YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN - YT//ST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhxrH1pWRVw

Weird, I thought I had already posted that. It was on another thread apparently, but yeah that belongs here more than the Bowie cover.

hope they will be more focused on the next album

I think YT//ST is plenty focused.

Or did you mean more focus on working on it rather than one off things like the Bowie cover (for someone else's compilation)?

The guitar on "Lamia" really really reminds me of Fred Giannelli (not that he was particularly original (though I liked his sound), but this is so close to what he went for a lot of the time that it stands out).

I think I underrated this record. As I said, I liked it a ton but I'm head over heels in love with it now. "A Star Over Pureland" is perfect.

New single is great:

http://pitchfork.com/features/update/9189-yamantaka-sonic-titan/

(Thanks, sund4r.)

Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH3X4D0NyS8

No

Yes

Hell yes.

Maybe

definitely, love this band

I'm convinced

I like this one better than "One." The piano in the opening even reminds me of Matthew Shipp a bit. And let's not discard anything prematurely, like the psychedelic inheritance.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/16171-windflower/

Has LJ heard these guys yet?

Anyway, I prefer 'One' to 'Windflower', but I can see the latter working really well as an album track. Call me crazy but I hear a certain Trish Keenan phrasing to some of those lines?!

Oh! On it soon's I'm home :)

This was the one that first got me into them, but I reckon 'One' or 'Lamia' will hit your tastes quicker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k472YAVzoGU

It's a good record. Expect a full review from me somewhere soon.

that was groovy - very melancholic keys. may have a root around for more

oh now this Windflower is what I'm TALKING about :D

Now listening to One. Shit me I made a good decision to spin out in that awful thread earlier

You can still stream their debut album on their bandcamp site, I think. Also on spotify.

Really loving Windflower though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89iO84vztyM

Only issue I have is that the closing rave-up sticks with the same riff throughout when it's crying out for an escalation or change-up. Apart from that, great. Gonna listen to the debut album now.

Windflower is the best one I've heard so far.

I've never listened to the albums after having seen the live show last year, which was excellent. Thanks for the thread revival.

If you go to the bandcamp site, be sure to click on the first track rather than the button for the entire album, because for me anyway it's been defaulting to the second track when I used the play album button.

Oh this is GOOD. Much wilder and weirder. 'One' for all its virtues DOES feel a tad...y'know, like Pitchfork reviewed one of their albums and hinted that it might go ballistic on the next one if they dumb up their act a bit and make an indie-dance hit. I'm not going through Gang Gang Dance again. But I think they're mostly on the right side of that line.

Look, this is how the Pitchfork review of Windflower ends:

The song's massive acoustic architecture demands that Yamantaka // Sonic Titan eventually find their way to an arena.

fuckoffPitchforkfuckoffPitchforkfuckoffPitchfork

loved the latest ggd record

shipp namedrop has me intrigued about this

I'm also concerned that the new album has much more boring songtitles than the first one, but open minds. This first album is really great - I have no idea where it's going next but it seems to

What happened to contenderizer re: this band. He popped in, said the first album was fantastic, and was never heard from again on this thread. Or is he on ILM sabbatical?

shipp namedrop has me intrigued about this

Could just be my idiosyncratic way of hearing it, but the piano at the beginning of Windflower does keep reminding me of Shipp. Maybe it doesn't quite have his gravitas (a word I think I've seen thrown around on another thread recently), but it's in the same ballpark. That's just a minor part of the song though. More than anything it is pretty vocally oriented psychedelia.

the new album has much more boring songtitles than the first one, but open minds.

Boring song titles are a good thing.

It's a departure from the debut, but I think in a good one. A Very coherent and beautifully recorded record. Begs to be heard on vinyl because of the sequencing.

GGD and others of that ilk irritate the shit out of me through no fault of their own because they're hailed by Pitchfork idiots as the cutting edge of contemporary avant-pop when they're actually competent indie-dance. This has much more to it than that though. Keep the negativity away.

