The Weekly Froth! With Late Nite Tuff Guy, Jacques Renault and Antony Hegarty

Late Nite Tuff Guy

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: ‘Do I Believe in God’ by Late Nite Tuff Guy

No he didn’t. ‘Controversy’ by Prince is just an awesome tune, and some fantastic remixes have already been made of it. Late Nite Tuff Guy, who has already taken on a lot of classics to make them pure love for the dancefloor, is the next to try, and with such material, how could anyone fail? He starts with this sound to dance to, and slowly you begin hearing that Prince guitar from the song. An impatient person would’ve gone straight in at the half minute mark, but LNTG waits a little bit more, builds it up a little bit more, and gives people a little bit more time to realize, Oh hey, I KNOW this! So wait for it, wait for it, and then, at 1:37, there it is! ‘Controversy’ by Prince. What a funky tune, and that build-up makes it all the sweeter. I think any dancefloor must go bananas on this, and I’m curious to see if he gets clearance to release this (fat chance, probably). If not, that would be too bad, because this should be banging on every dancefloor. That guitar, those vocals, that funk, and LNTG puts emphasis on all the right things to make it even more of a dancefloor monster than it already is in its own right. He throws in a bible verse there, which might or might not be to your taste, but it’s short and the funk is nine minutes long, so even if, who cares. These are the things that make me happy.

‘I Can See’ by Johnwaynes (Jacques Renault remix)

Jacques Renault is one of my favorite producers. The guy just knows how to make a tune out of something. Renault’s tracks are always smoothly rolling affairs that want to make you dance. This track is no different. With the beat and the main sound it leans a bit more to the deep house spectre than to his disco side. It isn’t too deep nor is the beat to harsh though, as everything is perfectly balanced by the sounds that one can hear over the top of it. Love the way he accelerates at certain moments in the song (2.22 for instance) which keeps the momentum flowing (and it is all about momentum, in sports, politics, and music as well). At about the halfway marks he pulls in the reigns, and via a solemnly beating drum he gets back to the beat again. One which is different from the three minutes before, ensuring it doesn’t become too much of the same. At four minutes one of the main sounds comes back with a vengeance though, and then it’s just the home stretch that is left. Another stellar Renault mix for the dance floor.

‘Running From’ by Moonboots feat. Violetness

To be honest, both are new to me, which is always exciting, because what are they going to sound like? It is apparently track number one on the Kitsune Soleil mix, so I do expect a bit of summer to be in there. The first part certainly seems to be heading for that, but it strays away and really becomes fun just after the half minute mark when these kind of Little Dragonish vocals come in. She’s singing over catchy keys, which is all lovely. At 1:30 or so they go chorus, which they enter without any hint of subtlety, and suddenly the female vocalist has to fight the instruments to be heard, which I always find a rather strange thing to do. Aside from that, it is a lovely poppy track with vocals that I quite like. But for me it lacks a bit of subtlety and tenderness to really be a summer banger.

‘Hermes’ by Pharao Black Magic feat. Ghostapes

I kind of like that start, it has got this summer festival thing  going on that might have you think for a moment it might be one of those beach party pop anthems. It will not be, though, which isn’t even saying something about the quality, but when the bass and the vocals come in, it is not quite as accessible probably as a pop hit needs to be. So, okay, popness aside, it is a nice tune with a bit of pop elements that might make the gathered part of the summer festival crowd dancing. When 1:42 hits it really goes back to we-are-at-the-beach-and-partying mode, and the vocals here are slightly less awkward rhythm-ish. At 2:14 you even have a handclap part where you might want to join in, and around three minute mark the band puts in a little beat to get the crowd dancing before going summer again to ride it all out. It is not quite a pop tune, it has its pop parts though, and it certainly feels like summer. Might not be for all, but if you like it a bit awkward, this is a nice summer song.

‘White Gospel Blues’ by Black Strobe (Elijah Collins remix)

Last week this column also had an Elijah Collins track in, which I believe I heralded for its spunk. This doesn’t quite have the same amount of that, but what it lacks there it makes up for in atmosphere. Late night stuff this, and one can still have a go on this one at the club with some moves I reckon (it isn’t like he threw style completely out of the window). Nice and deep this one is, especially those reworked vocals at the two minute mark. Those really make clear what kind of atmosphere he’s going for, if you hadn’t worked that one out already. I think it continues beyond these three minutes probably, for otherwise the fade out is terrible to end with, but it gives you a nice little preview of what kind of midnight darkness you can expect from this track.

‘Landslide’ by Antony (Fleetwood Mac cover)

There is going to be a Fleetwood Mac cover album released this year, and that’s not that out of the blue, for it is amazing how often you hear that Fleetwood Mac has influenced a band or artist. Even bands that, seemingly, are playing in a completely different ballpark. One of the artists that takes on one of the songs is Antony Hegarty, and the song that he takes on is the piano ballad ‘Landslide’, which he performs admirably. That, too, is not a complete surprise, as Hegarty has a fantastic voice and was always going to do this one justice. The song itself, wheter in this version or the original, is this tearjerking ballad about someone who realizes that he/she probably is in a relationship that is holding this person back. With as difficult/right decision that, though you’ve built your life around this person, it is time to let it go, and let this person go. No teenage band can write this stuff, and Fleetwood Mac (and especially Rumours) are heralded for a reason. This is just one example why.