Sock Free Hideaway

BEATS OF LOVE

19. Anti Mako by Francky Vincent

PRIOR TO covid I had sketched plans for a night called simply - BAREFOOT IN THE HEAD. Featuring crazy funky tunes, mad dubby house, wrong-speeders and the most whacked-out tunes in my collection. With guest DJs pencilled in from mainly Holland, it was to run 3 times a year and press heavily on the delirium button. Like much of my other life as a bedroom DJ, it's now on the cutting room floor, but I still aspire to soundtrack it whenever the mood takes me. 

I always knew that the internet was going to both help me join the dots of my 30 year musical odyssey and cost me a packet in the process, which is why I stayed off line until 2008. And it has. Much like my Japanese parcels, my French parcels tend to arrive spasmodically, but in pretty hardcore fashion. Throwing a few curveball buys in for good measure to elicit some surprise. 

This, however, was always going to be a major blast. The only questions I asked myself were 'is it a minter, and does it play loud?' Luckily, the answers were, yes, and yes. Francky is Zouk's answer to Serge Gainsbourg. His sexually explicit lyrics often courted controversy, but if I'm honest, I haven't got the foggiest of what he's singing about here. All I know is that the song is delirium on wax. Whether his cheeky smile on the sleeve has disarmed me, I'm not sure, but right from the dizzy opening, I'm completely hooked.

Pure marmite by nature, you're either gliding across the floor in glee like myself, or reaching for the sick bucket. Both vocalists employ their voices instrumentally to engine drive the song at pace in a manner reminiscent of early Wham! and their backing singer classics. However, the tropical percussive heat given off is distinctively Francky and decidedly Zouk at its absolute best.

I'm so glad I purchased it as I've gone from dancing for my mental health to dancing to keep my feet warm in the space of a week. Like 1991 all over again, then.