I Eat Music

They may draw on an eclectic range of influences but Yeasayer’s Luke Fasano tells us why his band are really just a pop group

Bursting forth last year with their debut single 2080, Yeasayer merge sounds from around the world with Western pop music, creating something fresh and exciting that has captured the heart of many a music fan. Their debut album, All Hour Cymbals, was released in November to high acclaim.

The band was formed by school friends Chris Keating and Anand Wilder in 2005. Quickly inducting Wilder’s cousin Ira Wolf Tuton on bass, the band played for a year, experimenting with live drums, drum machine and iPod to provide percussion before hiring Luke Fasano to complete the line up. However, the drummer had reservations about joining after the band attempted to explain their sound to him.

“They described it to me like, ‘Well it’s like this world music, hip hop influenced, kind of like Indian, Gospel, Asian, you know, pop, it’s pop music.’ I was like, wow, this could be the most terrible thing that I’ve ever heard,” says Fasano. But the description was enough to at least peak his interest. “I listened to what they were doing and I was immediately like, okay yes, I wanna do that.”

So, it’s clear from the outset that this was not an easy band to pitch, but Fasano insists that the key to Yeasayer’s success is down to a love of good, old-fashioned pop music.

“That was what they told me from the get-go. We all listen to pop radio and we all try to draw as many other things into that as possible because who wants to hear the same song you’ve heard for the past twenty years?” Explaining the Yeasayer ethos, he continues, “We’re trying to take all those elements that would make an interesting pop song that are in some Iraqi folk song, or in some Moroccan song, or West African song, or Indian song. These can be a Western pop song, there’s no reason why they can’t.”

When he speaks about his and the rest of the band’s musical influences, it’s clear the passion that Fasano has for music. Sitting in a well-worn Velvet Underground T-shirt, he talks excitedly about everyone from Pixies to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It’s this genuine love of music that led him to seek sounds from outside his own cultural background.

“You grow up here or in the States and you hear a lot of Western pop music and so the second I heard all that it was just crazy – what is that sound? What’s making that sound? What is he hitting? What is he playing? All these people are really doing it as part of their own culture and it was really exciting for me to hear a kind of music that I had not heard, just the thrill of the unknown.”

Being able to absorb all this and work it into something that is relevant to them and their listeners, rather than their music being, as Fasano puts it, “some white guy who’s been there playing it for me” is key to their sound. “None of us are pretending to be members of those cultures – hopefully people don’t think that we think we’re part of that,“ he says. “But it’s just music, so you can borrow from it, you know, if I’ve been affected by it, I can borrow from it.”

And with such a wide array of music available to borrow from, the band are already stockpiling new music. “Honestly, this group of people is really the most musically ambitious group that, I think, any of us have ever had the pleasure to work with,” explains Fasano. “Everyone has written material for the next album, enough to have two albums already. It’s very prolific. I’ll write something on keyboard or Chris will put something together on his computer. Ira will write guitar parts, as well as clarinet and saxophone parts. Anand plays the cello and like five different things, he can kinda play everything. Then we take samples of other things and just put as dense layering as we think the song will support.”

With such an array of sounds on their recordings, performing the songs live does mean the band have their work cut out. Fasano explains, “There’s just four of us, but everyone is singing – I do the backing vocals and the three across the front are pretty much always doing harmonies. Chris ends up doing some main vocals, but then he’s also playing a keyboard and a sampler. Ira has about ten different pedals for his bass, sometimes it sounds like he’s playing a flute and sometimes it’s like an organ. Anand has a keyboard and a sampler, as well as his guitar. Then I have the drum set and an electronic drum pad, which is a sampler, as well. So, we’re all doing two or three different things.”

Despite this, Yeasayer are keen to give their audience something special live and have various different versions of each of their songs to choose from each night. “We still rewrite our songs to play them live,” says Fasano. “When I see a band live and there’s no change I’m sort of like, well why did I come here today? You don’t feel like there’s any interaction between the artist and the audience.”

On paper, Yeasayer’s mix of so many different sounds may seem confusing, but the music does the talking. Because of this, word of mouth support has always been important for the band and has brought them a great deal of success. The speed by which news of this band can spread was apparent on the band’s first trip to the UK.

“We did just London the first time we came over, which was really weird but a great experience. We were here for maybe a week and a half and played seven or eight shows and things got better every time we played. By the end [we played] a couple of sold out shows.”

Add the internet into that mix and suddenly there’s an audience of millions, rather than hundreds. Fasano is very positive about the power of the World Wide Web to break new bands. “I’m not a big blogging, internet kind of person, but it’s undeniable the impact of that. I mean, I basically joined the band, they had just put stuff up on MySpace and then within a month we were signed to a label. Just being on MySpace is such a great tool. It’s not a totally equal playing field but it does equalize some of those forces.”

