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 Gotta Feeling’ by Midnight Magic

Midnight Magic get things going with the bass, followed by Tiffany Roth singing "I gotta feeling coming on", accompanied by some percussion and a steady kick. The bass comes in with a vengeance just after the minute mark, as her feeling is Coming on stroooong. At 1:40 the first verse comes in, with the vocals being put through some echo. Just after the two minute mark the vocals get a minute of rest, and the horns get subbed in. The vocals come back though, and around 4:00 they briefly are allowed to give it a whirl without the rhythm section, though all of that comes back in again for that final punch. Midnight Magic always manage to sound as if disco is just the funnest thing in the world (which it is, obviously, but still), giving you all that goodness of a day out in that gay bar of town. A new album is coming out next month, and this single has, amongst others, a remix by one of my favs Jacques Renault. Even with winter coming, it’s going to be hard to be a sour puss now, eh?

‘Negative Space’ by Axel Frankel

Let’s get the '80s synth and pop out, as Holy Ghost!’s Axel Frankel takes a stab at that solo. And he goes for a catchy, synth filled pop tune with a steady drum, some guitar riffing in there, and some double vocals to give you even more of that chorus vibe. At 2:40 there’s a moment where he focuses more on the drum and vocal combo, after which he quickly moves the guitar riff back in to lead the way back to the chorus. In which he sings, Why can’t you choose, why can’t you lose?, with at the end of the chorus the synths coming back in with Axel Frankel singing that It’s the negative space. If you’d ask me to point out the differences between Holy Ghost! and this solo effort, it, to me, feels like Holy Ghost! is slightly more disco & dance and slightly less 80s and Pop, though you can hear similarities in both. Not that I mind, Holy Ghost!, to me, is criminally underrated, and to get one of those guys making more catchy tunes is something I’m all for.

‘Space Echo’ by Daniel Avery

Taken from his recent outing in the DJ Kicks series comes this one, starting all dark and broody, focussing purely on the atmospherical sounds. The broiling underneath, and the somewhat ominous synth floating on top of that, certainly set the mood here. Though, at points, there’s also a lighter synth, one that really starts to come through at about 1:45. As there’s always light, even in the darkest of tunnels. It’s an ambient piece, there to get hypnotised by, and for that Avery does a stellar job. A brooding cut off of !K7's latest instalment of a series that gives you all different angles from the DJ booth, this being one of them.

‘Waiting’ by Nils Bech

Nils Bech starts this one with all kinds of avant-garde sounds, after which there’s a boom, followed by a rather scary synth, as if Don Giovanni’s father will soon descend the staircase. Instead, there come his vocals, which do move to the classically trained sound, reminding me of The Irrepressibles who had an amazing album out a few years ago. At the two minute mark though, there comes the contrast, with a hard hitting beat and, ehrm, barking sounds? And then, the operatic vocals again, moving, at one point, upwards and upwards, helped out by the synths to combat the evil machinery that are the drums (drums-ex-machine?). Released on the DFA label, which is nearly always a guarantee for something at least interesting, here combining the impressive and trained vocal work of Bech with the punchy percussion.

‘Mad’ by Solange feat. Lil Wayne

Solange released a surprise album last week, announcing that she’ll be at the table when company comes next go around. This track starts with a nice R&B vibe, dictated by the drums, and helped out by the extra vocals as she goes about the first verse. Then Lil Wayne comes in, providing the rapping male vocals to juxtapose the honey sweet sound that Solange puts on display for this track, though as she tells you that she’s Got a lot to be mad about the message trumps the vocal calm. Lil Wayne, in the mean time, ends all his rounds with that you’ve got to Let it go (yet, not so much in the Disney sense). It’s a worthy display by Solange, with a super nice vocal sound that is super easy on the ear, yet not sparing anything lyrically. The instrumentals are led by the tone of the vocals, making sure they fit each other perfectly. I saw her live in a little club years ago, which was pretty ace, her going for that retro vibe and singing the ‘Losing You’ stuff to the delight of all. Can’t wait to see her again touring this one.

‘Dance’ by D Gerrad & Jean-Claude Gavri Trans Atlantic Workout

How about that galloping start on this son of a tune, eh? That just gets you in the right mood from the get go. Then, for the first time, the girls sing Dance, with the track giving you some extra rhythm so that you know it, quite indeed, is gonna give you that work out. At the 50 second mark, the guitar riff comes in, so clean and pristine it just shivers ye timbers. In the mean time the lads keep adding singular rhythm elements one by one, until just before the two minute mark when the other instruments come in as well. At 2:45 there is a full stop in terms of the rhythm section, just hearing the girls telling you to dance before the galloping thrust comes in and we’re off to the races again. It’s really a seven minute long build up-strip-and-build up, with the heavenly momentum that just goes with that territory. Really, how can one not do what the title says one should be doing on this one?

