The Weekly Froth! With Chris Malinchak, Storm Queen and Kindness

Chris Malinchak - Beside Me

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; ‘Beside Me’ by Chris Malinchak

It’s a long time ago I actually heard something by Malinchak, but I remember a song called ‘There I Was’ which I really fancied, so I’m looking forward to this. And with reason, love the beat and the whole flow of it. The Brandy samples give it some vocal flavour. You can have a dance to it, and the vocals make sure it adds some power (at the two minute mark, when for a moment it is just the vocals basically, that’s a good example of that), it really is what makes the track stand out. Also love the second strip down at around 3:23, it gives the track some room to breathe, and after a few seconds there is some increased percussion to mix up the instrumental side of the track so it doesn’t become too much of the same old, same old. Really good track this by Malinchak, a real joy to listen to.

‘Don’t Want You Back’ by Lane 8

This starts out really summery with the drums. Soon enough the beat comes in and some ’80s keys  to get the vibe going. I like that almost keytar like sound, that brings the fun into the track. The vocals are really botched up, and they almost seem like every word is taken from a different sample and then put together as if it is a ransom note. Perhaps this is because the vocals are really maltreated in the sense that they are really put through the machinery to get this computerized sound. When they really start botching up the vocals it also starts having an effect on the music, which is botched up with it – something I am not really a fan of personally. Probably the nicest parts of the song are the moments there are no vocals and the song is just allowed to roll with some of that keytar sounds. As a whole though, not really my cup of tea.

‘Boogie in Zero Gravity’ by Black Strobe (Drop Out Orchestra remix)

Drop Out Orchestra are ready to do their business again, this time they take on the new Black Strobe track. They begin with quite a harsh beat, then after thirty seconds in they basically stop everything, and when they return they assign the bass to propel the song forward. After a good minute or so they really get the main sounds going, and there’s even a little guitar riff in there that I really like. They take the title and run away with it, constantly using the vocal sample of “Boogie… in Zero… Gravity”, which is kind of fun. In the mean time Drop Out Orchestra really do all the right things; they make sure that no thirty seconds are the same, weaving new instruments in and out. They sure do keep it danceable, and I especially love that percussion element that makes you able to dance aside from following the ordinary beat or flow. Also like how prominent the bass is at times, that’s always a good instrument to do some damage with. Really like the lightness that comes shining through at 4:30, after which obviously the main sounds return to bring it home. Good remix this.

‘Let’s Make Mistakes’ by Storm Queen (Club mix)

I LOVE ‘Look Right Through’, that was one of my favorite tracks of that year. ‘It Goes On’ was nothing to sneeze at either, and now Storm Queen finally is back with a new one called ‘Let’s Make Mistakes’. What I love is the atmosphere in these tracks, Storm Queen really manages to embed it with some emotion and flavour. This track really starts at about one minute in (the minute before is just a beat, basically), and at 1:20 it has that percussion element you can strike poses to. Not much later you’ve got those booming vocals, that at one point call for them to “lets do it again / don’t wanna be your friend / let’s make mistakes”. So you know the sex is in the house. Physical desire is always a huge part of house of course (that tribal feeling you should get from a good house set will take care of that), and Storm Queen gives the story some emotional background by saying, You know what, I know we are not going to start a family and have a dog anytime soon, but there’s still that physical connection, so lets make mistakes and get it on. At least, that’s what I’m hearing, and not only am I hearing that, but I’m hearing a very nice tune as well filled with desire. Do I like it as much as the emotional queen of the prom ‘Look Right Through’? No, not really, but anything with Morgan Geist’s instrumentals, Damon Scott’s vocals, and that house vibe they are embedding in their music, and I’m there. Lovely. Just look at that last minute, with Scott shouting out a Yeah and Geist putting the pedal to the metal one last time to make sure his vehicle gets home on a high note.

‘That’s Alright’ by Kindness

Lots of people loved that album Kindness came up with this year, and this track is one of the songs off of that World, You Need a Change of Mind LP. What I personally loved about it is its elegance. The elegance, the cleanness in the sound and in the tracks. This one, for example, it starts with this elegant, smooth sound over which soon enough some horns come in. So it gets that jazzy vibe that immediately sets the scene, and after one minute the drums come in as well. At that point, the horns go crazy for a minute, but you also hear them settle back in afterwards, which I love. 1:50 and suddenly you have a little guitar riff going on as the bass is propelling the song forward, and some female vocals make sure another layer is added to the whole, singing “if you want it, come and get it”. The great thing about this track is just all these different layers working together to shape this elegant whole with this clean sound that allows you to hear all the different layers very clearly whilst they also mesh into this fitting unity. That whole album is just an amazing accomplishment in that regard, really.

‘St. James Grove’ by Chris Coco

Chris Coco will be releasing an album at the end of the month, so if you want to see what you can expect, listen to this little thingy. It has this laid back, tropical vibe going on that fits the summer perfectly. Very easy on the ear, very cocktail like at times. So its something you might like to have on sitting in the park enjoying the sun (or preferably, the beach and one of those folding chairs you can find there). It also has this jazz tinge to it that gives it some gravitas. Some smooth trumpet in there as well. So if you like that laid back jazz with a tropical tinge, this might be well worth listening to in the right setting. Personally, I’m not sure come Autumn I’m still having this on heavy rotation.