Yellow 6 - Catherine Whiskey 18 Postcard EP
(Jonathon Whiskey)
If 4AD had retained more than a shred of its former
greatness, they would probably be releasing Yellow 6.
Like many of the early 4AD artists (Cocteau Twins,
This Mortal Coil), Yellow 6 undergird thick washes of
heavenly ambience with smooth but solid beats. The
limited postcard E.P. (which comes packaged in plain
cardstock with a customs sticker attached, along with
a Yellow 6 postcard--hence the name) collects some
previously released rarities along with some new
songs.
Jon Attwood (A.K.A. Yellow 6) is similar in approach
to some other well known Brits in the genre (Dave
Pearce of Flying Saucer Attack and Dave Mercer of
Light). Like the Daves, he works mostly by himself in
the writing and recording, the singularity of vision
and also the "home taped" quality produced by this
method lends to the music a similar warmth and texture
(as heard in Flying Saucer Attack and Light).
Jon Attwood adds to this fuzzy ambience, though, some
of the smoothest, and as far as I'm concerned, best
beat programming in the genre. Attwood has a talent
for smooth, flowing beats unheard (at least by me)
since Mark Clifford of Seefeel. As a result the beats
are not distracting (as is the case with beat
experiments attempted by other bands), but add a depth
and an accent that propels the song rather than
contradicts it.
I'm sure it's clear by now how I feel about Yellow 6
so I'll finish it all up by talking about some of my
favorite tracks on the E.P. The standout track for me
is "Leitmotiv#5" (previously seen on the Enraptured Records
album Overtone). It shuffles seamlessly from phase
to phase with beats fading in and dropping out and
before you even notice twenty minutes have passed.
Another of my favorites is "Zero Degrees Kelvin." It
starts with a bit of a stronger beat than some of the
others, under the beat there is nothing more than a
little drone and a simple strummed theme, the result,
however, is something somewhat similar and pretty much
as great as Pygmalion-era Slowdive--excellent! I
could go on, but I think you get the idea, this is
really, really, really great.
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