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The Weekly Froth! With Jan Ken Po, Eli Escobar and New Build

January 31, 2012 Columns, Features No Comments

Jan Ken Po - Unlimited Man

By Stef Siepel

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.

‘Colour Wheel’ by Jan Ken Po (Max Essa)

No he didn’t! Max Essa just released an album as Jan Ken Po, putting the bass lines at the center of attention and providing an album that keeps on rolling and rolling on. This is the album closer, and it is simply spectacular. It has a major bass line – like all the other songs on the album – that really keeps the song going, and this is mixed with sounds I connote to genre films. Some clever use of guitar and piano to give it a good vibe and to add some variety to the song (which you also get via that strip away of the bass at around 2:30, after which you get a build-up with the natural conclusion of the return of the bassline at around 3:30). In the mean time, all those extra sounds never conflict with the main sound, and thats ace. Such continuity, such flow: first surprise album of the year in what will hopefully be an ace 2012. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With John Talabot, The Rapture and Roxy Music

January 24, 2012 Columns, Features No Comments

John Talabot - Fin

By Stef Siepel

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: ‘So Will Be Now…’ by John Talabot feat. Pional

Love the start with those vocals, and love how quickly he adds to it with the fingersnapping and a beat. Really gets it all going (and gets me going at that). This track is off of John Talabot’s new album, and he gets a bit of help here from Pional. Really like those echoey sounds that are thrown in there, and the kind of deeper beat that comes in after a minute or so. It all fits so well together, and it just keeps on rolling. After two+ minutes he dials it down for a moment, with the fingersnapping being one of the few sounds audible next to the vocals. That’s ace. After three minutes it delves in a bit deeper, and quickly the beat returns again. Nearing the end it gets some different sounds going eliciting different moods. Seriously, if this wasn’t on my to-watch-list before, it sure is now. Just an amazing track that keeps on giving and giving. All the sounds work really well together, and I love that voice and how it meshes so well with the rest of the song. February 2012, watch out for this album. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Whomadewho, Matthew Dear and Nite Jewel

December 20, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

Whomadewho - Inside World

By Stef Siepel

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. After this will be a slight Holiday break, but don’t worry, come January we’ll be back with this one in a hurry. Happy holidays everybody and have a little fun, do a little dance, and get down tonight.

Track of the week: ‘Inside World’ by WhoMadeWho

WhoMadeWho are going to follow up Knee Deep with a new album next year, and if this is any indication it is going to be awesome. First the rougher sounds, the volume up, and then born out of that this great rhythm comes along with those fabulous vocals. I really love their vocals, I’ve always believed that one of the band’s strengths, and they do have an ear for finding that catchy rhythm and going with it. It is a short one at 3:37, and it fluently rolls right on through to the end. I think this is an amazing track by the lads, who are positively genius in a live setting. Recorded, I find them to be hit and miss a bit, but when they hit, they hit it out of the park, and this to me is a good example of that. So can’t wait for that new album, if only because that means they’ll be doing the rounds again and you can’t miss that opportunity. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With We Have Band, Ben Browning and Azari & III

December 13, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

We Have Band - Where Are Your People?

By Stef Siepel

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: ‘Where are Your People?’ by We Have Band

We Have Band are really setting up their run for their sophomore album. They already released a track earlier this year, which I was kind of lukewarm about I guess, and this is their second try to wow their fans and to expand their base. Love the vocals by Darren, that’s really cool. It kind of has the same anxiety of their debut, but a bit slower paced I guess in terms of the music itself. I made a point in my review of their debut about using circular imagery quite often (knowingly or not), and it’s back again in this song as well. I like the change-up at 2:20, that’s nice, and the instrumental side that ensues is something I think we haven’t heard yet from the band. I certainly like it more than that other song they released, and it sheds a light in terms of where they are going with the new album. Something a bit more varied in sound, perhaps a bit more mature, slightly slower paced, but with the same feel to it in terms of what it exhumes. And I think the latter is important. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With YACHT, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tensnake

December 6, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

YACHT - I Walked Alone (Jacques Renault Remix)

By Stef Siepel

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 Walked Alone’ by YACHT (Jacques Renault remix)

No way. If you had to pick about any song from the YACHT album that seemed least likely to be turned into a disco mix, this would be it. The original is a slower paced affair, and the potential of catchiness is certainly higher in a few of the other songs (which are, themselves, already catchy). But here comes Jacques Renault, the disco wizard of the East, and he puts on that bass at 20 seconds and we’re off to the tracks. Or rather, the dancefloor. From that point on it’s boogie woogie time and nothing can stop it anymore. 1:20 it puts on the keys and you start to hear the original coming through, and after a while the vocals come in as well. But don’t think, Oh vocals, now he has to slow it down, for the original is slower paced. Nuh-uh. You can keep on dancing, no cheap cop-outs to be seen here. Renault is a master in funking every track up and making it dancey and disco, and this is no exception. Fab remix. Those background vocals are also genius by the way, totally fit the remix. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Sleazy McQueen, 2 Bears and Junior Boys

