For me, Yimino sits on that ever-dependable pedestal upon which the most reliable of artists are placed, those that you can count on with each play to engage you and satisfy your needs.
Crisp beats, ever-present and precise, never overpowering
If you’ve been following the rise of the Touched Music label then you’ll be familiar with the types of release—wide-ranging compilations full of quality tracks, debut albums and EPs from relative newcomers and plucky upstarts, banging contributions from industry heavyweights and much more. Now they’ve decided to showcase one of my particular favorites and I couldn’t be more excited—excited that more people are going to get to experience the wonderful world of Yimino.
Given you’re a Plaid fanboy like me (and if you’re not—why?) the name may ring a bell, as they long-since informed us of the duo—consisting of Londoners Gerald Chadwyck-Healey and Henry Law as ones to watch. Their remix of “Doe,” which appears here in its original form, was my personal introduction to Yimino and it may well have been many others’. Arguably, it’s the only track ever not to have needed a Plaid remix, but that got one anyway just to give us another awesome spin on life. If you’re ever at a party make sure the DJ spins these together back to back, lest they forever hang their head in shame.
This compilation features a nice cross-section of works from Yimino’s back catalogue and I’m not sure that I would have picked any different tracks had I been the one to curate it. For me, Yimino sits on that ever-dependable pedestal upon which the most reliable of artists are placed, those that you can count on with each play to engage you and satisfy your needs. And what are the itches that Yimino scratches? For one it’s crisp beats, ever-present and precise, never overpowering and always applied in the right ratio. Nothing displays this more than “Mittens”—hands down one of my favorite tracks of all time, it’s a fantastic composition where the lines between distant and intimate truly blur. It’s a true shame that Breaker, from whence it’s taken, never got a vinyl release, this would have sounded absolutely cracking.
The second itch? Complexity in simplicity. It’s all too easy to come across works that, despite their unarguable skill and display of talent, often just contain too much. Was that sound really required? Does this response add anything to the call? Our nature is to be critical whether we like it or not, especially on repeated listenings, but I never feel that here—Gerald & Henry have a sincere skill in layering, hiding in plain sight structures that are frequently missed on first audition.
What’s soothing now could easily become haunting by the next passage ::
It’s these layers which have in my opinion (everyone’s got one) always been the key to my enjoyment of Yimino, there’s impending dread in the background—what’s soothing now could easily become haunting by the next passage.
Recurrently on top of it all comes inescapable vocal work, the unmistakable stutter of chopped speech both jarring but comforting given its human roots. It’s very concrète and I’ve always loved it—a prime example being that in “Squeeze Me”—who would have thought that a short spiel about some trainers (or sneakers, depending on where you live) and their price could be so attention-grabbing?
“Firen,” one of the earliest tracks on the compilation, also has those beautiful vocals but it also comes from a very strong leftfield and downtempo time. If you were anywhere half-decent at the turn of the century there’s a good chance you’d be exposed to the likes of Bent, Zero 7 and Goldfrapp, just to name a few, and this track along with “They Came in Numbers” and “Skies of Him” (albeit with a 15-year release gap between them) fit right in with the sentiment.
My final itch? Variety. If downtempo is your thing, skip straight to “Bracket”—it’s easily the bassiest track on the compilation too so get ready to turn it up and annoy some neighbors. Like soundscapes? Then the penultimate track “Smoking Hot” could very well be your thing. Jarring weirdness and oddities that give way to beautiful instruments with perfect vibrato? Just play it from the start and kick things off with “Life Causes Cancer.”
And throughout all of the variety, a nice little bonus—the whole thing is mastered by exm, another mainstay of Touched Music who not only pumps out his own brand of awesome but has skillfully and respectfully brought this bunch of tracks together as a nice contiguous whole, something that can’t ever be too easy when dealing with material that spans such a period of time and equipment.
Even though I am lucky enough to have most of the Yimino releases, it was more than enjoyable being presented with this selection—and if you’ve never heard of them then I bet you’ll enjoy it too.
Touched Presents Yimino is available on Touched Music. [Bandcamp]
