YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN To Release ‘YT//ST’ July 16th on Suicide Squeeze

There is simply no band in the world like YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN. The Canadian group mix culture, musical genres and sexuality to produce their unique and electrifying blend of music and performance art. Now signed to Suicide Squeeze, YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN will be re-releasing their critically acclaimed YT//ST this July.

The album earned them a Pitchfork Rising Feature and critical acclaim across the board for their unique and provocative blend of metal, opera, noise, theatre and self-proclaimed “noh-wave” sound, culminating in a band that is also very much a distinctive art collective. The band created a short documentary chronicaling  their work and interaction as a collective, as well as insight into the creative process.

The band is currently putting the finishing touches on a new record with more information to follow.

YT//ST was founded in late 2007 by performance artists Alaska B and Ruby Kato Attwood, born from the ashes of the late Lesbian Fight Club. Armed with mixed-race identities, mad illustration skills and a whole pile of home-brew junk electronics, Alaska and Ruby wrote and performed the first mini ‘Noh-Wave’ Opera, ‘YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN I’ in April 2008. YT//ST continued to perform short homebrewed operas, eventually forming a network of Asian and Indigenous artists through collaboration and formed the current YT//ST collective. Montrealers had come to know YT//ST by their dazzling musical theatre performances in giant monochrome paper sets, sometimes in far out places, like the Montreal Eaton Centre Food Court at 2AM. Aesthetically, they blend the poorly appropriated styles of Noh, Chinese Opera, Chinese, Japanese and First Nations Mythology, Black & White Television, Psychedelia & Rock Operatics into a sensory feast of nigh-monochromatic costuming, unique hand-built musical instruments and their own mangaesque cardboard ‘NEVERFLAT’ style of 2.5D set design. YT // ST continues based in both Montreal & Toronto.

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan released their debut albumYT//ST on October 8, 2011 through the record label, Psychic Handshake Recordings. The album quickly gained popularity, garnering press and acclaim in Canada, The United States, The UK and Japan. The record was reviewed and received an 8.2 by Pitchfork, among several other accolades. The band was invited to play the All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) festival series in Minehead, UK. The band also undertook a North American tour in May 2012 in support of Xiu Xiu. YT//STwas short-listed for the Polaris Prize and they were privileged to perform their music at both the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum. The band contributed a song, “Mark & Blade” to the soundtrack of Klei Entertainment’s “Mark of the Ninja,” while currently in the midst of creating their very own action shooter video game entitled “Your Task//Shoot Things” replete with their own backing music. The band also released the single track “Lamia” as part of the 2012 Adult Swim Singles Program. All the while, Yamantaka//Sonic TItan performed an opera they wrote called ‘33’ at Pop Montreal Festival in 2012 to critical acclaim.

After parting ways with Psychic Handshake, the album was re-released in Canada through Paper Bag Records on September 11th, 2012. The band joined forces with Suicide Squeeze in early 2013 and the label will be re-releasing YT//ST July 16, 2013 in anticipation of the band’s sophomore album, due for release later this year. The collective continues to function as a mutating and constantly evolving art cult that brings together individuals of Asian, Indigenous & Diasporic identity to perform/create as a collective. Working in multiple mediums including Installation, Theater, Music, Video, Animation, Illustration and Design, YT//ST negotiate cultural clashes between dominant cultures and those whose traditions are oppressed, erased or being eclipsed. They retell the mythologies, customs and stereotypes of their ancestors with their cartoon bodies as their vessels.

YT//ST | Tracklisting:

1. Raccoon Song
2. Queens
3. Oak Of Guernica
4. Reverse Crystal // Murder Of A Spider
5. Hoshi Neko
6. A Star Over Pureland
7. Crystal Fortress Over The Sea Of Trees

“The record feels wholly substantial and satisfying in its own right, and even those with no prior knowledge of YT//ST’s history and elaborate intentions can just enjoy it for what it is: volcanic prog-rock colored with equal parts post-punk urgency, stoner-metal heft, and psychedelic pop whimsy.” Pitchfork

“We’ll sheepishly admit we’re relatively new to Yamantaka’s unique breed of gloomy, Kabuki-tinged metal-cum-experimental rock opera (or “noh-wave.” as they call it), but from what we’ve heard (and seen) from the collective, we definitely dig.” SPIN

“Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, whose so-called “Noh-wave” is heavy and hallucinogenic, blends influences such as Boredoms, Black Sabbath and Japanese manga.” The Guardian

“We realized Canada’s Yamantaka//Sonic Titan was basically the most amazing band on the planet when we heard their debut album YT//ST. That gorgeous mountain of rock led us to interview the entire band for about an hour, in which time they basically took turns blowing our minds. Their awesomeness is top of mind.” MTV

“A reputation for elaborate designed DIY live shows, which, like the group’s music, incorporates influences from across time and space. But most importantly, its music, as strange and dense as it can be, is an oddly accessible and strangely enjoyable listen.” A.V. Club

“YT//ST creates full-scale events, complete with eerie face-paint, monochromatic paper sets and Boredoms-style drum blasts that blend black metal and kabuki into a jaw-dropping new form. The group’s debut album is equally epic, yet it’s all just a glimpse into their master plan to freak out the squares with a stage production so large no theatrein the world could contain it.” Noisey

“At times, YT//ST feels like some sort of ritual guide into another world. There, priestess attempt to drone a second sight into followers, standing in a forest of shuddering percussive trees, just at the edge of a sea of jagged guitar waves.” Consequence of Sound

“The album is as harrowing as the black and white cover, a wasteland, fallen from the sky, drawn ambiguously in the foreground with darker elements looming in the background.” The Examiner

“The music they create is a compelling blend of psych-rock, metal and thundering atmosphere.”Stereogum

Links:

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN Website

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN Facebook

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN Twitter

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN Bandcamp

Suicide Squeeze Records

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