The Weekly Froth #16

The Dark Esquire - Situation

Our weekly look into the blogosphere where we talk about six tracks we found out about in the previous Wednesday-to-Wednesday seven-day period.

Track of the week:

‘Situation’  by The Dark Esquire (CFCF remix)

He, it is a funny thing, I loved all the remixes by CFCF last year. They were really good, and then came the album, and for some reason it never really grasped me. This though is another beauty. It is less disco and less dancey than what you might have seen from him next year, and the overall vibe is a bit more in line with his album. But he really turns up the atmosphere on this one. I also really love the vocals here, and how yearning they are, but also how they are not belting over everything and everyone but how it stays within the melancholic framework. Yeah, lovely late night music for insomniacs really, and oh boy do those people need some good music like this. You gotta love the restraint CFCF shows on this one.

http://hypem.com/track/1027215/The+Dark+Esquire+-+Situation+Cfcf+remix+

‘Fences’ by Phoenix (Delphic remix)

Oh boy, you know, those two are perhaps two of the hottest names out there, and I don’t like them. I can bare that Holy Ghost! remix of Phoenix because I love Holy Ghost!, but there is something about that voice that just doesn’t do the trick for me. Which is highly personal seeing them selling out everything and everywhere, but with the vocals so prominently at the start, it just immediately sets the wrong tone for me. I do like what happens underneath those vocals, courtesy of Delphic, and I do think they have some very neat tricks up their sleeve here which makes me rethink checking more of their work (saw them live and since have failed to bother). But I like what they are doing with this track, for me personally it is just the wrong track, and therefore the wrong remix. Regardless of the track by the way, it should’ve been cut in half this one, seven minutes is a bit stretching it. I have no idea how the last part relates to the first.

http://hypem.com/track/1031581/Phoenix+-+Fences+Delphic+Remix+

‘O.N.E.’ by Yeasayer

I actually like some of the tracks on this album, but this new single just isn’t my thing at all. I don’t know who of them is singing it, but it comes across as slightly whiney to me. It is mid-paced, and five minutes long, and musically they try to do some nifty stuff, but it doesn’t hit me on a gut level (I wish I could hit him on a gut level is what all the Annie Hall watchers who like Yeasayer are thinking right now, am I right?). I like the extra vocals at the very end of the song, but that’s about it. And I keep hearing “Hold me like a phone”, which always makes me go “eh?” to then realize, oh no, wait, that’s not right, never mind.

http://hypem.com/track/1030432/Yeasayer+-+O+N+E+

‘The Eyes of Mars’ by Franz Ferdinand feat. Marion Cotillard

I like this sort of genre bending and goofing around. Another actress who can sing, and she can strut her stuff in the first part of the song, which is nice and slow and piano led. And then the lads from Franz Ferdinand build it up to a rocky, signature song. Perhaps Cotillard does not have quite the voice for that part, and when she has to hold a note long it perhaps sounds a bit too fragile in contrast with those guitars. Which doesn’t mean she can’t sing — she can — it only means that at some moments the voice does not mix perfectly with the rock sound the Scotsmen produce. Nevertheless it is fun to hear a band like that with someone from the world of arts to produce something fairly interesting and reasonably entertaining for a period of time.

http://hypem.com/track/1026030/Franz+Ferdinand+-+The+Eyes+Of+Mars+feat+Marion+Cotillard+

‘Never Known Love’ by Thieves Like Us

It doesn’t feel that long ago since they released Play to be honest, that might just be me having a wrong sense of time though. But since that came out rather delayed I believe it is no wonder Thieves Like Us gives it another go so quickly. It actually seems a bit different than what I’m used to from these guys, perhaps less dancey than I remember them, a bit more gazey. They were always a band for after 4AM though (PM? At night I mean, darn it, that’s elementary education for ya ey.). I actually like how this track dawdles along, though perhaps it is a bit too much on the background for its own good. Maybe it’s just me writing this on the commute which has me thinking of other things (Hello, nurse!), but again, Thieves Like Us has always been a I’m-walking-at-home-in-the-night-with-a-barely-lit-sky kind of band for me.

http://hypem.com/track/1031348/Thieves+Like+Us+-+Never+Known+Love

‘Marchin’ In’ by Lo-Fi-Fnk

Well, haven’t they discarded the cheery synth-pop for a different look. The happy, gaily vibe of ‘City’ and ‘Louder’ have been replaced for this one, so you might like it even if you weren’t so keen on the band at first and vice versa. That’s always what you get when you try a new thing, no? It is a bit deeper, as in, the beat, it sounds deeper, a bit heavier. Luckily the vocals make it not like an awfully serious deep house attempt or anything (I mean, lets not change scenes completely here, ey?), so there is still a catchy streak to this one. It is not synth-pop like anymore though, lot less pop, steered away from Cut Copy a bit. But I really like this track. I was a bit hesitant on first listen, but now the catchiness has come through and I can see me dancing on this, and I think it is put together rather nicely. I interviewed the lads like December 2008 or something, where they said they were halfway, and it seems they are now real close to piecing the album together, and this is encouraging to hear. Not sure where the aquatic clip comes in though.

http://hypem.com/track/1032801/Lo+Fi+Fnk+-+Marchin+In