Welly, welly, welly, well…just when I was starting to lose faith in Ninja Tune, they release this, ‘You are Beautiful at all Times’, the debut album from Texas maestro Ypaah (pronounced Yippah). Born and bred in a somewhat unlikely part of the world, Joe Corrales has produced this modest little epic off the back of playing in rock band after band whilst also becoming, lets say more a than proficient hip-hop dj/turntablist. Lets see how this pans out shall we.
‘Ending With You’ kicks things off, immediately transcends my expectations, and quickly dissipates any scepticism I may have had after reading the press release, after all they are written with a somewhat biased view of the release. Sleepy, yet constantly engaging, ‘You are…’ is the perfect permutation of Corrales previous musical endeavours, whilst also taking them to a higher plain, and manages to fill you with a cosy sense of well being. ‘Again With The Subtitles’ sounds like a Boom Bip rework of the Chemical Brothers’ ‘Star Guitar’, stripping away the minimal techno to breed something much more organic, a truly beautifully uplifting piece of modern production. Swimming with all the right elements of a melancholic opus, ‘You are…’ somehow manages to skip the down and out vibe and move straight on to brooding optimism that’s missing in so many of the could be brilliant albums of our time. Despite being layered up to the eyeballs, none of these songs ever feel weighed down, and infact all have a very airy almost buoyant demeanour.
This is a truly superb debut, even superseding releases from season Ninja Tune artists. Perhaps more akin to the Lex sound this album is chock full of the kinda beats you’d expect from Anticon’s Alias, or perhaps even and early DJ Shadow release, then sprinkle with Bonobo-esque effect laden instrumentation, add My Bloody Valentine and Mogwai style atmospherics and you’re on to a winner. Sublime from start to finish, and this is only his debut; I can’t wait to see what else this kid is capable of.
(Taken from here...)
Tracklist
1. Ending with you
2. I'll hit the Brakes
3. Again with the Subtitles
4. The Subtitles that Count
5. We Aim
6. What's the matter
7. In two, the Weakly
8. Almost in that Category
9. Good like that
10. Cannot see straight
11. It's not the same
12. Longtime
Indeed, great album.
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