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: ‘Don’t Worry Baby The Best Is Yet To Come’ by The Reynolds (Greg Wilson & Peza Club Mix)

This one starts out with some dulled drums, on top of which a little bassline starts to play, with both sounds being in the deep end of the spectrum. Soon, though, some horns, and those delightful, old school female vocals come in to first sing oohh-hooo-ooh-hoo, following which this female voice sings Don’t you worry baby, the best is yet to come (otherwise at least a partial refund would be in order I reckon! Don’t be selling me this half-arsed crap now, ya here!). And this they sing in the best '60s soul group manner they can muster, a la The Jones Girls and all those early disco/R&B groups. In the mean time the drum and bass still keep on rolling, but more in the background as the girls (both the one up front as well as the ones at the back) have taken over with their lush delivery, both comforting as well as a bit mesmerizing, a tad seductive. One you could fall for if you happen upon them in a nightclub and you see her sing. All the other things, so lovely within the style, with the horns, with the lovely auxiliary sounds that make up the atmosphere. The rhythm moving it along in exactly the right pace as well, it’s just a joy to be listening to. Throwback as all get out, but golly, if this doesn’t take you to a nightclub, sitting at a table, sipping one thing or another, and then with three of those gals in long, tight dresses singing so smoothly the title of the track, then I don’t know what will.

‘What You Won’t Do For Love’ by Junior Boys

Oh lord, I remember seeing these guys years & years ago, with a friend that has since moved to a different country, in a club that has since ceased to be, and with a hairstyle that thankfully I have since abandoned. My goodness, if only pictures had survived! But the lads of Junior Boys are back, and before dipping their toes in the water they have a swing at an old Bobby Caldwell song, which they tackle in their oh-so familiar fashion. So there’s this whimsical, dreamy air that they always manage to create, using synths and those particular vocals to achieve that what they do so well. So they sing “Some people go around the world for love, maybe never find, what they dream of” in an almost removed fashion. The two minute mark has them whispering What you won’t do, do for love, and he whispers this with a deeper voice and over a deeper synth sound. Funnily enough, though the whispering can be menacing if one chooses so, they don’t quite get there, because it is so anchored in the Junior Boys aesthetic. Which, to me, isn’t something not done quite right, but something done whilst still having the band’s identity shining through. It makes it Junior Boys, and that is exactly all right. When the song picks up after the normal vocals return, the synths come back as well, but you also get a bit of kick and snare action. Good to have these lads back, and it sounds as much like them as ever. And coming from someone who went to a gig of theirs, that’s obviously not a bad thing.



‘Dear Life’ by Claptone (Purple Disco Machine remix)

I like the percussion-and-beat way this one starts, as if to say, All right, let’s bring the party on. And then when that sound comes in at the sixteen second mark, immediately followed by the vocals, then you know for sure you want to be dancing with somebody (and feeling the h... etc.). The vocals get a moment in the sunshine before a wicked bass comes in at about the 1:20 mark to reinforce all the party vibes that you got from the start. Funnily enough, there are like four elements at play in the core (2 percussion bits, a bass, and the vocals), but they all are there to help the rhythm, so it is a lesson in effectivity, really. A bit later in the track the vocals start some actual singing, and more elements come in (don’t want a song too bare, mind you, especially one approaching the six minute mark). I like the little synth line that enters before it enters the fourth minute, which is the cue to turn on the volume and get a bit of momentum going. At 3:30 you get a bit of a bridge that uses the vocals in a lovely House sense, reminding me a bit of Hercules and Love Affair to be honest. The Purple Disco Machine then starts building it all up and up, obviously dropping the bomb (or, erhm, bass) a bit later. Love the rhythm here, making sure the dancing vibes are all over my face.

‘Nights’ by Ilija Rudman (Can’t Communicate mix)

Ilija Rudman is one of those guys who always delivers for me. Slightly edging to the deep, atmospheric side of the dancefloor, something which becomes apparent at the start here as well, using what sounds like wind effects (one blowing near a haunted mansion, at that). He quickly adds a beat though, but then discards it for an equally haunting synth line, before it turns to a ghostly dance session when he suddenly drops all kinds of rhythm and percussion elements in to get even the scrougiest ghost of Christmas past to do a little boogie. He never loses this vibe (both of dancing and of atmosphere), even as new instruments, and even the vocals, enter. The vocals are strong, male house vocals, asking How can we celebrate, when we can’t communicate? In the mean time there is this main synth line up front, but also plenty of percussion in the back to keep this one going. There’s this flute kind of sound that totally fits in as well. If ever Disney wants to do a ramped up version of their Skeleton Dance, well, there you go (Maybe Banksy can put a thing or two together for this one).

‘All I Want Is You’ by Kraak & Smaak feat. Keyhole (Xinobi remix)

Some home service here, with Dutch boys Kraak & Smaak doing their thing on ‘All I Want is You’. Remixed by Xinobi, who knows how to do this stuff. It starts with a soft kick, leaving the auxiliary sounds and the droning synth in the background to form the core. Soon enough extra drums come in to start pushing this one forward, but it are still the extra sounds, like the one entering at the fifty second mark, that kind of make this one. Love the vocals coming in right after one minute’s up, singing that all he wants is you (There is no other!). Both in the vocals as well as in the treatment of the overall track there’s plenty of soul (especially when the vocals go up up up in the bridge section). Xinobi makes sure this one doesn’t get relegated to a thump-the-dancefloor kind of thing, with soft drums and plenty of room for the singing. But, he also knows when to up the pace to get the catchy going, even going to the more tribal drums a bit later on. At about the 3:30 point they dial it down, going for just a kick and some synth sounds, with then the vocals coming in way up front in the mix, telling you to Watch me dance for money, trust me, in my eyes lie the truth (Ha! How many times I’ve fallen for that one!). After some more vocal tomfoolery they don’t come back with a vengeance (would’ve been against the whole style of the track, to be honest), but instead Xinobi goes with a little bit of guitar, which is quite nice. And so they rather slowly build it back up to the more catchy side of the track. As said, plenty of soul to be found here, making this well worth the listen.

‘I Can’t Be Your Superman’ by Skylar Spence

Skylar Spence starts with a rather sharp, indie sounding guitar, but when the bass comes in after about twenty seconds this one gets decidedly disco. More quintessential disco sounds come in, though there is still this guitar that provides a juxtaposition, making sure you don’t quite feel the NY '70s vibe. The vocals, too, indicate that this is a hybrid, a slice of indie pop that borrows a few lines from the disco era. At 1:55, when it goes from almost only vocals back to the regular programming, it slides into an almost The Rapture-esque punchy disco sound (a la the Pieces of the People we Love album) just for a second, though it quickly turns down the in-yr-face knob that The Rapture always managed to put in there. It’s not as pedal-to-the-metal as that band, but it is a rather fun, catchy, up-tempo hybrid that has certainly put his album on my radar.