review

Single Review: Second Summer - YACHT

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I've dipped in and out of YACHT's releases over the years and their mileage varies. Their fourth album (and first on current home DFA), See Mystery Lights, had a fresh sound, applying a pop spin to the post-punk revival of the time.

Despite that promising album I was left very cold after YACHT's performance supporting LCD Soundsystem at Brixton in advance of the release of This Is Happening. YACHT basically seemed to try too hard, their live performance feeling like an overly dramatised event. There's a thin line within performance between boring and fake and it seemed like YACHT went and tripped over it.

YACHT's new single, 'Second Summer', appears to be a dual reference to the summer of love and, presumably, YACHT's breakthrough track 'Summer Song'. The track comes then from the sense of honesty and freedom of that sacred summer: "Like the original Summer of Love and its acid house revival, the Second Summer of Love, our aim is true: to create environments of total freedom" say the band. Given that 'Summer Song' represents the band's own metaphorical summer of love as a concept it feels hyper-referential.

It's difficult not to find notions of the second summer of love a little tired - popular culture seems to be obsessed with declaring it's return. Maybe that's the real point here and if it is, the songs concept is probably it's cleverest element. I'm not sure I credit YACHT with the sophistication though.

Three versions of the track feature across the formats. The original is a slick and punchy record. YACHT have a track record of producing quirky synth pop and that's exactly what they do here with bouncy bass lines, strings and Claire L Evans' aloof vocals that blossom into a colourful chorus.

The dub lets the track's bed come to the fore, playing up the electro-disco nature of the track and extending the duration. Free from the constraints of being a sub- five-minute pop record it is able to work a bit more magic, with Jona Bechtolt's instrumentation allowed to shine. The synths and strings create a looping track that locks itself into a nice building groove.

The final version comes from Ben Aqua, who creates a glitchy track full of stuttering sample-effects. Evans is pitched, vocoder-ed and auto-tuned to within an inch of her life. The deep, rolling bass and drum work together to create a modern, urban feel but it lacks to subtlety of the dub.

'Second Summer' is YACHT being YACHT, no more, no less. The response to their last album Shangri-La  was somewhat lukewarm and 'Second Summer' isn't the sound of a band trying something new, despite a tendency for reinvention in the past. The dub suggests Bechtolt could create something more interesting if he gave himself more space, it's a shame we will have to continue to wait in order to hear it.

Second Summer is released on 18 December through DFA, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3, with the Ben Aqua mix as a separate release [affiliate links].

EP Review: Heartbeat - Night Plane

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Heartbeat - Night Plane

This release from Night Plane represents a an interesting first, coming out as it does on a brand new label within the Wolf + Lamb stable. Heartbeat represents the debut release from one Soul Clap Records.

Night Plane is Brooklynite William Rauscher and this EP shows off his broad range of abilities, from crunchy grunge guitars and indie-cool through to deep electronic house.

The title track, 'Heartbeat', has a surpringly loose, live feel to it. Looping drums and a scratchy, bluesy guitar line open the door on a song that aims straight for the midpoint between rock and dance. Long-time, friend of Rauscher, Casey Gibbs provides the slightly yobish vocals and a fair amount of attitude.

Next up, 'Foreign Affairs' is a much slower, gentler ride. Vocals fade in and out of the mix whilst a series of warm melodies are built from layers of guitars. It's a stark contrast to that opening track but it captures a sense of useless yearning that stems from love divided by distance and sets the tone and pace for what follows across this EP.

Perhaps most intriguing on this EP is the cover of 90s slacker-indie legends Pavement's 'Gold Soundz'. Pavement aren't the sort of band that frequently get referenced by DJs and electronic producers so it's unusual to hear their music re-imagined in this way... In fact covers of Pavement seem to be fairly rare full-stop. At this point I have to confess a little worry as to how this version would turn out, but the fact that the vocals are provided by Heather D'Angelo of Au Revoir Simone suggests a fair amount of indie sophistication. The result is thick, warm, starry-eyed and full of teenaged wonder and it feels destined to soundtrack the sunrise after a long evening of excitement. Malkmus would almost certainly hate it, but leave the baggage of the source material behind and it's a pretty track.

D'Angelo remains on vocal duties for 'Gates Of Dawn', a slightly deeper warm house track. The title suggests it is aimed at those moments of darkness just before the sun breaks and the beautiful swirling sound is a perfect fit. Shimmering guitar licks, D'Angelo's trademark deadpan vocals and occasional warm keys create an emotive soundscape. It's the electronics and deep drum kick that gives the track its feel though, the sense of surviving a long night. 

Remixes of 'Gates Of Dawn' come from Wolf + Lamb and Burning Man. Wolf + Lamb stay faithful and just give things a bit more treble, more melodic bass and a snare. The Burning Man mix is also fairly straight with the original, with a dark acid bass that contrasts to a vocal placed higher in the mix and greater prominence for the keys.

Heartbeat is a promising EP, not just for Night Plane but for the entire Soul Clap Records proposition. Intelligent, soulful dance music with indie references? I'll gladly take it if it stays this cool.

Heartbeat is out now on Soul Clap Records, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Listen via Spotify below:

EP Review: Out of Phase / Shout - Tiger Stripes feat. Pete Fij / My Favorite Robot & Silky

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Out of Phase / Shout - Tiger Stripes feat Pete Fij / Silky & My Favorite Robot

This new split EP from the My Favorite Robot label features just two tracks but there is enough here to make it an interesting listen. The label have been fairly successful in pairing up artists in the past, whether on their 'Stimulus Package' series of their previous split EPs.

Up first is Tiger Stripes - real name Mikael Nodgren - who hails from Stokholm and has already released material on My Favourite Robot Records earlier this year in the form of his Crossroads EP.

Here Nodgren delivers a twisted piece of electronic soul. Both the vocals from Pete Fij and the overall production style recall eighties synth pop but the track is dark even given the sounds it references - Soft Cell and Depeche Mode. The track features a fluid sounding bass line and ghostly synths that provide a contrast to the largely mechanical rhythms and together it's an emotional track that still manages to work in a club setting.

My Favorite Robot is the trio of James Teej, Jared Simms and Voytek Koran and here they team up with London's Silky to create a new take on Tears For Fears' 'Shout'. It's difficult to assess such a record without an emotional response based on the original record. For me, that connection probably makes this track seem both better and worse than it actually is.

In my view Tears For Fears are probably one of the finest bands on the eighties, all three of their original albums as a duo demonstrating a fantastic combination of songwriting and stellar production work across a range of classic tracks. Of these 'Shout' is clearly one of the best known, Roland Orzabel's vocal instantly recognisable against the drum-heavy track.

Remixing something so iconic is either bold, foolish or perhaps both. Whilst this track remains enjoyable it ultimately loses more than it gains as it comes under My Favorite Robot's surgeon's scalpel. The original version's giant drum sound is replaced with an appropriately large alternative but it lacks the same bite. The punchy bell-chimes that feature in the original are dropped so low in the mix as to render them impotent, meaning a key distinctive part of the track (and one that would survive remixing well) gets lost. On the plus side the acid-heavy extended bridge and outro is where the value is, chunky drum-sets and some vicious bass ensuring it will sound ferocious on the dance floor.

Out Of Phase / Shout is out on Monday through My Favorite Robot Records.