The Weekly Froth! With Whomadewho, Nite Jewel and Chromatics

Whomadewho - Brighter

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: ‘Below the Cherry Moon’ by WhoMadeWho

WhoMadeWho will be releasing a new album this year, and I’ll be seeing them live in a few weeks and they’re magnificent while gigging, but sometimes the recorded output doesn’t quite match up to that. The previous single was ace though, and this again is tremendous. These vocals, goodness I love those, and musically they start out with this sad synth, and slowly the drums get in there to start propelling the song forward and to give it some pace. It never really becomes a fast paced track, but it is pacey enough to have people doing a little melancholic dance on the dancefloor. Both the music and the vocals really create an atmosphere, and those are aided by the lyrics, which do suggest some sort of dissatisfaction. Just a very good song, and as said, those vocals, I love those, such a weakness I have for them.

‘Friend Crush’ by Friends (Leo Zero remix)

Leo Zero starts out with a pretty sharp beat there, but after thirty seconds in the Seventies takes over and you almost expect Diana Ross and her Supremes to come out in feathery gowns. It gets really disco, but those vocals don’t necessarily fit the disco mold to be honest. Makes me wonder how Friends‘ original sounds, because it feels as if would be more Brooklyn guitar pop than actual disco, and that Leo Zero just fuelled it with that aesthetic. And he hasn’t done that bad of a job I must admit, but because it doesn’t really match the vocals and some of the other sounds it for me doesn’t really add up to one whole. I like that little guitar riff though, that’s very nice, and I do like those old school disco sounds. It’s not a terrible listen by any means, but I’m not sure it will really get a lot of listens at my place.

‘In the Dark’ by Nite Jewel

Nite Jewel has just recently released an album called One Second Love, and this is one off the tracks from that album. And it’s quite a beautiful cut I must say. I like the drums, they really shape the song, and despite their prominence they do not battle the vocals. That’s really well done, because those vocals are kind of soft and lovely and you would almost think it would be real easy to over-scream those, but everything fits really well together. It all helps each other into sounding better than it would one their own. Strong atmosphere, love the drum sounds, and it makes you want to listen to the album whilst walking along a water bank at night or something.

‘Into the Black’ by Chromatics

Apparently this was originally a song by Neil Young, but to be honest I’m not that familiar with Neil Young’s oeuvre (yeah yeah, let ‘r rip), but I’m sure this is quite different, if only because Neil Young simply doesn’t have those vocals and I’m quite sure the music, courtesy of Johnny Jewel, didn’t sound quite this dreamy and distanced. It almost sounds like a lamentation, the way they do this, this lamentation of older times, looking back fondly on them. So with that delivery, Hey Hey, my my, rock ‘n roll will never die, it has a certain melancholic quality to it. As if they are saying it will never quite be forgotten, that its spirit will live on, even if we are not quite doing it anymore like they’re used to. The atmosphere is tremendous, those kids at Italian Do It Better really know how to do that. So easy on the ear, so lovely to listen to.

‘Perfect(ed) Match’ by Onra

It starts with a heavy beat, but soon enough fresher sounds come in to juxtapose it. To my delight and surprise, the heavy beat is basically abandoned altogether in favor of some disco-ish vocals and just a lighter feel to it than at the start, with the bass now much more prominent. It’s a nice mixture of a bit of modern electronics that take the more ’70s elements out of their comfort zone and bring it to something much more contemporary (though I don’t mind a bit of throwback at all). The more contemporary elements make it a bit more — dare I say it? — postmodern in the sense that they kind of break up the flow, take it out of its context, and they are clearly artificial elements when compared to some of the other sounds, which feel more original to the song. Or a song even. What the song lacks is something with oomph, to get it over the top. Like letting those vocals really lose. Now it is fair enough, but it doesn’t really jump out for me.

‘It’s Not Over’ by Holy Ghost! (Dmitri from Paris Erodisco remix)

That Holy Ghost! album was one of my favs of last year, and this cut by theirs got the remix treatment by Dmitri in Paris, who takes out the subtle disco aesthetic and makes it all about the club. Brash and bold sounds, big beat, and it is really aimed at the party people at night in the discotheque. After 1:30 really for the first time Holy Ghost!’s input starts to shine through, and then you get the vocals with what I think is a beefed up drumbeat. After the vocals, it again gets more house-y, and I think that is the biggest thing about this remix: it takes the subtlety and the disco out and it injects the song with a big dosis of house. And I must say, it works quite well, I wouldn’t mind dropping this in a mix or set. And if you haven’t heard that debut by the Holy Ghost! lads yet, be sure to give it a spin.

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