Yak’s Oli Burslem On The Genius Of Parquet Courts’ Label Dull Tools

In between satisfying my insatiable appetite for Eccles cakes, changing the oil (new neck for my guitar) and recording a new Yak EP in west London with Steve Mackey, I’ve been listening to a lot of new(ish) American bands recently.

If you’ve heard or seen Yak live then you’ll probably have guessed that we love a good drone. I especially like a chap called Tony Conrad who was a member of mid-60s group The Dream Syndicate, which included John Cale, Angus Maclise and a few others. Anyway, I saw experimental New York group PC Worship supporting Parquet Courts at the end of last year in a concrete bunker in Hackney. They were playing their album ‘Social Rust’ which, along with their improvised mayhem, really reminded me of Tony & co. They’re on Andrew Savage from Parquet Courts’ DIY label Dull Tools, which is always a stamp of approval in my eyes.

…which brings me neatly on to their label mates Pill (not that PiL), who are also from Brooklyn. My female friends who are in bands get really cheesed off when people compare them to Kim Gordon, so I’m not going to be lazy and say that about their singer Veronica. I love her deadpan voice though, which sneers stuff like “You wanna touch me wherrre? Oh no, I’m younger than that!” I got their debut self-titled EP when it came out earlier this year and it has songtitles I wish I’d thought of like ‘Psychic Nipple’ and ‘Misty Eyed Porno Reader’. Also, the curser on the band’s website is a saxophone which fires off pills whilst Benny Hill’s hit ‘Yakety Sax’ plays at half-speed on loop… I’m sold!

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Finally, the whole of Best Kept Secret festival in Holland seemed to flip 180 after we partied a bit too hard after our show there a few weeks back, so we went to have a lie down on the side of the stage where Chilean group Follakzoid happened to be playing. Their repetitive, wigged-out grooves turned out to be hugely relaxing and therapeutic – just what the doctor ordered, so we have them to thank for switching our brains back on.

PC Worship – Rust

Follokzoid – Electric

Pill – Misty Eyed Porno Reader

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