Moving onto the subject of how this is changing the music industry, he continues, “It’s just a different paradigm; the music business is really changing. Really large labels are losing their legs a little bit. I love that all these big powerhouse labels are just getting fucked because they’ve had such a stranglehold on the industry.”

At the same time, he’s careful not to get caught up in the hyperbole that precedes bands in the MySpace generation. “I don’t have a good perspective on this, none of us do,” he says. “When people are like ‘There’s a buzz’ or ‘You’re blowing up’ or whatever we’re like, ‘Huh? I’m still poor!’” He laughs.

They may not be rich yet, but with a punishing tour schedule and an outstanding album in the bag, things can only keep getting bigger and better for Yeasayer.

The album, All Hour Cymbals is out now on We Are Free. A new version of Wait For The Summer has also just been released as a single.

This interview originally appeared on Subba Cultcha. An edited version also appeared in ThreeWeeks‘ Brighton Festival edition in May 2008

An impressive return to the UK from Denmark’s finest

Snake your way around the austere-looking concrete jungle of London’s Southbank Centre and you will find a cultural ecosystem where music, art, film, theatre and skateboarding all exist side by side. Sitting on top of it all is Queen Elizabeth Hall, the setting for tonight’s Danish music extravaganza.

Noticeably absent this evening was American violinist Peter Broderick, who was refused a work permit and so was unable to take up his places with both Efterklang and Our Broken Garden.

Essentially a vehicle for Efterklang pianist Anna Brønsted’s haunting ballads, Our Broken Garden nonetheless sounded very different from their recorded output. Stripped right back to just voice, piano, bass and guitar, the sound was sparse and atmospheric. However, it did get a little samey as the show went on, and I can’t help feel that Broderick’s violin would have made all the difference. Still, Brønsted’s impressive vocals made for a captivating performance.

With so much more happening in their sound, Efterklang faired better without their violin player, although even they had to resort to whistling in place of him at one stage. Even so, this was impressive stuff. When I last saw the band live, shortly after the release of their second album Parades, they were very good indeed, but looking back, the songs were still tied very closely to their studio versions. Now, the band have adapted the songs to the live setting, letting them grow into a different medium. This was noticeable straight away with opening song Polygyne, which now twists and turns down various new avenues.

These changes, coupled with the impressive sound in Queen Elizabeth Hall, made for a very moving experience. Without being overly sentimental or schmaltzy, the music grabs at all your emotions and shakes them around. Of course, this is not down to just great song writing; all seven band members put in an enormous amount of work to bring this all off.

Watching Efterklang from tiered seating allows you to see just how much is happening on stage. Everyone has their core instrument, but no one plays less than one other. Take your eyes off the stage for a second and when you look back half of them will being playing brass instruments. The talent on display here is just phenomenal.

A hint at where Efterklang may take their sound next comes with new song Mirror Mirror. Harbouring elements of Arcade Fire, but with Efterklang’s more classical, choral bent, it’s slow-building and intense – a song truly written with live performance in mind.

There are very few bands who come close to Efterklang in terms of live performance. The sound is so rich, full and endlessly interesting; your mind is never allowed to wander and each band member puts such energy into the show that you will never be left feeling short-changed, even with one of them missing. This is world class entertainment.

Passionate, emotional and exciting. Believe the hype.

Following the release of their debut album All Hour Cymbals last year, Yeasayer quickly became one of the most talked about bands in indie circles. Their mix of sounds from all over the world and catchy hooks is enthralling and captivating. Standing amongst the crowd at the first of two sold out shows at the ICA, there was no question that this would an exciting performance. However, the question still remained: how will just four people recreate such a densely layered album? The simple answer, I suppose, is that they don’t. But the simple answer doesn’t actually answer the question.

An extraordinary ability to multi-task preserves the musical layering. Singer Chris Keating stands behind a large table, heavily laden with synths and samplers, Anand Wilder regularly drops his guitar in favour of various boxes of electronics, drummer Luke Fasano triggers samples via addition pads on his drumkit and Ira Wolf Tuton has his bass hooked up to a multitude of pedals that place numerous unseen musicians at the tips of his toes. As well as all this, they create luscious four part harmonies, pitch perfect and filled with emotion.

By allowing the live versions of their songs to have lives in their own right, the band avoid the problem of simply trying to recreate the recordings. Most of the songs are tweaked and changed from their original versions, some naturally through the process of touring, others intentionally rearranged.

