The Weekly Froth! With Jeremy Glenn, Marcos Cabral and Julio Bashmore

Jeremy Glenn - Partytime (Marcos Cabral 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.

‘Partytime’ by Jeremy Glenn (Marcos Cabral remix)

We know Jeremy Glenn has done some good work recently, and we know that Marcos Cabral can bang out a (house) tune. So put the two together, and you’re on to something, right? From the get go, this thing is on fire. Love the beat with the piano seeping through, and then it really gets rolling with more and more instruments being introduced. Cabral will not be rushed, and I like that in an eight minute song. If you are going to do something for eight minutes, might as well show some patience and make sure you pick up all the momentum you can gather. And so he does and so it rolls on, constantly tweaking it slightly to make sure it doesn’t get dull. The change-ups are there as well (just look at the shape of the SoundCloud thingy). The first one strips it back to a percussion led fragment (which changes mid gear as well into something more synth), and the second change-up also strips it down a tad This all, of course, to build back up to the main beat, which comes back in not too much later. Personally I would’ve loved for that return to go together with a bit more of a punch, but that doesn’t change the fact that this one keeps on rolling and will keep everyone on dancing. Sans vocals, by the way.

‘Love Is Gonna Lift You Up’ by Bobby Womack (Julio Bashmore remix)

I believe I heralded Bashmore’s ‘Troglodytes’ tune in this column not too long ago (that was one funky little honey right there), and here he is taking on what I think is a fairly recent Bobby Womack track. But aye, there lies the rub. Where Bashmore managed, in the aforementioned tune, to get the funk and the strength of the original performance out, here we’ve got Womack sounding, well, old, basically. And we are hearing a good deal of him, so if his vocals aren’t a homerun in combination with the tune that Bashmore attached to it, then that basically is the end of the track right there. I’m liking some of the sounds Bashmore churns out though, and I see the connection with ‘Troglodytes’ so he certainly is having his style going for him. However, the vocals are not helped by the track, and it is too vocal heavy to not count.

‘How Long’ by Sugerdaddy (Tensnake Rework)

The thing about this track is, it is not long enough. Or well, maybe this isn’t the full version, which I hope. Tensnake just pushes all the right buttons here. It’s got that slow and easy start, then the disco like instrumentals come in, and the last thing that gets added (and it takes Tensnake until the two mintue mark to do so) are the vocals. And those vocals are just old school soul/disco/something in that vein. The lovely thing is that Tensnake gives those vocals a lot of air, room to breathe, and after they are done he brings back those disco sounds so the people can start dancing again. Lovely, lovely little track of which I hope we’ll see a longer version.

‘Horses’ by Montevideo (Zimmer remix)

After eighteen seconds, that is lovely. That’s the moment where Zimmer gets the pace up and starts riding it. Those vocals fit that sound perfectly, that’s a good combination right there. It’s got a catchiness, a funkiness to it that I really like. It’s got a bit of spunk, so to say. After the two minute mark there’s some room for the vocals to shine all by themselves (and I really like that in songs), and sure enough, the beat & co makes a triumphant return after the vocals are done to make sure everyone can get back to grooving again. I love that stomping nature of the percussion, you can really dance with some attitude to this (and if you dance, might as well do it with attitude if given the chance, no?). Lovely remix by Zimmer this.

‘Come For Me’ by Moonlight Matters feat. Gustaph

Moonlight Matters borrow one of the new singers of Hercules and Love Affair (haven’t seen them with this line-up yet, so I can’t judge, though what is more fun than prematurely judging people you have never exchanged so much as two words with). I must say, he can belt it out, that’s for sure. Seems like he has got some strong vocals to work with. The problem with this song, as far as me liking it is concerned, is that the non-chorus bits have quite a harsh beat to it that I don’t particularly fancy. Slightly too hard hitting for me. The chorus doesn’t really have that, that’s the point where the song slides into more of a summery pop vibe which I kind of enjoy better. Unfortunately, the rest of the song sounds like something that would be played at clubs I’d rather not enter. In parts really nice though.

‘Tio Tusen’ by Zauberfluten (Felipe Sa & Zopelar remix)

I wasn’t quite impressed until 1:54. Because it was hobbling along nicely this, nothing too spectacular as far as I was concerned, but then he went on doing the same thing! Madness! No, it’s tough to explain, but this one really is a roller, right? It really rolls along, and then at the 1:54 mark (you can see that slight spike in the SoundCloud graph there at that exact moment), then he accelerates just enough to make it all worthwhile. He reverses that acceleration by slowing it down in the mid-section (also turning the volume down a bit it seems), but after a few crazy space sounds he turns it all back up  again(both the volume and the pace) and then he keeps on rolling it right to the end there. Smooth ride, though except for that acceleration it might not have something that really makes this so memorable I’ll be returning to it two years from now.