Saturday, April 30 10 p.m.
Mercury Lounge & Nitty Gritty Presents:
Yam Who? (UK) (Ubiquity,Raw Fusion,etc.)
Quality craftsmanship, originality and accessibility are the benchmarks for what separates the champs from the pants in the musical stakes - amply illustrating all three, if there is one name that the last 12 months have belonged to it's Yam Who?
Up until now it has a remained a Best Kept Secret - The sophisticated beatsmiths from London that are Yam Who have lent their skilful sprinkle of magic studio dust to everyone from Only Child, Xantone Blacq, Sidewinder and Rainer Truby on this side of the Atlantic to Pharrell, Dwele, Ampfiddler, N'Dambi, Raphael Saadiq, Alison Crockett and Lizz Fields on the other. Everyone from Anne Nightingale (BBC Radio 1 daytime) to Norman Jay plus hundreds of others have supported what they do and name check them as the production outfit to watch.
If you are one of the rare few who has not picked up on their sound, think new skool Philly meets modern deep detroit – post broken beat with hints and nods to the nice sides of disco, hip hop and of coarse – their biggest influence of all – soul. A distinct Anglo American influence is deliberate – like bouncy hip hop with a side of chunky British chips.
The success of the Yam Who moniker is partly down to the way in which the dynamic duo approach being in a studio. Too much of the remix and bootleg culture of recent years has been totally over reliant on gimmicks and technology to tip-ex over a lack of imagination. Yam Who are all about genuine talent and songwriting ability. A perfect demonstration of their philosophy comes in their remixes - which should be more accurately described as "re-interpretations". Never going for the lazy option and certainly not going for the obvious, put-it-in-a-pigeon-hole, genre or sound. Live musicianship, imaginative basslines and the combined use of traditional and cutting edge production in the right quantities that impresses even the most sensitive or commercial of ears. Its all about the song and the groove. Like anything – the best things are always simple.
More details soon . . .
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