On The Scene: Yugong Yishan 28-03-2013

Made my way over to Yugong Yishan to catch some Xinjiang flavored psychedelic rock courtesy of Jurat T.T. Drawing on as much traditional Uyghur folk as progressive psych groups like Pink Floyd, the band struck my psychedelic bone like few bands have before. There’s a wickedness to their music makes you just wanna throw on a beanie, throw up some trapezes, light some incense, and smoke copious amounts of the ganja.

The brawny voiced artist took the audience on a ride for sure, and I was more than happy to tag along. Click below for more from Jurat T.T as well as opening duties from the ever graceful Yunggiema and Song Yuzhue.

Yunggiema can basically just take my money at this point. That’s the power of a voice. I’ll pretty much purchase anything with that voice attached to it.

I don’t care what it is – lawn mowers, real estate – my wallet is out already. And with Song Yuzhe on the banjo, reaching deep deeepp into his vocal chords to bring out his rich singing, well it’s hard to keep that camera rolling.

In fact, one might even forget they\’re in a badly lite joint like Yugong and instead imagine themselves frolicking though the forest without a care in the world. Yeah, I said frolicking. Shit is that good. One of the best duos in town if you’d ask me.

But I came to get my freak on, and I was more than impressed by Jurat T.T’s journey into ‘dark psychedelic fairy tale’ territory. His own description yeah, but I completely get it.

This is pungent stuff. Rich and vast – even overwhelmingly so at times. It took a while to catch my bearings and grow accustomed to what the band had in mind, but once you just fall right into it, stop fighting and give in, it’s all gravy. Who needs drugs when you got this? 

Jurat T.T has a monster of voice – husky and burly, in Uighur for the most part. And the fun he’s having on guitar, interchanging between three throughout the set – it was like watching a man take out his stash of sports cars to play with.

These all talented folks, with a fresh angle on psychedelic rock, and the tunes to back it up – and though I’ve only seen them perform twice, I think if they play their cards right, they’ll be seeing plenty of action in the near future. Be sure to grab his latest Akku  – and  check them out next time they\’re playing.