The Weekly Froth! With Saint Etienne, Julio Bashmore and Gossip

Time And Space Machine

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.

‘Heading for the Fair’ by Saint Etienne (Time and Space Machine remix)

I love the start, that rolling bass does wonders, just gets the thing going really. Not sure if he aims for Chinese sounds there, but that is what it makes me think of. At 1:20 Richard Norris (aka the Time and Space Machine) kicks it into higher gear, and I’m almost expecting someone singing “Chiiiinaa daarrrrling” at one point or another. Its got that Eighties synth and space vibe going on that I think is really fun and which I think is good to hear again a bit. Especially with such a build, as Norris does a nice job of changing it up every so often (and more often than not he takes the pace with him). It has the variety, it has that hypnotic balearic thing going on, it’s got pace, and it’s got a certain thing to it that hooks you to the song: in short, it’s quite a lovely listen to this remix of a Saint Etienne tune.

‘Au Seve’ by Julio Bashmore

Julio Bashmore gets the house going with this one. Immediately it throws the vocals at you (and strong vocals they are), and it gives you a good beat. Then, at thirty seconds in, Wow, not sure what happened there. It goes synthy tribal or something, which sounds like its come straight out of a Casiokids tune (with the difference that it would fit there). I’m not sure, it just seems like this would be a fabulous house tune if it weren’t for that quite awkward sound that jumps in and never leaves. I really like the strong vocals and I’m not sure if he tried to stay clear of the fray or not, but sometimes you can do too much to be different I reckon. And despite that new angle, it does come close to repetitiveness I would say. I’ll congratulate him on his new label and with three quarters of a good song though.

‘Perfect World’ by Gossip (Rory Phillips remix)

Rory Phillips takes on Gossip and starts out light and catchy before he throws a nice bass in there to get your hips shaking a bit. After a minute Ditto’s voice comes in (with quite the restraint), and I think Pillips does that very well. And this way it really fits nicely in this kind of disco atmosphere Phillips has build for it. Ditto’s voice isn’t the only thing that is restrained, the whole song isn’t really all out I must say. The main ingredient really is that bassline and the beat, on top of which you’ve got Ditto’s voice and some lighter sounds to give it a bit of seasoning I suppose. The end product is a nice, lower paced song with some nice vocals there to give it some highs, though on the whole I’m not sure I’ll be talking to my friends about the song next time I’m hitting the clubs.

‘I Travel To You’ by Bepu N’Gali (Todd Terje remix)

Todd Terje immediately throws the beat in there to make sure it is danceable from the get go. A nice little guitar comes in, and soon enough the song has got this really funky vibe going on. Those background vocal thingies give the song some flavour as it rides the beat, and just after two minutes it ups the ante with some more African sounds to get a-dancing to. At 3:00 we get some percussion in there for a moment, though I’m more thrilled with the horns that start arriving. Terje really builds it up, as he continuously adds both instruments as well as pace to the song to keep the dancefloor alive. At 4:30 it gets more horns (I LOVE HORNS), and if the dancefloor isn’t rocking at this point I don’t know what would be needed to get it going. I’m surprised that at one point he doesn’t strip it down to build it back up again, one would think you can’t keep building for nine+ minutes. And just after the moment I’m thinking that he luckily puts the percussion to the fore to give the people some well-deserved rest. Now, the only thing he needs to do to make this song an astounding success is build it back up again to amazing heights, but it seems he uses the last three minutes to slowly bring the song to its close. Which is another option, and surely, the song still is a monster jam, though I think the ending minutes make it a bitch to mix.

‘With You’ by Flight Facilities feat. Grovesnor (Extended mix)

I love Flight Facilities. Last year one of their tracks was one of my favorites of the year, and now they’ve come back with another catchy and synthy affair called ‘With You’. First they come in with the beat, but after a minute they establish the synth and the “real” mood of the sound. Then Grovesnor’s slick vocals join in, and they epitomize what Flight Facilities is about: catchy tunes that are delightfully easy on the ear. It must be something you can order in Australia, for those synth-pop guys over there just know how to combine catchiness with listenability. Just a lovely track that I could have on repeat the whole darn sunny day long.

‘Keep Giving Me Love’ by Pitchben (Jamie Lidell’s Lovers remix)

I actually remember seeing Jamie Lidell on the back off that mega hit he had at a festival some — what is it? — seven years ago or so? When I was a vibrant young man and Lidell looked like he was going to be the most popular thing ever. Since then I’ve turned gray and his popularity has taken a nosedive (both, thankfully, slight exaggerations), but that doesn’t mean that I don’t go to festivals anymore, and hopefully it doesn’t mean that Lidell can’t churn out good songs anymore. Don’t expect a club thing with this one though, because it isn’t, but it is quite a nice song indeed in my opinion. Love the vocals, he’s got that, and they are sure put at the front of this one. I like the jazzy vibe it gives (jazzy in the broadest sense of the word…), and it really is a whole different take on the song. Nicely made, easy on the ear, yet a totally different package than for example the Pitchben remix that was placed in this column a few weeks ago. Nice.