| CD REVIEW Yuck |
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.Band : Yuck Can't be certain when the origins of this London based Indie Rock band came about, but they've had a MySpace page since mid-December 2009, so maybe that's an indication? Let's check. What IS certain, is that guitarist/ singers Daniel Blumberg and Max Bloom (the latter then as bassist) once made both music journalists and many a teenage girl's heart melt when they were part of Indie Pop band Cajun Dance Party...who released only the 2008 album Colourful Life through XL Recordings, before seemingly disappearing from the face of the earth. The twosome however persevered their musical career, recording demo tracks in a late '80s/ early '90s lo-fi style in Bloom's bedroom before seeking the fit musicians to complete their band. Hiroshima-born Mariko Doi (bass) was met through friends, and when her previous band Levelload stopped, she swiftly joined the Yuck. Blumberg met drummer Jonny Rogoff in an Israeli kibbutz, and he dropped out of the pursuit of a degree, as well as his previous New Jersey based band Impossible Village, relocating to London in order to join the nascent band in December 2009. Blumberg's younger sister Ilana provided the band with her ethereal backing vocals, initially remaining behind the scene to continue her college education. Soon enough the band (under the name Yu(c)k) released an EP on cassette-only label Mirror Universe Tapes, and not long after came a split single with Cleveland based band Herzog on the Transparent Records label. On the same label came a second split single with Porcelain Raft in December 2010, with each band covering a song from the other. Even before the release in February 2011 of their eponymous debut full-length album on the Fat Possum label (to which they were signed in September 2010), the band had toured with the likes of Teenage Fanclub, The Dum Dum Girls, and Modest Mouse...they had seen the Drone guitar fueled single “Rubber” remixed by Mogwai...and were part of BBC's Sound Of 2011 list. Not surprising, because the band's music indeed resembles the sound of the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., The Cure (check the sped-up rhythms of “Friday I'm in Love” in Yuck's “Georgia”!), and Jesus And The Mary Chain. Wanna check the veracity of those words? Listen to the songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/yuckband, and you'll be convinced. The band also goes occasionally calmer, even adding/ exchanging one of the electric guitars for an acoustic one (check “Suicide Policeman” and “Shook Down”, or even the overall calmer but still electric “Suck”). The rest of April (and into the beginning of May) Yuck will be completing a North-American tour, to be back on UK soil in mid May. They also play at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona at the end of May...but further plans for a possible European tour have, so far, not been divulged! 95/100 Tony. |