By Stef Siepel
February 22, 2013
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: ‘More For the Less’ by Mario Basanov feat. Jeremy Glenn
Mario Basanov starts understated, putting atmosphere over everything else. No wonder if you’ve got the go-to-guy for vocals it seems, Jeremy Glenn. Sounding not dissimilar to Jamie Lidell in terms of voice (at least, that’s the first thing I thought of when listening to this), Basanov makes sure not to waste it by turning to a lovely, dreamy sound that never, ever combats the vocals by Glenn, who definitely puts the emotional punch in there. Definitely the two complement each other, resulting in an amazing, soft-spoken tune. At one point everything is stripped away, with Glenn only being accompanied by handclaps, after which Basanov puts his instrumentals back in, again not even remotely trying to overshadow the tour-de-force by Glenn. After four minutes you get a nice instrumental solo which just fits the kind of song this is, and that is what brings it to the end. Absolutely gorgeous this, maybe kind of cheap on the fade-out (at one point I really thought someone turned the volume knob too fast), but after all that, who cares, to be honest.
‘Melt’ by Kamp (Zimmer remix)
I still love that edit of a Tina Turner tune Zimmer once did (because who doesn’t love Tina Turner, come on now!). When the first glittering synths are gone Zimmer comes in with quite a heavy beat which I wasn’t expecting, and which luckily is soon ditched it seems in favor of something lighter which complements the vocals better. Love the keys that come underneath, that is party mode right there. From then on this tune is on fire, putting the vocals to great use and not shying the bigger moments to get the dancers with their arms up. Love the double vocal turn at 2:00, that’s awesome. It is all highlight though, so if you like something with a bit more patience you better skip this one. This one constantly keeps coming at you with little instrumental pauses/build-ups/whatever. Then again, I’m a vocal man myself, so I’m not one to say no when someone goes wild on those. And with a five minute running time surely most can stand the major party bash of this.
‘Suit & Tie’ by Justin Timberlake (Julio Bashmore remix)
To say I’m familiar with Timberlake’s output is definitely stretching it, quite a gap in my musical knowledge there. I do know about Bashmore though (I “know about” Timberlake as well, of course, but you know what I’m mean), and that start sounds promising indeed. After half a minute the beat comes in, which is a nice and catchy one to dance to. Between 0:30 and the one minute mark he plays a bit with stripping that beat away and adding some of those vocals in there, after which he puts an enhanced beat back on top. I must admit though, albeit catchy the beat is, it is more in the kind of “pop” atmosphere I reckon, nothing too underground about that. Love that, in the second minute, he again lets the vocals come in and puts the beat on the backburner, entirely slowing it down around the three minute mark (I’m not sure how anyone can not go for handclaps at that point, I thought that would be a kind of automatic pavlov reflex there). Then the beat comes in and rides it home. Again, slightly on the pop scale this, and with five minutes this won’t hurt anyone’s attention span. Nevertheless fun and catchy for a dance or two. And it’s a free download to boot!
‘Somebody to Love Me’ by Eli Escobar feat. Nomi Ruiz
This is a sizeable snippet of a cover these two have done, with the original being by Mark Ronson. So for the pop version, go there. For the piano house version with the disco diva Ruiz on vocals, obviously this is the one you want. Escobar really puts the piano in there, with Ruiz really finding her stride after she left Hercules and Love Affair. Her vocals on this, like on most of her own stuff under the Jessica 6 moniker, are amazing. Not in the least thanks to Escobar, who gives her the light house tune that will get the dancefloor moving but that never in the slightest put on a barrier for Ruiz when she sings that she Needs someone to love me. Add some horns at the 2:30 mark, something I’m always in favor of, and you just have this banger of a tune with all the elements that make piano house so fun. It’s going to be released as part of a two tune EP/Single/Whatever with another Escobar tune on there, so if you like this, be sure to grab that one.
‘Holding On’ by Classixx
Classixx start no holds barred with a strong percussion turn, after which the gameboy gets turned on it seems. Luckily the bass comes in soon enough, which kind of lets you take your mind off those crazy glitchy sounds that are put in there. Wish they, instead of that, had gone for a smooth sax or something, as it kind of seems they try to contemporize that vibe, which to me is kind of wasting the bass and other more “traditional” elements. I like the vocals, which in desperation sing “I’m holding on”, but because they are put a bit further in the background it seems more distanced, not some over emotional drama queen doing any of that. I think, to be honest, that I would have loved it if they had taken a more traditional approach to this, for when they kind of do that, then it seems like such a good song. It’s like it could have been this amazing pop single from the 80s if someone had stopped twiddling with those buttons.
‘Andiamo’ by Fiori (Pink Stallone remix)
Pink Stallone go for some space and experiment on this one. Add to that some Italian (or whatever language) counting from what, in my mind, is a lovely lady seducingly strutting along the stage, and you’re in business. After her going on about la luna for a minute, Pink Stallone put one of those gritty beats in there that are just lovely. Bit of that punky underground vibe it gets from that, though obviously in all dancing mode. This is something best put on the turntable in one of those basement type venues, and I’m sure that if you’ve got the penache to do it, there’s some twisting and turning to be done by those underground creatures of the night. I love the vibe of this, still clearly something you can put on for the dancefloor, but with some poise and space to it that makes it not for everyone, and not for all the time. But in the right setting, with some people not afraid of a bit of grit and experiment, this can be a ball I’m sure.
