Nowhere Jive by YELKA

The most unlikely band of the year. YELKA are set to release 10 strictly limited vinyl albums in 3 years with artwork by Kompakt's Bianca Strauch-Freytag. And they do so without any kind of social media. Instead they play residencies in Hamburg and Berlin (more international residencies to follow).

In strange times, beautiful things happen. People reunite to eventually get back to doing what they've wanted to do all along. This is what was happening about three years ago, when drummer Christian Obermaier and Daniel Meteo met playing soccer in the Uckermark region of Germany, only to shortly after form a new band with bassist and singer Yelka Wehmeier in Berlin. According to lore, it was above all Meteo's humor that convinced Obermeier.

Meteo is known in the past years mainly as the manager of Apparat, music publisher (Random Noize) and label maker (Shitkatapult, The Album Label), Wehmeier most recently as a bassist in the first line-up of Patrick Wagner's band Gewalt, and Christian Obermaier, we had almost forgotten about him, although in the noughties he was one of the most sought-after drummers in the Berlin indie world, playing amongst other in SchneiderTM's band. He and the band's namesake Yelka Wehmeier, in turn, played together in the criminally overlooked Berlin post-rock band EAGLE BOSTON until 2013!

YELKA now sounds much more brittle, minimalist. Which might be due to Daniel Meteo's Magic Band-like guitar playing. But also due to the welcome absence of synthesizer pads. Thus, when listening to the first YELKA productions, all the artfully crumbly bands of Post Rock suddenly come back to mind. The Sea & Cake or Karate, for example. But also musical harbingers like Captain Beefheart, Can or the electric Davis between Kraut and Jazz!

Tracklist

1.	Nowhere Jive	2:42

2.	Petrol	3:45

3.	#	1:14

4.	Venedig	3:45

5.	##	1:25

6.	Charisma Flight	4:03

7.	I Like What I See	4:20

8.	Claustro Disco	2:08

9.	###	1:21

10.	Never Explain Never Complain	5:35

11.	SIRUP	4:50

Credits

released March 31, 2023

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