YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN - YT//ST

not boris or deerhoof, gundam grimes

Whalesong sounds amazing

i prefer sonic titan to yamantaka

what is your favorite of the two?

Boredoms for the masses

lack of constant was the biggest problem of yt//st
it seems like a problem here too.

no immediate catchy bombastic tubes like Hoshi Neko, sounds mellower but overall fine (1st listen)

catchy bombastic tube = "one", toward the back end

what is your favorite of the two?

whoever draws the animals (if that's one of them)

not sure i see lack of consistency as a problem, maybe a virtue, enjoy both albums as end-to-end listens (tho still processing the 2nd)

I think the production on the second one helps a ton. The clarity highlights the drumming, and allows for a broader range of vocal styles.

I've been living with UZU for about a month now (somehow managed to find a used copy a month before release, which is strange but I'm not complaining). Serious grower, so definitely give it a few more spins nostormo. It's pretty much become my fave album of the year.

Holy cow, I hadn't heard of these guys until a couple days ago and now this may be one of my favorites of the year. UZU is insane, I'm really loving it. I'm surprised folks aren't going more nuts over them.

me too! seems like something that would appeal to a broad cross-section of adventurous listeners.

I agree. I think it's much more welcoming than the debut. The appeal is broader and there are ways into it from a lot of different musical angles.

Idk. Like the firstvrecord better

the wretched will drown
with the salt on their lips
the stars at their feet
fanning flame to the mist
where the silent men live
and refuse to die
hand in hand they ride
into battle with the tide
to victory, a song...

after spending a bit more time w uzu, i do agree that it's uneven - but that's only a problem when i think of it as a collection of discrete songs. certain passages might feel incomplete absent the rest, but the whole works amazingly well as a front-to-back listening experience. while it's narrative, like the best prog rock albums, it feels less like a story than a journey. i can't call it complete success by pop's standards, but it's immersive, varied, moving and, best of all, remarkably catchy (at least in moments). tbh, it's hard to imagine the existence of people who wouldn't enjoy "atlanta", "whalesong" and "seasickness pt. 2". then again, it's hard to imagine a lot of supposedly real things.

UZU is growing on me and feel like it holds together more, over repeated listens.

whoa well done whoever nominated 'whalesong' for the EOY, this v v much bangs

:) It's a good 'un

Sadly cut off at 26 in my now-finalised traxballot. Give it an honourable gold star or something. Strikes me as the work of a band who are finding their way. The next album is probably going to determine whether I'm truly a Y//ST fan

Whalesong is the sh-t! This will make my ballot

Been playing this record a lot over the last week or so, I like it how it fuses a lot of the psych-folk stuff I like with preposterous pantomime rock bombast. It's deeply silly but very enjoyable.

Does remind me a bit of GGD in some unfathomable way as well.

New song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTP1ku405rc

I listened a few times yesterday and I'm still working out what I think of it. It goes to some interesting places, starting out almost like a pop ballad, building up to heavy riffing and lead guitar triplets, all in 4 minutes. Not sure if it all works for me but there are some satisfying moments.

Yeah my hot take is that it could work a lot better in the context of an album, as a standalone single I don't really get what it is.

Upthread I claim to have listened to the debut and loved it...but I have no recollection of it at all! Will have to revisit

Yeah my hot take is that it could work a lot better in the context of an album, as a standalone single I don't really get what it is.

― ? (seandalai)

I get what you mean, but I think knowing their reference points and other endeavours (e.g. game soundtracking) it might be more fruitful to think of it as an opening theme? I'm hyped for new YT//ST stuff, anyway.

whoa this new track! get excited ilm

Hey, this is all right. Never heard of this band before.

I like it. It does seem to lack the heft to be a single, but it's still good and could play out nicely on an album.

Okay, 'Hungry Ghost' is rad.

https://exclaim.ca/music/article/yamantaka_sonic_titan-hungry_ghost

\m/

progge is alive and well in 2018

I miss Ruby Kato Attwood more than I thought I would. This is good but it doesn't have the weird beauty of UZU, and a lot of that was her voice.

O holy shit, missed this. ORDERDED. Rarely a month goes by that I don't wonder what became of YT/ST.

Agree that "Someplace" is a weird choice for a lead single. Engaging & intriguing but awfully vague. Feels like it's just & finally getting ready to deliver when it abruptly ends. (Maybe it's better considered an "album teaser" or suchlike. Do we have those now?) Also agree that Ruby's soaring vocals are sorely missed. "Hungry Ghost" is much more immediate, and I love the vacuum tube Kali monster on the Soundcloud page.

Their label's Soundcloud also features 'Yandere' which doom-prog-pops even harder. By far my favorite of the three. Dere dere.

Video too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iUsVyZTB_I

"hungry ghost" is almost deerhoof//gwar in the best way possible

Album playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGJYy6b9azY&list=PLzjK-BHnQoCxkmpgNzHx0pR1ojE-p4mgB

or not :(

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzjK-BHnQoCxkmpgNzHx0pR1ojE-p4mgB

"hungry ghost" is almost deerhoof//gwar in the best way possible

― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, March 23, 2018 10:04 AM (six minutes ago)

whole album is on bandcamp

Oh, one of them left?

Doesn't matter - this has their best music/songwriting so far

Yeah, that's true, but Ruby's voice lent the music a wide-eyed, otherworldly quality and emotional heft that was, I think, quite remarkable, especially in their heavy/arty niche. The anthemic, apocalyptic vocals at the end of the new album's closing "Out of Time" ("to be all alone at the end of the line") effectively communicate the idea of a desperate, heart-bursting passion that rises to meet life's darkest hour. But they don't embody it. They don't soar above the music like a battle flag.

YT/ST are coping with the absence just fine. Dirt brings sharpened chops and a much more fully developed sound to Alaska & co's best batch of songs yet, but Ruby's voice had an alchemical power I can't help missing.

Fair enough. Any idea why she left? Just heading in a different direction? Apparently one of the guitarists left too...

No. I don't have any idea what motivated the split. Have looked for information online, but have come up only with the fact of it. Don't think anyone involved has spoken on the record about the details.

interpersonal differences

ruby's been to opera school.
john's doing other stuff.
they are sweet people.

Parts of 'Dark Water' sound like 90s Final Fantasy battle music lol

That's unambiguously a good thing btw

Aaaah yes I really like this, suppose I should check out their older stuff

Wow, this sounds great on first listen.

Shortly to see them. Excited!

And rightly so!