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: ‘Slow Motion Cowboy’ Hot Toddy vs. IPG

The percussion gets this one started, putting the rhythm in tight before the wobbly industrial sounds come in, including the emotionless robotic voice. But at the minute mark he moves away from that, putting in a big bass to get that boogie going, helped out by some horn sounds and a bit of that woodwork percussion rhythm. The voice comes back though, including the other computer sounds, but again, Hot Toddy dives back in there with some solo blues and jazz sounds moving on top of the horn and bass that bring you the bounce. So he is really marrying those two feels, but above all the base of the track is just really danceable, really is a hip mover for sure. And on top of that, taking from both worlds, he brings in a core set of sound from which he adds and subtracts, and adding plenty of new stuff in there on occasion (like around the 4:15 mark with that change-up to move to the more mechanical again before returning to the bass). A near 8 minute corker from the Nottingham man.

‘Wonderland’ by Earth Wind & Fire (Late Nite Tuff Guy muscle mix)

The label Midnight Records offers a chance for a “free” download (for a tune and a whistle) of a LNTG muscle mix of that ol’ Earth, Wind & Fire classic. Just one that all y’all know, all them dancers in the club know, and which moves along so smooth and tightly that how anyone can not start doing their disco thang is beyond me. LNTG brings the vocals from the get go, telling you to Dance, and Boogie, falling short of adding the “wonderland”, but you know that is coming. You know it is coming for sure when the track starts building it up with the horns, and there it is, at about 2:30, long and drawn out, followed by more horns and piano. In the mean time the track keeps the disco dancing at full throttle as they add the male verse after the three minute mark, doubling the line with the female vocals before they dive into the chorus again. The bass is amazing, the edit super smooth, and the recognition factor is through the roof. A great mixture of the original and the current dancefloor, not losing either one’s essence in the process. The spectral of the NY sweat clubs reigns supreme in the current discotheque right here.

‘The Look Of Love’ by ABC (Moonlight Matters Rework)

Moonlight Matters always know how to get that party going, and they start this one no holds barred. There’s the galloping rhythm, and then the string section giving you the feisty as well. At the 48 second mark they turn it around slightly, taking the beat out of there, but even without it there’s still a sense of up speed manic right up until the 1:22, when they strip almost everything aside from the synths and the disco horns that they allow to enter the fray. At 1:50, bam, there come the old school vocals singing the title line supported by an incessant beat, but also the percussion rhythm, the strings, and all those sounds that link the early Eighties with that disco sound from them NY clubs. A change-up like at about 3:30 gives it a playfulness, a cheekiness that fits (in my mind) in that Eighties aesthetic, before going a bit more darker and New Wave at the end to hit this one home.

‘I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around’ by The Chromatics

The audio of this one has been floating around for ages now, but really gearing up for their release The Chromatics thought they’d throw a video out there as well. Good thing for me, because I’ve been just about obsessive with this track the past few weeks again. You’ve got the stabbing, high tempo synths, then the beat and drums come in to give it the tempo, and the vocals juxtapose it with their wispy, dreamy, alienated voice singing that Baby, it’s not that easy, I can never be myself when you’re around. Which, precisely, is that whole The Chromatics vibe that you love and that hits home straight through the heart. There’s the guitar in there as well, primarily adding to the atmosphere. It’s pretty much up tempo, and, moving through that, the emotional coming to terms as they tried To reach so hard, but still we hit the ground. There’s a sense of resignation, the smile to each other that you love and tried all to get to that perfect place, and the tear that, as if fatalistically, you just don’t quite manage to get there. It’s an absolute gem, and I can’t wait for the album to drop (and I need to restrain myself to write the rest of this column and not just hit repeat over and over again).

