“Yama Yama” – Yamasuki
And the theme is…
GET STRANGE.
This week at YDH2S headquarters, we’re reaching deep into the digital crates to pull out some of our more left-field finds- songs that have an oddball edge, a mutated strand of musical DNA or are just kinda weird, but still have enough of a groove that we wouldn’t mind throwing them in a DJ set now and then.
To kick things off, I present to you Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki, the fabulous world of Yamasuki. This 1971 cross-cultural brainstrorm comes courtesy of two French songwriter/producers, Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger, who named the project after a dance (you can learn some of the steps from those photos on the cover, feel free to fill in the gaps as you see fit) that apparently became all the rage in les discotheques that summer. They loaded up the record with a French kid’s choir singing in Japanese, fuzzy wah-wah guitars, occasional pseudo-samurai yelps and, most importantly, some incredibly funky beats that elevate the sound out of the pure-novelty heap and into a realm worthy of repeat listens. Oh, and to tie this track back to more typical YDH2S fare- Daniel Vangarde is actually Thomas Bangalter’s father. Yep, he’s a Daft Punk dad.
– Spoolwork