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The Weekly Froth!

  • Written by  Stef Siepel

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: ‘Take Your Time’ by Late Nite Tuff Guy

Original material from a guy who has been releasing some ace edits the last few years. Edits of all the disco greats (and more), so you can kind of guess what aesthetic this is going to follow, and indeed he does exactly what you would expect from the guy. Starts with a nice synth, takes it down a notch after a minute or so, and after that he puts a soft little beat in there and adds the vocals to it (courtesy of Pebbles). Love how it rolls from that point on, it’s got a kind of ease to it which is really nice. Suddenly Pebbles really starts going for it, belt out disco style, singing that if you want it, and you need it, you gotta say you really want to have it, and then take your time. Add some boys on the backing vocals, and you’ve got a contemporary disco song that exhumes both all the trademarks of those tunes that inspired it, mixed with what has made those LNTG edits so great to have a dance to. Looking forward to more original “grooves” from the guy.

 

‘L’Amour Parfait’ by Yelle

Yelle is back, and he starts this one off with some sounds from the depths of a Dungeons & Dragons cavern. One of those dark-ish sounds with ditto vocals. Soon the female vocals come in though, and they add some lightness to it, helped by the French and the delivery of that language’s sounds, which because the words end long and high, sounds dreamier and softer by nature. Around 2:40 you get the combination of everything: the deep, dark male vocals, the more experimental electronical sounds, the light synthesizers and backing vocals, and the dreamier female voice. Surprisingly, this whole mish-mash of different sounds, because they juxtapose in such a clear manner, actually finds a way to work as a whole. If you like these Yelle sounds, the EP has just been released this week.

 
 

‘Beautiful Son’ by Peaking Lights (John Talabot’s Acetate dub)

Naturally, since it is a dub, you get that dull thumping dub sound at the start, which gets its contrast in the cymbals that Talabot works in there. Talabot, who you hopefully remember from one of this site’s favourite albums of last year, Fin. So I would be thoroughly disappointed if this would be a straight up dub and wouldn’t showcase his ear for sounds. Luckily, after a minute or so, it already starts coming through with some nice keys to help the cymbals out a bit to create some atmosphere over the dub. And so, slowly but surely, Talabot creates his dub layer for layer. Naturally, there’s some repetition in there, but because of the sligh alterations, all these different percussion elements that weave in and out of the song; that makes it so nice to listen to. When he tones down the instrumentals a bit he throws in some fragile vocals that seem to come from beyond the clouds somewhere, after which he naturally returns to the main sounds, as is logical. Later in the song he combines both the vocals with the sound he-- first time the vocals came around-- stripped away. Though an absolutely lovely dub, I wonder if 5:30 wouldn’t have been the sweet spot in terms of running time.

 
 

‘Be There’ by Urulu (The Revenge Be Square Dub)

Another dub, so another start with that dull thumping sound as the main part. But you know that, when The Revenge is concerned, they are going to turn it into something that will bang the dancefloor up and down. At the one minute mark, where I would’ve expected a complete change-up, The Revenge more or less continues the starting sound, taking another thirty seconds to counter the beat with some synth sounds to break through it all. That expected change-up, now that the synth is introduced, finally comes at 2:30, where the song starts coming into its own a bit. At 3:40 another bit of newness come in, and by continuously doing that it rides on through to the eight minute mark ending. Definitely one with that dub deepness for that deep house dancefloor to go off on at around two at night. The flow remains throughout the entire track, though the change-ups make that the dancefloor has something new to look at so they won’t go for drinks. Definitely one you can drop in a set and be happy with.

 
 

‘Sunset’ by Compuphonic feat. Marques Toliver (Aeroplane remix)

Aeroplane goes spacey with the vocals from the get go in this remix. It uses a bit of a sharp beat that personally I’m not too sure of, but those synthesizers definitely make up for that. That all gives it a much more festive mood, which the song definitely needs and the vocals deserve. It gives it all a kind of '80s dance film soundtrack vibe, which is all right with me to be honest. The vocals are really clear and strong and really are put on the forefront, sometimes eleviated by those synths that you expect to be on the same kind of soundtrack as an Irene Cara tune. At one point it is almost only vocals and synths for a moment, with some handclaps to keep the song moving forward. Naturally, after that period, the rest of the sounds return with a vengeance (and an increase in volume, so don’t have it on full blast before that point, as it does get louder). Nice bit of fun this, which is a pleasant surprise after that start (and ending to be honest, because then again the beat is too “there”).

 
 

‘First Days of Something’ by Young Dreams

Wow, talking about going back to the Eighties, how about this one eh? It starts out with this New Wave deepness, and throw a splash of those New Romantics in there (especially in terms of those clear sounding, almost theatrical vocals) and you are off and running. Funnily enough, after the minute mark, you get this instrumental shift where you suddenly get a little bit of tropical guitar plucking, which I can’t remember being combined with each other during that decade (though, undoubtedly, someone probably will have done that, in which case please let me know in the comment section). It makes it kind of a weird beast, this, with so many elements being put together that, on the surface, do not match, and probably actually don’t for everyone. I can see this play out in a concert setting though, every time that more festive interlude comes in, the crowd having a dance and getting into jumping mode and all that. To be honest, those parts never have been my thing, but if you do like that, and you find it meshing well together with all the other elements (like, for example, that ending, which again adds a completely new vibe), do check out the debut that will be arriving this year.

 

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