‘A1’ by Prins Thomas (Gerd Janson Prinspersonation mix)

Both Prins Thomas as well as Gerd Janson are veterans on the scene, so they won’t be holding back for sure. The track starts out peppy and weird, with the space synth coming in at about the forty second mark, relatively deep to announce the arrival of the dark forces. Next to all the synth stuff there’s a beat in the background, which is relatively deep as well. At about the 1:35 mark the track gets a kick in its rear end, speeding up a bit also thanks to the lighter percussion sounds that arrive. Throughout the track it hits patches where the weird and cosmic take over, but always, like at 3:45, sliding back to the dancefloor by a change of pace or focussing more on the rhythm again. 4:20, again, has a nice change-up waiting for you as well. The track has a nice flow to it, a bit of a spacey vibe, and it’s just what you’d expect really from a team up like this one.

‘Jazzy Days’ by Cisco Cisco

Cisco Cisco bring it down, especially at the start, bringing a bit of that Jazzy nightclub vibe in there. Then they bring a little rhythm in with the cymbals, though it takes until the 35 second mark before the actual beat arrives. Even that one, though, is lower paced, giving this a drug fuelled slowed down vibe for the after hours with a martini somewhere. On top of the bass sounds there is an instrument continuously solo-ing it up, and then around the two minute mark we get some vocal work from ‘Born This Way’ (the old disco classic rather than the Lady GaGa one, just sayin’). The edited vocals sing they are Happy, I’m carefree, as in the mean time the hypnotic rhythm keeps moving on. Around 3:30 they get the beat out there for a minute, but soon it comes back with a slight bounce in its step. This track will be released later this month and includes a remix by Ron Basejam, which I’m sure will be well worth your time also.

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: ‘Keep On Talking’ by Tensnake (Gerd Janson Raw Mix)

Gerd Janson and Tensnake don’t leave anything to chance, diving in there with some wild drums, a beat, and a deep bass sound to make sure that you understand that this is for the club. From the back to the front we hear a light synth sound coming, and when that synth sound has arrived to the fore, that’s the cue for a new rhythm to come in to shake all those lovely dancers up a bit. Around the 1:40 mark the synths start to arrive, even momentarily replacing some of the percussion as the track builds up to the fall, which comes at the two minute mark with some delicious house piano. That one is just awesome, pushing the beat to the background as it becomes the main sound. Not for too long though, as it is replaced not a whole lot later by some synth action that comes in to perform a similar function. After that it’s back to the beat, with some wobbly synths in there to flesh out the sound. Some drum action ensues, after which the track picks up the pace a bit to really make sure that everyone is dancing, if they weren’t already. The beat is stripped for a short while, though obviously it comes back, and it brings a little friend with it in the form of that nice piano action we already saw earlier. Just a lovely slice of house music here, with two mainstays in the scene doing what they do best.

‘Birthday Card’ by Marcus Marr & Chet Faker

From about the fifteen second mark these lads get the catchy going, with a nice little distorted bass sound on top of the fast paced percussion, soon evolving into a slow-to-mid tempo beat on top of which Chet Faker starts to croon that he wants to Be something. The bass sound gives it a nice little groove, and the beat keeps the pace in check to fit the Faker vocals. Just before the two minute mark the percussion ramps up the pace a tad, though it’s still the bass that dictates it along with the soulful vocals. There’s some nifty percussion in the background, a nice touch to flesh the sound out a bit on occasion, with sometimes an auxiliary sound taking center stage a bit more, like around the three minute mark. Still though, it’s all about the bass groove and the vocals, singing that they want to Feel your heart. At the four minute mark there’s another one of those auxiliary sounds hogging the spotlight for a short while, this time it being a slightly wonky electric guitar. It settles into a bridge for a moment, leaning a bit more on the rhythm beat thrown in there, though the additional percussion already indicates it’s ramping up for the finale, with Marr diving in there at about the 5:55 mark, with the bass coming back at that point. This after a moment where the track just focussed on Faker’s vocals. Nice groover with some nifty soul added by Chet’s voice.

