Yeas and nays, unite! Yeasayer to play October UK gigs
An acclaimed first album followed by some criticism to the second one is a constant in the music industry. It seems that after enough praise it’s always a good time for some stone-throwing, or it may be that brilliant work often puts expectations in an impossible-to- be-achieved level, or perhaps bands really go into a creative limbo after a well received work. Fact is that musicians are by far the most patronized of all artists, both by critics and fans. If the follow up album goes through a similar path, they are criticized for failing to innovate. If it goes a different way, they then lack coherence.
So was the trouble with Yeasayer – their debut album, All Hour Cymbal, couldn’t receive more positive reviews. Every music journalist loved it, the fan base exploded in odes and soon they were seated, crowns in head, in the “darlings corner” of the music world. But their follow up, Odd Blood, was received exactly as its name suggests: as a strange in the family. But how misleading words can be, because the wave of criticism left the band standing still. The review aggregator site Metacritic shows a 78/100 points for Odd Blood, surely an impressive mark? And the fans weren’t really that bothered by the oddities of it; if anything the new anthems took the Brooklyn stars to a wider audience. The yeas kept coming, it was just that the nays like to nag bands that are too unanimous.
Yeasayer UK tour dates: Cardiff Millennium Music Hall (Oct 19), Manchester Academy(Oct 20), London Roundhouse (Oct 21), Newcastle Academy (Oct 23), Glasgow ABC (Oct 24).
Broken Social Scene is shaking the music scene in Toronto and beyond not only for the music but also for their strange way of operating. With as little as six and as much as 20 members playing at one time, and with everyone involved in other projects, this musical collective turns chaos into grandeur with unusual arrangements, experimental noises and a messy attitude.