds something to the proceedings here. Near the end the main rhythm is still there, but the synths have slowly taken over to draw this one to a close. Apparently a cut from an upcoming album, to be released near the end of this month, and if this is anything to go by then that’s going to be one well worth checking out.

‘Sfire3’ by Sfire (John Talabot’s Tribalist rework)

That tribal vibe is what you get from the get go, with that typical percussion rhythm that marks it like that. In the background you hear this real atmospheric, a bit ominous, a bit melancholic sound just floating on through, giving this track a certain load that sets it apart from your every day fare. Then, the police sirens as well, in keeping with the mood created as those synths get more and more up front. Around the two minute mark Talabot dials the beat down a bit, adding the vocals, sliding the beat underneath them a few seconds later. The vocals are ghostly, definitely in keeping with the vibe of the instruments playing. At 3:40, the synth is moved away for a minute, putting more emphasis on the sirens wailing and the rhythm synth that has joined the percussion in the mean time. The structure for this track is lovely, and the way they create the mood but all the while keep the momentum for the dancefloor going as well is just ace. Yet more evidence Talabot is just one of the better players out there for my money’s worth.

‘Shine (This is It)’ by Soul Clap feat. Nona Hendryx (Dimitri From Paris & DJ Rocca Erodiscomix)

Dimitri from Paris & DJ Rocca know how to get that discotheque a rockin’, taking on new Soul Clap release with the piano, the bird sounds (…), but most of all that disco bass and beat to shake them hips to.  The piano gets a bit of solo time after the minute mark, soon helped out by a bass sound before the percussion comes in to provide some extra rhythm before the drum beat gets back. I don’t know how they always do it, but it just sound so festive and joyous, giving you that entire party mood with all those sounds that make it feel just fun. Plus they know how to keep it going, for instance with the second break with mainly the piano, this time there is a secondary sound that wasn’t there the first time. Just changing it up a little, you know? Then there is a period with primarily bass, but soon the piano rhythm is back for that lighter party touch. And, just a moment later, everything is thrown back in there, for that full discotheque delight. If you want to get that party vibe going, this is one of those Erodisco things that you can’t go wrong with for fun times to be had by all. And especially when nearing that end, when the horns come in, as who can resist, really?

‘You’ve Got A Hard Head’ by Johnny Guitar Watson (Ronny Hammond Break-A-Leg Edit)

I love the funky way this one starts, immediately getting that little riff going before we get a male voice saying Wait a minute, wait a minute, but of course we will not as the boogie is already well on its way with the guitar riffing it up. The male voice then starts to talk about the origins of the track, the species, and everything, though it’s that electric gui-tar that does most of the talking with, underneath, the rhythm pushing this one forward with exactly the right amount of pace. At 1:40, that pace gets a slight bump, and at 2:14 the horns came in to add some more funk flavourings in there. At 3:20 they’re called in for a minute, the track going back to its starting roots with a minimal beat and the guitar riff looped on top of it, though that guitar is let loose a little while later, bringing us that blues solo stuff right there. Ronny Hammond has delivered a fab track build around that guitar, but giving it slightly different slants with, for instance, the horns coming in, or the occasional vocals. 7 1/2 minute to love that guitar baby.

‘Oh What A Night’ by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons (Alkalino rework)

Alkalino brings in some insistent drums to help out this classic cut from the years of yore. That instantly recognisably piano (slightly sped up I reckon) soon comes in, so you know what you’re in for. First though, we get some wobbly instruments taking a stab at the main riff of the track, but quickly Frankie Valli comes in with the piano backing him up. The next time through the guitar rears his head as well, as Frankie Valli sings Oh what a lady, what a night. Sometimes the boys in the back come in to repeat the title track as well, as in the mean time the main instruments get looped until about 2:30, where we get the horns interlude. Alkalino brings what you want here, with all the goodness of the original, and plenty of it, but in the mean time also suited to get some dancing done in the modern times. Just lovely fun, this edit of one of those tracks.

‘Dear Tommy’ by The Chromatics

This one starts with some sad piano stabs and a pretty deep drum sound, over which the autotune vocals come in, saying Dear Tommy, if I could hold you in my arms, an expression of longing for something that has, ostensibly, sailed by. Then the synths and bass sound come in, picking up the pace, though the slow, deep drum still is the one that anchors the defense here. It is, by all accounts, more menacing than dreamy, more anger hiding in sadness than the dreams that can come out the longing. And, as always, perfectly soundtracked by the instrumentals that the band comes up with. I was binge watching Twin Peaks the other night, and had to think of The Chromatics and their sound while watching. Nothing in this track has done anything to untie that connection in my mind. Can’t wait for a new album from their hand, though going off this track we might be talking to the ghosts that haunt instead of those showing a future that might be.

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.

The website Pitchfork just released their top 200 tracks of the Seventies, a decade infused with funk, synths, and all sorts of disco; music that this column is build around. Cherry picking through some of the punk and rock, here are six gems from that list that all y’all still can get down to on the dancefloor.

