Self titled debut album, ‘Yuck’ sends listeners into frenzy to buy flannel shirts

For reasons unknown, musical direction seems to have undergone some kind of chronological step in reverse, a seismic struggle back to curtain hairstyles, flannel checked shirts, Shoegaze, college rock and the integration of every individual piece of fashion that ever existed. It must have been the fact people had to put up with megalomaniac overzealous bands like U2 in Britain in the 90’s and reverting back to garage rock and grunge in this day and age is a way of saying “we’d rather do it ourselves.” Instead of maxing out stadiums and starting charities, maybe our fans would just like the music raw; not gift wrapped in gimmicks, well ‘Yuck’ you guessed right! Or on the other hand is this just another crafty ploy to lead us into some kind of stoner led revolution in aloha shirts. The London based four piece Yuck (Max Bloom and Daniel Bloomberg members who made up the late Cajun Dance Party) released their self titled debut album on the 21st February 2011.
Their sound originates from bands such as Dinosaur Jr, the frowsy lapping and layering of guitar parts with heavy use of guitar effects create a fantastic wall of sound that crashes like a wave. There is also a droning teenage angst in their song writing that favours to the style of the 90’s most loved and pitied singer song writer, Elliot Smith. They do however have a beautiful way of using their wall of sound crossover to emote melody. It’s no secret that this band along with the likes of ‘Wavves’ and ‘Best Coast’ are taking that college garage rock sound a little further and making it their own, which is quite a feat, especially (in Yuck’s case) with no California sun or sea to inspire them. With songs such as ‘Shook Down’ there is a hint of Robert Smith in the vocal style and even though there is a sun haze quality to the melody, I can’t help but feel that the song writing is just a little typical. But if it’s back to basics then it stays back to basics.
In songs like ‘Suicide Policeman’ their Lyrics like “Brother, if you’re feeling low, tell me one thing I should know of your situation, I could stand out in the hall, I could be your suicide policeman,” further sets in stone Elliot Smith’s influence, but the most important feature of this band is their talent to amalgamate all these styles and bands and make it their own. One thing is for sure they make music for their own tastes and for the fans of this, almost forever forgotten, time in the world when all the attention was turned on the increase of pop music and popular culture, isn’t it ironic the way waves fall back on themselves.
By A.P. Moore