November 29, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

Sleazy McQueen - Reconnect EP

By Stef Siepel

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: ‘We Need to Reconnect’ by Sleazy McQueen feat. Anne Montone

I just love the name, Sleazy McQueen. Not only that, I love the edits and the songs he puts out. Really old school sounds that, and they just flow nicely. Here it’s set up old school with one instrument being introduced at a time. None of that business you get in other songs, but clear sounds, clear lines, and with them coming in one after another you get enough time to acquaint yourself with them. Naturally, the song really gets going at 1:20 with the piano coming in, then you know it is time to get on the dancefloor. I would’ve liked the vocals to do a bit more than they do, especially for variety’s sake because at one point it does feel like the merry went round one too many a time, but still, one I would happily go on the dancefloor for. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Leo Zero, CANT and Joakim

November 22, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

Leo Zero

By Stef Siepel

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: ‘Down the Drain’ by Leo Zero

Leo Zero is back with a new track, and I love those boogie-woogie drums at the start there. Some talky vocals that I for some reason find to fit the track pretty well. Done bad, this kind of thing will sound like a bad rap song, but this kind of takes me into a 90s hip-hop/house vibe. Not the music itself though, that is a bit more spacey and reverby before it gets a bit cleaner again and the drums come back in. Don’t expect a corker of a track, it is rather subdued, but I like that in this case. It’s a bit mid-to-slow paced. He really gets a vibe going on this one. It is just a good combination of that kind of grainy sound, those drums, and those vocals, and it really meshes well. In the mean time Leo Zero makes sure it doesn’t get boring, despite it never going all out, by just constantly changing it up a bit and introducing new elements that just fit the flow of the music. Really nicely crafted this one, major kudos to Leo Zero for that. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Casino Times, Lou Teti and Kasso

November 15, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

Scucci Manucci EP

By Stef Siepel

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: ‘That’s the Truth’ by Casino Times

On a Scucci Manucci EP this is a track called ‘That’s the Truth’ by Casino Times. Now, I don’t know what the original is (And usually I’m pretty apt at finding that out one way or the other), so if you know drop a comment in the comment box. It’s got me hooked as soon as the first, deep “Oh-hoo” vocal lines come in. That in addition to some of the other sounds, which all have a bit of a deeper shade to them, really make for a very nice vibe. It’s really got this amazing atmosphere going on, a real 3AM track this is I reckon. Can’t picture myself anywhere but in a club at night getting absorbed by the music. After four minutes (on the dot) the vocals actually start singing, and that voice just fits the rest of the song so well. Definitely check this one out. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Matthew Kyle, Korallreven and Nicolas Jaar

November 8, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

Matthew Kyle

By Stef Siepel

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: ‘Just Say the World’ by Matthew Kyle

This immediately starts right with a nice groove, and after twenty seconds it gets a little something something with a nice beat to put some extra oomph to it. Another twenty seconds later it gets some percussion to flesh it out even more. It also puts some variety in it not to make it just the ongoing beat to listen to. After a minute there’s a slow down, and after that those amazing, colourful vocals come in. Kyle rides that for a while, brings it down a bit, and then he puts a new vocal line on the more minimal sounds. After that he goes back to what he did before, but attaching that new vocal line to the old one. I really like that – taking two elements you have already heard and then mixing those together in a later stage of the song. That’s really nicely done, it adds variety, it adds recognition, it gives the song a clear build-up; that’s good thinking right there. I happened to come across a song of his not too long ago which I also really liked, so he’s on something of a run definitely. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With YACHT, Holy Ghost! and Chromatics

November 1, 2011 Columns, Features No Comments

YACHT

By Stef Siepel

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.

‘Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)’ by YACHT (Whatever/Whatever remix)

I loved the last YACHT record so much that I interviewed them for this very site not too long ago. This is a track of theirs about the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, we don’t need no water let the motherfucker burn (oh no it isn’t, my bad), and it has gotten a Whatever/Whatever remix on top of it. Now, I thought these kids were rock experimentalists, but obviously I’m thinking of the wrong band because they slap this contagious bass on there to keep the track rolling on right onto the dancefloor. On top of that we get some fragmented vocals by YACHT singer Claire Evans, and there are some hi-hats there to accompany her. The real thing though is that bass they put on there, which is the lifeline of this remix. Even during the chorus, it keeps that bass rolling, so you don’t get that chorus / verse disparity you normally get in songs. This does mean that there are no real ups, no real downs, no real breaks, no real releases. It also means it keeps on rolling, and you know, slap a good bass on it, incorporate the original sounds in there and make it mesh, and I for one am not complaining. I like that little thing near the end, about five minutes in, where they lengthen the background vocals (I didn’t even know they were on there). Little touches like that, along with a good bass, make it all work for me. … Continue Reading

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