Much of the album makes it onto the set list, including the debut single 2080, which comes in early and ensures everyone’s attention is focussed, and the singalong enducing No Need To Worry. We’re also treated to Final Path, the B-side to new single Wait For The Summer, and one new song, Tight Rope.

There’s a raw quality to Keating’s voice, not so apparent on the recordings, that brings an extra level of urgency and forcefulness. From the passion of his performance, you could be forgiven for thinking that the emotions and ideas in the lyrics were things that had just come to him. And he’s not the only one; Fasano spends much of the show beating his drums with eyes closed and an entranced look on his face, while Wilder and Tuton both slip between stern concentration and quiet euphoria.

Bringing the show to a close, support band The Dragons of Zynth return to the stage to pick up and hit anything they can find during a rousing version of Sunshine. As the rich chorus of vocals and clanging echoes through the room it all seems to be over very quickly. I would happily have gone on watching for much longer.

This review originaly appeared on Subba Cultcha

Two bands, two very different shows

I just can’t get used to these 14+ shows and their early starts. Rolling up at what I considered to be a perfectly reasonable time, the running order pinned up outside informed me that I was cutting it a little fine to even see the headliners. Luckily (depending on how you look at it, more on that later), the evening’s proceedings had been delayed and I had plenty of time to have a drink and settle in.

Nearly an hour later than planned, Rolo Tomassi appeared on stage. Disarming the uninitiated with their teenage looks, they tore up the next thirty minutes with the most amazing take on hardcore imaginable. Combining math-rock, grindcore, electro and jazz, they dare you to put them into a category and leave you too stunned to even try.

The technical prowess of the band and the inhuman roar that emanates from Eva Spence’s tiny frame were incredible, but most astonishing was the lack of injury during the performance. Frenzied movement from all parties regularly brings band members (usually Eva) mere millimetres away from a guitar to the face or a collision of heads. If any of them noticed, they certainly didn’t show it.

From beginning to end, their performance was perfect and even my gig buddy for the evening (who normally hates anything like this) eagerly discussed them afterwards and was the first to raise doubts about I Was A Cub Scout’s ability to better them. A question that, it turned out, we had plenty of time to ponder.

As I Was A Cub Scout’s quite ludicrous amount of equipment was set up (does anyone really need three samplers?), it became apparent that something wasn’t quite right. A van breakdown en route to the venue had meant a late arrival and no chance of a proper soundcheck. Crew and band members were already making last minute repairs to failing equipment and these technical failures, coupled with poor sound, continued to hamper the entire show.

Even when Todd Marriott’s instruments and microphone were working properly, he was mostly drowned out by William Bowerman’s frantic drumming. A look of exasperation between the two about halfway through their set confirmed that I wasn’t the only one who thought their biggest headline show to date wasn’t going very well. A line from Save Your Wishes took on a whole new meaning: “Is there anything left to go wrong?”

The final two songs, Ender and Pink Squares, brought with them a marked improvement, but it wasn’t enough to save the night and the pair retreated from the stage with no intention or request of an encore.

Having seen them live before and listened to their album, I know that I Was A Cub Scout can do better than this. I’d say it wasn’t their night, but with a glass to the face a few days earlier and a string of cancelled shows, it wasn’t even their week.

This review was originally published on Subba Cultcha

Psychedelic, guitar-pop, folk-hop

If you have any kind of interest in indie hip hop you can probably find Yoni Wolf at play somewhere in your music collection. He’s nothing if not prolific. Best known as one third of cLOUDDEAD and as a founding member of the Anticon label, Alopecia is the third outing for his one-time solo project, Why?

Joined again by his brother Josiah and Doug McDiarmid, Wolf also drafted in Fog’s Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson for this album. Together, the five recorded these fourteen new songs live, giving Wolf’s off-kilter vocals the required loose and peculiar backing.

With those lyrics Wolf manages to paint pictures like no one else as he half raps, half sings. He makes the seemingly innocuous seem beautiful and amazing and the amazing seem like an every day occurrence. I could just about fill my entire word limit for this review with my favourite lyrics from this album; there are just so many gems in each and every song.

The music is a collision of psychedelia, indie guitars, folk and hip hop. Toy pianos tinkle, guitars swell and feed back, chains rattle, drums trundle and bass pushes down your throat. The sound matches the frontman’s own originality perfectly and it’s the band who make this great music, rather than just impressive poetry.

Why?’s previous album Elephant Eyelash was one of the most talked about in indie circles in 2005 and spawned it’s own underground hit single with Rubber Traits. Thus, Alopecia had a lot to live up to and risked being drowned by expectation. Somehow, wolf and co have managed to not only meet those expectations head on but barge right through them and dance around like it was nothing. (5/5)

This review originally appeared on Subba Cultcha