The Weekly Froth! With YACHT, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tensnake

YACHT - I Walked Alone (Jacques Renault 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.

Track of the week: ‘I Walked Alone’ by YACHT (Jacques Renault remix)

No way. If you had to pick about any song from the YACHT album that seemed least likely to be turned into a disco mix, this would be it. The original is a slower paced affair, and the potential of catchiness is certainly higher in a few of the other songs (which are, themselves, already catchy). But here comes Jacques Renault, the disco wizard of the East, and he puts on that bass at 20 seconds and we’re off to the tracks. Or rather, the dancefloor. From that point on it’s boogie woogie time and nothing can stop it anymore. 1:20 it puts on the keys and you start to hear the original coming through, and after a while the vocals come in as well. But don’t think, Oh vocals, now he has to slow it down, for the original is slower paced. Nuh-uh. You can keep on dancing, no cheap cop-outs to be seen here. Renault is a master in funking every track up and making it dancey and disco, and this is no exception. Fab remix. Those background vocals are also genius by the way, totally fit the remix.

‘Paradisco’ by Charlotte Gainsbourg

So Gainsbourg goes disco. Or well, sort of, because it is experimental sounding enough, and that bass isn’t a real real disco bass. So it is kind of a contemporary take on disco not really made for the dancefloor. So don’t be fooled. But I love (L.O.V.E.) those chanteuse vocals by Gainsbourg, they would fit a real disco song soooo well. And this song too, though at times I wish it was less subdued. Love those strokes of guitar in there after the minute mark, and hey whaddaya know, the bass starts to resemble something you can shuffle to more and more. The real star of the show are those vocals though, they are just excellent. It’s a nice kind of song to dreamily walk around with at midnight, especially with that guitar sometimes coming through like that, I think walking around in the dark is the place where this one will shine.

‘Uroboros’ by Pional & Henry Saiz (Permanent Vacation remix)

I love that start (after those noisy few seconds, that is), Pional and Henry Saiz really come out with something hypnotic and catchy. I really like the first minute, that build-up, and after that it goes into this hazey style. You know, where people are moving in slow motion and you see them in a hazed way? That’s the kind of sound it is I reckon. At 1:40 there’s some percussion coming in for the house boys to do their army jacking to. Slight break pretty early in the song, but it was needed to crossover to a new sort of sound that I am not as enamoured with as the earlier part to be quite honest. It is more deep house though than the first bit, so if you are aiming for the dancefloor that isn’t too bad I reckon. Those lighter sounds after the three minute mark, I didn’t see it coming and I like it for it gives it all a bit of air. At one point they go back to the noisy elements, for which I couldn’t care less about because that’s not really my style, but I love how they go all distortion and then just a stop, and you can hear slowly and on low volume the dancey bit coming out again. That’s very nice. All in all a nice deep house track with some lovely elements in there and some change-ups to keep it from being just-another-deep-house-track.

Pional & Henry Saiz Uroboros Permanent Vacation Rmx by permanent vacation

‘Need Your Lovin’ by Tensnake (Tiger & Woods remix)

Tensnake AND Tiger & Woods, oh me, oh my. Tensnake is one of the Sirs at this moment in that niche probably, and Tiger & Woods released what is, in my opinion, one of the better albums of this year. Not only that, the songs and remixes they make, they have such a unique style to it that I really do believe I could pick a song of theirs out of a line-up.  And in this remix again, some of these sounds really feel like Tiger & Woods. To be able to carve out your own, distinct sound after just one album is nothing short of remarkable. And when you’ve got a Tensnake track as source material you know it is going to be good. Tiger & Woods are the kings of repetition, and they showcase that skill on this track as well. They know what part to take from a song and they know exactly how to loop it (forever and ever and…). Where this is a recipe for disaster for most, Tiger & Woods simply know how to do it, and the results are genius. 5:12 is just pure love as well, and suddenly it gets a bit more disco, which is always good.

Tensnake Needyourlovin Tiger&Woods remix by permanent vacation

‘Saturday Night (is Shining) by Jean Claude Gavri

Jean Claude Gavri has steadily been releasing a whole bucketload of old school edits and remixes. He keeps that old school vibe and emotion and just makes it playable in a DJ set. On this EP there’s a Pointer Sisters’ tune that may just cause old fashioned mayhem on the disco dancefloor. This is a bit more tropical, summery, happy. Something you play at the end of the night (it is also at the end of the EP) when you want to see the crowd have a bit of a smile and go home happy. When else do you play a song where Thelma Houston sings “Saturday night is shining on my Sunday morning face”? For good vibes this, for good vibes.

Jean Claude Gavri – Saturday Night (Is Shining) by Jean Claude Gavri

‘Concierge D’Amour’ by Pollyester (Rory Phillips remix)

Wow, Permanent Vacation was on a role this past week, I think this is about the third song in this column released by this label. Wow. Rory Phillips will be DJing in my hometown in two weeks, trying to see if I can get some people to come with me to that, because I do like his sound (more so than of the actual headliner Erol Alkan). I vaguely remember listening to an album or EP by Pollyester last year, but obviously that didn’t quite catch on, so lets see if I have to do a double take on that. I immediately like how it starts with the beat and the keys in there, the latter juxtaposing the clubby sound of the beat nicely. After that we get some bass, and soon enough those kind of talky vocals come in. It reminds me a bit of those vocals by We Are The World, that band last year that released the Clay Stones album. Though arguably, the vocals are not quite as deep and polished as on that one, but it reminds me more in terms of delivery. After the two minute mark she gets into talking mode completely, and its got a bit of a seductive vibe to it, a sexy vibe. In the meantime Phillips keeps it rolling with the beat and all kinds of accessories. Definitely wouldn’t mind dancing to this in two weeks if I’m able to go.

Pollyester ‘Concierge D’Amour’ (Rory Phillips Mix) by Rory Phillips