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: ‘Big Foot’ by Ilya Santana (Rayko remix)

These two people together can only be good news. Ilya Santana knows how to put the Space in Space Disco, and Rayko sure as hell knows how to put in the latter. So what you get is a nice drum rhythm, and when the synths come in after about forty seconds you get the space vibe no doubt. At 1:10 you get that fist-in-the-air-bump moment when there’s another rhythm element added to give it a nice little boost, and about half a minute later you get some extra synths to add some extra space to the atmosphere. What I love is that Rayko just builds to those change-ups. The music, very naturally, lets your brain know when he’s going to alter the song, so you get that sweet anticipation. At the three minute mark, that’s just a stretch that I just love. You have the drums, the more rhythmic synths, but also the atmospheric synths to make sure there’s plenty of that vibe in there. It certainly is plenty danceable, and it manages to be both catchy as well as hypnotic. I must say, this instrumental track actually kind of exceeded my expectations, no small feat considering these guys are really up there in my mind.

‘Vicious Love’ by Midnight Magic

Midnight Magic is about to release an EP, and this is the title track off of that. This one starts nice and boogie, with the deep bass being contrasted by the horns that come in. The diva vocals are certainly present again, including a bit of echo to give them even more of a range. It really starts out as a lovely slow jam, just dreamy and sad enough for the star crossed lovers with darts in their eyes. She sings that she can’t conceal it anymore, as after all, love is vicious, though it certainly is time to take a chance. It certainly is a track with a narrative and lots of vocals, and for me that’s never a bad thing, especially as there is enough variety in them between the chorus and the verses. In the mean time, the instrumentals are keeping it slow jam disco, with the bass there, but also plenty of auxiliary sounds to set the mood as the drums and bass set the pace. At about 3:50 they put in the big guns with the horns, which get some lovely play to end the track.

‘Desire’ by Years & Years

Years & Years are really working towards an ace debut. They’re touring with Sam Smith, but more importantly they’ve released two killer singles already with ‘Real’ and ‘Take Shelter’, which are really top notch. This is perhaps their most overt attempt to pop out, with the other two leaning perhaps more heavily on the R&B side of things. This one seems slightly more up-tempo, especially the quick rhythm part that comes at the start of the chorus, that screams big pop track maybe a bit too much. Still, like the other two, it’s got some great vocals (not to mention multiple vocal layers on top of each other), some interesting drums, and it still has a high catchiness factor. No, I’m not as enamoured with it as with the previous two (they seem to have a bit more “air” and “space” in them, if you know what I mean, not as foot-on-the-pedal as this one), then again, that album is still being played the first day it hits the shelves no doubt (and certainly hoping to see them live well before that). The energy and those vocals just have me hooked, what can I say?

‘Supernatural’ by AlunaGeorge

AlunaGeorge certainly made some waves last year with their album, and based on this track I would say deservedly so. I love the whole rhythm behind the track, it’s so darn catchy and it’s got such a good pace on it. I also love the different layers, they complement each other nicely, with the rhythm in the back, and then the sparser dum---dum----dum in front of it. The female vocals slide the song nicely into the chorus, where the pace picks up and where she sings that it is all so supernatural, and her more soulful vocals contrast nicely with the altered male vocals, which are made to sound more mechanical. It’s a lovely, catchy slice of electro pop, the kind that actually makes me curious about what a whole album would sound like.

‘Down From The Rafters’ by Hundred Waters (The Field remix)

I’ve seen The Field live a couple of times, so it’s no surprise to me what’s coming next. You’ll get plenty of chilled out atmosphere, with a real hypnotic backbone that keeps the track in place and that will keep you entranced whilst doing some of that eyes-to-the-floor shuffling. There are enough subtle changes to keep this from becoming monotone, from little additions to the percussion to changes in the atmospherical synths that certainly paint the landscape you’re meandering in within your mind. The looping of certain elements, he does that so effectively, especially with that higher percussion sound, which is amazing, and then those haunting synths that keep floating over the beat throughout the whole song. Certainly, if you allow it to do so, this is one that will take you by the hand and lead you to this alternate world somewhere.

‘Don’t Wanna Dance’ Deep & Disco rework

If something is named ‘Don’t Wanna Dance’, and behind that you see that it’s reworked by Deep & Disco, you can be pretty sure that they’re gonna make you, no matter what. The build-up is splendid, from the funky guitar to the drums to the bass they slide in after about forty seconds: that’s how to get the catchy wanna-move-vibe in there. After about a minute you get a little break, but slowly you hear the track come back in, and the horns announce the return to full volume. Later in the track you get these lovely ol’ school vocals, asking you how you’re gonna do it if you really don’t want to dance. I love that moment at 3:26, when those soulful vocals come through full throttle announcing his advice with an “I say people” yelp. The cherry on the cake is when the song slides into the familiar “get down on it” sequence, which is just this fabulous moment where the dancefloor will either recognize the reference or will recognize the fact that it is just a killa’ moment to keep dancing to. Again, just a lovely, funky, catchy rework with the right amount of attitude to pull it all off.