Stream: YIP YOPS, ‘She’

Kevin Bronson on May 18th, 2018

1

YIP YOPS hail from the desert — the Coachella Valley, to be exact — where things in general are sometimes on a different wavelength. So it is with the young quartet’s art-punk, which is equal parts edgy post-punk, confrontational synth-pop and youthful resistance to falling into the same-old same-old. It’s the 1980s in a Generation Z paroxysm. “We’ll never get comfortable,” vows frontman Ison Van Winkle. “It’s about being uncomfortable and continuing to push. There’s a hole that needs to be filled.”

The quartet are 17, 18, 18 and 22 years old, respectively. Van Winkle was 14 when he, drummer Ross Murakami and bassist Jacob Gutierrez began making noise in the Coachella Valley; keyboardist-singer Mari Brossfield had joined the band by the time they were one of the local artists invited to play an afternoon set at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Along with their convulsion-inducing live shows (featuring trippy coordinated outfits they make), they impressed with an EP that year as well.

“She” is their newest single, a dance track that, rather than locking in on one groove, challenges the listener to keep up. And who is “She?” As soon as we catch our breath, we’ll get back to you on that.

||| Stream: “She”