New from Yakuza Dance Mob, Blubber of The Whale EP

Review of the Blubber Of The Whale EP by Yakuza Dance Mob, released Sept 12th 2012

In case you're not already hip to the underground music scene in Birmingham, Alabama, I would like to enlighten you to one group in particular, who's frontman I met at my good friends Erin and Cory's wedding. RD Hardcore had traveled down to Tampa with a friend to perform in another project, and without having heard them before, I wondered how far they would push the limit, music and performance-wise, and what all families and guests present would think. Also I wondered almost aloud, "Is this going to be a noise show?" They did play a trashcan, by the way, pretty sure I'm not hallucinating remembering that.


Then I realized, Lazy Magnet, S2K, Yakuza Dance Mob, myself and Scott Fuxan on the DJ booth... of course it was a noise show. I guess I just thought all of us would abide by some unspoken formal ettiquete due to the fact that it was at a wedding. It was pretty free form, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, freezing-for-Florida weather or not. I didn't drink, but I'm sure I remember passing out on the stage of the rented ranch pavilion clutching my coat and waiting to load out around four am.  It was a good night.


When RD, one of the founders of this group, messaged me almost a year later to let me know Yakuza Dance Mob had a new EP coming out in September 2012, and that I could play music on S.M.P. from it, I was very much looking forward to hearing it. But again, I had no idea what to expect. Would it be improv, pre-meditated multi tracking, just him, or with others, I had a lot to be surprised about.


Band members include RD Hardcore, (our man from the wedding), Rev. Jack Ladybird, CJ Afterhours, Scruffs McGee, and Honey Von Trapp. The EP is twelve minutes, forty five seconds long, all seamlesely layered, contains one slide guitar styled remix of the first track, and the last track is a tape reverb deluxe edition with some high floaty, effected vocals and the recycled loop to tie it together at the end. It could very well be the dance anthems five people would produce, should they actually find themselves trapped Pinocchio style in the stomach of a giant sea creature. There is a prevalent repetition, but each variation is different, leaving a hum-a-long, sailor-esque atmosphere to be found within the bars.


Here's a link to their EP on Bandcamp, more from these folks soon:
Blubber of The Whale EP