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: ‘When Did I Stop Loving You’ by Marvin Gaye (Valique edit)

Valique gets into that looping action for the start, though after half a minute he gets that bass going for some rhythm and funk, really getting that dancefloor feel working. At the 1:20 mark we get the vocals in, again doing the looping thing, letting the same line with the same instrumental parts doing their thing. Then, the bass again, and with a lovely vocal coming in, super soulful, super old school. Then those horns as well, at 2:20, which team up nicely with the layered vocals that are asking When did you stop loving me, when did I stop loving you. When there’s no vocals, there’s at least the bass to keep you occupied, giving it a nice, deep balance to the higher pitched Marvin Gaye voice. The track certainly has some heartache in it, as in, genuine heartache, with Gaye creating this track just after his divorce. From accusatory to self-reflective to just plain old sadness, the beauty of this edit is that Valique does manage to keep all that, but give it some of that extra lets-dance-the-blues-away kind of goodness. That’s what those edits are all about, no?

‘Hot Hot (Give it All You Got)' by Debbie Jacobs (Evil Smarty & SanFranDisko edit)

SanFranDisko and EvilSmarty start this edit off with that nice little guitar riff aided by the rhythm of that punchy drum that they keep behind it. At the 30 second mark you get a nice little bass in there as well, and one of the main things all the elements achieve is that it just sounds like there’s a party going on in here. At the minute mark the strings arrive, a bit later the horns get there as well, and soon enough Debbie Jacobs and her girls come in with, first, some  background vocals, but just before the two minute mark she herself enters the stage to do her disco thang. Still the guitar riff and the drums form the main backbone elements, with the strings and horns adding all that disco flavor. The lads play around with pace and tempo a bit, though the main thing is that they keep the core elements running, and they savor all the disco goodness that comes with it. At 3:50 they, for a short moment, bring it down a notch, going with primarily the early sounds of the guitar and drum, but mere seconds later it’s the strings and Debbie Jacobs that enter the equation again. Just a nice disco edit with a nifty little riff to give it just that tad bit extra.

‘Take It Slow’ by Luxxury

The SoundCloud tag says “slow burner”, and boy, is that evident at the start. Just has that slow groove that it gets going, with the percussion, that lovely little guitar riff that comes in, and the aerial vocals singing their little lines. At about 1:30, that slow burning vibe has taken a back seat though, with a new guitar riff, the bass, and a punchier beat giving it a bit more tempo and adding so much meat to the bones that this real slow groove feel from the start has subsided a bit. Not to say that the middle part isn’t enjoyable in its own right, with all these elements in the mid-pace range helping out the still floating vocals singing that you should be Taking it slow. At the four minute mark most rhythm elements are either stripped out or moved to the background, and instead you get a bit of that saxophone going on, with a nifty bassline moving it into the burn-n-crawl realm again. Soon, though, that is all build on and build up again, ending with a catchy little guitar riff to help you dance through the final minute.

‘I Love You More’ by Rene And Angela (Pools edit)

A short edit from Pools gives you a little bit of that Rene & Angela thing, primarily based on that deep bass sound, giving you that step-step-step action. Then the vocals come in, singing that, gosh, I love you, with Pools doing the old chop-n-go trick on them, looping and cutting the same parts, which primarily is noticeable with the vocals. The vocals come out lovely though, the bass sound gives it that nice little rhythm to do a bit of dancing to, and it gives a modern slant to that old soul duet. So if you don’t mind your tracks at radio edit length, this might be a nice snippet to be listening to.

‘Little Lies’ by Fleetwood Mac (Jean-Claude Gavri touch-up)

Never a bad moment to dial up that Fleetwood Mac love affair a bit, and Jean Claude Gavri starts this one off nice and understated with some lovely sounds, first rhythmic, than that floating sound we kind of remember from the original. Just so we know where we are heading. It takes a while for it to really dive headlong into it, having the patience to wait it out until about the 1:30 mark, when a big old 80s pop drum comes in to signal the arrival of the actual song, including the vocals, singing that she Couldn’t find a way, settling For one day to believe in you. And then, the chorus, including the lovely instrumentation, and the drums to also keep the song as a little dancefloor thing and to make sure it’s got pace enough to keep it moving forward in that context. No more broken hearts, she sings, saying that We’re better off apart, before heading back to the chorus. Jean Claude Gavri knows how to handle an edit like this, putting loads of that goodness in of the original (it ain’t called a touch-up for nothing, ya know), but still in such a way that you and y’all can keep it going on the dancefloor.

‘Crime Cutz’ by Holy Ghost!

The lads of Holy Ghost! are back in action with some new material, starting hauntingly enough, though soon getting back to their synthesizers doing their catchy thing. With that said, it definitely sounds like a departure from their more disco oriented Dynamics sound, which was super slick and smooth. This has parts of that clean disco-pop sound, like at about the two minute mark, but the guys also add the warpy and the immediate in there, with the vocals in the verses talky and almost anxious, though more traditional in the chorus. The lads know their ways around their instruments, and they’re trying to not only get the song out of there, but also the feel and vibe. As evident, for instance, with the interlude at about the four minute mark. Though, after the interlude, they do still come back to the catchy, to the dancey, but with a bit more grit than their super polished previous LP (which I loved, by the way). It’s intriguing for sure, and a definite teaser to see what that new EP is going to sound like, which we have to wait for until the 29th of April. Unfortunately no embed here, but you can click here to still hear the brand spanking new Holy Ghost!.