‘Archetype’ by LukeMillion feat. Jeswon

Luke Million slowly gets this groover on, getting a bit of bass going to go along with a slow-paced rhythm for a track that would fit in one of those 80s soundtrack. It is some nice bit of that '80s synth pop action where the high school hunk is going for that blonde bombshell, finding each other on the dancefloor for a bit of that boogie-woogie. But Jeswon does warn you that She don’t want love, she don’t understand it. So watch out there, sir. At the 2:20 you get that lovely wobbly electronic guitar sound, and there are also some dashes of the vocoder to be found as well. In that regard this track reminds me a bit of that Chromeo fun to get a little funky to on the dancefloor.

‘Analogue Voodoo’ by Craig Bratley

Craig Bratley gets the voodoo out early with the drum beat, doing that New Orleans hocus pocus thing whilst allowing the rhythm to get going. Ominous sounds start at about the thirty second mark to really get the right vibe in there, and just after the minute mark we get some new, major drum sounds along with talking male vocals that are deep and seem to be laughing at our destiny, as probably they’ve put a spell on us. The synthesizers now come in to add to the feel and sound, not so much the rhythm, of the track. That is still firmly in the hand of the multitude of percussion sounds that criss-cross each other. At the three minute mark we do get a new synth sound that is more rhythmic, so that’s another thing you can hold onto whilst dancing. Near the end most sounds are stripped, aside from the main drum beat and the percussion element from the start, riding us towards the ending monologue of the vocals. A few years ago Craig Bratley also released a track called ‘Analogue Dreams’, but pleasant dreaming it ain’t with this one. Trippin’, more likely, with loads of percussion helping you out right there, along with the voice from your nightmares.

‘Nu4him’ by Shanti

This one starts out with a hard, steady beat, immediately laying the groundworks for this one as a club banger. After thirty seconds we get the quick hitting house percussion to up the tempo and pace, almost completely hiding the more bass sound that we do hear in the background. Female vocals come in, telling us (if I’m hearing it correctly) Don’t believe, and as soon as they end some lush synths come in, which are nice and drawn out to balance the fiery percussion this track throws at you. That percussion gets stripped for a moment after the two minute mark, but takes about twenty seconds before they’re back again, along with another synth sound. Just before the three minute mark the percussion gets shaken up a bit, just to throw another angle at you, though the core stays the same, so you can keep your dancing moves steady as she goes. Shanti makes sure the synths always are there to counter the quick house barrage of the percussion and drums, with the break happening just before the minute mark even opting for a more piano sound. After the break there’s another change up on the drum and percussion to ride all the dancers home, with the synth making sure there still is this feel of continuation. Really one for the Berlin night clubs here.

‘Over & Over & Over’ by Sylvester (Boogie Cartel mix)

The start already indicates that this is for the party people, with all them party people sounds coming in along with a quick drum-turning-into-a-fast-paced-beat as the backbone to this whole operation. After the minute mark we get some of those disco sounds, with the starting sounds making sure it doesn’t go all throwback, though especially as the beat comes back in at about 1:30 you do get some serious vogueing potential. The bass that then comes in does shirk more closely to a more vintage sound, with the backbone keeping the tempo up. Then again, there’s nothing quite so hgh nrgy as a bit of that ol’ Sylvester sound, and the thing we’re waiting for at this point is when this boy’s vocal breakout is going to come (though we already here some suppressed vocal work going on way back in the mix). At about 3:13 the pace is thrown up a bit more, and the dancefloor can definitely get a-rockin’ on this one. Around the four minute mark slowly but surely some of the rhythm elements are stripped, though the boogie definitely still is being taken care of. At 4:45 we do get most of the drums out of the way, and just before the five minute mark we really get the disco in, with the horns, the bass, and a steady-yet-simple drum having been turned into the backbone of this whole operation now, and with Sylvester coming your way. The bass really gets the main part from here on out, making sure you can do that little dance until the very end of this near 8 minute extravaganza from the boys of Boogie Cartel.