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.

This seems to be a good moment to look back at some of the tracks that, at the start of 2015, rocked the Casbah.

Track of the Week: ‘Shelter Me’ by Sade (Late Nite Tuff Guy remix)

Sure, this was posted late December last year, but around the Holidays, so 2014 was about all but shut down by that time, eh? So I think we can still count this one for 2015, and anyway, do I really need reasons to post a super nice, super lush edit of a classic Sade track? Late Nite Tuff Guy knows what to do with it, keeping it soft and smooth, with a bit of percussion to help the tender beat out, but it are the synth sounds that lay down the mood of this one. And something like at 1:55, the transition to the bass, that’s lovely. Then some more percussion again, and soon, those impeccable vocals come in, with LNTG knowing that these are the star and giving them plenty of room. They say that they could see it in Your restless eyes, the truth that she was hiding and you could not disguise. LNTG knows when to add the piano in, appearing at all the right moments, as she is coming to the understanding that she needs A miracle to make you stay. A slow groover with exactly the right pace, mood, and amount of heartbreak. And when she yearningly says she wishes that You could shelter me, and LNTG brings in the horns, that’s the ball game folks.

‘The Man Inside Me’ by Thodoris Triantafillou feat. Nomi Ruiz

This track by Thodoris Triantafillou combines a strong back beat, atmospheric sounds, and the ever longing vocals of Nomi Ruiz. After the first batch of vocals you get a nifty synth sound, and when Ruiz goes to a higher pitch we see Triantafillou follow suit with sounds to match that. At one point the vocals get doubled near the end, providing even extra punch as she sings she is Left alone to fight another storm, not being sure why she still loves you. The track is off of an album that came out in January of this year, and it manages to superbly marry those vocals and melancholic lyrics with sounds that both keep this one moving forward, but also add to the feel of the track. Lovely song from the Greek and the former singer of Hercules and Love Affair.

‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton (Todd Terje remix)

The thing the world was waiting for probably. One of the more gut wrenching country tracks of mainstay Dolly Parton gets the makeover treatment by the disco king Todd Terje to produce a lovely dancefloor killer. Everyone can now finally dance to the country guitar and the desperate vocals of Parton as she sings, nay, pleads, Jolene, please don’t take my man (and only just because you can, girl! What the heck!). The percussion underneath provides the dance rhythm, and the guitar is the thing that gives it both its vibe, its recognisable sound, and it helps along with the pacing as well. At the 2:30 mark the drums make way for a minute as, for the first time, the vocals come in, after which a happy, slappy bass starts to run along with the track. The combination is just magical, with Parton crooning that He talks about you in his sleep, whilst in the mean time the track keeping the dancing going.

‘Just Give Me Joy’ by Elvin Tibideaux

Way at the start of the year one of my favorite House labels, Let’s Play House, released this doozy by Elvin Tibideaux, who lets the bass get it on and who keeps the pace nice and high. After the minute mark we get a little guitar strumming as well in the background as, in the mean time, the speed is still up and away. At the 1:50 mark there’s a bit of room for a breather, but you know that, soon enough, it is going to come back in its full glory. One of those dancefloor speed freaks with deceptive depth with all the sounds that help out underneath the surface. And, you know, the bass, you gotta slap it people, and that certainly is what Tibideaux does here. Before the 3:30 mark it again takes it down a notch, but after that, Oh glory, there come the vocals! And the guitar is a bit more up front. The vocals are screaming it out, yelling that she needs You!, saying a minute later that she gets what she wants (and If I don’t get it, I don’t want it! You tell them girl). In the mean time the bass keeps this one rolling, only taking it down a minute when she insists that you Stay right there. LPH definitely a label you want to keep an eye on if you love this kind of thing (and who doesn’t, really, now).

‘Be Love’ by Natty Fensie (The Supermen Lovers remix)

In March The Supermen Lovers posted their edit of Natty Fensie’s ‘Be Love’, giving it the cheeky dancefloor treatment. It just has this lovely Lets have fun vibe written all over its face, with a lovely pace gotten through a variety of percussion and bass in most stretches, and in some there’s a little piano and guitar going on. Natty Fensie, in the mean time, is telling you to Give it, and the Supermen Lovers do, at 3:20 by going all out on the synth for example, with the bass providing the boogie underneath. It’s just a lovely fun romp, with enough pace to get down and flirty to on the dancefloor. And, at the end, even giving you a little surprise with some of that cosmic jivin’ guitar as it slows it down for its final minute or so.

‘All U Writers’ by !!!

!!! released an amazingly fun dance album with loads of catchy tunes to get all your dancing moves out, and this bass heavy little number they released at the very start of April, already laying down the groundwork for what was to come. The vocals turn deep at first, but then go up a notch as also the female vocals come in. The bass, meanwhile, is still doing all that ridin’, with some guitar strumming getting in there for good measure. And, at about 2:45, it is that guitar that gets a bit of working room before the bass comes back in to claim its domain and to get all the dancers dancing again. First, though, some vocals, some working up to the inevitable fall, and then, at 3:40, there it is, for all y’all to get that boogie on again. Nice and deep in terms of sound, yet surprisingly upbeat and fun in terms of feel, just one slice of the joy !!! brought with their latest LP outing.

