Yuck - Yuck (2011)

When it comes to the trend of Lo-Fi and Shoegaze artist there is not that much innovation and experimentation around it, most of the successful artists that pursue this sound go straight to the point with a simple formula, such is the case of bands like Wavves and the list goes on, where the songs are not too long, they keep a basic beach fun and fuzzy feeling, and just do what they do in this kinds of productions; this sound has been so successful that’s also a trend these days. If this is the case, what’s a band like Yuck bringing new to the table, why everyone is talking about the relevance of their music and what are they doing different than the other bands that have the same kind of production and sound? The answer is not a straight one, but I’ll try to take my shot and say what I thought about this record.

Yuck is a band that comes from the continued project of two of the members of the UK band Cajun Dance Party (Max Bloom and Danny Blumberg), that teamed up with guys from other countries and music backgrounds; Yuck forms part of the long list of artists that attempt the revival of 90’s sounds. The point in where Yuck sounds different than all the other bands comes in the different influences, they don’t sound like the standard garage rock like Wavves or Best Coast or Ty Segall, etc, but they have the influence; also some songs go from the standard less produced mainstream alternative rock of the 90’s like Hole or Foo Fighters to the more serious sounds like Pavement, never forgetting the profoundly British sounds of bands like Belle and Sebastian. Another important aspect of the band is the naivety in which they present emotions; a sort of expression of the sentiment without giving very serious thought, something very common on indie pop productions.

This said, though everything about this band come from pretty standard good stuff around, they focus in presenting it in an uncommon way, much longer song structures of the same catchy riff, good guitar solos, even moments of something that sound like elevator music between Belle and Sebastian (ish) acoustic guitars. Each song bring something new to the table and the common ground ends up being the production, each song could be from a different band, with different genres but still Yuck maintains all of this sounds sounding part of one big picture.

The album is very enjoyable, and wont lent down to the people that was following them through out the EP’s and singles, a lot of ballads (something I didn’t expect) and in the end a very youthful modern sound, appealing, with Lo-Fi Indie Pop quality and a Garage Rock overtone, mixed with reverb and Shoegaze and even a bit of Grunge. Definitely it’s the most accurate record I’ve found around that has nailed perfectly the reinvention of 90’s alternative rock and pulled out a really cohesive well produced album.

Stream the Album and Enjoy!

Yuck - Yuck by Yuck

Tracklist:

1. Get Away
2. The Wall
3. Shook Down
4. Holing Out
5. Suicide Policeman
6. Georgia
7. Suck
8. Stutter
9. Operation
10. Sunday
11. Rose Gives A Lilly
12. Rubber

Rate: 8.3/10

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