After floating around for quite some time, under the radar, to a certain extent, it's evident that Yves Klein Blue have slowly been rising, gaining momentum, popping up, then hiding again for a little while. Yves Klein Blue, formed from a high school boys shared love of music and named after quite a pleasant blue colour, first mixed by french artist Yves Klein, are a four-piece out of sunny Brisbane.
I recall seeing them in Sydney almost exactly one year ago (see the proof), and even then I was significantly more impressed than I thought i would be. Now, a lot has gone down in the past year. You may know their first single, Polka, which features so predominantly in that advertisement where people are throwing things out of their house into a car.... silly ad, but catchy catchy tune. They've also recently seen jaunts to the US and the UK (you may have seen them in your travels, yes?)
Anyway, the boys debut album Ragged & Ecstatic, captures the youthful vibe that is present at their live shows. It's the feeling of being young and free, having fun, exploring life, it's ups and downs and doing just whatever you bloody well want to. Reminds me specifically of the days, first time out of home, beer money was more important than rent money and work... pfft (not that they were paying me anyway). As an example, the recently released single, Getting Wise, gives out the exact vibe that I have just attempted to describe.
"We're getting wise trying to find our feet"
With respect to the tunes themselves, it's quite impossible to simply slot these boys into a single genre, which is by no means, a bad thing. I can hear many similarities with various styles both old and new, rock, ska, indie, country-style slide guitars... but I hesitate to label them. So I wont.
But does Ragged & Ecstatic meet the expectations of someone who can't go past seeing Yves Klein Blue live? Simply... no. There is a certain energy that is lacking when comparing the album to a live show. There's no intense stares from frontman, Michael Tomlinson, less of a feeling of need to bounce around in a crowd full of people, and no giant glasses of wine (hang on a minute!), but I guess that's the same for many bands have such an excellent stage presence.
However, Ragged & Ecstatic has it's own unique charm. Less of an opportunity to relive live shows, more of an opportunity to sit down an get inside the heads of four young boys (does that sound seedy?), an opportunity to listen to the lyrics and transport back (depending on how old you are) to times when things felt complicated, but you'd not give it up in a million years. And it must be mentioned that there's definitely several opportunities for a little bit of loungeroom dancing.
With that.... if you happen to be anywhere in Australia, you're in luck. There's a plethora of tour dates on the horizon and most importantly, June 26th you can own your very own copy of Ragged & Ecstatic.
I recall seeing them in Sydney almost exactly one year ago (see the proof), and even then I was significantly more impressed than I thought i would be. Now, a lot has gone down in the past year. You may know their first single, Polka, which features so predominantly in that advertisement where people are throwing things out of their house into a car.... silly ad, but catchy catchy tune. They've also recently seen jaunts to the US and the UK (you may have seen them in your travels, yes?)
Anyway, the boys debut album Ragged & Ecstatic, captures the youthful vibe that is present at their live shows. It's the feeling of being young and free, having fun, exploring life, it's ups and downs and doing just whatever you bloody well want to. Reminds me specifically of the days, first time out of home, beer money was more important than rent money and work... pfft (not that they were paying me anyway). As an example, the recently released single, Getting Wise, gives out the exact vibe that I have just attempted to describe.
"We're getting wise trying to find our feet"
With respect to the tunes themselves, it's quite impossible to simply slot these boys into a single genre, which is by no means, a bad thing. I can hear many similarities with various styles both old and new, rock, ska, indie, country-style slide guitars... but I hesitate to label them. So I wont.
But does Ragged & Ecstatic meet the expectations of someone who can't go past seeing Yves Klein Blue live? Simply... no. There is a certain energy that is lacking when comparing the album to a live show. There's no intense stares from frontman, Michael Tomlinson, less of a feeling of need to bounce around in a crowd full of people, and no giant glasses of wine (hang on a minute!), but I guess that's the same for many bands have such an excellent stage presence.
However, Ragged & Ecstatic has it's own unique charm. Less of an opportunity to relive live shows, more of an opportunity to sit down an get inside the heads of four young boys (does that sound seedy?), an opportunity to listen to the lyrics and transport back (depending on how old you are) to times when things felt complicated, but you'd not give it up in a million years. And it must be mentioned that there's definitely several opportunities for a little bit of loungeroom dancing.
With that.... if you happen to be anywhere in Australia, you're in luck. There's a plethora of tour dates on the horizon and most importantly, June 26th you can own your very own copy of Ragged & Ecstatic.
JUNE
THU 25TH Bon Amici, Toowoomba
FRI 26TH Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane
(ALL AGES SHOW)
SAT 27TH Sound Lounge, Gold Coast
SUN 28TH Woombye Pub, Sunshine Coast
JULY
WED 1ST ANU Bar, Canberra
THU 2ND The Harp Hotel, Wollongong
FRI 3RD Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
SAT 4TH Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (all ages)
SAT 4TH Oxford Art Factory, Sydney (18+)
WED 8TH Karova Lounge, Ballarat
THU 9TH National Hotel, Geelong
FRI 10TH Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
SAT 11TH Jive Bar, Adelaide
FRI 17TH Norfolk Basement, Fremantle
SAT 18TH Amplifier Bar, Perth
Links
Official website: http://www.yveskleinblue.com/
MySpace: www.myspace.com/yveskleinbluemusic
Record label: http://www.dew-process.com/
Sally
[email protected]
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