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: ‘Who Do You Believe In?’ by E-Work feat. Trudie Dawn Smith (Vocal Mix)

E-Work, alias Mark E, gets the slow bass rolling in this one, with the drum dictating the pace. Soon enough Trudie Dawn Smith comes in on vocals, singing If I gave you, Could you take it?, with some piano for extra dramatic effect. She puts in the drama ballad performance, with the slow bass rolling the sadness forward. It gets a slight kick in the pace at about 1:45 with the lighter, faster element, though it are still the beat and bass that are the providers of rhythm here. At about the 2:30 mark he dials it down a notch, with the vocals asking Could you handle it?. If the answer is yes, lets slowly build it back up through some synths to get the beat back in. Mind you, it is all really supportive of the feel that the vocals also exhume, with this lovely, slow trud to go with the drama of it all. Sometimes he builds up a wall of synths or drums, which he then strips to slide in another round of that bass. Got to love a good, slow burnin’ house tune, especially with those lovely, battle-worn vocals that keep asking you the same heartfelt question over and over, like a ghost roaming around the premise where only a positive answer will warrant its release.

‘Freedom! ’15’ by !!!

How about that funky start, with that wobbly (synth) bass that they start the proceedings with. I kind of like the decision to put the vocals so up front in the mix, and the music so far back. So you do feel the funk and disco, but they just make sure you hear her out, singing that You’ve got your freedom, which is the cue for the music to burst out, and thus also for the audience to really start dancing. Which coincides with the words sung, so that’s a nice theater lesson they put to use there. From that point on the bass is put a bit more to the front, though they sure don’t obscure the rhythmically delivered vocals. Which, whenever they sing “freedom”, get some help from some relatively booming instrumentals. At the three minute mark, there comes this lovely, catchy synth line, soon aided a little bit by the bass, which is this dance-daddy-dance moment in the middle of the track which is kind of fun. Soon the vocals come back, asking how that freedom is Working for you babe?, which incidentally puts the House music phrase “working” in there. After that, again, a little musical interlude with all sorts of catchy rhythm lines to make sure you’re not standing still on this one. I, personally, loved their last album a great deal, which, for my money’s worth, seemed a bit underappreciated. Or at least, I had great fun with it, and this track sure seems to build on that blueprint, so that’s one happy customer right here. Also, live, good fun.

‘Marzipan’ by Amateur Best (Ray Mang remix)

Certainly starts out with a bit of that wooden percussion, though soon you get plenty of other sounds in, which definitely fall into the weird-yet-surprisingly-wonderful category. Obviously, also, a beat comes in, at about 45 seconds, doubling the wood percussion. The song definitely is set in the rhythm department, and at 1:30 it gives you a little bass to go alongside this heavenly brass-like sound which then leads to some jungle rhythm again, on top of which the vocals come in for the first time. They sing that It was always you, careful with the careful lies, so it seems like someone had an achy-breaky-heart. Somehow, Ray Mang manages to mix the very rhythmic, very percussion heavy with this bayou laidback sound, this softness that he shows during, especially, the verses. I love Ray Mang, and on some records I have of him he really struts his stuff, and not sure I’ve seen this eye for combination from him before. Which takes on yet another dimension when he brings the lead piano in later in the track. Pretty nifty stuff from a definite talented guy.

‘Let the Music Play’ by Charles Earland (Kon remix)

Kon gets the party going again, doing a high speed, 125bpm take on the old Charles Earland song. You’ve got all the disco good times there, with the piano, the drum beat, the electric synth sound, and then some sort of deformed horns or vocals that enter the scene as well. It immediately flows over with good vibes and '70s party flashbacks, with all the retro instruments that they could muster (probably even retro for when this song was made, I reckon). At 2:10 you get this amazing horn solo, whilst in the background it’s a colourful cacophony of all manners of sounds, rhythm and otherwise. Even that horn solo makes sure the pace is kept up up up, setting in stone that this is one to just have some fun to (if that wasn’t clear already). Love the fact of how they keep the party going in the background and continuously put some instrument or another in the spotlight to just do their thing. Like the grandest ol’ jam session in funky Harlem town or wherever.  It certainly lives true to its title, with the addition “and let the people party” secretly put on the flip side.

‘Come Together’ by Cassio Kohl

Cassio Kohl starts this one with the atmospheric sounds, and just a little bit of those cymbals to at least get some of the percussion in. The rest of the percussion, along with the beat and, slightly later, the bass, follow soon enough, turning this one into a deep house slow burner. The track gets some spoken word, which is pretty well done seeing how fast-talking it needs to be (and how easily that can sound sooo wrong. The faster you go, the more risk you’re taking, I feel). I love some of those auxiliary sounds from at about 1:40 on. Those give some nice flavour, add a bit of jazziness to it as well. Plus it combines well with the floating synth line the track puts in there. In the mean time, still the percussion and the kick beat taking care of the rhythm aspects, and the synths keep it from going too deep in there. Those synths for a moment get teamed up with just the beat, the rest of the percussion having to take a backseat. Over this minimal structure the vocals come back, during which the rest of the track slowly reassembles. Definitely one for dancing with your eyes closed, it’s got a sense of hypnotism to it that adds to this drug fuelled industrial party feel it has, undoubtedly being thrown somewhere in a former atom-bomb basement in Berlin (just to add a slight And-this-week-in-history thing to it, ya know?).

‘Endless Rhythm’ by Baio

Okay, confession time, when I saw Vampire Weekend live at a festival, that was about the slowest ten minutes of my lifetime before I walked out (which surely has more to do with me than the immensely popular band). Baio, the bass player of the said band (you didn’t really think I held such a grudge that I just randomly put the above anecdote in just about wherever, did you?), gets a little bit of that surf pop going here, there’s a little Seventies vibe combined with a bit of contemporary retro. As in, it does kind of tell you it isn’t an original from back in the day, but it sure feels as something celebrating those things that were fun in the golden olden days. So what you get is this nice slice of catchiness, with especially that synth adding the feel it’s aiming for. Though the chorus sings I can wait, I can wait for you, which sounds really romantic, there are also lines in there like Every lyric that I’ve written, is a lyric I despise, Oh I despise, so make of that what you will. Again, just loving the synths and the feel they put into the track, in the end producing something that just sounds like fun.