Yallows

My exposure to music from Japan has been limited to Shonen Knife, Cokehead Hipsters, and J-pop (to which the YouTube rabbit-hole took me at the end of it all!). So when I came across the YouTube channel for J-Rock outfit Yallows, I was literally blown away!

Inside One’s Mind was my introduction to the project, followed by Who Am I? These two not-quite-metal but beyond-rock tracks create the chunk and groove to which many bands can only aspire. There is a distinct flavour of 1990s/2000s emo, along with the mood created by Christopher Larkin on the Hollow Knight soundtrack; Sydney alternapunk Screamworld, and 1990s pedestrian-rockers Shotgun and IGNITE: the latter of whom were inspired by early Black Sabbath and mid-career Iron Maiden. You will also find sounds akin to 1990s grungemeisters Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, Hole, and Rage Against The Machine; Ego changed direction completely with a tilt at Ben Folds.

The biggest drawback to the recordings is a lack of clarity. Having listened to this through both my laptop and my phone, I found the top-end lacking on every track. This in turn led to muddy lyrics, etc, but the bottom-end carried through all of this. A little cleaning-up of the recordings might improve this issue. Inside One’s Mind, Who Am I?, 6 , and Ego were the cleanest recordings; Dear Enemy is my standout of the collection to date.

There are twelve tracks on this YouTube channel, including a couple of demos which I skipped because the raw power in the other tracks demanded that only the finished product would do. The artwork for each song is also indicative of what one can expect therein: dark, brooding and, mostly, unerringly heavy.

Yallows – Japan’s next big Rock Act. Track them down, look them up, encourage their development!

PG (Jacky) Gleeson

9 February 2020