Actually, Battles might have been the more notable recent victims of Pitchfork dumbology/regression-to-indie, even if that 2nd record had a couple of jams on it

Oh, so is the new one good? Yay!

no the latest is eye contact from a few years ago which I'm guessing is what you're on about! Battles are a much better example of what you're talking about in my opinion (ie I don't like em)

The new YT//ST mate :P

Eye Contact irritated me because that Glass Jar song was hyped as the most monumental thing ever and turned out to be a decent dance-rock jam with some psych touches

(Is it me or is the board really poppin' today? Even more eclectic mishmash of threads up at the moment.)

I kicked their arses, they responded. Great team-talk imo

drew25kra 1 day ago

Yes, because there are so many groups out there wearing kabuki make-up using Iroquoian chants and metallic guitar riffs and blending them in a way that's organic yet catchy...so mediocre, bro.

Lol.

Streaming:

http://pitchfork.com/advance/261-uzu/

What happened to contenderizer re: this band. He popped in, said the first album was fantastic, and was never heard from again on this thread. Or is he on ILM sabbatical?

― _Rudipherous_, Friday, October 11, 2013 2:25 PM (1 week ago)

meditating. took about ten minutes of the stream to get me to order a copy. it's only a shame that there are so many other albums out there that aren't this.

(!!!)

hell, if if there wasn't any music, just the graphics, they'd still be one of my favorite bands going

not boris or deerhoof, gundam grimes

Whalesong sounds amazing

i prefer sonic titan to yamantaka

what is your favorite of the two?

all these butt-clenchingly woke EOY lists, and yet no room for Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, who are not only off-the-charts box-tickingly woke but also, more importantly, put out an amazing album

They'll make mine.

but will it be butt-clenching?!

I like this album, but I'm not sure it will make my 77 list, there may be too many albums I like even more.

I don't really get the woke comments though, but I suspect we'd all regret pursuing that line any further.

they are touring the US opening for Acid Mothers Temple in the spring, and playing my town. totally psyched.

same here! I was surprised that tour's hitting smaller cities

That def sounds like a good time

sounds like a butt-clenchingly woke good time

amt always come to slc and it's always a great show. will not be missing this one.

Ohhhh shit this is gonna be awesome! I'm totally going!

Dirt is unquestionably one of the albums of the year

wb; otm

really great show!

ended up talking to the YST bassist who joined the band a few years ago after their set

must have been a good set

really great iirc

Dirt holding up really well this morning. Who played the solo on "Out of Time"?

their guitarist presumably!

Ha, OK, I guess the question is who the lead guitarist on the album is, then, since no info on personnel came with the digital album I downloaded from Bandcamp in 2018.

Electric Guitar – Hiroki Tanaka

Ah, thanks. So a seven-string player who was new for this album?

Yeah. The band absolutely shredded live obv

The greatest band! Alaska (drums) and Brendan (virtuosic piano) have a side project called Avṛha that I highly recommend too, no studio recordings yet

http://mechanicalforestsound.blogspot.com/2017/11/recording-avrha.html

ah nice! that sounds v exciting. iirc Alaska is suffering from several debilitating injuries that are affecting her drumming so she's exploring a few different songwriting avenues - sucks if so obv but excited by anything she's involved with

maybe she's completely restored though - let's hope

absolutely one of the best live bands i've ever seen

i'm not really a live music person and i'd drop everything to go see them if they were playing in my area (and there wasn't a global pandemic happening)

I forgot that when I saw them they were opening for Acid Mothers Temple! It was like a double header, really

God I wish I had seen that show :(

A little over two years ago I dragged a buddy of mine to see them at a restaurant-pub in downtown Indianapolis. There were *maybe* twenty people in the audience. The band was great of course but the experience was a bit lacking. I guess I don't expect they'll be passing this way again any time soon.