CMJ Day 3: Yak Bring The Fire And Mild High Club Soothe

Sometimes as a band at festivals like CMJ you’re expected to make sacrifices. Yak will have realised that last night when they played at the Mercury Lounge and frontman Oli Burslem finished the show by yelling “You should all be fucking ashamed” several times towards the sound desk. Apparently the sound on stage was less than ideal and while most bands would just get on with it, it’s kind of refreshing to see someone give that much of a fuck – at the end of the day, things like CMJ can be hugely important to a band’s career.

Anyway, the rest of Yak’s set was as unpredictable and exhilarating as usual. This is their first trip to America and, as one of a crop of exciting new British talent (see also The Big Moon, Oscar) in New York this week, they’re doing themselves proud. New(ish) songs ‘Alas Salvation’ and ‘No’ – soon to be released via Jack White’s Third Man Records – have added more spike and edge, while older songs are twisted around a bit, like the jazzy tinges to ‘Smile”s breakdown. Onstage outbursts or not, Yak have plenty of fire in their bellies and it shows.

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At the other end of the spectrum, Mild High Club don’t seem like they’d ever raise their voices above a low murmur. LA-based musician Alexander Brettin earned his stripes playing with the likes of R Stevie Moore and Ariel Pink, amongst others, and there’s definitely parallels with the latter’s woozy, dreamy sounds in his own songs. Playing the basement of Berlin, the smell of incense wafts around the room as he and his band recreate the divine sounds of debut album ‘Timeline’. It’s like glam-rock that’s been hot-boxed, with psychedelic lashings and that bright chorus guitar sound that’s been repopularised by Mac DeMarco.

Unfortunately for Brettin, he’s been given one of the chattiest crowds in the city. The room grows louder by the minute, slowly drowning out songs that are too serene to spit in your face and make you pay attention.

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