YAK

Reminds us of: Radiohead, Spiritualised, Velvet Underground, Teardrop Explodes, the Stooges, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Fall, Echo and the Bunnymen

Yak are one of the main inspirations behind this blog. I was given them as a recommendation to listen to late last year, and I’ve been listening to them on a regular basis ever since!

A recent article in Clash magazine commented on how ‘big’ Yak’s music is, and I have to say that really does describe them to a tee. They have a powerful sound, quite diverse in their writing style and pretty chaotic.
Yak have been releasing music since 2015, with their first album ‘Alas Salvation’ released in 2016. Their second album ‘The Pursuit of Momentary Happiness’ followed in February 2019 on Jack White (White Stripes etc)’s Third Man label. Both albums are excellent, and well worth listening too.

Alas Salvation starts off with the snotty, punky ‘Victorious’ and then launches into a full-on assault of power tunes ‘Hungry Heart’, ‘Use Somebody’, ‘Curtain Twitcher’, ‘Take it’ and ‘Harbour the Feeling’ (which sounds uncannily like ‘Reward’ by Teardrop Explodes’). All in all, the album is a cracker.

Pursuit of Momentary Happiness is of a similarly high standard, kicking of the with the singles ‘Bellyache’ and ‘Fried’ (with its interesting video!) before heading into Radiohead territory (even a bit Pink Floyd maybe) with the title track, and then the almost 50’s sounding ‘Words Fail Me’. The energy levels then ramp up until we go back to the 50s with ‘Encore’ and then eventually arrive at the very Spiritualised sounding closing track ‘This House Has No Living Room’ which in fact features J. Spaceman.

They are gigging extensively, and I will be catching them in London in April at the Dome. They are supporting Foals on their forthcoming tour, and are at a few festivals in the summer of course. They are apparently excellent live and unpredictable, so if you get a chance to check them out do so.

For me they are the best band I’ve come across in years, it really makes me feel alive listening to their music. Hopefully they won’t wait quite as long to release their next album though!
You can read the Clash Music interview at the link below, and I’ve also added a couple of links to their videos. Give them a listen! 

​Jon M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqf0gpB-OSE

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYD2w4s1a_g      

https://www.clashmusic.com/features/bellyache-yaks-oli-burslem-on-their-new-album-and-refusing-to-compromise?fbclid=IwAR3l1EbRTPGwocZwfONRo1vu8NgpdxtQD5K9jXjEr33byynIYEUoEcovAVo