Yonatan Gat – Universalists (tak:til/Glitterbeat)
LP / CD / DL
6 May 2018
10 / 10
Review by Mikey.
When you are well known for explosive live
sets, creating mind bending music and destroying the boundaries between
audience and performers, you would think that ‘difficult second album syndrome’
might have loomed large on Yonatan Gat's mind while making Universalists. If it did, it really doesn't show.
From the opening samples of a choir in
1950's Genoa to a powwow drum band from Rhode Island, Balinese hooks to the stunning
voice of the Mallorcan singer Catalina Meute, Gat and his friends take you on a
sumptuous journey. If you were to see them live, you would be close enough to feel
Sergio's ferociously plucked bass strings vibrate and Gal Lazer's drums shift
across the floor as he tore into them with reckless abandon. You would be that close
because that is what they want. They want to see the whites of your eyes. They
want to see the sweat on your brow as you thrash to their beats.
Cue The Machines opens with the dulcet
tones of the afore mentioned choir from Genoa which then glitches out into rapid
fire drum and gloriously bent surfer guitar, straight out of a California
garage. Fading Casino somehow manages to
be louche and frantic, with Yonatan's smooth lounge style guitar coupled with Lazer's
hectic and tight drumming. The collective
and explosive creativity is evident in every second of every song.You will find
yourself struggling to listen to anything else for weeks.
Medicine came about after a chance meeting
at SXSW in Austin,Texas with a powwow drum group called Eastern Medicine
Singers. Gat had asked them if they wanted to improvise with them during the
concert. They declined and he suggested that, if they liked their music, they were
welcome to join in. By the 2nd song they had dragged their enormous drums inside
the venue and formed two circles. The audience surrounded them, dancing into a
frenzy.
This is a theme that runs through the
musical life of Yonatan Gat. The need to be on the level with the crowd and to be
embroiled in the thrashing masses. To constantly mix with musicians, genres, culture,
and styles. Evolving and experimenting. Improvising and collaborating. Creating
and inspiring. Always bright, fresh and absolutely brain meltingly crazy. Glorious.
Universalists is music from the World for
the World. Anyone who is a musician and has ever been in an impromptu session or
jam will be enthralled and inspired to go out and play as soon as they have
heard this album. If they don't, I fear for them and for humanity.
Your local record shop and this album is
calling. I think you know what to do.
Published on Louder Than War 02/05/18 - here
No comments:
Post a Comment