In this week's issue of New Times, we profiled 10 new(ish) bands we expect to dominate Phoenix iPods and boomboxes this long, hot summer. We'll be focusing more deeply on those artists over the next couple days here on Up on the Sun.
See the entire list: 10 Phoenix Bands You Should Be Listening to This Summer
Do-it-yourself chillwave conductor YUS (real name: Youceff Kabal) is one of the Valley artists that you should be paying attention to this summer. We can't stop raving about the slow synth-driven melodies off his debut release, Palms, with its relaxed tones and waning rhythms. Equally interesting is the follow up, Besides, released only two months later.
Lucky for you guys, you don't have to wait very long to catch his act in the flesh.
YUS has a performance scheduled on Saturday, July 28, at the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, sharing the stage with downtempo beat-maker oOoOO.
Besides is made up of "all [of] the early versions of the songs from Palms. Back when I had a guitar and wasn't thinking about them as an album," he says on his bandcamp page.
The compilation may consist of the same eight tracks, but there's a definite transformation that occurs between the initial incarnations and the final product. The original bight guitar riffing on "Don't Talk" for example all but disappear in the mastered rendition; replaced by a fatter more brooding sound that dominates the mood of the album.
Following his December 2011 collection of remixes, Favorites Remixed, we're looking forward to some more original work from YUS.
