Song, by Toad

No, nothing to do with The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi! is bedroom electronica from a lovely chap in the Netherlands called Niek who sent me some stuff a month or so ago.  He first contacted me some time last year actually, and I wasn’t particularly keen on what he’d done so I told him so and wished him luck.  Well, a few months stewing away and we have three more tracks to listen to and I would say there’s definitely a big improvement.

The thing is, I say ‘improvement’ and of course all I really mean is ‘I like it more’.  I know I don’t state this often enough, although I hope those of you who know me will have assumed it anyway, but I’ve never thought of the opinions voiced on this site as representing any sort of Universal Truth.  I mean, truth in my world perhaps but, never mind Rhianna or Kanye West, I don’t even like Hot Chip and nearly everyone I know does, so I can hardly claim to have the handle on some sort of elusive Zeitgeist or anything like that.

The other thing is that beyond ‘I like this, but I don’t like that’ I actually know nothing at all about music.  So when Niek kindly asks if I have any feedback or advice I start to feel a little uncomfortable, because I am not sure if what I manage to come up with should be taken at all seriously by an artist who is experimenting and trying to find his voice.  It’s his journey, I guess, not mine and as such I am not sure I really should be interfering because I doubt it would be helpful.

He asked though, so here goes, I shall do my best.  Firstly, I think it’s a big improvement and there is definitely stuff in there that I like; in fact some of it is excellent.  It’s a sort of scratchy, ramshackle electronica which stutters on, and occasionally weaves in a pure pop hook which is just enough to pull the music out of the meandering and borderline impenetrable and into something you can imagine singing along to.

Song For Suzy in particular has the core of an excellent pop song if you ask me.  It’s sprightly and instantly catchy, despite retaining a really nice DIY atmosphere.  Philosophy For Fans is a little dreamier and has a touch of twee.  The female vocal is a nice touch too, although I would be tempted to make her voice a little more dominant and full in the mix.  It’s slower-paced as a song, and counterparts nicely with the more skittish energy of Suzy.

The one I’m less sure about is perhaps Ow.. because I think it starts a little sluggishly.  The music itself is kind of slow, so the deep, lethargic tone of the ‘Ow’s seem to make the whole thing a little stodgy.  I’d be tempted to put some sort of element in there somewhere that is perhaps a little peppier, somehow.  I’m not sure what that is, though.  Once the male-female vocal interplay gets going, however, we have another pretty good song on our hands, I think.

In any case, it’s really nice to see Niek getting better (in my eyes) and pulling together a nice collection of songs.  It reminds me of something I read on a blog ages ago about how the immediacy of music these days can be damaging for a band – it’s possible to get the first, roughest, crappest bedroom recordings out on MySpace and be heard, judged and condemned on the strength or lack thereof of the first thing you ever recorded.

Broken Records have a couple of really quite crap songs back from when they were starting out as a band and still pulling together what they wanted to become.  Had these been the songs that made their way out there, then I can imagine it might have made breaking through quite a bit harder.  Every band and every musician needs the time and space to make their mistakes, experiment a little and to crystallise what it is they are trying to achieve.  Yoshimi! are taking that time, and I think it’s paying off.  So thanks, Niek, I am liking these and I’ll be interested to hear what else you come up with.

There’s plenty of other stuff to download from his website, incidentally, so go along and help yourselves to some free downloads.

Yoshimi! – Song For Suzy (Demo)
Yoshimi! – Philosophy For Fans (Demo)
Yoshimi! – Ow… (Demo MIXIE)

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