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: ‘I’m Not In Love’ by Petula Clark (Luxxury Edit)

Not too long ago I already featured a live edit of a Luxxury tune in this column, and here I go again. I’m a sucker for these things I’m afraid. This time the boys take on Petula Clark, and they get it going with a nice little bassline to get the catchy on. There’s some piano in there, as well as some drums to make sure the rhythm is bolstered, but it most definitely is the bass that does the works. After a minute in we get the first words out of Petula Clark, though it’s still the bass that’s the focus. After the 1:40 mark it enters the next phase, with a nifty rhythm guitar and the auxiliary sounds getting a bit of that disco feel in, all the while Petula Clark is now really singing, telling us that she is Not in love (ohhh, no-hoo). When the verse is done, the bass is back, though at 3:10 Clark gets back in the fray, with the string quartet, the backing vocals, and all and more of that. The combination of that nice bassline and the Petula Clark original with all of the disco vibes is a nice one that makes this one super for the dancefloor. And at one point even the horns come in, and that’s something I’m a sucker for as well.

‘Pyor’ by Darius

Now, Red Bull, they actually do some nifty things for lovers of electronic music. You’ve got the Red Bull Academy action going on, but apparently there is also the Red Bull Studios sessions in Paris, where a producer comes in, has a week, and comes out again with a free EP for all y’all to download. This time it’s Darius who was locked up in there, coming out with, amongst others, this tune with loads of synth action. At the twenty second mark we get some rhythm sounds in, though it’s still the multiple layers of synths that are the mainstay here. After about forty seconds there is some extra beat and percussion going on, and some of that guitar has joined in as well. At 1:30 he dials it all down though, going for a soft piano over an ever present synth that carefully builds up, not getting to the climax before some percussion comes in to help out a bit. The build-up is nice and long, making sure the anticipation is growing before he drops some of that synth-house action at about 2:40. Love how he slides it back down a bit at about 3:10, that’s really cool as he slowly starts to wind it down. Think the idea of Red Bull to do this is pretty wicked, and with Darius you sure have one who brings the goods.

‘On The Rocks’ by DJ Sonniku

DJ Sonniku takes us away to tropical islands for this one, where the waves crash on the rocks while we have one on them. After the minute mark an actual beat comes in for the first time, accompanied with multiple kinds of percussion, all with different functions. Some to help out with the rhythm, others to instill that tropical vibe as if we’re partying way out where the sun still shines. DJ Sonniku nicely shifts from more rhythmic focused moments to periods where he also lays down the feel, like with the sound that comes in at about 2:45. In the mean time he does lay down this nice, hypnotic rhythm that he only strips away after the three minute mark to get some of that hand-percussion going along with a bit of that light synth. Naturally, he does come back to the beat, and he does so at about the 4:15 mark, juxtaposing it with a nice bit of piano to not go too far off the deep end. As said, he lays down both a nice groove as well as a nice Beaches vibe here.

‘Miss Broadway’ by Belle Epoque (Alkalino re-edit)

I do love me some ‘Miss Broadway’, I really do. Just that snazzy, naughty attitude that this track has, from the opening instruments to the big, bold, vocals screaming MOOONEEYYY. And leave it to Alkalino to get a good dancefloor edit out of that, riding the starting sounds and making sure those vocals full of attitude and pezazz come out. In the mean time that synth is going, that bass is rolling, and the dancefloor can vogue their ass off on this close to eight minute long ride to the Belle Epoque. At about 2:25 we also get the horns in as well, and Alkalino also focuses on keeping up that groove in the background and juxtaposing that with the punchy, gritty vocal delivery and the yelps of Moooneyy. At 3:55 we get those iconic string sounds, and here again, Alkalino shows us how to use such original elements to get all the juice out of it for some sweetness in that edit world. At 5:15 we do get the male vocals, saying that, Uh-huh, they like it. So do we, honey, let me tell ya.

‘Shout (About It)’ by Young Pulse

Young Pulse gets that, ehrm, pulse going with a steady beat to go with that little piano riff that’s put on top of it (along with some of that ol’ woodwork percussion). We already hear the vocals shout about it as some extra rhythm sounds are put in there to help out a bit, with at 1:15 the big disco entrance coming in, and what we get is a super funky bass to juxtapose the lighter piano sound. Just before the second minute mark the soulful vocals come in, singing that he Used to hide his feelings, but obviously, he is now coming back on that idea, as you should let everyone know how much you’re loving her, it, and everything. So, if you feel on top of the world, shout about it! In the mean time that bass is still rolling. Around the four minute mark we get some instrumental interludes, with the guitar, the hand percussion, but also still that rhythm bass to make sure all that is kept going on. Nice and funky edit of Lamont Dozier’s early Eighties track.

‘Hangin On A String’ by Loose Ends (SanFranDisko remix)

SanFranDisko knows how to get the old school on the dancefloor, as the name already implies. Here they take on the '80s R&B peepz of Loose Ends, bringing a nice slow groover in ‘Hangin On A String’. They make sure to get the guitar in there, as is evidenced at about the 50 second mark, where it is clearly audible on top of the percussion base. Then the vocalist comes in, singing that he Feels it to, what am I supposed to do?, eventually diving into the line “You (you you) have got me hanging on a string now, which elicits a response from the female vocalist. I love the lush vibe, the mid-paced percussion groove, and the clarity that some of the elements have, like the vocals, like that guitar, etcetera. It sure isn’t a muddled affair, which brings out all the good in this to get grooving to. The female vocalist sings that she is Not your baby, as the boy is still feeling he’s hanging on. At the four minute mark, again, a nice, clean switch from verse to guitar intermezzo, with the percussion making sure you can do that shimmy and keep that dancing vibe up. Nice edit to get some of that soul and love right there on the dancefloor.