Yossy Who?

This is a very humble blog, labouring largely unseen in the hope of bringing Tsonga Disco and other delights to a small but discerning audience. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover that I have been given a plug by one of the blogs that I consider to be a prime example of how to do this sort of thing properly: "Awesome Tapes From Africa".

As the name subtly implies, they specialise in tapes from Africa which are, by and large, awesome. This week they are featuring our old friend Penny Penny. If you are not already a regular visitor of theirs - and you really should be - why not wander over and have a look.

But before you go...

Last weekend I was rooting around in the dustier corners of eMusic when I came across a new mini-album called "Volcano" by Japanese band Yossy Little Noise Weaver. The name is bonkers and delightful, and the music is pretty good too.

The Yossies have their own website which is mostly in Japanese. But with the ever unreliable help of Google Translate I have been able to find out a bit about them. They are built around a core of Yossy (vocals, keyboards) and Icchie (assorted brass, woodwind and percussion and DJ) - what happened to Scracchie is not explained. They are both ex-members of Determinations and Bush of Ghosts, who set themselves up under the current name in 2005.

"Volcano" is their third album. The first two were performed as a duo, but for this one they have swelled to full band form with a bassist, drummer and a guitarist going by the name THE K (not his given name I would wager).

The website (probably) describes the sound as funky new wave pop - think Frank Chickens meet Steely Dan, or something like that. It (probably doesn't) go on to say of Yossy herself: "To freely switch back and forth in colourful dreams of Calamity from aggressive play, one of the best keyboardist". I couldn't put it better myself.

Anyway, here are the title track and my own favourite from the album:

"Volcano" - Yossy Little Noise Weaver

"Fool" - Yossy Little Noise Weaver

Yossy weaves noise. Gary Wright, on the other hand, wove dreams.