Electronic pioneers Yello release their thirteenth album ‘Toy‘ Recorded at Yello Studios (Zurich). Toy features guests Fifi Rong (vocals on Kiss the Cloud, Dark Side) Malia (vocals on Cold Flame, Starlight Scene, Give You The World) Heidi Happy (vocals on Dialectical Kid), Jeremy Baer (all guitars).
Yello are a Swiss electronic band formed in 1979, who (minus a 3rd member who left in ’83) are coming up to 4 decades of working together in the music industry, crafting a unique style of synth pop their sound has become unmistakable and has influenced everything from techno to hip hop.
It’s been a long journey since Dieter Meier and Boris Blanks released their first LP – Solid Pleasure way back in 1980, and here we are 36 years later with ‘Toy’. ‘Toy’ is a Europop/Future Jazz /Downtempo affair retaining all the playfulness and electronic synth expertise as we’ve come to expect but with a few nice surprises along the way.
Check out Limbo:
You’ve got all the trade marks here of classic Yello, Dieter Meirs spoken monotone lyric delivery and Boris Blanks clean sharp sound, but woven into the trademark Yello production we get some more recent genres also, a bit of dubstep here, that balearic sound there. Don’t expect just a collection of ‘Oh Yeah/The Race’ type tracks…..of course we do experience that early Yello signature feel in ‘Tool of Love’ and ‘30,000 days’ but we also get lots in between, the chilled weirdness of ‘Magma’, the Ibiza sunset of ‘Pacific AM’ and the look to the skies/Kraftwerks lost tapes experience of Frautonium. Boris Blanks is clearly a master of his craft while Dieter Meirs has the perfect presence and delivery to front, so it’s no surprise they’re still hitting the mark here. If you know Yello this should already be on your ‘to listen to’ list, If your new to it, then you’re in for a fun trip……and a cool back catalogue to boot.
Tracklisting: Frautonium Intro / Limbo / 30,000 Days / Cold Flame / Kiss The Cloud / Pacific AM / Starlight Scene / Give You The World / Tool of Love / Dialectical Kid / Dark Side / Blue Biscuit / Magma / Frautonium
Out now on UMC
CD/Vinyl/DL