‘Haven’t You Heard’ by Patrice Rushen

You’ve got the rhythm right there from the get go on this disco song by Patrice Rushen. And, of course, that nice little guitar riff. After thirty seconds, the strings we know from disco come in as, in the mean time, the bass keeps bringing that groove. Then, at the minute mark, the sweet, sweet vocals of Patrice Rushen, who in the chorus gets some help from the girls in the back as they say I’ve been looking for you (haven’t you heard?). Girl, you made it loud and clear that you’re looking for a bit of love with this one. Just before the four minute mark the keys get a major solo, later helped out by some lovey-dovey strings. At 5:30 we, from whispery admissions of looking for love, go gospel a bit. It’s got all the hallmarks of that old school disco, from the groove to the instruments to the sweet vocals singing about love and realness. If you talk about classic disco, probably a track like this comes to mind. Number 199 on the Pitchfork list.

‘Could It Be I’m Falling In Love’ by The Spinners

It ain’t called Philly Soul for nothing, even if you are from Detroit. Moving from Atlantic to Sigma Sound in Philly, and adding in some help from the house band MFSB, The Spinners made this track, an epitomisation of what was called Sweet Soul, that thing that them at Philly were good at. And from the get go, you hear the sugar, the love, and the strings on this soul record, as the girls help out the guys as they wonder Could it be I’m falling in love?, further mentioning that Meeting you was my destiny. Just before Disco really exploded as dance music, this label was at their height, with the MFSB roster still in full swing, and with bands like the O’Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, and indeed The Spinners charting for the city of brotherly love. And with this genre, who can argue? Number 184 on the Pitchfork list.

‘Girl, You Need A Change of Mind’ by Eddie Kendricks

This track can be said to be one of the first disco records, or at least is a track that already was inching eerily close to the upcoming trend. Also thanks to that snare that lays down the main “beat”. In the mean time, Motown’s Eddie Kendricks pleads that, Baby, you need a change of mind (what you say to that), after which the horns come in as all the men in the club sing a La-la-la-la-la line. It talks about how Love is a liberation, and it shirks close to a sweet talking right-into-yr-bed kind of thing, as he turns on the falsetto trying to persuade you to take his hand (I know you need me!). Add some piano plunking in as well, a sizeable 7 minute running time, and even a break for that bass and rhythm to take hold, and you’ve got something that those early seventies clubs could do some dancing to. Also, Baby, you need a change of mind can be a fantasy for a whole lot of people for a whole lot of things after that clock has struck midnight, of course. Number 173 on the Pitchfork list.

‘I Want Your Love’ by Chic

Chic are kind of the darlings of disco, and rightly so Nile Rodgers is finding fame and fortune even in today’s pop landscape. That bass and guitar riff, from the get go on this one, are fantastic, and how about those bells? Then the girls come in, waiting for another shot of love, and singing like they’ve already been alienated from reality and are now in a love infused haze. Fatalistically, they sing that they Want your love, and all of this song indicates that they simply cannot do without, presenting themselves on a silver platter while not reaching fulfilment. The guitar keeps strumming along, so restrained, and the whole mood seems to grab a different essence of disco then some of the more party-ish tracks that Chic made. A lot in their oeuvre was about celebrating pride and feeling proud about who you are and what you achieve, all the equality in that. This can also be interpreted as Disco’s other side, the need for going out another night, for finding yet another person (or three or four) that will validate you physically, and a devotion to that fit Marlboro man aesthetic. That unresolved desperation (even if it is resolved on a Saturday nightly basis) of hollow eyed men who can’t seem to quit it. And it works as a love song too, of course, though listen to the riff, those bell sounds at the six minute mark, and the distanced delivery of the vocals, and there’s, to me, something altogether not quite as celebratory about it as some of their greatest hits. Number 155 on the Pitchfork list.

‘Papa Was A Rolling Stones’ by The Temptations

Though Disco is seen as celebratory music first and foremost, there are many tracks within that disco/funk/soul spectrum that, next to the groove and the rhythm section, talked about the social issues of the time. Where disco was both African-American and gay, and where a lot of it celebrated the civil right movements of the time and their victories, black masculinity  and the identity of the African-American male were in full negotiation. And there came The Temptations, putting down the clamps on black male stereotypes with a deep bass, a cymbal beat, and a wah-wah guitar supplemented by the horns. And then, the tenor vocals singing about the African-American male’s discretions and putting all the pressure on the mother for the family, and the young boy to puzzle out his own manhood. The track takes aim at the pat-on-the-back-smile-in-your-face-while-cheating-on-your-wife thing, the smiley face saying that everything will be all right and I’ll take care of it but lo-and-behold, nothing gets done, nothing gets changed, and you’ve been taken for another loop. Scathingly packaged in a plethora of handclaps, bass, and guitar sounds. And strings, never forget the strings. Number 57 on the Pitchfork list.

‘Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough’ by Michael Jackson

The Off The Wall album by Michael Jackson has to be one of the most uplifting albums to ever be made. Put on the album, and you’re carried away for a ride of feel good fun, packaged in catchy dancefloor songs. ‘Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough’ is the opening tune, and already gives you a look into all the album is going to give you throughout its entire running time. It starts with that bass sound, the talking vocals, then the yelp, the light strings, the drums, and, lastly, the guitar riff that enters the fray. Jackson asks you to Let love take us through the hours, and he ensures you he won’t be complaining, giving perhaps the biggest evidence of that '60s mantra that sex is not only for reproduction, but also for fun. It’s the album I put on when I need/want/feel like a pop in my step, and this opener immediately brings it all. Number 2 on the Pitchfork list only after Bowie’s brilliant ‘Life On Mars?’, both rightfully in there I reckon.