YACHT
Over the last few weeks, I have started to detest comparisons. We encounter them in all sorts of media:
-“Is Bobby Jindal the conservative Barack Obama?” (No.)
-“Neutrogena brings all the scrub of St. Ives with the smoothness of Dove.” (Okay, so I made that one up…)
-“LeBron James is Magic Johnson with a bit of Michael Jordan for good measure in Karl Malone’s body.” (That’s a real quote.)
-“Shia LaBoeuf is the next Tom Hanks.” (Really? He is? Who agreed to this?)
-“Our new site is like Twitter with a splash of Digg and Google Maps, too.” (Made this one up too, and I’m not sure I’d use the app, but it’d be kind of funky, no?)
The comparison is a writing technique that we’re all guilty of using. (I’m pretty sure I did it yesterday, before dismissing all the influences as unimportant.) When someone makes a comparison, they’re attempting two things: 1) To avoid actually saying anything substantial about the object being compared and 2) To appear clever by developing a little formula for their product/person/artistic endeavor. I know this because I’m as guilty as the rest.
Here’s what transpires: in providing a comparison, they succeed in avoiding critical thinking about the product/person/artistic endeavor and fail miserably in trying to appear clever. For example, I was recently turned onto electro-ish group YACHT from Portland by an email from a friend suggesting the following:
“YACHT = Eurythmics + MGMT + Animal Collective + Cut Copy/Chromeo synthy stuff + some tribal aspects”This is a common device in shorthand music criticism. Many writers, including yours truly, have turned a comparison or discussion of influences into a math equation because it’s a little cheeky and it lays everything out nicely for the reader. But those who use such equations always forget about one thing; if you add all those bands or influences together, you’ll end up with a group of 10 or so people with lots of different music over the top of one another. The step that everyone forgets is to divide by the number of influences used. Here’s how that equation should read:
“YACHT = (Eurythmics + MGMT + Animal Collective + Chromeo synthy stuff + some tribal aspects) ÷ 5”
But nevertheless, in spite of my friend’s miscalculation (which I don’t necessarily agree with), I gave YACHT’s latest LP a listen. In addition to recording music and scoring a record deal, Jona Bechtolt is a successful visual artist, having had works commissioned by several large contemporary art museums. He and Claire Evans make up YACHT. After several smaller releases, it comes as not surprise that they’ve joined up with James Murphy’s DFA to put out See Mystery Lights, and their sound fits into the DFA stereotype as dance rock with overt house and disco influences.
I recognize some of the bands my friend mentioned, but this album strikes me as having many more influences in disco than new-wave or nu-new-wave (that’s a genre right?). The album is all over the place, from hitting hard in the low registers with the bass lines of “Psychic City” and “Don’t Fight the Darkness” to the interestingly mixed opening track “Ring the Bell,” which has several different BPMs depending on when you try to count. And just when you think “Summer Song” is going to be a trite attempt at a commercially-viable summer jam, they turn in a strong, unique effort with an ever-present cowbell. All in all, See Mystery Lights is a solid listen top to bottom. It’s not a record for studying or zoning out; there’s so much going on, in a good way, that you can’t help but pay attention to it, and I haven’t heard enough music like that lately.
YACHT - Ring the Bell
YACHT - I’m in Love With a Ripper
YACHT - Psychic City
(As a reminder: say no to simple comparisons and equations folks. You can do better than that.)
