M5 R1 G WIN

[Deleted]

A

KOKOKO! - Tongos'a



B

Doris Duke - Woman of the Ghetto

[bungo the mungo]

i have bookmarked A as i found the video mildly erotic. not sure about the song.

i love doris duke, but i'm not too enamoured with the chosen song. seven minutes and it outstays its welcome.

A gets me harder.

[Deleted]

Vote A..Repetitive, but brief..

If B were shorter, it may have pulled it off

[DarknessFish]

Tongos'a is modern and African, but the disco handclaps and properly spiky guitar riff are taking me back to late 70s, early 80s New York; mutant disco and no wave, with a bit of a solid modern hard edge to it. I love it, that guitar cuts through my spinal cord, and it's just an insistent dancefloor stomper. Sweaty.

B is a completely new name to me, and is quite obviously not my natural cup o' char. Great strong voice though, and a sweet grittiness to the track that immediately brings to mind cinema of the 70s, I can see the inner-city slums being driven through by a hard-nosed cop who doesn't play by the rules. Good choice, I reckon, nice and sweeping.

I'll abstain from this one, on grounds of having two really good tracks.

[sloopjohnc]

A.

I am wondering how dance oriented songs like this will do. It seems like this one is doing so good, so far.

I like the Doris Duke song, but not as much as A. On a different day, my vote might have switched. It's pretty monumental.

[toomanyhatz]

B all day every day.

Both are repetitive, but A just moves around the main riff while B uses it as a base but has all kinds of variation going on around it, plus the wonderful singing. If anything A seems a touch longer to me!

[Mr. FOLLARD]

Two really good choices, finally! not fair they're drawn together. They both absolutely deserve to get through.

A is amazing. It's new, I think, and I think I know whose choice it is. It's hypnotic, powerful, and I fucking LOVE that jangling high-register guitar that pops up now and again. 

I think I've heard another version of B somewhere. It has a gorgeous arrangement. I'm a sucker for strings and electric piano, and they're both used to stunning effect here when that fabulous voice takes a rest. The thing builds subtly without going OTT. THIS is how you use seven minutes well.

Tough choice. I'm going for 

A

because it's a tiny bit more brave as a choice, and I imagine it might get fewer votes. But bravo to both. 

[osgood]

A is far from my confort zone but I din't find it offensive or anything. B is fanfuckintastic, its only flaw being it's a tad too short, it left me wishing for a few more minutes of Doris singing over the great arrangement in the background.


A big B

[Half Machine Lipschitz]

Two great tracks and I don't want to choose between 'em, but I will.

I really dig the mutant dancehall style of A and I think it just edges it in this round.

A

[Sneelock]

I was all set to go for A before I listened to B
the one on top is really my sort of thing. At the end of 2021 I'll bet I've listened to it more than the one on the bottom. the thing is - that voice. I just can't vote against a good strong voice. not that voice. not right now.

[nolamike]

Holy crap, I love A! I looooove Doris Duke, though that's not one of my favorites by her. So, A it is.

[Deleted]

The idea of taking one type of music - in this case the structures of a minimal kind of techno -and play it with instrumentation from a totally different kind of music, in this case more traditional mid African music, is the kind of idea that can lead to genuine innovation. A achieves a shamanistic power through repetition and this is a great pick.
B's choice might not be quite as funky as the Marlena Shaw original, but where it scores is in its cinematic, widescreen production and arrangement and its actually the part of the track that leaves the song to go into a long extended groove that's the most exciting part for me. It wouldn't be half the record without it and so very much justifies its length.

Voting is very difficult here. Part of me feels like following DF in abstaining in order to reward both tracks. However B is more central to my musical core and besides it needs the votes, so...B

[fonz]

Interesting fact: Doris Duke used to run a bakers shop in Harlem, before she took up singing. Specialised in cakes.
The original lyric covered her everyday experience. Harsh, gritty.

The song was originally entitled ‘ Woman of the Gateau’

[Deleted]

I'm afraid I have to announce I've had to expell Fonz from the competition for his blatant and unlawful crime of GPH (Grievous Punning Harm). Please understand he left me with little choice.

[fange]

Oh great match; finally, 2 tunes that are very much in the fange WHEELHOUSE!

I will sleep on it and come back.